Enlistment Register

[Piggy]

Is anyone able to confirm that the Enlistment Register Army Book 358 Glosters Outside Nos. Book 1 1907-1940 should show next of kin and/or address of person enlisting in 1914?

I have posted this query on The Soldiers of Gloucestershire website but have had no reply.

Thanks for any help.

Piggy

[Beau Geste]

Is anyone able to confirm that the Enlistment Register Army Book 358 Glosters Outside Nos. Book 1 1907-1940 should show next of kin and/or address of person enlisting in 1914?

Piggy

I can't answer your question Piggy but I'm excited by the prospect that regiments might have kept such a register especially if, as you suggest, they might contain data such as NoK and addresses. There are probably many people, like me, who believe that a soldier listed on a MIC is a relative but can't prove it.

Kind regards,

Harry

[headgardener]

Is anyone able to confirm that the Enlistment Register Army Book 358 Glosters Outside Nos. Book 1 1907-1940 should show next of kin and/or address of person enlisting in 1914?

I have posted this query on The Soldiers of Gloucestershire website but have had no reply.

Can I ask where the information regarding the enlistment register came from? Do you know that it still exists?

[pjjobson]

The Royal Artillery Attestation Ledgers certainly contain details, not only of next of kin, but childrens names and place of residence. Only problem is, they aren't digitised, and you would need to go through literally dozens of ledgers to find your man.

Phil

[headgardener]

The Royal Artillery Attestation Ledgers certainly contain details, not only of next of kin, but childrens names and place of residence. Only problem is, they aren't digitised, and you would need to go through literally dozens of ledgers to find your man.

Hi Phil, where are these held? and how are they arranged? (numerical, by year, roughly alphabetical?)

[joseph]

Hi,

I have seen them for the East Yorkshire Regiment but they do not commence until the 1920's the only men who served during WW1 that are in, are those that where still serving and re-numbered.

Regards Charles

[bootneck]

The Gloster register appears to be one of the Enlistment Registers used from the introduction of Army numbering in 1920. I have seen those for both The Queen's and East Surrey Regiments, 1920-1959, held at the Surrey History Centre,and a few of the entries relate to men who enlisted as early as 1892.

The earlier registers are quite detailed and list not only NoK, but marriages and birth of children. They list campaign medals and gallantry medals as well as wounds. Latter books c. mid-late 1930s are much briefer. There are also discharge registers from 1921 to 1959 and transfer in/out registers.

regards

Bootneck

[Beau Geste]

Does anyone know if registers of this type exist covering those who enlisted in Welsh regiments/battaliions ?

Harry

[Piggy]

Thank you for your interest everyone.

My information came from the Soldiers of Gloucester website and specifically from their Museum Collection data.

I think I will have to request the Museum to do some paid research for me as this seems to be the only way to get access to the Enlistment Registers as I am in Australia.

Piggy

[janecavell]

I've recently been privileged to be given access to such registers for the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. They're in the archive of the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Trust's museum, in Woodstock. They're printed registers, labelled Army Book 358, with space for all manner of useful info, but not always systematically filled in for each man. They're arranged by army number, but each volume I looked at had its own alphabetical index of names.

They look like a really fantastic resource for military and family historians. According to the printed blurb at the front of the book, they were intended eventually to be deposited with the Master of the Rolls, but evidently they have not all made their way into government archives. I'll try to get permission to post some images online so you can see just what a treasure trove they are.

[bootneck]

For those who might be interested.

THE QUEEN’S ROYAL REGIMENT (WEST SURREY) AND THE EAST SURREY REGIMENT: ENLISTMENT REGISTERS, TRANSFERS-IN/OUT REGISTERS, ANNUAL DISCHARGES BOOKS AND WORLD WAR II HONOURS INDEXES, 1892-1958 (Surrey History Centre reference: 7791/-)

Provenance

Presented by the Records Management Department of The National Archives in May 2005 and January 2006, under the Public Records Acts 1958, the records having been released from the Ministry of Defence archive in Hayes.

Introduction

Up to 1919 each army regiment had its own numbering system: thus numbers were duplicated between regiments. Some regiments even had the same number with a different prefix (for example T, L, G and S for the Queen’s Regiment or E, L, T or TF for the East Surrey Regiment), while other soldiers’ numbers within these regiments did not have a prefix. Furthermore a soldier’s number would change if he transferred to another regiment, or even battalion within the same regiment.

To overcome this confusion, in 1917 blocks of numbers were introduced in the Territorial Battalions: 200001-240000 for the 5th Battalion and 240001-265000 for the 6th Battalion, East Surrey Regiment. The same blocks of numbers were used for the 4th and 5th Battalions of the Queen’s (RWS) Regiment.

In 1919 a new numbering system was introduced whereby all regiments were allocated blocks of numbers. The Queen’s Regiment was allocated 6,076,001-6,132,000 and the East Surrey Regiment 6,132,001-6,188,000. However if a soldier transferred to another regiment, he would still retain his old army number.

If a soldier had served in the regiment before 1919 and remained in the regiment after the First World War, he was allocated a new number. Such soldiers are listed in 7791/1/1/1-2, for the Queen’s Regiment, and 7791/2/1/1-2 for the East Surrey Regiment and these registers give their record of service. For soldiers who enlisted in 1919 onwards, the registers only give the name, number and date of enlistment.

Among the transfer registers, 7791/1/2/- and 7791/2/2/-, are soldiers who belonged to the General Service Corps. This was a holding unit for specialist soldiers, usually belonging to the reserve. These soldiers were allocated army numbers 14,200,001-15,000,000 and 19,000,001-19,200,000.

Related records

For the archives of the two regiments, formerly held at the Queen’s Royal Surrey Regimental Museum, see QRWS and ESR. For recruitment registers (Army Book 303) of the 2nd (Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment) and 31st (East Surrey Regiment) Regimental Recruiting Districts, 1908-1933, see 2496/-.

[Marc Thompson]

To add to the useful information that Bootneck has provided, based on the registers held by the Royal Hampshire Regiment museum the early volumes contain the following fields (not always completed for each man):

Army No.

Name in full

Attestation - Date, age, Place

Transfer to or from Regiment or Corps and Date or Becoming Non Effective

Trade on Enlistment

Place of Birth - Parish, Town, County

Full Name and Nationality of Women to whom married, and nature of each child (if any); if unmarried name and address of next-of-kin stating relationship

Place of marriage and birth of each child

Date of marriage and of birth of each child

Campaigns, wounds, medals or rewards of any kind

Discharge or becoming non-effective - date, place, cause, rank and character on discharge, rate of pension awarded (if any), address on discharge

Particulars of former service, corps and number

Remarks

To reitterate, the registers only contain details of other ranks who were issued an Army Number - they are therefore an extremely useful source for those soldiers who had served in the regiment before 1919 and remained in the regiment after the First World War.

As also stated latter books from mid-late 1930s onwards are much briefer. There are also discharge registers from 1921 to 1959 and transfer in/out registers.

Marc