RSM. R.Ludgate 8th Btn Devonshire Regiment

Discussion in 'Searching for Someone & Military Genealogy' started by wtid45, Jul 26, 2010.

  1. wtid45

    wtid45 Very Senior Member

    Having come across this name on a Roll of honour for people who served and were from Exmouth I am curious as to his place of death as it is given as HMS Repulse 1943 which im sure has been mixed up with RN casualty(found his name in the CWGC site and he died on the Repulse 1941) above his name, however if I take the RN casualty and give his place of death to the Devonshire casualty instead......... it reads Germany 1943:confused: POW? the RSM is buried in this country see here CWGC :: Casualty Details
     
  2. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Hi Jason,

    Where did you first find RSM Ludgate?

    Bamboo.
     
  3. wtid45

    wtid45 Very Senior Member

  4. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    I have the read the War diaries for the 6th & 9th Devons. All their service battalions got mixed up in 1942 and a lot were broken up to bolster other units in all theatre's.

    There is the Regimental museum in Dorchester (which I am sure you are aware of) and the Devonshire Heritage website, one of these may be able to help?

    TitleRemake

    Home - The Keep Military Museum, Dorchester, Dorset

    Just to mix it up further, I am pretty sure there was a POW camp in the Exmouth area for captured German Seamen?

    No help at all really!!

    Bamboo.
     
  5. Oldman

    Oldman Very Senior Member

    To unravel the mystery you may have to look at all the people 5 or 6 either side
    and see if they are buried in the right place and then work it out.
    Also have a look on Naval-history.net and see if the other person from Exmouth shows up on the casulty lists for the Repulse
     
  6. ADM199

    ADM199 Well-Known Member

    Perhaps just a call to the enquiries Section at CWGC would clear up any doubt.
    They are usually very helpful.
     
  7. Oldman

    Oldman Very Senior Member

    On checking the Repulse casualty list there is no one by the name of Ludgate listed
    as Missing Presumed Killed.
    Perhaps if you could post the other name then I could check for you to see if they are listed.
     
  8. wtid45

    wtid45 Very Senior Member

    Thanks Oldman, but the first thing I did was check the RN casualty and it matched the place of death as HMS Repulse with date of Dec 41 I know something was wrong when the RSM of the Devons place of death was given as HMS Repulse in 43 and the RN guy as In action Germany:huh: so that is even more confusing........... anyone know where the 8th Battalion Devonshires were in Aug 43?........... mind you that might be wrong have checked a few more and so far they all pan out.
     
  9. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Geograhically no, but deffo at home in the UK.

    I might have a sneaky look for you next time I'm at Kew!

    Bamboo.
     
  10. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Re: RSM Ludgate.

    8th Devon's part of the 134 Brigade/45 Division.

    Based Rayleigh, Essex in June 1942, went on in turn to, Colchester, Southminster then up to Yorkshire/Cleveland borders.

    Here the battalion was broken up into Companies, staying at Eaglescliffe, Crathorne, Middleton, Kirklevington Hall and Yarm.

    And it was at Yarm on 25/08/1943, that RSM Ludgate was fatally injured by an explosion while supervising training on the company assault course.

    Hope this is of use?

    Bamboo.
     
    wtid45 likes this.
  11. wtid45

    wtid45 Very Senior Member

    Reps for that man well done mate thanks for that so place of death was England.
     
  12. Oldman

    Oldman Very Senior Member

    Bamboo 43
    Thanks for the post it clears up the mystery nice piece of detective work
     
  13. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Thanks Gents,

    My Grandad was in the 9th Devon's before fate took him away to Burma.

    The diary today showed that the 9's relieved the 8's at Colchester, so it was a relevant search for me anyway. It was a great bonus to have Ludgate's death mentioned in the diary notes for August. These things rarely work out like that, so it made a pleasant change.

    Bamboo.
     
  14. englandphil

    englandphil Very Senior Member

    Here's the details from the Army ROH which tallys with the info from Bamboo

    Name:Ernest Ludgate
    Given Initials:E G
    Rank:Warrant Officer Class I
    Death Date:25 Aug 1943
    Number:5430971
    Birth Place:Somerset
    Residence:Cornwall
    Regiment at Enlistment
    Devonshire Regiment
    Branch at Enlistment:Infantry
    Theatre of War:United Kingdom
    Regiment at Death
    Devonshire Regiment
    Branch at Death:Infantry
     
  15. peter ludgate

    peter ludgate New Member

     
  16. peter ludgate

    peter ludgate New Member

    rsm, Ludgate was my mothers husdand, he was not my dad,i know little of his death, only he was killed in a training accident
     
  17. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Hello Peter,

    I looked this afternoon to see if I still had the information in my files, but I could not find it I'm afraid. The details I posted back in 2010 were a transcription more or less, so you have a picture at least. The information came from the 8 Devon's War diary held at the National Archives. If you ever have the chance to visit, the file reference is WO166/12514.

    8 Devonshire Regiment | The National Archives
     
  18. peter ludgate

    peter ludgate New Member

    thanks for the reply
     
  19. reddevon

    reddevon Member

    Just thought i would add this as i was in Littleham today, just outside Exmouth.
    [​IMG]
     
  20. Grey Strange

    Grey Strange New Member

    Hi, I've just joined the Forum and I noticed that 'The Roll of Honour' for Exmouth was mentioned. I just wanted to let you know, that the information that was found in Harry Pascoe's 'The book of Exmouth' has a printing error from page 137 to 139, in the column 'How/where death occurred', as at the top of the page, it repeats the previous entry - so all the rest of the column is out by one line. The same list is in Arthur Cook's book 'Exmouth at War' - but the column in question, has been omitted. The original list came from Eric Delderfield's book 'Exmouth Milestones'. Printed in 1948. I have found it not that totally accurate, as far as Christian names go, and is quite vague of where and when events happened - which is surprising really, as at the time he was editor of 'The Exmouth Journal' and would have had access to quite a lot of info. The same list has been used to put names onto The Exmouth War Memorial.
    I have found that the number of extra names - connected with Exmouth, and not on The Exmouth War Memorial - is just over 200!
     

Share This Page