MALSON Pte 17832 Christopher, Killed Salonika, Greece, 1916 (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Monday, March 02, 2015, 17:58 (3554 days ago) @ Jefff

Ancestry carries various Army Records for Levi's son Christoper Malsom which helpfully also mention his parents. Like so many Foresters he joined the South Wales Borderers at Newport, sadly he gave his life in 1916;

Name: Christopher Malsom
Age: 26
Birth Date: abt 1890
Death Date: 16 Jun 1916
Cemetery: Salonika Anglo-French Military Cemetery
Burial Country: Greece
Father: Mr L A Malsom
Mother: Mrs Malsom
Regiment: South Wales Borderers
Regimental Number: 8/17832
Region or Memorial: Greece

The above record image includes the text "Malsom, Pte Christoper, 8th Bn South Wales Borderers. Son of Mr and Mrs L.A. Malsom, of Bilson Green, near Bilson House, Cinderford."
see http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/625172/MALSOM,%20CHRISTOPHER

"At the invitation of the Greek Prime Minister, M.Venizelos, Salonika (now Thessalonika) was occupied by three French Divisions and the 10th (Irish) Division from Gallipoli in October 1915. Other French and Commonwealth forces landed during the year and in the summer of 1916, they were joined by Russian and Italian troops. In August 1916, a Greek revolution broke out at Salonika, with the result that the Greek national army came into the war on the Allied side.
The town was the base of the British Salonika Force and it contained, from time to time, eighteen general and stationary hospitals. Three of these hospitals were Canadian, although there were no other Canadian units in the force.
The earliest Commonwealth burials took place in the local Protestant and Roman Catholic cemeteries. Salonika (Lembet Road) Military Cemetery (formerly known as the Anglo-French Military Cemetery) was begun in November 1915 and Commonwealth, French, Serbian, Italian and Russian sections were formed. The Commonwealth section remained in use until October 1918, although from the beginning of 1917, burials were also made in Mikra British Cemetery. After the Armistice, some graves were brought in from other cemeteries in Macedonia, Albania and from Scala Cemetery, near Cassivita, on the island of Thasos.
There are now 1,648 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. The Commonwealth plot also contains 45 Bulgarian and one Serbian war graves."

Christoper is named on the plague on Cinderford's War Memorial, see
http://forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?mode=thread&id=43700.

He is included within this FoD site's WW1 Servicemen database, as are other Cinderford Malsoms such as Charles & Ernest, ref the earlier Census post these could be his brothers, perhaps ?.

RIP Pte 17832 C.L. Malson.

8th (Service) Battalion
Formed at Brecon on 19 September 1914 as part of K3 and came under orders of 67th Brigade, 22nd Division. Record same as 7th Bn but sailed from Marseilles 30 October 1915.

7th (Service) Battalion
Formed at Brecon on 14 September 1914 as part of K3 and came under orders of 67th Brigade, 22nd Division. Moved to Seaford but by December 1914 was in billets in St Leonards. Returned to Seaford in April 1915 and moved to Aldershot by the end of May.
Landed at Boulogne on 6 September 1915 but sailed at Marseilles on 10 October for service in Salonika.
from http://www.1914-1918.net/swb.htm

Please also see the Newspaper article here
http://forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?mode=entry&id=45653