Norfolk Regiment - 6th (Cyclist) Bn (TF)

In this post I will be looking at regimental numbering in the 6th (Territorial Force) Battalion, Norfolk Regiment between April 1908 and October 1914. 

On the 1st April 1908, the nucleus of the 6th (Cyclist) Battalion, Norfolk Regiment was formed from what had previously been cyclist companies of the four Volunteer Battalions, Norfolk Regiment. A, B, C and D Companies were formed from the VF companies, with E, F, G and H Companies raised subsequently.  The newly formed 6th (TF) Battalion was headquartered at Cattle Market Street, Norwich and distributed as follows:

A Company: Norwich

B Company: Great Yarmouth

C Company: King's Lynn, with a drill stations at Terrington

D Company: Thetford, with a drill stations at Attleborough

E Company: Fakenham, with drill stations at Walsingham, Holkham, Wells and Ryburgh

F Company: Ditchingham

G Company: Watton, with a drill station at Swaffham

H Company: Norwich, with a drill station at Great Yarmouth

The battalion was attached to Eastern Command.

Here are some sample regimental numbers and joining dates for the the 6th (Cyclist) Battalion, Norfolk Regiment:

7 joined on the 5th April 1908 

371 joined on the 1st January 1909

601 joined on the 14th March 1910 

710 joined on the 20th March 1911 

826 joined on the 11th March 1913

954 joined on the 10th March 1914

1156 joined on the 7th August 1914 

1272 joined on the 1st October 1914 

A reserve or ‘second-line’ battalion was formed at Bridlington in October 1914, the original 6th Battalion now becoming the 1/6th Battalion and the new reserve battalion becoming the 2/6th Battalion. A 3/6th Battalion was formed at Norwich in May 1916 and disbanded in March 1916 without ever serving overseas.  All three battalions - the 1/6th, 2/6th, 3/6th - issued numbers from the same regimental number series and from 1917 reissued numbers to serving soldiers and to new recruits from a brand new regimental numbers series which began at 265001 and extended to 290000. 

Use the regimental numbers above to estimate when a man would have joined this battalion between 1908 and August 1914. For example, if your man had the number 555 and lived in Holkham he would have joined the battalion between January 1909 and March 1911 - and probably served with E Company. 

Remember. I research soldiers! Drop me a line if you need help 

To search for photos of your Norfolk Regiment ancestors, check my British Army Ancestors website.

Norfolk Regiment - 5th Bn (TF)

In this post I will be looking at regimental numbering in the 5th (Territorial Force) Battalion, Norfolk Regiment between 1908 and 1914. 

On the 1st April 1908, the 5th Battalion, Norfolk Regiment was formed from what had previously been the 3rd Volunteer Battalion, Norfolk Regiment. The newly formed 5th (TF) Battalion was headquartered at East Dereham and distributed as follows:

A Company: King's Lynn

B Company: Downham, with drill stations at Hunstanton, Thornham, Hilgay and Stoke Ferry

C Company: Fakenham, with drill stations at Wells, Syderstone, Aylsham and Corpusty

D Company: Dereham, with drill stations at Castle Acre and Swaffham

E Company: Sandringham, with drill stations at Dersingham, Wolderton, Hillington and West Newton

F Company: Cromer, with drill stations at Melton Constable, Holt, Sheringham, North Walsham, and Gunton

G Company: Great Yarmouth

H Company: Great Yarmouth

By August 1914 the battalion formed part of the Norfolk & Suffolk Infantry Brigade in the East Anglian Division. 

