Medal roll questions

[Skipman]

One of the men I am researching is Pte 10704 James Reid, 2nd HLI, missing 20/9/1914. This is his Victory medal and British war medal roll.

What can we glean from this document?

1. Are the men with similar numbers, likely to have joined up at the same time?

2. Why is 10703 in the 1st Bn, and 10704 in the 2nd Bn?

3. Is there any way of telling which company he may have been in?

From his number, it seems he attested in March/April 1907.

Would appreciate any help in extracting all possible information, from the document, so that I can do the same, with all others I have.

Cheers Mike

[HarryBettsMCDCM]

1. Are the men with similar numbers, likely to have joined up at the same time?

2. Why is 10703 in the 1st Bn, and 10704 in the 2nd Bn?

3. Is there any way of telling which company he may have been in?

From his number, it seems he attested in March/April 1907

1] Yes consectutive/close numbers within the same Battalion imply joining within a few minutes,hours,days, of each other.

2] They were Regulars,there could be two men with the same number,ie one in each Battalion,just as there could be with each TF Battalion,pre 1916/7.[Or they may have just been posted to different Battalions]

3]Unlikely,unless you can obtain his Record,there would be no pre~planning as to which Company he went to,it may have been Alphabetical,by number,or some other means of allocation

[Guest]

Thanks very much HarryBetts. Unfortunately, am not sure if his record has survived, I have someone looking. If at some point, I find any of the 2nd Bn men with a very close number to his, in say, 'G' coy, would it be ok to assume he was in same coy?

Cheers Mike

[John_Hartley]

would it be ok to assume he was in same coy?

Definitely not, Mike. Could, and probably was, posted randomly. I've been doing a bit of work with one battalion and it seesm very much "here's one for A, one for B, one for C, one for D, one for A.........."

[Guest]

Ok, thanks John. I thought as much. I suppose it's safe to assume nothing. Going by Geoff's engine, there were 37 men killed on the 20th of Sept 1914, of the 37, only 2 company's are mentioned G and J. There could have been any number of the coys in this action though, and unless I get lucky, I may never know which company he served in.

Mike

[per ardua per mare per terram]

This was not a people friendly army, men went where they were sent to meet the needs of the regiment, and so on up the chain!