Excited to see that the research group from ourThe Boys on the Plaque project with Fabrica gallery is yielding lots of new leads about our soldiers from WWI.
Since the launch of the project, we have made real progress in the couple of months since we started. We now have a great group of volunteer researchers that are hard on the case of investigating the 95 soldiers names that are on the plaque.
Our first training session took place this month at Jubilee Library where we learnt how to log on to the computers, use websites such as Ancestery.com, Findmypast, the British Newspaper Archive and many more. During this tutorial run by Brighton and Hove Library service, we also learnt how to deal with difficult or similar names, missing documents, confusing handwriting and the most annoying misspelt names.
Jubilee Library , BOTP Training Meeting, August 2015
So far we have uncovered some really interesting discovers about our boys.
Robert Filtness, Brighton-born, lived in 63 North St before the war, was a ‘Political Speaker’ for the Tariff Reform League. His brother Walter H Filtness was an optician who served in the RAMC and spent 3 months as a patient in the Royal Pavilion Hospital towards the end of the war with typhoid.
Cpl Arthur John King (4 Feb 1895 – 15 July 1916) Arthur was enlisted as a private to the 6th (Cyclist) Battalion, Royal Sussex Regt (regimental no. 177) but died of accidentally drowning off the Kent coast.
Robert Winter Tilney and Eric Gordon Tilney, two brother who where privates that survived the war. There father ran a stationery shop on Ship Street, Brighton. This then passed down to Robert and to his children. This stationery shop is still in family hands and exist in West Worthing.
RUDGE-WHITWORTH BICYCLES of the 2/6th (CYCLIST) BATTALION, ROYAL SUSSEX REGIMENT
On Thursday September 10th 1pm – 4pm we are holding a Heritage Open Day at Fabrica Gallery(Holy Trinity church), me and some of the research volunteers will have a stall where we can share information and answer questions, so please stop by.
We have lots more information that we have found, we are just in the motion of digesting it all. You can keep a track on our progress here, where we will be posting updates, more in depth research into individual soldiers and information about our research team.
I look forward to hearing from you and please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any information about one of our boys on the plaque. Throughout the project, our Volunteer Research Group will be looking into the history of each of The Boys on the Plaque. If you have some information about The Boys on the Plaque that you think might help the group, don’t hesitate to contact us on boysontheplaque@fabrica.org.uk or leave a public reply at the bottom of the page.
