The Buffs (East Kent Regiment) - 3rd (Special Reserve) Bn

This post will look at regimental numbering in the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion of the Buffs (East Kent Regiment) between 1908 and 1914. The Special Reserve and the Extra Reserve were the natural heirs to the militia battalions which, for the most part they replaced in 1908. My 2009 article on the Creation of the Special Reserve in 1908 may be helpful here.

As far as the Buffs was concerned, it was the 3rd (Militia) Battalion which it lost with the creation of the Special Reserve in 1908 and those concerned with such matters appear to have simply shrugged their shoulders and carried on with the same regimental number series that had been in use for the militia. 

Men joining the militia and special/extra reserve were not career soldiers. They were men who had completed a period of training alongside career soldiers at the regimental depot but they then went back to their homes, turning out annually for drills and camp. Men of the Militia and the Special Reserve signed up for six years' service and knew, in the event of war, that they would be called upon to fill gaps in the regular battalions. A glance at most 1914 Star rolls will show plenty of evidence of Special Reserve men who served alongside career soldiers. Sometimes their numbers are prefixed by the number of their battalion - typically a 3/ or 4/ in most line infantry regiments - but just as often there will be no prefix.

The first 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion number I have on my database - and there will be many earlier ones thatn this - is 7196 Ernest William John Brooks who had been issued with that number when he joined the 3rd (Militia) Battalion on the 3rd June 1904. He was still a serving member of the 3rd (Militia) Battalion when the Special Reserve was created, and he signed on for a further six years in July 1908, his old militia number being re-activated. Other men who joined at the same time and who were not already serving with the militia were issued with new regimental numbers which began where the old militia regimental series had ended. This pattern is seen in very many special and extra reserve battalion attestation papers for 1908.

Here then, are some sample regimental numbers for the 3rd Buffs (East Kent Regiment):

8104 joined on 28th June 1908 

9382 joined on 21st April 1909

9623 joined on 21st February 1910

9941 joined on 20th February 1911

10179 joined on 1st January 1912

10486 joined on 14th May 1913

3/10669 joined on the 8th July 1914

S/10703 joined on 8th August 1914

The regimental number series was unique to the 3rd Miltia/Special Reserve Battalion but care needs to be exercised when determining if a man's number belongs to this series or to the series that was issued from the regimental depot to men joining as career soldiers. For example, looking at the sequence above, it can be seen that the number 10000 would have been issued to a 3rd Bn man between February 1911 and January 1912. However, the same number would have been issued to a career soldier who joined the regiment in April or May 1913. See my article on regimental numbering in the 1st & 2nd Battalions of The Buffs (East Kent) Regiment.

In addition to this main regimental number sequence for the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion, there was a second number series which was begun in August 1914 and which appears to have been short-lived. These numbers began at 1 and were prefixed with - on attestation papers at least - SREKGS, which was shorthand for Special Reserve East Kent General Service. If your man has a number with this prefix, then this mini series may be helpful:

SREKGS/102 was issued on the 14th August 1914

SREKGS/229 was issued on the 5th September 1914

SREKGS/828 was issued on the 27th October 1914

This is the last number I have on my database but I'd be interested to hear of later numbers issued in this series.

And if all of this is still confusing, have a read of some of the articles towards the bottom of the Army Service Numbers 1881-1918 index. The photo on this post was published in The Tatler on the 20th January 1915 and shows officers of the 3rd Battalion, The Buffs.

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To search for Buffs (East Kent Regiment) photos, check my British Army Ancestors website.