Where would my Great Grandfather have trained?

[NickS]

My Great Grandfather was mobilized into the 3/5th Suffolk Regiment on the 29th September 1916. He reported to Devizes, Wiltshire so I assume it would have been the Le Marchant Barracks. There is no mention of where he carried out his training on his service record.

Would he have completed his initial training here or would he have gone to another camp?

Thanks in advance,

Nick

[dfaulder]

Per Long Long Trail:

3/4th and 3/5th Battalions

Formed at Ipswich and Bury St. Edmunds in April 1915.

10 April 1916 : became Reserve Battalions and 4th then absorbed 5th on 1 September 1916.

In spring 1917, 4th (Reserve) Battalion amalgamated with the Cambridge Reserve Battalion while both were at Halton near Tring. The merged unit was renamed the Cambridge and Suffolk (Reserve) Battalion. In August 1917 it moved to Crowborough and in September 1918 moved on again to Hastings.

So, if 4th absorbed the 5th on 1 September 1916, how did your GGF get mobilised into the 3/5th Suffolk Regiment (28 days later) on the 29th September 1916? Does his medal card give any clarification as to his unit (or his date of entry into Theatre (presumably with a different unit)?

Puzzled

David

[Terry_Reeves]

I suspect what has happened is that he has been notified that he was to be mobilized with 3/5th but events overtook his call up. Another possibility is that 3/5th still existed for a while after the amalgamation date. The LLT information is taken from Brigadier EA James's British Regiments 1914-18 incidentally, and whilst the book is an excellent publication, it does not necessarily cover all the nuances of the changes mentioned.

TR

[NickS]

Thanks for your replies David and Terry.

I have checked Army Form B178 Medical History which states under Joined on Enlistment 3/5th Suffolk Regiment and then under Transferred to No 4 Inf Lab Coy Northants Regiment (13/03/1917). This is consistent with his MIC which lists the Northants Regiment as his first unit prior to transferring to the Labour Corps.

If he was enlisted into the 5th do I take it that he was actually mobilized into 4th, if indeed the 4th had absorbed the 5th by this stage!

Fortunately the rest of his service seems to be a little less complicated.

Regards,

Nick