Army Service Numbers 1881-1918: enlistment dates

Showing posts with label enlistment dates. Show all posts

9 August 2022

Royal Munster Fusiliers - Regular, Special & Extra Reserve enlistments

Having recently posted three separate posts on regimental numbering in the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion, 4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion and 5th (Extra Reserve Battalion) of the Royal Munster Fusiliers (RMF), I thought it would be helpful to illustrate the problems we face when trying to work out when our RMF ancestor joined the regiment - and which battalion he joined.

Between 1908 and 1914, men joining the 1st and 2nd Battalions would have been issued with numbers in the approximate range 8700 to 10320. For men joining the 3rd Battalion, the number range was approximately 3000 to 4500, for the 4th Battalion it was 4000 to 7300 and for the 5th Battalion it was 5300 to 6100. I stress that these number ranges are approximate.

So if you know your RMF ancestor earned the 1914 Star and had the regimental number 4300, he could have originally joined the 3rd or 4th Battalion. For that matter, it's also possible that he was an older soldier who had originally joined the 5th (Militia) Battalion pre-1908. If he was in fact a career soldier, he would have had to have joined the RMF in 1893.

Take a look at the 1914 Star medal roll extract on this post. The 3rd Battalion only reached the 5100s by December 1914. For the 4th Battalion, they reached the 7600s, and the 5th Battalion was in the 6600s. This means that a man with a number higher than 7700 must have been a career soldier and must have originally served with the 1st or 2nd Battalion.

Ten of the 12 men on this extract must therefore have been career soldiers. So that leaves 6093 Walton and 7202 Crowe. Walton could have enlisted with the 4th or 5th Battalions, but not the 3rd. Crowe could have enlisted with the 4th, but not the 3rd or 5th Battalions. For that matter, both men could have been early regular enlistments - see my post on numbering in the 1st & 2nd Battalions - with Walton potentially joining the regiment in 1898, and Crowe joining in 1902.

In such cases, you'd be hoping for a service record or a record in MH 106 (hospital admissions) to provide additional information about these men's length of service. My own hunch, without having researched these two men further is that they probably were long-serving career soldiers, given that they arrived overseas on the 13th August 1914 along with the majority of the other men on this roll.

8 January 2009

Army Service Number sources

The bulk of my army service number data giving enlistment and joining dates, comes directly from service records held in the WO 363 and WO 364 series at the National Archives. These are by far the most reliable documents when it comes to ascertaining dates of attestation and later, dates of joining a particular regiment. Other sources - such as the privately published National Roll of the Great War 1914-1918 and De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour 1914-1924 - should be used with caution as the dates - where given - are often unreliable.

It is also possible to pick up enlistment dates from some Medal Index Cards (MICs) but again, caution should be exercised. The example above, appears to show that 654580 Edward Thomas Allen enlisted with the 21st London Regiment on 13th December 1915. Well he may have done, but he certainly wasn't given that number in December 1915 as numbers in this range (as I mentioned in my previous post) were not being issued until 1917.

It seems more likely that Edward Allen attested in December 1915, probably under The Derby Scheme, and was called up later. His number would have been issued to him when he joined the 21st Londons in 1917. In his case, he doesn't appear to have been with the battalion very long, before he was discharged due to sickness. Number 654714 was issued on 9th May 1917 and Edward, with a number 134 digits lower, had already been discharged from the army by 18th April that year.

Another point to note when trying to ascertain joining dates from MICs is that the regiment noted on the MIC in not always necessarily going to be the regiment that the man first joined. In Edward's case for example, it is feasible that he initially enlisted with another regiment, was numbered by it and then transferred to the 21st Londons. In some cases MICs will state that the soldier was "ex" so-and-so regiment but in many cases it will not.

So let caution be the watchword when trying to gather information from MICs: the enlistment date may be an attestation date rather than enlistment or joining date, and the regiment noted may not be the one that the man initially joined. In general, when looking at MICs I always tread warily around those with dates for November and December 1915 in particular as very many men were late Derby Scheme attestations during this time; signing up for their willingness to serve but not actually being called upon (and given army service numbers) until weeks or months later.

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27 November 2008

17th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Poplar and Stepney Rifles)

The 17th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Poplar and Stepney Rifles), had its origins in the 2nd Tower Hamlets Volunteer Rifles Corps.

