JX357952 R H Biddlecombe: Newbie help please

Discussion in 'The War at Sea' started by Jimmy123, Aug 15, 2021.

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  1. Jimmy123

    Jimmy123 Member

    Hello,

    Ive had a box of medals to this gent for a while however, I cannot find anything relating to his service or civvy life.

    I checked the 1939 census and cannot find anything. I am very new to this so was wondering if anyone could please point me in the right direction?

    JX357952 R H Biddlecombe

    The address on the medals is for an area called Sarisbury Green Nr Southampton.

    The medals are:

    Defence medal
    War medal
    1939/45 star
    Burma star
    Atlantic star with France & Germany clasp

    Any help or pointers would be much appreciated

    Thankyou
     
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  2. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    hello and welcome

    you wont find anything on line
    service records are the way to go
    date of birth .death certificate and £30 is all that is required
    a bit of a wait at the moment

    Get a copy of military service records

    regards
    Clive
     
  3. Jimmy123

    Jimmy123 Member

    Many thanks Clive,

    I shall endeavour to do that then.

    Will I need his full name? As I cannot even seem to find out his first name so far
     
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  4. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Other forum members are better than I at tracing people but a start on Freebmd goes upto 1990

    Possible

    BIDDLECOMBE RONALD 8JY1915 SALISBURY
    Died 1989

    edit wrong location

    there are a few others but age would be circa 40 odd at start of the war
     
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2021
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  5. Jimmy123

    Jimmy123 Member

    Thankyou Clive,

    That sounds like my man

    Appreciate it
     
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  6. Tony56

    Tony56 Member Patron

    The original post mentioned SARISBURY GREEN which is near Fareham, Hampshire as opposed to Salisbury, Wiltshire. There was a Roy Henry Biddlecombe of Fareham who died 22 June 1995. Possibly born 1923 so may be too young but, as you will need a death certificate to get his records you may need further research. What has the full medal address?

    Also there was a Biddlecombe family in Sarisbury in 1939.
     
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2021
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  7. Tony56

    Tony56 Member Patron

    Ronald Biddlecombe (dob 8 July 1915) was living at Landford, Wiltshire (between Salisbury and Southampton) in 1939.
     
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  8. Jimmy123

    Jimmy123 Member

    IMG_20210815_211916.jpg IMG_20210815_211916.jpg Hi Tony,

    Yes you are correct it is Sarisbury Green.

    The full details on the box are:

    Mr R H Biddlecombe
    14 Woodthorpe Grdns
    Sarisbury Green Nr Southampton
     
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  9. timuk

    timuk Well-Known Member

    Have you transcribed the Official No. correctly? It should have a prefix for his Port Division. D/ (Devonport), P/ (Portsmouth), and C/ (Chatham) being the most common.

    Tim
     
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  10. JimHerriot

    JimHerriot Ready for Anything

    Long serving rating, see breakdown of "JX" prefix in the link below.

    WW2 Talk member "Hugh MacLean" will be the foremost help on this one methinks.

    Good luck with your search for information, here's the link re "JX".

    GENUKI: Marine and Naval Ratings Service Numbers, UK and Ireland

    Kind regards, always,

    Jim.
     
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  11. timuk

    timuk Well-Known Member

    Don't think that's right. That system only came in during 1943 and the numbers were re-started at 500000. A better link is:
    RN OFFICIAL NUMBERS [RATINGS]

    Tim
     
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  12. JimHerriot

    JimHerriot Ready for Anything

    Excellent Tim, a much more comprehensive explanation, much appreciated (It'll still be interesting to see anything that Hugh MacLean may be able to add about the chap as with no "place/location" prefix letter (as of yet) for the gentleman it may yet be that he had some years in - maybe!).

    Kind regards, always,

    Jim.
     
  13. Jimmy123

    Jimmy123 Member

    Good morning gents, thankyou for all your kind help.

    The number I gave is the number written very clearly on the side of the box. It says
    JX.357952

    Jimmy
     
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  14. Jimmy123

    Jimmy123 Member

    Good morning gents, thankyou for all your kind help.

    The number I gave is the number on the side of the box.

    JX.357952

    Jimmy
     
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  15. Hugh MacLean

    Hugh MacLean Senior Member

    The JX prefix began in 1925 and the Home Port prefix was added much later. You can't really pin an official number to a precise date although you can make general comparisons with number ranges given some knowns. A long service seaman joining in 1925 would have a number such as JX125001 this would have changed to add a Home Port prefix in 1934 as per Tim's post.

    Given the information supplied so far the only thing you can determine is that he joined sometime after 1925, it also likely that he is missing his Home Port prefix. There are many instances of JX service numbers for wartime RN sailors that I can identify joined the service for the war and their Home Port is not recorded with their service number so I would not speculate on anything too much at this stage but advise the best course of action is as indicated by Clive in #2 - service records.
    Regards
    Hugh
     
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  16. JimHerriot

    JimHerriot Ready for Anything

    Cheers Hugh, thanks for your update, much appreciated.

    Kind regards, always,

    Jim.
     
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  17. Jimmy123

    Jimmy123 Member

    Many thanks Hugh, that makes perfect sense.

    Looks like I need to determine his full name for sure and then as you say apply for his service record.

    They seem to have no record of someone with the initials R H Biddlecombe serving in the RN. I was hoping to determine his full name that way.

    Many thanks again for your kind help
     
    Last edited: Aug 16, 2021
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  18. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    you have wasted you money joining forces war records they have not got them
    rubbish site promises records but do not have them

    get your money back

    please take the link out of your post

    only way is with the link already provided once you have the exact detail you need
     
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  19. Jimmy123

    Jimmy123 Member

    OK thankyou
     
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  20. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Jim
    only way is the official route and members here will help you till the ends of the earth for nowt
     
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