WWI BWM. Royal Monmouth Royal Engineers. Mackie. Monmouth, Wales.

Correctly named 8017 Spr WL Mackie RE

William Leonard Mackie was born to John and Matilda on the 5th of January 1893.

In 1911, we find the family living at 122 Monnow Street, Monmouth with William working as a printers apprentice.

His father John was the publican of the Green Dragon in Monmouth.

The pub is the oldest surviving pub in the Overmonnow area and established on a site of archaeological interest. It was established as an inn before 1801 when the keys for St Thomas Church were kept there. In 1830s beer tokens were issued by the then landlord Thomas Powell who was followed by a long list of his family in the job of Licensee of the pub. A James Gwilliam was the licensee for decades of the 19th century following that.

In 1998 an archaeological dig evaluation carried out behind the inn produced medieval finds such as cooking utensils and clay pipes dating from the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Green Dragon faces one of the entrances to the medieval Monnow Bridge and the Church of St Thomas the Martyr. The pub currently faces a traffic island that includes a restored cross.

William enlisted into the Royal Monmouth Royal Engineers with his brother who held the service number 8016.

The two ‘Royals’

The regiment was formed as a posse comitatus in 1539 during the reign of by King Henry VIII; it went on to become a trained band and then a militia unit in 1660. It is unique in having the word ‘Royal’ appear twice in its name. It gained the first Royal in 1804 when it was the Monmouth and Brecon Militia. The second was acquired in 1877 when the regiment transferred from an infantry unit into a Special Reserve section of the expanding Royal Engineers.

Seniority dispute with the Honourable Artillery Company

The records of the Honorable Artillery Company (HAC) indicate that it was formed two years prior to the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers (Militia). However, in 1930 the Army Council (Army Board from 1964) reviewed the Army’s precedence table and King George V agreed that, on account of its status as a militia unit, the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers (Militia) were the senior regiment. In 1957 the matter was investigated further and Queen Elizabeth II also agreed that the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers (Militia) were the senior regiment.

Entitled to just the WW1 Pair, William was re-numbered 388017.

In 1938 he married Winifred Ann Croft and in 1939, we find them still living at Chippenham View, Monnow Street, Monmouth and William now working as a general clerk

William died in 1976.

The medal has an original silk ribbon.