'A' Special Company, 1st Battalion, Special Brigade, Royal Engineers

This photograph was taken in France in August 1916 and shows men of 'A' Special Company, 1st Battalion, Special Brigade, Royal Engineers; a gas company. All of these men had transferred into the Royal Engineers from infantry battalions and the man I was researching is Samuel Athron who stands on the back row, far left.

Helpfully, Samuel had identified the forenames of eight of his companions, with the missing man - Larrat Sarcan, back row, far right - identified on the reverse.

Using Samuel Athron's new regimental number as the starting point, and running some simple searches on my British Army Ancestors website, I was quickly able to identify ALL of his companions in this photograph. I started with the uncommon names like Stronach, Sarcan and Walby and, identifying a pattern with the first three digits of the Royal Engineers numbers, plus the prior service with infantry units, quickly mapped out more details. Here are the men:

128749 2nd Cpl Samuel Athron; formerly 21844 York & Lancaster Regiment

128748 Pioneer Horace R Webster; formerly 24053 York & Lancaster Regiment

128729 Pioneer Arthur Hudson; formerly 24043 York & Lancaster Regiment

128336 Pioneer John A Murray; formerly 24391 Worcestershire Regiment

129349 Pioneer Larrat W Sarcan; formerly 22240 York & Lancaster Regiment

129599 Sgt John Stronach; formerly 1411 Gordon Highlanders

128747 Pioneer Harold F Walby; formerly 24056 York & Lancaster Regiment

128574 Pioneer Peter Makin; formerly 26946 KOYLI 

129073 2nd Cpl Gladstone Stoker; formerly 27677 Northumberland Fusiliers

128742 Pioneer Leonard Smalley; formerly 24047 York & Lancaster Regiment

Arthur Hudson and John Stronach both have surviving service records. Note too that the majority of the men have connections with northern regiments, with 60% of this small sample having formerly served with the York & Lancaster Regiment. 

The Special Cylinder Companies of the Royal Engineers were formed as part of the British Army's response to the German gas attacks of 1915 and there are distinct patterns of regimental numbering within these companies. In other words, it is mostly possible to identify the particular gas company that a man served with, from his regimental number.

A fascinating photo, courtesy of Samuel's son, David Athron, and a nice research project to work on. I am particularly pleased that I was able to identify all of the men in this photo and I have added their individual head and shoulders shots to the British Army Ancestors gallery.

I research soldiers!

Contact me if you need help.