The 3rd Highland Howitzer Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery was a Territorial Force unit comprising the 1st and 2nd Renfrewshire Batteries and the 3rd Highland Ammunition Column. Along with the Clyde RGA (which comprised one company) it was administered by the Renfrew County Association and all had their origins in the pre-1908 Renfrewshire and Dumbartonshire RGA.
The headquarters of the Brigade and the two Renfrewshire batteries was at Greenock, and those of the ammunition column at Cathcart. This post will look at army service numbers issued to men joining the 1st and 2nd Renfrewshire Batteries between April 1908 and November 1915, albeit with noticeable gaps for some months.
Service records for all of the following numbers survive in the WO 363 (Burnt Documents) and WO 364 (Pensions) series at the National Archives in Kew, London. Also view these on-line as part of a FREE 14 day trial with Ancestry.co.uk.
1 joined on 6th April 1908
291 joined on 8th February 1909
463 joined on 11th May 1910
516 joined on 2nd March 1911
587 joined on 24th January 1912
696 joined on 1st February 1913
906 joined on 17th March 1914
967 joined on 11th September 1914
1124 joined on 15th October 1914
1251 joined on 8th April 1915
1318 joined on 17th May 1915
1413 joined on 19th July 1915
1479 joined on 11th August 1915
1576 joined on 28th October 1915
1585 joined on 4th November 1915
If anybody can help me fill in any of the gaps above, or add anything about this unit, please contact me. An artilleryman serving with Clyde RGA is commemorated on my Chailey 1914-1918 website. Read John Wilson's all-too-brief biography HERE.
The photograph shows unknown Scottish artillerymen from my WW1 postcard collection.
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