MY GREAT UNCLE, RICHARD BYERS, WHO FOUGHT IN WORLD WAR ONE

My grandpa's older brother, Richard BYERS was born on 14th September 1896 on Rowanburnfoot Farm, near Canonbie, Dumfriesshire. One of 12 children born to James BYERS and Mary Jane THOMSON.

I am unsure when he enlisted to fight in the First World War, but Richard was in the King's Own Scottish Borderers (6th Battalion) and latterly was Lance Corporal.

L/Cpl Richard Byers

I did however contact the KOSB Regimental Museum in Berwick-On-Tweed and was advised of the following - 

"No service or pension records for your great uncle have survived. His Medal records show that he initially served in the 1st Battalion, but as he did not qualify for the 1915 Star, he would not have served overseas before the end of 1915. His regimental number (23835) would indicate that he enlisted in early 1916 and would very likely have seen action on the Somme (the 1st Battalion was engaged on the first day, 1st July 1916 and subsequently). Possibly he was wounded there, which might explain his transfer to 6th Battalion, KOSB. It was not always possible to return a man who had been wounded and hospitalised to his original unit. He was killed in action on 6th June 1917 near Fampoux".

This latter information contradicts the detail I had previously researched. From the Imperial War Graves documentation and other documents relating to his death, Richard was killed on 8th June 1917 - and I had previously thought this happened at the Battle of Messines, in West Flanders, Belgium. However, I can find no mention of the KOSB being present at The Battle of Messines, nor any fighting near Fampoux in June 1917. So that's a bit of a mystery really. 

The only clear fact is that Richard was killed in action on 8th June 1917, aged only 20. He is buried at Brown's Copse Cemetery, Roeux.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Certificate

First World War Memorial Plaque

This Memorial Plaque was issued after the First World War to the next-of-kin of all British and Empire service personnel who were killed as a result of the war.

The plaques were made of bronze, and hence popularly known as the "Dead Man’s Penny", because of the similarity in appearance to the somewhat smaller penny coin. 1,355,000 plaques were issued, which used a total of 450 tonnes of bronze, and continued to be issued into the 1930's to commemorate people who died as a consequence of the war.

MY ANCESTOR WHO FOUGHT AT THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO

Thomas GLENDINNING is my maternal first cousin, six times removed, who was born in 1797 in either Canterbury or Portsmouth. He was one of 13 children born to Adam GLENDINNING, a Quartermaster in the 2nd Royal Dragoons before joining The Royal Waggon Train in 1805, and Elizabeth CROOK. Adam was born in Castleton Parish in Roxburghshire and was the son of my 6xgreat grandfather, also named Adam GLENDINNING, a farmer and shepherd in Castleton. (The Glendinnings back to at least the early 1700's lived in Castleton Parish). Adam and Elizabeth appear to have retired back to Scotland and both died in Newcastleton in the mid 1800's.

Thomas became a Cornet (originally the third and lowest grade of commissioned officer in a British cavalry troop, after Captain and Lieutenant) in The Royal Waggon Train on 9th December 1813, aged 16. This part of the British Army was formed in 1794 (then called the Royal Waggoners) and served the need for a dedicated and reliable military transportation organisation. It served throughout the Napoleonic Wars, notably at the Battle of Waterloo.

After this battle, for the first time, every soldier who fought was awarded a medal, regardless of their rank or role. All soldiers names were inscribed in a book called The Waterloo Roll Call and the page relevant to my cousin is undernoted.

Thomas received his Waterloo Medal and in 1816 was promoted to Lieutenant in the 60th Regiment of Foot. In 1821, he and his wife, Jane, moved to Canada, still in the Army. He died in Ontario, Canada in 1870 with the rank of Major.

MY DNA TEST WITH ANCESTRY.COM

So, what is an Ancestry DNA test?

Their website states "AncestryDNA is a new DNA testing service that utilises some of the latest autosomal testing technology to revolutionise the way you discover your family history. This service utilises advanced DNA science to predict your genetic ethnicity and help you find new family connections. It maps ethnicity going back multiple generations and provides insight into such possibilities as: what region of Europe are my ancestors from, or am I likely to have East Asian heritage? AncestryDNA can also help identify relationships with unknown relatives through a dynamic list of possible DNA member matches".

My DNA may hold information to help make new discoveries about my family's past, my cultural roots, as well as confirm information in my family tree. This should also give me hints that can connect me with new relatives and link me to others who have taken the AncestryDNA test.

So having ordered the DNA test kit on 24th March, it arrived within just a few days and I sent if off to the U.S.A. (via Dublin) on 28th March. Now all I have to do is wait 6-8 weeks for the results, which will be sent to me by email.

To be continued...

3rd April - Ancestry have received my DNA test sample and hopefully I will see the results by mid/end May.

18th April - Ancestry have emailed to advise that my DNA sample is now being put through its' laboratory testing, and I should receive the results by email in 2-4 weeks time.

26th April - and the results are in. The ethnicity estimate in bare detail is that I am: 60% from North England; 21% Scotland; 8% Scandinavia and 7% West Europe.

This seems quite surprising, but it has to be said that the counties where my grandpa Byers and his forebears came from (Dumfriesshire) and my maternal grandparents families (Anderson and Turnbull from Roxburghshire) are right on the Scotland / England border. How the DNA sample differentiates between north England and the very south of Scotland (a very small radius) I’m not sure, but it would certainly seem I have a distinct connection with my granny Byers side of the family from County Durham.

Very interesting results indeed.

30th April 2018
Reviewing the Ancestry website has brought up some interesting comments on the ethnicity ranges / estimates as mentioned above. Namely, it mentions that they "run 40 separate tests on randomly selected portions of your DNA. The bottom number in a range is the smallest amount of an ethnicity that appeared during the 40 analyses, and the top number in a range is the largest amount of an ethnicity that appeared".

Looking at the Great Britain / North England estimate, this covers a range of 31% - 90%, which has been averaged out at the aforementioned 60%. When it comes to the Scotland estimate, this covers 2% - 38%, and thus we see the average of 21%.

Earlier this year, a study of the AncestryDNA database was made with detail collected from 48,120 individuals with birth locations across the UK. This showed that the average Briton is 36% British with over 60% of their DNA coming from regions across Europe, including Ireland (23%), West Europe (19%) and Scandinavia (9%). So it would seem I am more British than most people born in the UK.

AncestryDNA Average Briton DNA Chart

A further comment on the website states that "Your ethnicity estimate is based on the data we have and the methods we use to compare your results to that data. When AncestryDNA launched in 2012, we compared your DNA against 22 possible regions. Since then, additional data and advances in science have enabled AncestryDNA to identify dozens of new regions and improved our ability to determine how likely it is a region is part of your past. DNA research is a fast paced, rapidly expanding field, and you can expect to see additional updates as DNA science evolves".

THE MOST POPULAR SURNAMES IN MY ANCESTRY

The following chart shows the most frequently seen surnames in my family tree. Surprisingly, maybe, BYERS is not the most common - only in 5th place - but still over 100 cases of my surname have been found.

Surname Summary Chart