Here are some sample regimental numbers and joining dates for the the 5th Battalion, Norfolk Regiment:

353 joined on the 22nd April 1908 

1323 joined on the 14th May 1910 

1480 joined on the 10th May 1911 

1582 joined on the 3rd January 1912 

1816 joined on the 14th January 1913 

2077 joined on the 13th January 1914 

2187 joined on the 4th August 1914 

A reserve or ‘second-line’ battalion was formed at East Dereham in September 1914, the original 5th Battalion now becoming the 1/5th Battalion and the new reserve battalion becoming the 2/5th Battalion. A 3/5th Battalion was formed at East Dereham in early 1915 but never served overseas.  All three battalions - the 1/5th, 2/5th, 3/5th - issued numbers from the same regimental number series and from 1917 reissued numbers to serving soldiers and to new recruits from a brand new regimental numbers series which began at 240001 and extended to 265000. 

Use the regimental numbers above to estimate when a man would have joined this battalion between 1908 and August 1914. For example, if your man had the number 1700 and lived in Holt he would have joined the battalion between January 1912 and January 1913 - and probably served with F Company. 

Remember. I research soldiers! Drop me a line if you need help 

To search for photos of your Norfolk Regiment ancestors, check my British Army Ancestors website.

Norfolk Regiment - 4th Bn (TF)

In this post I will be looking at regimental numbering in the 4th (Territorial Force) Battalion, Norfolk Regiment between 1908 and 1914. 

On the 1st April 1908, the 4th Battalion, Norfolk Regiment was formed from what had previously been the 1st and 4th Volunteer Battalions, Norfolk Regiment. The newly formed 4th (TF) Battalion was headquartered at St Giles, Norwich and distributed as follows:

A Company: Norwich

B Company: Norwich

C Company: Long Stratton, with drill stations at Mulbarton and Saxlingham

D Company: Diss, with drill stations at Harleston and Tivetshall

E Company: Attleborough, with drill stations at East Harling, Keninghall, Banham, Old Buckenham and Watton

F Company: Wymondham, with drill stations at Hethersett, Swardeston, Colney and Hingham

G Company: Brandon, with drill stations at Thetford, Methwold and Feltwell

H Company: Thorpe St Andrew, with drill stations at Loddon, Blofield, Acle, Burgh St Margarets, Framingham Pigot and Coltishall

By August 1914 the battalion formed part of the Norfolk & Suffolk Infantry Brigade in the East Anglian Division. 

Here are some sample regimental numbers and joining dates for the the 4th Battalion, Norfolk Regiment:

72 joined on the 22nd April 1908 

796 joined on the 5th April 1909

1178 joined on the 9th March 1910 

1392 joined on the 6th March 1911 

1707 joined on the 16th April 1912 

1850 joined on the 5th March 1913 

2028 joined on the 13th March 1914 

2130 joined on the 6th August 1914 

A reserve or ‘second-line’ battalion was formed at Norwich in September 1914, the original 4th Battalion now becoming the 1/4th Battalion and the new reserve battalion becoming the 2/4th Battalion. A 3/4th Battalion was formed at Norwich in early 1915 but never served overseas.  All three battalions - the 1/4th, 2/4th, 3/4th - issued numbers from the same regimental number series and from 1917 reissued numbers to serving soldiers and to new recruits from a brand new regimental numbers series which began at 200001 and extended to 240000. 

Use the regimental numbers above to estimate when a man would have joined this battalion between 1908 and August 1914. For example, if your man had the number 1600 and lived in Methwold he would have joined the battalion between March1911 and April 1912 - and probably served with G Company. 

Remember. I research soldiers! Drop me a line if you need help 

To search for photos of your Norfolk Regiment ancestors, check my British Army Ancestors website.

Norfolk Regiment - other rank PoWs 1914

This is an edited roll of over 200 Other Ranks serving with the 1st Battalion, Norfolk Regiment who were captured by the enemy and became Prisoners of War on or before the 25th December 1914. Read more about this data source on my 1914 PoWs page.

This data has been transcribed from the following two sources at the Imperial War Museum:

B.O.2 1/191, a 15-page typed list dated 19th March 1919 sent by No 1 Infantry Record Office. No 9 District, Warley.
B.O.2 1/193, a five-page hand-written list dated 8th December 1918 sent by Norfolk Regiment Prisoners of War Help Organisation

My full transcription of this data (not reproduced here) also contains the following information against some or all of the names:

Date of capture
Home address
Next of kin
Next of kin's address
Notes
Transcriber's notes

The full transcription is available for sale as a download or CD for £10. Contact me if you would like to purchase a copy.

