Driver John Parry, Royal Field Artillery, 5th Brigade

[Brainybri]

These are some of the items from Driver John Parry, my grandfather-in-law. His uniform buttons, identification tags, a food token from Deerlijk, a piece of shrapnel, his cap and shoulder insignia....and one other item. Can anyone tell me what that small, irregular octagon shaped item was for? Many thanks.

[Jerry B]

A Name tag I think, assuming you mean the item with his name on it, these were commonly worn around the wrist or perhaps the neck. They were mostly homemade and often made from silver coins or similar, many were quite elaborate.

[Brainybri]

Thank you, Jerry.

[clive_hughes]

Hi,

Just looking at his ID tags, does it say CON as in Congregationalist (Annibynwr)?

Clive

[Brainybri]

Thank you, Clive. As far as we are aware, he was not Annibynwr, but Methodist (Calfinaidd). However, he did spend some time before the war in Swansea working on the railways and may have attended a different chapel there. I am a beginner in WW1 research and had no idea what the CON stood for on the tags. Was the religion of the soldier usually shown on the tag?

[Hywyn]

Bri

I take you know his service papers are available?

Hywyn

edit: they state C of E

[Brainybri]

Diolch, Hywyn.....I have seen some rather illegible copies, obtained from Ancestry, of parts of his service records, showing offences and punishments (some of which I can't read) and have just seen, thanks to you, on his casualty form, in the margin, what could be 'C of E' (it's a terrible copy!).....which has amazed us because he always went to chapel here in Wales. I no longer have access to Ancestry to check these things.