Raymond Walter Page

[marquette]

Ray was the brother of Cleveland Edmund Page, my first thread in this series.
Raymond Walter Page was the oldest son of Reuben Edward Page and Beatrice Mary (nee Dawson). He was born at Maitland East NSW on 8 April 1890.

Ray and his family moved around with his fathers work with the Royal Australian Engineers, but the family finally settled in Auburn NSW. After School, Ray was apprenticed as a carpenter and he was one of the best amateur cyclists of the Central Cumberland Cycling Club before WW1.

After the death of his brother, Ray volunteered for service on 13 Sep 1915 and was assigned to the 7th Coy Royal Australian Engineers. He embarked HMAT Suffolk on 22 Dec 1915 and in March 1916 was transferred to the 15th field company Engineers.

He saw the battles of Bullecourt, Fromelles, Pozieres, Menin Wood, and was promoted to Lance Corporal in July 1916 and to Sergeant in January 1917. At the Battle of Polygon Wood, he was severely wounded, losing the use of his arm for the rest of his life. He was evacuated to England and then returned to Australia.

He named his first son after his brother.

Ray and Cleve had several cousins who also served in WW1, who I will detail as the weeks go on.

Victor Raymond Watson born 1885, Enlisted 10 Jan 1916, 34th infantry battalion

Yule Sidney Watson born 1891, enlisted 12 Jan 1916, 1st Field Coy Engineers

Frederick Rodford Blandford, born 1895, enlisted 15 Mar 1916, 53th battalion, Killed in Action, Polygon Wood, comemorated on the Menin Gate

Percival Ewood Stanley Blandford born 1889, enlisted 2 Mar 1916, 9th Field Coy Engineers.

[georgie]

hi
I was interested in your thread on Victor Raymond WATSON,about ten years ago I found a very badly damaged portrait in a secondhand shop of a ww1 soldier,and since then he has been in my lounge room,and it was only yesterday that I thought I would try again to see if I could find out who he was,with magnifying glass and good lighting I found some writing in pencil a number and a name,so I've spent the day researching,have not been able to find out if this is Victor,do you have a photo of him?



Georgie

[kiterunner]

Georgie, what is the number on the picture, please?

[georgie]

573

[kiterunner]

Oh and sorry, I should have asked before, does the name on the picture say Victor Raymond Watson or just Victor Watson?

[kiterunner]

Ah, looking at the National Archives of Australia website, they have the records for Victor Raymond Watson, SERN 573, born West Maitland, NSW, enlisted West Maitland, NSW, next of kin Mrs Watson, and you can view his records online for free:
http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=1915284&isAv=N
(click on view digital copy)
His enlistment date is the same as in post #1 so must be the same person.

He also served in WW2 (if it is the same person - year of birth is a few years different but maybe he didn't want to be classed as too old?), but those records aren't available to view online, only the catalogue entry:
http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=5602879&isAv=N

[georgie]

sorry only meant to send one but also next to the 573? is what looks like a W_tso?n but underneath is the number 705 so I took the back off very carefully as very old and damaged and yes the number is 573 and the name is watson but scribbled on and again the number 705 that was why I was asking if you had a photo hope this helps

kind regards
Georgie

[marquette]

Sorry, I have not looked at the forum today - no I don't have any photos of Victor, myself. My uncle ended up with all the family stuff when my grandmother died (Victor's cousin), so we have no family photos from that side. My dad knew Yule, I remember him saying so, and if I ask he might remember Victor too. (Dad is 86 but his memory is good). I will ask around the family. I do have one of their grandmother, Mary Ann Dawson, in her very old age, with the Page cousins, but none of the Watsons, I believe.

It does sound like "our" Victor, and yes he did enlist again for WW2 - his wife was Rose, so its the same person. Men often "adjusted" their age so they could enlist for WW2 - you could not get away with that these days. I know that Victor had two children, Arthur Samuel and Alice Evelyn, but both died in the 1990s and I presume there are grandchildren, but I will have to look into it.

You might be interested in this article about Victor and Yule and their poor brother Arthur, and the shooting accident in 1901

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/124114142?searchTerm=watson%20arthur&searchLimits=l-state=New+South+Wales|||l-decade=190|||l-title=492

Thanks

Diane

[georgie]

Thank you and yes I saw that on trove you just can't imagine what they went through.
Diane will try and get one of my girls to take a photo of the portrait and if he is one of your's I will get him back home to where he belongs.

Kind regards
Georgie

[marquette]

Thank you Georgie that would be lovely, a scanned photo would be great to add to our family tree database.

The shootings must have been really traumatic for everyone, but I had never heard about it from my family - sometimes I wonder if there were fractures in the family when my great-grandmother married her sister's widower and moved to Sydney with him. Maybe, as with all the other losses, they just did not talk about it.

I will try to see if I can find any descendents of Victor.

Di

[georgie]

yes I agree but also that generation didn't like to talk about a lot of things I know with some of my family when asked the answer was what do you want to know that for so we didn't ask and now their gone.I have done a lot over the last few days on the portrait and spoken to a lot of people and I hope this is Victor.

kind regards
Georgie