Old Harry Posted 13 September , 2016 Share Posted 13 September , 2016 Can anyone help me sort out this conundrum, please? My father, M2/113388 Pte Harry Bailey, joined the Army Service Corps in June 1915. His service record (which is a poor copy and difficult to decipher) shows that he was posted to 588 Company in the Expeditionary Force, France on 16 Feb 1916. It is not until almost at the end of his service that he is listed as being in '18 Aux Bus Coy'. All the other records seem to bear the stamp of 52 Coy (M.T. Depot). I cannot find any mention anywhere of 588 Company, but in 'The Long Long Trail' 18th Auxiliary (Omnibus) Company is listed under 563 Company, which also includes 16th Auxiliary (Omnibus) Company. Is 563 Company equivalent to a battalion, containing smaller companies? Interestingly enough, when searching 18th Company, I found a posting here from Terry_Reeves back in 2011 which read: From "Destination Western Front- London's Omnibuses Go to War" by Roy Larkin: "The 18th Auxiliary Omnibus Company was formed in 1916 and attached to the 4th Army to cope with the ever increasing workload. This company was issued with Locomobile lorries which had been sold by America to Germany and then had been captured en-route by the Royal Navy. With characteristic humour, the Iron Cross was designated as the unit sign and painted on the vehicles." TR I would love to get a photo of one of these! Roy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Evans Posted 13 September , 2016 Share Posted 13 September , 2016 According to Michael Young's "ASC 1902-1918", 52 Company was a home based MT Depot, originally at Aldershot, later moving to Catterick and Southport and becoming an ASC Discharge Depot. 588 Company was formed 23rd September 1915 and disbanded 14th May 1919. It came under GHQ Troops on the Western Front and was designated 18 Auxiliary (Omnibus) Company. The war diary is in WO 95/149 according to Michael Young. It may be that the National Archives have their indexing wrong, as 405 Company was 15 Auxiliary (Omnibus) Company throughout its existence. 563 Company was 16 Auxiliary (Omnibus) Company. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Baker Posted 13 September , 2016 Share Posted 13 September , 2016 I''ll check the details on the LLT page when I get the chance. It may well be incorrect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Clifton Posted 13 September , 2016 Share Posted 13 September , 2016 I agree that 16 Aux MT (Omnibus) Company was 563 Company ASC, and 18 ditto was 588 Company. The official establishment of such companies was four officers and 208 men, reduced to 207 in September 1916. In April 1917 the companies were consolidated into an Auxiliary Omnibus Park of six companies plus an HQ company, with 34 officers and 2,057 men. Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Harry Posted 19 April , 2017 Author Share Posted 19 April , 2017 I have been wading through 18th Company's War Diary and it seems that they were a part of 4th Army from their formation in early 1916 until they were transferred to 1st Army in July 1918, when the Diary ends. I presume that a War Diary exists for the rest of 1918, although the RLC Archives at Deepcut know nothing about it. Can anyone help? Roy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Posted 19 April , 2017 Share Posted 19 April , 2017 This is a tricky one. Going by Michael Young, he writes that the diary for 15th Aux. (Omnibus) Company (405 Coy ASC) is in WO95/149. The diary for 16 Aux(Omnibus) Co (563 Coy ASC), and 18 Aux(Omnibus) Co (588 Coy ASC) are in the same box. Looking at the Discovery catalogue at the National Archive, I see that the companies are referred to as 'Reserve' (i.e. not Auxilliary) Mechanical Transport Companies: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/C4553300 it seems that the contents of the box have been split up into 7 downloadable files.Two seem to relate to 18 Aux, WO95/149/5 (Feb 1916 - Dec.1916) & WO95/149/6 which covers the period Jan.1917 - Jun 1918. I presume then that this file is the one you have downloaded. That the National Archive do not list a diary after this date is disappointing, as is the fact that the RLC Archives seem to confirm that fact. It would seem possible that the diary for that period is lost. However, there is always the possibility that a few pages have been misfiled (or purposefully filed) somewhere else in that box, or in another box, but realistically, now that most of the ASC diaries have been digitized and generally overhauled, I would have thought that unlikely. I suppose it's always a possibiliy that the diary is misfiled somewhere in First Army Records. I see that WO95/146 and 147 have 26 diaries relating to Reserve Mechanical Transport Companies, but don't give a company number on them. WO95/147, WO95/147/6, WO95/147/7, WO95/147/4, WO95/147/5, WO95/146/6 all begin on July 1st 1918, and I just wonder if any of these might be the follow on diaries you are looking for? Obviously at £3.50 a go, downloading them might be an expensive mistake Perhaps you could arrange a trip to Kew one day, and go through the box file by file for free? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bingoworlddk Posted 19 April , 2017 Share Posted 19 April , 2017 The WO95/147 war diaries contain the War Diary of the Auxiliary (Omnibus) Park M.T. and also the returns of the companies assigned to the Unit, including 18 Auxiliary (Omnibus) Company. The information (Vehicle Service returns) contained is the number of vehicles involved in transportation of a unit from one destination to another, what type of service, which route, distance travelled and the number of troops carried. F.ex. on Nov. 1st, 1918 18 Aux (Omnibus) Coy had three transports. for 59th CCS: 6 buses from Awoingt to Vires, carrying 150 wounded 228 miles 3 buses from Awoingt to Beugny, carrying 100 wounded 46 miles 1 buses from Awoingt to Greyvillers, carrying 25 wounded 58 miles. (Awoingt is the spelling used in the report - not sure what the correct name for the town is.) All 7 parts of WO95/147 contain Vehicle Service returns from 18 Auxiliary (Omnibus) Company - but one has to look for them, as the following companies are also part of the series: No. 1 Auxiliary Bus Company No. 2 Auxiliary Bus Company No. 15 Auxiliary Bus Company No. 16 Auxiliary Bus Company No. 50 Auxiliary Bus Company No. 51 Auxiliary Bus Company Hope this helps. Steen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Posted 19 April , 2017 Share Posted 19 April , 2017 (edited) Ah. Well done Steen! Beugny is about 10km east of Bapaume, Grévillers a few km west of Bapaume. As for the others.... Edited 19 April , 2017 by Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Harry Posted 20 April , 2017 Author Share Posted 20 April , 2017 This is valuable information. Many thanks, gents. Roy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wipers99 Posted 2 July , 2020 Share Posted 2 July , 2020 I don't suppose anybody knows of any photos of the Locomobile vehicles from 18th Coy do they? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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