6982 Private A Archer

6661 Private J Ames
6993 Private A Aldous
6712 Private Edward C Barkaway
7164 Private W Brighton
6344 Private F Betts
8952 Private R Brooks
8929 Private W Bygrave
8042 Lance-Corporal Lawrence Bullock
6944 Private William A Brett
7550 Lance-Corporal G Branch
6597 Private W Bermingham
8761 Private E Bruce
7570 Sergeant H Brawn
8645 Sergeant F Bishop
6289 Corporal J Brunning
8796 Lance-Corporal Leonard W Brittain
6744 Lance-Sergeant W Bancalare
8912 Lance-Corporal A Bone
8826 Private T Betts
8381 Private E Bowden
7227 Private F W Barnes
6737 Private John Bailey
8646 Private C Beales
7265 Private C Burridge
8722 Private H Beldon
6964 Lance-Corporal W Barnes
8831 Private Thomas C W Bailey
8628 Private J Biggs
6393 Private E Brooks
6929 Private George Barber
6066 Private E Barnard
8277 Driver A Chiverall
6354 Private Charles Cornish
7852 Sergeant F Clarke
7255 Private F Clarke
8788 Private William V Chapman
8947 Private W Cooper
8703 Private W Crotch
8717 Private Harold S Copeman
7228 Private P Calver
8754 Private T Cushing
9003 Private T Chenery
8917 Lance-Corporal A Coates
8740 Lance-Corporal E Cobbin
6360 Private S Crowe
8876 Private S Cooper
6827 Private Sidney J Cottrell
7249 Private C W Cooper
8248 Private J Dingles
8239 Sergeant Charles Dansie
7218 Private R R Dack
8741 Lance-Corporal Alfred W Deane
6421 Private F Downes
6586 Private A Davis
8926 Private A Edmonds
8733 Lance-Corporal Edward Edge
6788 Private S Elvin
8869 Private Thomas Edwards
8801 Private Walter H Fish
7792 Sergeant R Frewer
9056 Private A Fawkes
8045 Sergeant A Field
8790 Private S Fulcher
6439 Private S Fuller
8809 Private F Funstan
8895 Private Charles Fuller
6819 Private F Fuller
8957 Private R Gunton
6733 Private F Garnham
5382 CSM S Galey
8913 Private L Green
3290 Private J Greaves
7233 Private J Gathercole
8768 Private S Greystone
8784 Lance-Corporal Frederick Gillman
6622 Private J Graves
6946 Private F Gurney
7248 Private P Griggleston
7002 Private Victor J Golden
8679 Private B Golder
7123 Private T Gowing
7293 Private F Holmes
6095 Sergeant A Hawkins
8407 Private Francis J Humphrey
8020 Private T Hills
7447 Sergeant S Heyhoe
7987 Private R Hurrell
6805 Private H Hudson
8767 Private Henry Hill
6700 Private G Hart
6912 Private H Holland
6437 Private J Hardy
6328 Private W Harrison
8347 Corporal E Harvey
4143 Private W Huggins
8705 Private E Horton
6734 Private C H Hensley
8550 Private A Horton
6296 Private S Holmes
6685 Private Charles Hutchin
8487 Private W Jones
7018 Corporal Frederick C Johnson
7126 Private Arthur Johnson
8807 Private H Jolly
8187 Lance-Corporal W Isbell