Here are some army service numbers and corresponding joining dates for the 17th Londons:

367 joined on 3rd June 1908
864 joined on 13th July 1909
1076 joined on 1st September 1910
1100 joined on 9th February 1911
1320 joined on 20th June 1912
1593 joined on 15th May 1913
1885 joined on 7th July 1914
2012 joined on 6th August 1914
2323 joined on 1st September 1914
3283 joined on 17th November 1914
3314 joined on 15th December 1914
3326 joined on 8th January 1915
3445 joined on 2nd February 1915
3633 joined on 13th March 1915
3823 joined on 7th April 1915
4198 joined on 4th May 1915
5037 joined on 14th August 1915
5149 joined on 4th October 1915
5411 joined on 20th February 1916
5451 joined on 1st March 1916
5648 joined on 8th April 1916
6167 joined on 21st June 1916
6490 joined on 6th July 1916
6602 joined on 4th August 1916
8137 joined on 1st September 1916
8451 joined on 5th October 1916
8693 joined on 23rd November 1916
8695 joined on 5th December 1916
8729 joined on 2nd January 1917

Later in January 1917, the 17th London Regiment was numbering with the new six figure Territorial Force numbers. It did so within the range 570001 - 590000.

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

26 August 2008

The London Regiment - army service numbers and enlistment dates

I'll start to work through the various battalions of The London Regiment, giving a few numbers and dates from 1908 to 1916 or 1917. As far as my data is concerned, the information I'm publishing here is the tip of an increasingly large iceberg.

The London Territorial Force battalions in 1908 all had their origins in various Volunteer Force Battalions. They numbered from the 1st (City of London) Battalion (Royal Fusiliers) through to the 25th (County of London) Cyclist Battalion. The Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) was to have been the 26th Battalion - presumably The 26th (County of London) Battalion TF (Honourable Artillery Company) - and the Inns of Court was to have been the 27th Battalion - again, presumably the 27th (County of London) Battalion TF (Inns of Court), but these titles were never used. Instead, the HAC, which could trace its history back to 1296, and the Inns of Court - which could trace its history back to 1584, were allowed to keep their original titles.

The 28th (County of London) Battalion (Artists' Rifles), completed the London Regiment roll call in 1908. Later, during the First World War, six more battalions were added to the London Regiment.

25 August 2008

Essex Regiment numbers from 1914

In previous posts I gave:

Information about numbering in the regular battalions of the Essex Regiment between the years 1881 and 1914
Numbering in the Essex Regiment Territorial Force battalions
Numbering in the Essex Yeomanry

Let me now continue with numbering in the Essex Regiment service battalions from August 1914.

As I mentioned in a previous post, by March 1914, the two regular battalions of the Essex Regiment were numbering in the 10,400s. I have not seen an Army Council Instruction or any official documentation concerned with how the Essex Regiment treated numbering in the service battalions once Britain went to war in August 1914, but looking at the numbering sequences it would appear that a small block of numbers was retained for use by men who, during war-time, still wished to enlist for 7&5 (seven years with the Colours, five on the Reserve) and separate, larger blocks of numbers for men who were purely joining up for three years or duration.

Find photos of Essex Regiment soldiers on my British Army Ancestors website.

But in the early days at least, it looks as though men who were purely enlisting for the duration of the war, were allocated numbers which were from the old regular battalion series - and they seem to have attested on all manner of forms. There is evidence in surviving attestation papers in the WO 363 and WO 364 series at the National Archives in London that men joining the Essex Regiment in August 1914 for three years or duration, attested on forms originally designed for regulars enlisting for 6&6 (AF. B.250), 8&4 (AF. B.224), 3&9 (AF. B.217) and 7&5 (AF.B.265). Army Form B.248, designed for men enlisting into the Special Reserve, was also used during that chaotic first month of war.
As the months went on, things seem to have settled down and, staying with the 1st and 2nd Battalions for a moment, number 10732 was issued to a man enlisting for 7&5 on 26th October 1914, and numbers 11003 and 11032 were issued on 14th July 1915 and 18th August 1915 respectively, to men who also enlisted as regular career soldiers with the Essex regiment on those dates. By these latter dates, men enlisting into the service battalions of the Essex regiment were receiving numbers in the 20,000s and 21,000s.

Here are a few more numbers and joining dates for men enlisting in the service battalions of the Essex regiment:

12019 joined 24th August 1914
15181 joined 30th September 1914
15417 joined 28th October 1914
16408 joined 16th November 1914
16638 joined 29th December 1914
19770 joined 30th June 1915
23703 joined 10th November 1915
29165 joined 21st July 1916
36028 joined 17th January 1917

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

20 August 2008

Essex Yeomanry numbers and dates

In early 1914 the headquarters of The Essex Yeomanry was located at 17 Sir Isaac's Walk, Colchester. A Squadron was also located at Colchester and had drill stations at Clacton-on-Sea, Harwich, Walton-on-the-Naze and Ardleigh. B Squadron was at Braintree, with drill stations at Halstead, Chelmsford and Tiptree; and C Squadron was located at Waltham Abbey, with drill stations at Loughton, Bishop's Stortford (now in Hertfordshire) and Great Dunmow. D Squadron was situated at Southend-on-Sea and had drill stations at Brentwood, Grays, Stratford and Orsett. (Information courtesy of Ray Westlake's The Territorial Force 1914).

