ASC Rank of STRAPPER

[sotonmate]

Strolling through the Old Southampton Cemetery,a quiet,interesting and absorbing walk, I observe a CWGC stone with the legend:

TS/4454 Strapper F WOOLLEY RASC 29.11.1914 Aged 42.

Can anyone help with the rank,what did he do ?

Sotonmate

[Ron Clifton]

Hello sotonmate

It's not an official rank or appointment (i.e. listed in Kings Regs or the Pay Warrant) but presumably it means a harness-maker The TS/ prefix indicates "transport specials"..

"RASC" is a bit of an anomaly here, too. They did not become Royal until the Armistice.

Ron

[David B]

Hi Sotonmate,

As Ron said, probably a harness maker. A great uncle of mine served from 1899-1920 had a rank of

Saddler Staff Sergeant. Though I had not seen this renk previously, I always thought it was an official rank, at least

thats what it says on his service docos

david

[NigelS]

CWGC gives

Name: WOOLLEY, FREDERICK

Initials: F

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Strapper

Regiment/Service: Army Service Corps

Unit Text: Remount Depot (Southampton)

Age: 42

Date of Death: 29/11/1914

Service No: TS/4454

Additional information: Husband of H. Woolley, of 122, Provost St., City Rd., Hoxton, London.

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: 147 N. 214.

Cemetery: SOUTHAMPTON OLD CEMETERY

NB No "Royal"; Although there might have been saddlery involved in this chaps work with the Remount Service, the OED gives, for "strapper" :

2. One who straps or grooms horses. Chiefly Australian in later use.

With "strap" (as a verb) given as:

To groom (a horse).

The OED, of course, also gives the expected:

5. A worker who furnishes or secures a thing with straps.

NigelS

[treetop]

My grandfather was a strapper in a remount company of ASC until he died in 1916. Digging into research suggests he was essentially a stable groom who helped to prepare,stable and condition horses for service at the front. This will have included some driving of supplies to and from the front areas and artillery columns into position because of their skills with horses. Extremely dangerous when you read about how they crossed the Menin Gate crossroads at night to get supplies to the front lines. GF was killed by an incoming shell which could have been several miles behind the lines near Arras.

[sotonmate]

Contributors

Thank you all for the comments,it might have suggested an obvious task but I have found that it always bears augmentation !

I posted what it said on the stone,RASC, I too knew it wasn't "Royal" at the time of his death.

Sotonmate

[Ron Clifton]

A great uncle of mine served from 1899-1920 had a rank of Saddler Staff Sergeant. Though I had not seen this renk previously, I always thought it was an official rank, at least

thats what it says on his service docos

Hello David

Yes, that one is on the list in Kings Regs so it is an official rank! Or, more strictly speaking, an appointment. The equivalent rank was Staff Sergeant.

Ron

[Michael Johnson]

I'm finding this interesting, as I have a Star to an A.S.C. Strapper, with a TS prefix, who was transferred to the 5th Royal Fusiliers, and thence to the Machine Gun Corps. I've found a couple of others who did the same, although one ended up with the Tanks.

[squirrel]

The ASC became "Royal" in 1919. The headstones were done in the 1920's. Hence casualties who served with the ASC have RASC on their headstones (I am sure that there will be exceptions to this somewhere though!).IIRC it was the choice of the regiment or corps concerned what "title" went on the headstones.

[centurion]

In peace time a number of the more affluent hunts had strappers - men who 'strapped down' the horses of the master, huntsman and other officials after a meet. A skilled groom.

[Michael Johnson]

In peace time a number of the more affluent hunts had strappers - men who 'strapped down' the horses of the master, huntsman and other officials after a meet. A skilled groom.

Pte. Patrick Healy's attestation lists his occupation as "Groom". He was also about 40 when he enlisted. I got a shock when I found a note in his file stating that he had been accepted for the Pioneer Corps in 1940, but it was misfiled.

Some MICs give the rank as "Strapper" and some as "Private Strapper"

[Piorun]

A strapper puts the saddles, bridles, harness straps etc. on horses. In practice, he or she would also perform general stable duties. Antony

[centurion]

A strapper puts the saddles, bridles, harness straps etc. on horses. In practice, he or she would also perform general stable duties. Antony

Don't think so - he rubbed down the horses using a "strap"

[Piorun]

This may be a case where the meaning has become changed. SOED gives strapper as a groom in the early 19th Century. I've always taken strapping to refer to sweat or water removal which, nowadays, seems to be performed mostly with a moulded plastic or light metal implement, rather than a strap. Concurrently, the term strapper appears to have shifted to the tack department. We can agree to differ on the detail. Coming back to the OP and immediate replies; I wouldn't take a strapper to be a harness-maker. That was a highly-skilled leather-working trade. Strapping wasn't. Antony

[Waggoner]

A fascinating discussion. It confirms my understanding that a strapper - whatever it was exactly that he did - was associated with the remount part of the ASC. I am looking forward to learning more on this subject.

All the best,

Gary

[Guest]

My Grandfather George William Spear, RTS 2659, is listed as a Strapper 2nd Depot.

Enlisted in 1914, served in France, invalided out in 1918.

Before the start of WW1, he is in the census as a Horse Groom.

And on Birth Certificates as an Ostler. ( Horse Groom )

[Chasemuseum]

In horse racing circles today, the people who groom the horses in the stables and lead the horse and jockey to the starting box are called "strappers".

 

The "reliable" tips about which horse to bet on are always attributed to the "strapper" due to restrictions on jockeys supplying information.

[johnboy]

14 minutes ago, Chasemuseum said:

In horse racing circles today, the people who groom the horses in the stables and lead the horse and jockey to the starting box are called "strappers".

 

The "reliable" tips about which horse to bet on are always attributed to the "strapper" due to restrictions on jockeys supplying information.

No in the uk. Strapper at a ASC depot probably strapped boxes or bumdles up