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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Soldiers Service Numbers


andrew pugh

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Good Evening All

I have a huge question th ask,I have a list of service numbers belonging to soldiers of the 17th Bn Royal Fusiliers all killed between 22nd March 27th March 1918, and all their doc's were all destroyed.By looking at their service numbers will they tell when a man joined, or was conscripted into the army.Here are the numbers, there's quite a lot of them.

PS/11371. PS/7231. PS/8995. PS/7019. PS/8099. PS/7043.

L/11069. E/1395. E/642. E/2446. E/1775. E/1838. E/567. E/730.

G/18829. G/67817. G/51345. G/68486. G/60951. G/60949. G/69985. G/69659. G/38545. G/69623

G69618. G/24454. G/60978. G/75153. G/51927. G/49265. G/50954. G/11094. G/75271. G/67825.

G/51651.

75309. 68771. 69637. 68548. 75321. 75313. 75314. 69549. 48038. 69570. 75154. 69615. 69617.

47797. SR/9571. I didn't put the fellows names to their numbers for space reasons.What do the P's and the E's stand for in front of the numbers.Were they Regulars or Conscrip's I realy need to find out if the were in from the early years of the war or towards the end.If this is to difficult please say so

but any help would be greatful.

Best Regards Andy

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What do the P's and the E's stand for in front of the numbers.

Andy

PS was the prefix for the Royal Fusiliers' Public Schools Battalions (18th to 21st Battalions), E was the prefix for the Empire Battalion (17th Battalion). I'd suggest that men with either of these prefixes were neither Regulars nor Conscripts but in fact had Volunteered when the battalions were in the process of forming in 1914 and 1915.

Steve

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Hi Steve.

Thanks for that info Steve is very helpfull.Im i correct in assuming that all the G prefixes are conscripts?

Regards Andy

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Andy

In a word no, you can't assume that G/ prefixed men with the Royal Fusiliers are conscripts. Some of them may well have been conscripted but equally any of those that volunteered under General Service terms of three years or the duration of the war were issued with that prefix.

Just to throw another possible 'problem' at you, the men with no listed prefix are also likely to be G/ men. As an example my GGF volunteered in 1915 and his number was variously recorded as G/15085, GS/15085 or just 15085.

Regards

Steve

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