639 Gnr.A.E.Sharpe,RFA

[Terry]

Tried earlier but it apparently didn't go through. I just picked up a 14-15 trio to this man, with the star named to him as a driver,RFA and the others as a gunner,RA. Can I assume from his very low number that he must have been a pre-war regular who was held back when most of the BEF went to France in 1914?

[Yorts]

I just picked up a 14-15 trio to this man, with the star named to him as a driver,RFA and the others as a gunner,RA. Can I assume from his very low number that he must have been a pre-war regular who was held back when most of the BEF went to France in 1914?

Hi,

I think this would be a dangerous assumption to make without recourse to service records. He may well have been SR and not called up until the outbreak of war and thus didn't land in time to qualify for a 14 star. Alternatively, he could have been serving in India when the war broke out (or on another colonial station) and it took a few months for him to land. F & F might not even have been his first theatre of war. I think these are at least a couple of several possibilities in addition to remaining in the UK.

I would suggest checking for his service record, MIC etc. Dick Flory is our resident RA expert, perhaps he might be able to analyse the service number.

Regards,

Alex.