Of the three remaining candidates, I will start with 8826 Pte Henry Dann who did not serve overseas with the Bedfordshire Regiment during the Great War.
He was born in 1884 at Cottenham in Cambridgeshire and would have been 30 years old in 1914. Still young enough to serve and probably a reservist. Only the first page of his service papers seems to have survived and the enlistment date is not recorded. What remains does mention serving His Majesty so it must have been a Post 1901 enlistment. Given that his age was stated as 22 years, 5 Months and that his date of birth was listed as 1884 it must have been a 1906/07 enlistment.
Henry James Dann's birth was registered in Chesterton, which covers the Cottenham area in the December quarter of 1884, his marriage to Harriet J Young was also recorded in Chesterton in the June quarter of 1914. His death, at the age of 76, was registered in Cambridge in 1960.
I think that as a regular soldier, Henry Dann was probably the most likely to have scratched his name onto the slider of his cap badge.
Last edited by High Wood; 31-05-20 at 11:04 AM.
|