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benrymnd
25-02-21, 18:50
Is it possible to find out if someone served in the forces in ww1 the only information I have is his birth marriage and 1911 census records
ElizabethHerts
25-02-21, 18:51
Both FindMyPast and Ancestry have military records.

When was he born?
benrymnd
26-02-21, 18:10
He was born in 1881 St Helens Lancashire, died in 1923 in St Helens
ElizabethHerts
26-02-21, 18:28
His Attestation record is on FindMyPast. He was 20 years and 2 months when he joined up.

Father William Horton 12 Waterloo Street St Helens
Older brother Charles Horton
Sister Louisa Horton

Does that sound right?
benrymnd
26-02-21, 18:43
That's him, I don't have a membership of find my past only my heritage and that doesn't have war records
kiterunner
26-02-21, 18:55
If he was 20 when he joined up, wouldn't that be a long time before the First World War? Did he rejoin in 1914?
benrymnd
27-02-21, 12:30
I agree with you kiterunner he would be around 33 when he joined up if he joined up in 1914, can not see him joining up much before, he was married in 1904 and his first child was born in 1908 both events in St Helens. His father was William and his eldest brother was Charles.
Merry
27-02-21, 15:00
John and his father (and others) are living at 12 Waterloo St in 1901, so I think that must be the correct army record and he must have joined up before he married (do you know for certain that he served in WW1, or was that an assumption?)

John is listed as a boarder in 1901, but his father is definitely the same person John was with in earlier censuses as his details match. I haven't come acrosss a sister called Louisa though, though she may be Frances Louisa Horton, a niece in 1891 living with James Horton aged 31 and his family in St Helens. James is from Bristol which is where John's father William was from.
kiterunner
27-02-21, 16:18
St Helens FHS sells a CD of the St Helens Absent Voters Lists for 1918 onwards, but of course if he served at the beginning of the First World War but not all the way through, that wouldn't help.
http://sthelenstownshipsfhs.org.uk.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/militarypubs01.htm

If you can find him on the 1939 Register it might give info about his previous military service.
Edit - sorry, public trees say he died before 1939.
Phoenix
27-02-21, 21:50
He was in the RAF.

He joined its predecessor 30.1.1915
He had married 24.12.1904
Next of kin Mrs A Horton 71 Glover Street St Helens
He died of enteric fever 19.2.1923
benrymnd
01-03-21, 18:32
It is just a guess, as I have seen a photo of him in an army uniform, as for the name of Frances Louise his eldest daughter was of that name.
Phoenix
01-03-21, 18:54
When he joined up, it was into the Army (though the record seems to give no other detail.) He moved on to the Royal Flying Corp, and then to the RAF.

The record names his children in the margin:
Frances Louisa, Sarah Ann, John Joseph and Thomas
benrymnd
02-03-21, 18:31
Does it say when he came out of the RAF
Phoenix
03-03-21, 09:50
https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBM%2FAIR79%2F1292%2F00005&parentid=GBM%2FAIR79%2F34448


Yes. He was transferred to the RAF Reserve 4 March 1919 and Deemed Discharged 30 April 2020.


For a two page document, there is a heap of information: more like Navy than Army records.