7577 Private Herbert Kinsman
6820 Private H King
6954 Private A Lodge
7250 Corporal Frederick W Lansdowne
5799 Private James Lumsden
6607 Private David Lurkins
8877 Private J Lloyd
3/7330 Private Sidney G Lister
7330 Private S Lister
6750 Private G Littleboy
6389 Private J Lawes
8188 Private T Mills
8791 Private A Manning
6741 Private C Martin
6757 Private R Mapes
8772 Private W Marshall
7125 Private A Mack
8692 Private P W Mountain
8490 Private R Masterson
6601 Private E E Meeks
7118 Private O Mortimer
8897 Private A Missen
7003 Corporal H McManus
8493 Private P Nelson
8162 Private C Norman
7314 Private J O'Driscoll
8919 Private C Rutledge
7173 Private J Roberts
8955 Private Walter Rice 
3/7950 Private W Riches
7191 Lance-Corporal F Smith
6505 Private H Smith
7189 Private Alfred V Siddle
6778 Private C Saunders
6753 Private S Snelling
7230 Private J Starr
8884 Private C Scott
6656 Private W Secker
7086 Private J Sherwood
8748 Private J Pollard
7238 Private B Pond
7778 Private F Palmer
8719 Private H Pellowe
8822 Private L Pilgrim
8825 Lance-Corporal George R Payton
6985 Lance-Corporal Ernest Pitts
7917 Private C Palmer
6708 Private Ernest Punchard
7175 Lance-Corporal S Pardon
8612 Lance-Corporal C Pettitt
7206 Private H Porter
6342 Private R Potter
8745 Private G Price
6895 Private A Ramm
8610 Corporal W Russell
7244 Private A Spinks
6721 Private W Secker
7235 Private H Skipper
8829 Private S Springett
8330 Private H Sheldrake
8859 Private G Sturgeon
8816 Private B Shorten
8943 Private R Smith
8749 Private W Starling
8731 Private A Savory
6324 Private R Sheldrake
4846 Private Harry Sheldrake
7103 Private W Scotter
6966 Private James Stewart
8682 Private A Snell
8938 Private A Shaul
6110 Sergeant Edward Sanders
9062 Lance-Corporal William Soames
6286 Private F Shingfield
6416 Private Ernest W Stackwood
7006 Private F Smith
6856 Private R Thwaite
8954 Private Ernest W Thompson
8792 Private M Tooley
6484 Private H Turner
8932 Private Arthur G Thurston
6828 Private T Tubby
7343 Sergeant D Tunmore
6812 Lance-Corporal C Tyrell
5577 CQMS Wallace S Tibbenham
7510 Corporal F Taylor
6547 Private T Tungate
6643 Private W Vincent
8494 Corporal W Underdown
6891 Private S Warren
6138 Private B Watson
8878 Private E Winn
7208 Private L Webster
8836 Private E Wilding
7327 Private F West
8778 Private A Wilkins
7973 Private A West
6776 Private A Watling
8292 Private W Webster
6383 Lance-Corporal Sidney T Woods
8681 Lance-Sergeant R Woodward
6516 Private J Wright
6481 Private E Wyatt
6720 Private A White
4897 Private C Whiting
7900 Private A E Watling
8633 Private B Wicks
6545 Private H White
6627 Private Thomas Yull

