Abbreviations - what do they mean?

[AngelaC]

I have found my grandfathers records on Ancestry.com - William Jones - Royal Field Artillery - Regimental number 93188 also shown is his time with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders - Regimental number 2970205 (the later being his service in March 1921)

Unfortunately there are lots of abbreviations which I cannot decipher, perhaps someone can help

He was with the 34th Army Field Brigade from February 1917. On 27th October 1917 he was gassed and admitted to hospital - this is where the abbreviations are:

27th October 1917 - Admitted to hospital - information received from - 13 CFA (I think) it's very hard to read

24th June 1918 - Posted BAC (what does this mean) - information received from - 1/3 WLFA - again very hard to read

28th July 1918 - NYD Pyrexia - I looked pyrexia up and it means a fever - information received from 2/1 WLFA

Can anyone help - I am assuming that the units must be connected with the hospital/medical units.

Regards

Angela

[Desmond7]

Angela - the Long Long Trail has a substantial section on Field Ambulances and various other medical units .. you will probably be able to match up these numbers and initials there fairly quickly.

That's if some of the more knowledgeable members don't help out first!

Des

[David Porter]

Angela,

A guess or two on my part but here goes:

13 CFA = Canadian Field Ambulance

WLFA = West Lancs Field Ambulance ?? (1/3rd and 2/1st)

BAC = Brigade Ammunition Column

NYD = Not Yet Diagnosed

David

[pjjobson]

I don't think the BAC = Brigade Ammunition Column is correct for this period. They were more or less disbanded earlier in the war, being absorbed into the Divisional Ammunition Columns.

Phil

[AngelaC]

Angela,

A guess or two on my part but here goes:

13 CFA = Canadian Field Ambulance

WLFA = West Lancs Field Ambulance ?? (1/3rd and 2/1st)

BAC = Brigade Ammunition Column

NYD = Not Yet Diagnosed

David

Thank you for your reply - I had thought the initials were something to do with the Field Ambulances but couldn't work out what the C or the WLFA were, so thank you for helping me with that. Fortunately Canada has its war diaries on-line, so I was able to find out were my grandfather was when he was gassed - Brandhoek area. Slowly but surely I am building up details of his service during the war.

Once again many thanks for your help

Angela

[Guest]

More abbreviations on a Navy Record that I can't work out- anyone any ideas?

Albert James Gutteridge F3134- Royal Navy Air Service Armoured Cars, shipped out to Suvla Bay, Dardanelles in 1915.

Under age there are the initials F.C., not a number. (He did lie about his age!)

Under remarks (which detail wounds) is the code N.P. 4656/15 then later N.P. 7969/16 (S1117), then N.P. 4959/16 (S1117-18), then N.P. 9198/18 (SR)

The "Paid" War Gratuity is K.C. (No. 3269)

All a bit bewildering!

[Ron Clifton]

Hello Angela and Phil

Whilst most Brigade Ammunition Columns were absorbed into Div Amm Cols in May 1916, I think they were probably re-created for the Army Field Artillery Brigades when the latter were formed in 1917. These brigades were outside the divisional set-up, so they may have had their own BACs rather than relying on using the DAC of the division they happened to be with at the time.

This is only conjecture on my part but at least it would explain the anomaly.

Ron

[horatio2]

Under age there are the initials F.C., not a number. (He did lie about his age!)

Under remarks (which detail wounds) is the code N.P. 4656/15 then later N.P. 7969/16 (S1117), then N.P. 4959/16 (S1117-18), then N.P. 9198/18 (SR)

The "Paid" War Gratuity is K.C. (No. 3269)

They ALL "lied about their age"! I think the initials "F.C." are probably F.E. = First Entry.

The N.P. references are to correspondence from the Naval Personnel Division of the Admiralty, which have not survived.

[ianjonesncl]

Angela

From the Ancestry.com record does it detail which Brigade he went to ? If so we may be able to ascertain if this became an Army Brigade.

Ron

This raises an interesting question around the ammunition supply for Army / Corps level Artillery in particular the Heavy Artillery Groups, as this would be outside the Divisional supply system.

[Ron Clifton]

Hello Ian

He was with 34th Army Field Brigade - see Angela's original post.

Each Army and Corps normally had attached to it an ASC MT company for ammunition supply to the heavy artillery, as well as being responsible for actually moving the guns when necessary. In the annexes to Mike Young's book on the ASC, several units are shown as "n'th SBAC" meaning Siege Battery Ammunition Column.

Ron

[pjjobson]

Hello Angela and Phil

Whilst most Brigade Ammunition Columns were absorbed into Div Amm Cols in May 1916, I think they were probably re-created for the Army Field Artillery Brigades when the latter were formed in 1917. These brigades were outside the divisional set-up, so they may have had their own BACs rather than relying on using the DAC of the division they happened to be with at the time.

This is only conjecture on my part but at least it would explain the anomaly.

Ron

Ron

Thanks for that, an interesting conjecture, and one that will bear further investigation. I have always been led to beleive that when the BAC's were absorbed in DAC's the only ones remaining were some in India.

I'll have to see what I can dig up.

Phil

[Chris_Baker]

CFA can also mean Combined Field Ambulance, as seen in the orders of battle of Indian Army formations.

[ianjonesncl]

Hello Ian

He was with 34th Army Field Brigade - see Angela's original post.

Whoops missed that.....

Each Army and Corps normally had attached to it an ASC MT company for ammunition supply to the heavy artillery, as well as being responsible for actually moving the guns when necessary. In the annexes to Mike Young's book on the ASC, several units are shown as "n'th SBAC" meaning Siege Battery Ammunition Column.

Many thanks for the pointer to Mike Youngs book

Ian

[David Porter]

I've looked at the history of the RHA TF batteries that served in Egypt and Palestine. The individual batteries retained their Ammunition Columns until October 1917. They were then withdrawn and combined to form respective Brigade Ammunition Columns (18th, 19th & 20th). This was probably quite a unique situation but I've seen the term in the War Diaries a lot.

[AngelaC]

Ron

Thanks for that, an interesting conjecture, and one that will bear further investigation. I have always been led to beleive that when the BAC's were absorbed in DAC's the only ones remaining were some in India.

I'll have to see what I can dig up.

Phil

Hi Phil

I haven't been keeping up to date with the Forum recently, but when I came on line again I found your post. My grandfather was gassed on 27th October 1917 and was sent to 13th CFA (Canadian Field Hospital??). He was then returned to Havre -discharged to Base duties - obviously recovering from his injuries. He was posted to 158 Brigade BAC in December 1917 - fortunately the War Diary was on line and after comparing the information in the diary with information on Ancestry, it appears that this is where he remained until his discharge in January 1919.

I am still trying to find out about his time with the 34th Brigade during 1917, but the information I can find on line is limited.

Regards

Angela

[Ron Clifton]

Hello again Angela

CFA, in the context of France, is Canadian Field Ambulance, (which was a medical unit, not a vehicle). There were Combined Field Ambulances in the Middle East, serving both British and Indian troops.

Incidentally 158 was als an Army Field Artillery Brigade, which fits in with my earlier suggestion though it does not prove it.

Ron