At Home Dad Posted 19 April , 2010 Share Posted 19 April , 2010 Hallo All I'd love a little help trying to tie down facts on a certain Officer. Lt R Howell was an original Officer in 13th Essex. He left at some point to become a Major in the 25th Tank Corps and I'd love to know when that transfer took place. More than that, I'd love to know what the 'R' stands for. I have a small conundrum: info I have is that his name was Richard and that he went to Tanks in Summer 1916. However, I have a menu (Trocadero) from Sunday 17th September 1917 with a signature 'R Howell 13th Essex 2nd Div'... I have other details which are confusing me. The family of another Officer, from whom I got this menu, remember being regularily visited by Reggie Howell and that one of the gifts he gave the kids when visiting post War was a clockwork tank... So, really, I'm looking to clear up whether Major Howell was Richard or Reggie and when exactly he moved from Infantry to Tanks I also believe he served for a short time as a private with the 9th (Service) Battalion, The East Surrey Regiment. Perhaps I'm looking too hard for a connection! many thanks for any help with this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grantowi Posted 19 April , 2010 Share Posted 19 April , 2010 Do you have his MIC - http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documen...;resultcount=35 Medal card of Howell, R E Essex Regiment Lieutenant Tank Corps Acting Major Tank Corps Major Grant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owen4256 Posted 19 April , 2010 Share Posted 19 April , 2010 http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/29902/supplements/567 To MGC (Heavy) 12th December 1916 LG Entry above http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/292...upplements/8627 R. E. is Reginald E Cheers Clive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grantowi Posted 19 April , 2010 Share Posted 19 April , 2010 Your Chap in 1911: HOWELL, Lilla Head Widow 55 Nil born 1856 Bernstaple Devon HARFORD, H Carninal Son 1st Marriage Single 34 Insurance Inspector born 1877, Camden Town London HOWELL, Gladys Lilian Daughter Single 25 Saleswoman born 1886 St Leonards Sussex HOWELL, Reginald Edward Son Single 24 Clerk Shipping at Lloyds born 1887 St Leonards HOWELL, Herbert Edgar Son Single 21 Clerk born 1890 St Leonards HOWELL, Wilfred Douglas Son Single 15 College Student born 1896 St Leonards Sussex Reggie it is then :-) Grant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IPT Posted 19 April , 2010 Share Posted 19 April , 2010 THE LONDON GAZETTE, 1 JAN, 1919 TANK CORPS. The undermentioned temp. Capts. to be actg. Majs. while comdg. Cos.: — H. Carew, M.C. 22 Oct. 1918. R. E. Howell. 31 Oct. 1918. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
At Home Dad Posted 19 April , 2010 Author Share Posted 19 April , 2010 Brilliant! Brilliant! Thank you so much, everyone! I'm so happy to be able to tell the family that Reggie Howell is one and the same man. He visited my 'contact' Officer regularly up until WW2 Grant - yes, that census ties in, as my contact described Reggie as living in Brighton post War (close enough to St Leonards for me!) Clive - you're a STAR! As always! Now, here I continue to reveal my lack of knowledge - his MIC doesn't mention 'Machine Gun (Heavy)', would there be a reason for this? And Reggie appears to move to Tanks later in the War, or am I wrong? Any idea of his MGC battalion for the period between 13th Essex and Tanks? Or would he simply have become part of 6th Brigade machine gun companies? Aha! And the menu, I see, is 1916 not 1917 'Diamanche le 17 Septembre' I take to mean Sunday the 17th September which would place it as 1916. Now the hunt is on to discover whether it was the Trocadero in Paris or London! Very best regards, all! Thanks again! E Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owen4256 Posted 20 April , 2010 Share Posted 20 April , 2010 Elliott MGC(Heavy) was the first incarnation of the Tank Corps, below from the Long Long Trail: Tank organisation Originally formed as Companies of the Heavy Section MGC, designated A, B, C and D, each Company consisted of 4 Sections of 3 tanks of each type (male and female Mk 1's). Companies also had another machine in reserve. In November 1916 the Companies were expanded to Battalions, carrying the same letter designations. A Battalion consisted of 3 Companies. Three mobile workshops provided the engineering back-up to service the tanks. An expansion programme was ordered by GHQ, to build a force of 14 additional Battalions. The Tank Corps was formed from the Heavy Branch MGC on 27 July 1917 and the Battalions adopted numbering rather than letter designations (although tank names followed the same lettering: for example, 7th Battalion tanks were all named with a letter G, like Grouse, Grumble, etc.) Each Tank Battalion had a complement of 32 officers amd 374 men. He was actually fairly early as a tankie Best Clive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
At Home Dad Posted 21 April , 2010 Author Share Posted 21 April , 2010 cheers Clive! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
17tankman Posted 21 April , 2010 Share Posted 21 April , 2010 Capt R E Howell was in the 6th Tank Corps and if you say went into the 25th. The 25th never saw action in WW1 but the 6th did Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
At Home Dad Posted 21 April , 2010 Author Share Posted 21 April , 2010 cheers Simon I'll look for details of the 6th's actions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
17tankman Posted 23 April , 2010 Share Posted 23 April , 2010 You can of course buy the book The War History of the Sixth Tank Battalion you can get it from Naval & Military Press Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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