I also offer a comprehensive, fast and cost-effective military history research service. Follow the link for more information.

Norfolk Regiment - 3rd (Special Reserve) Bn

This post will look at numbering in the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment.

The battalion was formed in January 1908 on the demise of the militia. Up until that point the Norfolk militia had had two battalions, the 3rd and the 4th, but the 4th was one of 23 infantry militia battalions which was ordered to be disbanded. Thus when the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment was formed, it took in men from both the 3rd and 4th militia battalions, these men retaining their old militia numbers. In theory then, it would have been possible for two men to share the same number: 1234 Tommy Atkins joining from the 3rd Militia Battalion and 1234 Bill Smith joining from 4th Militia Battalion. I have not so far come across any examples of duplicates but I wouldn’t bet against it.

New recruits to the 3rd Battalion start at around the 627* range in 1908 but there are plenty of examples of men with far lower numbers joining in 1908 who had already seen many years service in the militia.

By August 1914 numbering had reached 9999 and then there appears to have been a bit of confusion, men numbering after this point first being given numbers starting from 1 again; thus SR/1 (or 3/1), SR/2 (or 3/2) for example. This system can clearly be seen on the front of some attestation papers from this period although appears to have been rectified later on, men’s numbers appearing as 3/10001, 3/10002 etc.

Many of the men joining in August and September 1914 were old soldiers who had seen service in the regular army or in militia or volunteer battalions (and in some cases a combination). These men generally joined up for one year’s service (or duration) and many of these men would shortly find themselves rushed out to France to fill in gaps in the regular 1st Battalion.

I also offer a comprehensive, fast and cost-effective military history research service. Follow the link for more information.

Further Reading

The Holy Boys
A history of the Royal Norfolk Regiment and the Royal Anglian Regiment 1685-2010.

The History of the Norfolk Regiment 1685-1914
Covers the period up until the outbreak of war.

The History of the Norfolk Regiment
History covering the period 4th August 1914 to 31st December 1918

East Surrey Regiment curiosities - 364**

I was reading through posts on the Great War Forum the other day and came across this query about an East Surrey Regiment man: George Addison.

What puzzled me about this man was his number. He had enlisted in 1914 and yet his number was not from a series of numbers I would have expected to see for 1914 enlistments for this regiment. I decided to investigate further by making a list of men who had numbers beginning 364* and then checking their names against surviving service records in WO 363 and WO 364 to see if there were any patterns. Here are the results:

36411 William J A Edwards, arr o/seas 1916 onwards
36412 Stanley W Bartram, arr o/seas 1916 onwards, later L/13015
36414 Alfred W Green, arr o/seas 1916 onwards, later Labour Corps
36415 Sydney W Lloyd, arr o/seas 1916 onwards.
36418 Joseph J Nicholson, arr o/seas 1916 onwards.
34620 Henry Ernest Perry, arr o/seas 1916 onwards. SWB MIC gives enlist date as 02/11/1917
36423 Charles William Ashpole, arr o/seas 1916 onwards. WO 364. Enlisted 11/12/1915
36427 Joseph Kilborn. SWB MIC gives enlist date as 27/05/1916
36430 Robert D Paulett, arr o/seas 1916 onwards.
36436 Joseph C Hall, arr o/seas 1916 onwards, later Labour Corps
36437 Charles T Hancock, arr o/seas 1916 onwards.
36439 Herbert R Harris, arr o/seas 1916 onwards.
36441 James H Chiverton, arr o/seas 1916 onwards.
36453 Herbert Evans, Unknown Bn, arr F&F 07/10/1915, later ASC
36454 George F Addison, 7th Bn, arr F&F 28/07/1915
36455 Henry C Morland, 7th Bn, arr F&F 29/07/1915
36455 Horace Alfred Allen
36456 William S Beteux, 8th Bn, arr F&F 27/07/1915
36458 Alfred T Clouder, 8th Bn, arr F&F 27/07/1915
36459 George A Crouch, 8th Bn, arr F&F 27/07/1915
36460 Alfred W Caston, 8th Bn, arr F & F 27/07/1915. WO 363. Attested Norwich 8th Sep 1914 with Norfolk Regt. Transferred to 8th Bn E Surrey Regt on 11th Sep 1914
36461 John Chestney, 8th Bn, arr F&F 27/07/1915
36462 Albert Cullen, 8th Bn, arr F&F 27/07/1915, later L/13024
36463 William Cullum, 8th Bn, arr F&F 27/07/1915
36464 John W Flack, 8th Bn, arr F&F 25/08/1915
36465 William H Curtis, 8th Bn, arr F&F 27/07/1915
36466 William J Cutting, 8th Bn, arr F&F 27/07/1915
36467 Wilfred J Darkens MM, 8th Bn, arr F&F 27/07/1915
36468 Albert Joyce, 8th Bn, arr F&F 25/08/1915
36469 Thomas A De’ath, 8th Bn, arr F&F 27/07/1915
36471 George E Fox, 8th Bn, arr F&F 27/07/1915; SWB MIC gives enlist date as 05/09/1914
36472 David Goodman, 8th Bn, arr F&F 27/07/1915
36475 William G Collins
36477 Arthur Fisher, 8th Bn, arr F&F 27/07/1915
36478 Alfred E Forder, 8th Bn, arr F&F 27/07/1915
36479 Frederick James Pulsford, 8th Bn, arr F&F 27/07/1915. Formerly 4933 East Surrey Regt
36482 Albert Floyd, arr o/seas 1916 onwards.
36483 Leslie Edward Fisher, 7th Bn, arr F&F 03/06/1915
36487 Thomas W Jones, arr o/seas 1916 onwards.
G/36491 Frederick William Manifold, arr o/seas 1916 onwards.

