Jonathan Saunders Posted 27 July , 2008 Share Posted 27 July , 2008 According to War Diary the 6th Bttn Royal West Kents arrived in France with ORs strength of 842. I have extracted from the Medal Roll those ORs with a disembarkation date of 01/06/1915 (the date the bulk of the bttn crossed to F&F) and this gives a total of 696 ORs. According to the War Diary 108 ORs had preceeded the bttn on 30/05/1915 but there are only a handful of men in the Medal Roll with that disembarkation date, therefore I am missing roughly 146 ORs. Some of these could have been 1st bttn men entitled to a 1914 Star who were rebadged for whatever reason to the senior Service bttn, but 146 is quite a significant number. Has anyone made a similar review and experienced the same kind of shortfall? Any ideas why? Regards, Jonathan S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Thompson Posted 27 July , 2008 Share Posted 27 July , 2008 Hi Jonathan, A couple of thoughts... Have you looked at the 14/15 Star medal rolls for other units? For example, the Labour Corps rolls are likely to hold a fair few RWKs if the Hants Regiment is anything to go by. Most infantry regiments have 70-100 pages of men on the Labour Corps rolls so they are essential viewing for anyone trying to compile a nominal roll of all those who went overseas with a unit in 1914/15. For RWK you will need to look at WO329/2848 which contains Northampton, R Berkshire, R W Kent, KOYLI plus the mis-sorts in: 2858 RE, RAMC, RGA, Miscellaneous (missorts not included in their regimental block), RFA 2860 Cavalry (all cavalry regts), Guards (all Foot Guards)RAOC, RAPC, Miscellaneous (missorts not included in their regimental block) 2861 Miscellaneous (missorts not included in their regimental block) The last volume 2861 consists completely of 'missorts'* - anyone researching a particular unit should go through this volume as well as the blocks of missorts in 2858 and 2860 as they may well find an additional page or two. Thanks go to Charles Fair for the Labour Corps information which he posted some time ago. As you say, a number of your men may be 1/RWK men entitled to the 14 Star who were wounded or sick and on recovery were posted to 6/RWK. This would be consistent with the Hants where a number of 1/Hants men were subsequently posted in 1915 as reinforcements to 2/Hants and 10/Hants in Gallipoli. Marc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryBettsMCDCM Posted 27 July , 2008 Share Posted 27 July , 2008 Those transferred to other units following being wounded etc do not appear on the initial Medal Roll {RWK in this case}you will have to find those men either in an embarkation list{Local papers of the time,etc;} or search through MiCs {enter 6th,West Kent,into NA search engine}which may throw up some of them... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Saunders Posted 27 July , 2008 Author Share Posted 27 July , 2008 Thanks for your replies. I have some of the Labour Corps Medal Roll to RWK so will cross reference with that. I havent looked at any Mis-sorts - didnt realise they existed so will definitely follow that up. Will double check against the MIC as well. Thanks and regards, Jonathan S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Thompson Posted 27 July , 2008 Share Posted 27 July , 2008 Those transferred to other units following being wounded etc do not appear on the initial Medal Roll {RWK in this case}you will have to find those men either in an embarkation list{Local papers of the time,etc;} or search through MiCs {enter 6th,West Kent,into NA search engine}which may throw up some of them... or if you can face it look through the 14/15 Star medal rolls for the other units. This will pick up all but the 14 Star guys who disembarked with 6/RWKs. If you can't face all of the 14/15 Star medal rolls for the other units it may be worthwhile being a bit selective, e.g. MGC, Labour Corps, plus any other Regiment where you can determine that blocks of 6/RWK men transferred to. Marc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Fair Posted 27 July , 2008 Share Posted 27 July , 2008 Jon - definitely look at the Labour Corps - I got about 100 March 15 men for the 19th Londons that way. Also the MGC Roll will give the 1915 MG Section (c. 40 names in total IIRC). Its also worth looking through the 14/15 Star Rolls for the MFP, APC, AOC etc as you should find a few there (wont take long, those corps are all bound together in a couple of volumes - I got around another 15 names that way.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Lees Posted 27 July , 2008 Share Posted 27 July , 2008 When i was doing a similar thing for the 9th King's Liverpool Regt. I was advised to check the Rolls for (in order of likely results) the Labour Corps, the MGC, the RAF and then 'every other unit'. I still have large numbers missing, but the search goes on. Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryBettsMCDCM Posted 27 July , 2008 Share Posted 27 July , 2008 Look to men in Regiment Battalions in the same Division as your 6th RWK men,on recuperation men often were posted to units within their Divn as re~inforcements Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
high wood Posted 28 July , 2008 Share Posted 28 July , 2008 My advice would be to look in the Maidstone newspapers for local casualty lists from about 30th September 1915. Around this date the War Office were still listing casualties with both regimental and battalion details. Having taken part in the Battle of Loos, men of the 6th RWK's should be listed. It is then a simple but time consuming excercise to cross reference these names against the medal index cards. I tried the same method when compiling a list of original 9th battalion East Surrey men and it worked surprisingly well. A great many of these men ended up in the Labour Corps or training reserve battalions, presumably as instructors, a few were commissioned and one ended up in the Royal Flying Corps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelPack Posted 28 July , 2008 Share Posted 28 July , 2008 Jonathan Purely as a matter of interest what was the highest and lowest service numbers of the 696 that you have identified? Regards Mel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Saunders Posted 28 July , 2008 Author Share Posted 28 July , 2008 Once again - thanks for all replies and I will follow these up. I have some casualty lists from War Diary (up to mid-1916 so cover Loos) and I am currently transcribing them (where legible). I can also check what number of new drafts were received prior to 8 Oct. Regards, Jonathan S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Saunders Posted 28 July , 2008 Author Share Posted 28 July , 2008 Jonathan Purely as a matter of interest what was the highest and lowest service numbers of the 696 that you have identified? Regards Mel Hi Mel, L/4732 - L/10482 (L denotes regular soldier) S/4 - S9321 (S denotes Reserve) G/2 - G/6396 (G denotes volunteer for duration) 539 men are listed between G/2 and G/1290, that being a block of numbers that you would associate with the senior Service Bttn. Regards, Jonathan S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Saunders Posted 28 July , 2008 Author Share Posted 28 July , 2008 I have reviewed my list on Labour Corps 1915 star for RWK and have a revised provisional total of 801 for 6/RWKs - unfortuntely my Labour Corps list does not have date of embarkation, therefore not sure at this moment whether all the Labour corps men were originals that crossed to F&F on 01/06/1915. Again many thanks for all your help. Regards, Jonathan S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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