19Hussar Posted 14 June , 2009 Share Posted 14 June , 2009 This is my first post on this forum so please excuse the fact that I might be posting in the wrong area. My grandfather was John Henry Marklew he fought in the Boer war with the 19th Hussars was discharged from the army and then recalled from the reserves in 1914 to the 19th Hussars again for the Great War. When in South Africa he was promoted to Lance Corporal, the question is ..........when he rejoined the 19th Hussars for the Great War would he have rejoined as a lance corporal or would he have reverted to being a private ? Regards, Chainsaw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralphjd Posted 14 June , 2009 Share Posted 14 June , 2009 His Medal Index Card shows L/Cpl on the 1914 Star and it looks like PTE on the other two medals, the handwriting is hard to decipher, he went to France 8-10-1914 and was awarded the Silver War Badge Roll ref C 7/789. Ralph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick ODwyer Posted 14 June , 2009 Share Posted 14 June , 2009 As often times the rank of lance corporal was unpaid it is not uncommon to find L/Cpl on Star and substantive rank of Pte on pair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19Hussar Posted 15 June , 2009 Author Share Posted 15 June , 2009 As often times the rank of lance corporal was unpaid it is not uncommon to find L/Cpl on Star and substantive rank of Pte on pair. Thank you for that information Patrick and Ralph, that is exactly the situation that I have found with his medals, I only have two of them. The 1914 Star shows L/cpl and his regiment and serial number on the reverse but on the rim of his 1914 - 1918 war medal it shows as Pte. I assume then that he never rose above the rank of L/cpl during the war and would have been discharged as Pte. or L/cpl. is this correct ? The next question is obviously how do I find out when he was promoted to L/cpl. ? Any clues ? Regards, Chainsaw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick ODwyer Posted 15 June , 2009 Share Posted 15 June , 2009 That is probably correct but he could have been promoted towards the end of the war back in the UK. If the Star shows L/Cpl he must have held that rank before going to France. Unless you can find his papers you won't be able to put an exact date on that. Do you know his regimental number from his previous period of service? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19Hussar Posted 15 June , 2009 Author Share Posted 15 June , 2009 That is probably correct but he could have been promoted towards the end of the war back in the UK. If the Star shows L/Cpl he must have held that rank before going to France. Unless you can find his papers you won't be able to put an exact date on that. Do you know his regimental number from his previous period of service? Thanks Patrick, I have what I think is his discharge paper from his first period of service with the 19th Hussars. The form is shown as Army Form B.128 and if I am reading it correctly it says that:- 4571 Pte. John Marklew is discharged in consequences of "the termination of the first period of his engagement". It then continues with details of the length of service etc. The form is dated 9th August 1908. I assume that if he was discharged after his first period of service as a Pte. then the rank of L'cpl must have been achieved sometime in the Great War, would you agree ? Regards, Chainsaw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick ODwyer Posted 15 June , 2009 Share Posted 15 June , 2009 Yes Probably while in the Reserve Regiment in 1914 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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