Here are some sample army service numbers and corresponding joining dates for the Essex Yeomanry.

10 joined on 1st April 1908
444 joined on 15th January 1909
605 joined on 17th May 1910
647 joined on 21st January 1911
859 joined on 2nd January 1913
1070 joined on 5th August 1914
1374 joined on 8th October 1914
1590 joined on 9th November 1914
1666 joined on 7th December 1914
1777 joined on 9th January 1915
1919 joined on 2nd March 1915
2074 joined on 7th April 1915
2272 joined on 29th June 1915
2406 joined on 21st October 1915

There are a couple of points to note about this brief sequence above. The first is that the huge influx into the regiment by 1909 (444 recruits in the months April 1908 to January 1909) is explained by men from the old Essex Imperial Yeomanry, joining the new Essex Yeomanry. Just as men from the pre-1908 Volunteers (infantry) were encouraged to re-enlist with newly formed Territorial Force battalions, so most of those 444 Essex Yeomanry men would have previously served with the Essex Imperial Yeomanry.

There is a brief overview of the Essex Yeomanry on Wikipedia and the Essex Yeomanry Association is here. Findmypast also has close to 3000 records for men who served with the Essex Yeomanry.

By 1910, enlistments into the Essex Yeomanry had steadied drastically, with just 30 new recruits issued numbers between May and December that year. Recruiting picked up again of course during the First World War, but even by March 1917, the numbers - again, as to be expected - were far lower than in the Essex Regiment Territorial Force battalions. The last four-digit number I have on my database for The Essex Yeomanry is 2825 which was issued on 17th March 1917.

Find photos of Essex Yeomanry soldiers on my British Army Ancestors website.

THE 10th (P.W.O.) ROYAL HUSSARS AND THE ESSEX YEOMANRY DURING THE EUROPEAN WAR, 1914-1918.

This from the Naval & Military Press:

"A Regular cavalry regiment and a Territorial Yeomanry regiment make strange bedfellows in a combined regimental history, but this is the work of an officer who commanded both during the war and felt the need to make a record of the incidents which united the Regiments in close friendship during the Great War. Whitmore was a Territorial officer, not a Regular, and his appointment to command a regular cavalry regiment must have been a unique one; there were only twenty-five cavalry of the line regiments on the Western Front and competition for command among career officers would have been keen. Furthermore he was recommended to the command of the 10th Hussars by the Cavalry Corps commander, Lieut-General Sir Charles Kavanagh, who was himself a former CO of the Regiment.

"The Hussars landed at Ostend in October 1914, the Essex at Havre on 1 December 1914 and both regiments served in 8th Cavalry Brigade, 3rd Cavalry Division, till April 1918 when the Essex were broken up, at which point Whitmore, who had been CO of the Essex since November 1915, was posted to command 10th Hussars where he remained till March 1919.

"This account is not in the form of a personal memoir but rather that of an impersonal, wartime regimental history in which the activities of both regiments are fused into the one narrative set out in chronological order. There is a wealth of information in the appendices which are arranged for each Regiment separately: Diary of movements; Roll of officers who served showing when they joined and when they left and whether they were casualties and, in the case of the Essex; where they went; Honours and Awards; list of casualties showing killed, wounded or missing. There are also two appendices showing Order of Battle, one giving names of Cavalry Corps, Division and Brigade commanders with dates, and the other giving the composition of the Cavalry Divisions and Brigades. There is an index. This is a gift for researchers, genealogists and medallists."

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

Caveat
It is wrong to assume that numbering sequences in battalions always followed a sequential pattern. They didn't. As the war progressed and casualties grew, large numbers of men were often transferred from one battalion to another and allocated numbers within blocks which did not fit the sequential patterning seen to date. This becomes particularly evident in most battalions from 1916 onwards. For an example of this, see my post on the 23rd London Regiment.

Army Service Numbers 1881-1918

Pages

9 August 2022

Royal Munster Fusiliers - Regular, Special & Extra Reserve enlistments

8 January 2009

Army Service Number sources

27 November 2008

17th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Poplar and Stepney Rifles)

26 August 2008

The London Regiment - army service numbers and enlistment dates

25 August 2008

Essex Regiment numbers from 1914

Find photos of Essex Regiment soldiers on my British Army Ancestors website.

20 August 2008

Essex Yeomanry numbers and dates

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