A British soldier I am researching died at No. 47 Casualty Clearing Station on 25 Mar 1917. He has a memorial at Varennes Military Cemetery, in Somme, France, which was presumably nearby to the CCS. He was a member of the 1st King's Dragoon Guards.
How can I determine where No. 47 Casualty Clearing Station was located at that time?
Like all British Army units Casualty Clearing Stations kept war diaries. You can download that for 47 CCS for the relevant (for a small fee) from http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/0bd98c64d2cb44c0b61a9b8f7457ad2f
The unit location should be noted, and it can be possible to work it out with some accuracy. CCSs were either in a building, if a large enough one existed in the location, or sometimes under canvas. I investigated the location of 36 CCS as my great-great-uncle died of his wounds there during the Battle of the Somme, you can follow the process I followed by reading my blogpost https://halfmuffled.wordpress.com/2016/02/09/where-was-36-casualty-clearing-station-in-july-1916/
According to this letter from the Ministry of Pensions to the British Red Cross Society Records Office posted on George Laughead's website The Medical Front WWI, it looks like CCS 47 was indeed in Varennes at that time (near the bottom of the document).
The Casualty Clearing Stations list (posted on the website http://www.1914-1918.net) is easier to read:
Varennes Dec 16 - Jun 17
My Great Aunt Janie Gray was the sister in charge at 47CCs at this time and later became acting matron,she was awarded the RRC 1st Class and presented with it by King George 5th in 1919 I have some info but not a lot
