Agh57 Posted 24 July , 2009 Share Posted 24 July , 2009 Dear Pals I am off to Ypres in a couple of weeks with friends. Coming with us for the first time are my friend's mother and father in law and their 80 year old Grandmother. Apparently the 80 year old grandmother's father served in or around Ypres in the First World War. I have found his Medal Records Card on Ancestry. It shows the following: London Regiment 6459 (or 7) Leicestershire Regiment 25184 London Regiment 723133 Royal Engineers 551983 D/o WR.10541 Having spoken to my friend, he has seen what looks like a contract of employment (?) for his service in the Royal Engineers. It has the dates of service as 11/2/16 - 20/5/17 and was signed apparently by a Captain R E Jackson. According to this (which I haven't seen) It refers to Unit 329 Quarrying Boy(?) and says that from 11/2/16 - 20/5/17 he was an infantryman and from 20 May 1917 - to present date (not recorded on card he was a Quarryman. He also apparently took part in concert parties including on occasion at Toc H. There is a photo which I will have a digital copy on Monday. To make our trip as worthwhile as possible I have a number of queries, which if any Pals could answer would make me (and I suspect an 80 yr old women) happy, namely: 1. Can anyone suggest any way I could try and find out if and where he served anywhere around Ypres? 2. Can anyone give me an explanation as to why he has so many regimental numbers and appeared to transfer regiments so often? 3. What role did an infantryman perform for the Royal Engineers? 4. What role did a Quarryman perform for the Royal Engineers? 5. Is there any possibility that he was moved out off the infantry into the RE because he started performing in concert parties (I have read elsewhere that performers were moved on occasion to the RAMC for this purpose, I haven't seen references to it happening by way of moving soldiers to the RE, so this may be conjecture on my part!) Any assistance would be greatly appreciated! PS I have checked on Ancestry for Service/Pension records and cannot find anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Inspector Posted 24 July , 2009 Share Posted 24 July , 2009 Hi, The Long Long Trail indicates that an RE number of 551983 would be allocated to the 3rd London Field Company, Regards Barry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay dubaya Posted 24 July , 2009 Share Posted 24 July , 2009 The London Rgt numbers would suggest the 24th Bn (The Queen's) TF and the 6 number was issued early 1917. The transfers between infantry units may suggest that he was wounded at some point but the transfers to the RE may suggest that he had a specific trade especially since the prefix WR denotes Inland Waterways and Railways which fits quite well with a Quarryman. Sadly I cannot help with any units of the RE, cheers, Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jansanderson Posted 24 July , 2009 Share Posted 24 July , 2009 Hi His service record is on ancestry, 20 pages. I can PM them to you but not able to do so until tomorrow. He was with 329 Quarrying Coy Jan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agh57 Posted 25 July , 2009 Author Share Posted 25 July , 2009 Hi His service record is on ancestry, 20 pages. I can PM them to you but not able to do so until tomorrow. He was with 329 Quarrying Coy Jan Many thanks for the responses so far. I have now found the Service Record, unfortunately the Ancestry transcribers had him down as originating from Sussex, whereas to my knowledge he never left Leicestershire and so I discounted this!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave ricketts Posted 20 August , 2009 Share Posted 20 August , 2009 A bit of background info about 329 Quarrying Company. They were formed in the spring of 1917 following transfer of troops already serving in the BEF, with the requisite skills, to the Transportation Troops Depot at Bolougne. They then served at the quarries in the Marquise - Rinxent area, apart from a brief period at the end of March and beginning of April 1918, when they were used to work on defensive positions in the vicinity of Amiens. They quarried stone for road building & repair. I would be very interested to see copies of any documentation and the photograph. Regards, Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry_Reeves Posted 20 August , 2009 Share Posted 20 August , 2009 The Leicestershire connection would not have been too far out as the Leicestershire Road Board were instrumental in helping form the first quarrying companies. TR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate Wills Posted 22 August , 2009 Share Posted 22 August , 2009 ...He also apparently took part in concert parties including on occasion at Toc H. There is a photo which I will have a digital copy on Monday. ... Is there any possibility that he was moved out off the infantry into the RE because he started performing in concert parties (I have read elsewhere that performers were moved on occasion to the RAMC for this purpose, I would think Charles' talents as a quarryman, rather than as entertainer, determined his transfer to the REs. Technical units required men with special skills or expertise in a multitude of disciplines. He is likely to have had more interesting duties, and his pay would have been higher in the REs to reflect his abilities. His experience as a quarryman would have been in demand in the RE; in fact there is a very interesting thread concerning another quarryman soldier entertainer here:. Mathias Williams, Royal Engineers, Quarryman from Trefor, Gwynedd I would love to know your source regarding concert performer transfers into the RAMC. The RAMC did have plenty of concert parties, but I had not heard of this, and I have not come across anyone transferred into the RAMC for concert work. I can think of several RAMC men who undertook concert work transferring out into the artillery and RFC in 1917. I'd love to see the concert party photo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agh57 Posted 10 September , 2009 Author Share Posted 10 September , 2009 Kate, Terry, Dave - Apologies for the delay in responding I haven't given this thread a look since returning from our trip. I will try and upload photos documents in the next few days. In so far as the RAMC point is concerned I cannot recall exactly where I read it. It more than likely it was from the web rather than any published work and so it may be that this is uncorroborated. I have two laptops in repair at present, the site in question may well be stored in my favourites. I'll check when I get them back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenda elen Posted 20 March , 2010 Share Posted 20 March , 2010 Hi Just wondered if I've missed posts after this one somehow. The Mathias Williams that Kate referred to was my Grandfather. He was in 326 Quarrying Company. I was given a copy recently of a Concert on Christmas Day 1918 by various Welsh QC members (none 329 though) which was very interesting. I've not been able to get any new information from that in other posts though, but we did meet the great grandson of the then quarry manager in Rinxent last Autumn. No records there - all destroyed unfortunately. I'd be very interested to see your photos. Brenda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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