I have to say that the results are inconclusive due to the paucity of surviving service records, although I am tempted to draw the following conclusions:

36401-36441 are possibly Derby Scheme attestations from late 1915.
36454-36483 are mostly 7th and 8th Bn enlistments from 1914

I wonder whether there is a Norfolk/Suffolk link here somewhere as a number of the surnames are particularly common to those counties and I wonder how many of these man transferred onto the East Surrey Regiment from the Norfolk Regiment and the Suffolk Regiment. At least one did - 36460 - but admittedly, he may be the only one.


So as I say, an inconclusive result and a topic within a topic for which further responses would be most welcome.

I also offer a comprehensive, fast and cost-effective military history research service. Follow the link for more information.

Norfolk Regiment - 1st & 2nd Battalions

This post will look at army service numbers issued to men joining the regular 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Norfolk Regiment between 1881 and August 1914. The regiment was created on 1st July 1881 from the 9th (East Norfolk) Regiment of Foot.

There are over 33,000 Norfolk Regiment service and pension records (for this regiment - and its antecedents) in various War Office series held at the National Archives. Clicking on the link will take you to the results on Findmypast but you will need a subscription or Pay-Per-View credits to actually view the records. Some of these records can also be viewed on-line on Ancestry although Findmypast has by far the most comprehensive service record collection.

Here's how the regimental numbers were issued. Use this list to determine when your own Ancestor joined the regiment (but note that this is the number series for regular battalions only).

49 joined on 14th October 1881
117 joined on 14th January 1882
328 joined on 13th January 1883
753 joined on 29th January 1884
1139 joined on 31st January 1885
1624 joined on 11th January 1886
1917 joined on 7th January 1887
2175 joined on 7th June 1888
2373 joined on 5th January 1889
2593 joined on 6th June 1890
2818 joined on 7th March 1891
3168 joined on 13th March 1892
3580 joined on 9th February 1893
3932 joined on 2nd May 1894
4342 joined on 23rd July 1895
4501 joined on 27th January 1896
4730 joined on 31st March 1897
4863 joined on 5th January 1898
5122 joined on 19th January 1899
5554 joined on 2nd March 1900
5820 joined on 24th June 1901
6013 joined on 7th January 1902
6503 joined on 19th February 1903
6838 joined on 4th February 1904
7058 joined on 30th September 1905
7257 joined on 20th June 1906
7470 joined on 11th June 1907
7603 joined on 11th May 1908
7874 joined on 11th February 1909
8100 joined on 18th January 1910
8364 joined on 9th February 1911
8606 joined on 9th January 1912
8861 joined on 10th March 1913
9107 joined on 1st August 1914

Three days later, Britain went to war with Germany.

I've borrowed the undated photograph of men from the Norfolk Regiment's 2nd Battalion from The Diehards website.


I also offer a comprehensive, fast and cost-effective military history research service. Follow the link for more information.

Further Reading

The Holy Boys
A history of the Royal Norfolk Regiment and the Royal Anglian Regiment 1685-2010.

The History of the Norfolk Regiment 1685-1914
Covers the period up until the outbreak of war.

The History of the Norfolk Regiment
History covering the period 4th August 1914 to 31st December 1918