Lachenal with inscription from WW1

[Laura Spark]

Hi all!

I just wanted to share with you this wonderful piece of history I found when I opened up this Lachenal I bought recently.

I bought from an antiques seller on ebay that didn't specialise in instruments so they couldn't vouch for the state of the instrument, so it was a bit of a gamble, but it paid off, the concertina is in really good condition, and when I opened it to try to fix a few reeds, I found this!

 

I believe it reads - 

 

This concertina was

purchased from

Serg Clayton ***

By Corp F Brent ***

At Auchy au Bois (maybe says France?)

Dec 11th 1915

 

Rec’d by Serg Clayton in (France?)

La F***, Aug 1915

 

 

Rec'd means 'received'. How did Serg. Clayton acquire it? Did Corp Brent play it in the trenches over Christmas 1915? The Christmas Truce of 1914? Did either of these man make it home?

 

I've tried to do a quick search in the army records but I cant find an F Brent with a service number that could match and there are a lot of Claytons too...

 

 

[John Wild]

After "By Corp F Brent", I read the numbers "429".

I am only speculating, but this and the rest of that line might be the Corporal's service number.

[DickT]

429 is perhaps the last three numbers of his full service number, it was (is still?) common to use only the last three digits.

I was Trickey 267.

[Clive Thorne]

Something like that makes it so much more than just a musical instrument.

[Ken_Coles]

The serial number project folks here will be interested in the serial number and general description (C/G? how many bellow folds, etc.). Quite a find.

 

Ken

[Laura Spark]

7 hours ago, DickT said:

429 is perhaps the last three numbers of his full service number, it was (is still?) common to use only the last three digits.

I was Trickey 267.

Thank you, thats very interesting! I searched again and There is an F Brent with the last three digits 429 - But he was in the RAF in 1941 - could he have been in both wars? 

I found a site about service numbers in WW1 generally being a bit all over the place with duplicates and different formations.

[Laura Spark]

1 hour ago, Ken_Coles said:

The serial number project folks here will be interested in the serial number and general description (C/G? how many bellow folds, etc.). Quite a find.

 

Ken

It is a 48 button English, concert pitch, 4 bellow folds. Serial number - 55556 (I think!)

[Ken_Coles]

EC, of course. It would help if I looked at your photos! 8o)

 

Ken

[Roger Hare]

 

On 12/5/2020 at 11:44 AM, Laura Spark said:

Hi all!

I just wanted to share with you this wonderful piece of history I found when I opened up this Lachenal I bought recently....

I think we (you and I) are very lucky, and just a little privileged to be the custodians, for a while, of instruments like this.

 

I have one with a provenance along the same lines:

 

It is a Lachenal semi-miniature in Bb/F. Serial No. 137243.

 

It has featured here before, but since I bought it in 2015 I have done a little research, the results of which I don't think I posted

 

The attached pictures of the interior show:

 

                    

 

On the left, the pencilled inscription “THIS INSTRUMENT PLAYED TROOPS INTO BATTLE AT ARMENTIERS AND CAME OUT GOOD.”

 

On the right, on the bellows cards clockwise from top left “A.LEWIS, Liverpool”, “LA SIENE”, “ANCRE”, “YESER”, blank, “ASINE”.

 

A. LEWIS might be Private Albert E. Lewis 008977 of the 1st Battalion, Kings Regiment (Liverpool), who was a regular soldier from 1914.

 

The battles of Armentières, Aisne and the Marne were all in the opening stages of the War, and before the opposing armies became totally dug-in and the stalemate of trench warfare started in earnest, so the original owner of the concertina must have been an "Old Contemptible" (Regular Army, British Expeditionary Force, in 1914).

The Aug.-Dec. 1914 1st Battalion, Kings Liverpool Regiment War Diary (The National Archives' reference WO 95/1359/1) confirms that they fought at the Battles of the Marne, Aisne and Armentières, whilst Yeser is almost certainly Essars, where they were billeted on 26th-27th December.

 

Private Albert E. Lewis (008977) became a corporal.

 

It seems that those early WWI battles recorded inside the concertina, and which stopped the German advance in its tracks, also brought an end to Corporal Albert E. Lewis' military career – he had joined up on 28th September 1904 and was discharged on 12th January 1915 (exactly 5 months after he entered the War, on 12th August 1914) because of wounds.

 

As an aside to all the above, the serial number is just visible at top left in the 2nd hand illustration.

 

The 3rd illustration shows the semi-miniature against a standard size instrument.

                                           

 

 

 

Edited December 6, 2020 by lachenal74693

[Don Taylor]

One thing you could try would be to search for the names on Ancestry.com.  I was able to find my Grandfather's WWI service records there.

 

It is quite expensive, but they let you have free access for a few weeks for new accounts.

[Laura Spark]

9 hours ago, lachenal74693 said:

I think we (you and I) are very lucky, and just a little privileged to be the custodians, for a while, of instruments like this.

 

I have one with a provenance along the same lines:

 

It is a Lachenal semi-miniature in Bb/F. Serial No. 137243.

 

It has featured here before, but since I bought it in 2015 I have done a little research, the results of which I don't think I posted

 

The attached pictures of the interior show:

 

                    

 

On the left, the pencilled inscription “THIS INSTRUMENT PLAYED TROOPS INTO BATTLE AT ARMENTIERS AND CAME OUT GOOD.”

 

On the right, on the bellows cards clockwise from top left “A.LEWIS, Liverpool”, “LA SIENE”, “ANCRE”, “YESER”, blank, “ASINE”.

 

A. LEWIS might be Private Albert E. Lewis 008977 of the 1st Battalion, Kings Regiment (Liverpool), who was a regular soldier from 1914.

 

The battles of Armentières, Aisne and the Marne were all in the opening stages of the War, and before the opposing armies became totally dug-in and the stalemate of trench warfare started in earnest, so the original owner of the concertina must have been an "Old Contemptible" (Regular Army, British Expeditionary Force, in 1914).

The Aug.-Dec. 1914 1st Battalion, Kings Liverpool Regiment War Diary (The National Archives' reference WO 95/1359/1) confirms that they fought at the Battles of the Marne, Aisne and Armentières, whilst Yeser is almost certainly Essars, where they were billeted on 26th-27th December.

 

Private Albert E. Lewis (008977) became a corporal.

 

It seems that those early WWI battles recorded inside the concertina, and which stopped the German advance in its tracks, also brought an end to Corporal Albert E. Lewis' military career – he had joined up on 28th September 1904 and was discharged on 12th January 1915 (exactly 5 months after he entered the War, on 12th August 1914) because of wounds.

 

As an aside to all the above, the serial number is just visible at top left in the 2nd hand illustration.

 

The 3rd illustration shows the semi-miniature against a standard size instrument.

                                           

 

 

 

 

 

Thats wonderful! Its amazing to know it saw troops through battles! gives me the shivers!  And the writing on the bellows!

Edited December 6, 2020 by Laura Spark