Philip McCairns

[rksimpson]

Hi all

Have a Victory medal to P McCairns Gnr 6490 RFA

I have his MIC and Service Records but need some help in understanding them

From the attached page

Enlisted at Glasgow 1/9/14

No. 6 FRA Depot Attested and Posted Gnr 1/9/14

The first part of all below is listed Regiment or Depot

6B Res Bde Posted Gnr 12/9/14

4a posted Gnr 26.2.15

118 (How) Bde Posted Gnr 3/3/15

AC ?

461 Posted Gnr 10/5/16

? / D/60 Bde RFA

?

? Gnr 29/1/17

12/4/19 D/58 Dispersal Centre 3/4/?

Class Z

Demob Para 392 xxviii 31/1/20

Very Good

4yrs 244 days

I understand all the above abbreviations, what I need help in is the ? and other lines I might have missed.

I have read the RFA part in the LLT but where do the numbers here fit in? Are the Brigades or Battery numbers if any?

Thanks for your time on this

I will post others as I look at them and if I cant understand

regards

Robert

[Ron Clifton]

Hello Robert

AC is Ammunition Column. Prior to May 1916 each RFA brigade had a Brigade Ammunition Column, rougfhly the same size as a battery, but in that month these were consolidated with the Divisional Ammunition Columns.

Apart from existing pre-war batteries which retained their numbers, most RFA batteries were lettered A to D in their brigade, so D/58 would be D Battery, 58 Brigade RFA. At first, all the batteries in a brigade would either be equipped with 18-pounders or howitzers, but the May 1916 reorganisation swapped a lot of batteries about so that, in general, A, B and C batteries in each brigade had 18-pounders and D Battery had the 4.5-inch howitzers.

the "dispersal centre" entry probably means that he arrived at the centre, for demobilisation, on 3 April 1919 but his record was not updated until 12 April.

Each RFA Depot in 1914 had attached to it a Reserve Brigade of two batteries. On the outbreak of war, each of these batteries was expanded to a brigade: thus in No.6 Depot, in Glasgow, the batteries became 6A annd 6B Reserve Brigades.

Ron

[rksimpson]

Hi Ron

thanks for that

Am I right with the other Brigades listed and are they in LLT as roman numerals? I want to go through that and find them and see where they were attached and which areas they fought in

regards

Robert

[rksimpson]

Hi all

here is his first page - can anyone read the faint writing?

thanks

Robert

[rksimpson]

Hi all

with the above brigades mentioned above, can anyone help me work out where they were? also if I am reading it right?

regards

Robert