Date of promotion from Private

[GrenPen]

Hi,

Of the two brothers that I am researching, the first one to die was a regular (he seems to have joined up around Aug 1907), and died near Vendresse on 18 Sept 1914.

His medal card shows that his date of entry in France was 13 Aug 1914.

What is interesting is that (if I have interpreted the MIC correctly), he will be on the 1914 Star medal roll as a Private.

When he died, he was a Lance Corporal, and his entry in the rolls for the Victory Medal and British War Medal will record him as a Lance Corporal in the Ist South Wales Borderers.

This would imply that he was promoted in the field to Lance Corporal

I've taken a look at the NCOs who died before he did (for the purpose of this exercise I shall be treating Lance Corporal as an NCO)

COLE, HARRY, H Lance Corporal 8669 16/09/14 Born 1889

COULSON, GEORGE, G Corporal 8821 15/09/14 aged 28

JONES, GWILYM GEORGE, G G Lance Corporal 10939 14/09/14 age Unknown

MAYERSBETH, ROBERT, R Lance Corporal 9857 26/08/14 Born 1889

I am wondering if he took the place of Lance Corporal Mayersbeth

I have searched on Ancestry, and his records do not appear to have survived the Blitz.

This post seemed to be asking a similar question

 

One glimmer of hope is the reference to "Battalion Gazettes". Can anyone shed any light on this? Is this a bulletin by the battalion adjutant that would be sent to regimental HQ, in order that service records and pay could be changed, so as to record the "effective date"?

Likewise, when deaths occurred, would there be a casualty return to Regimental HQ, along with a request for replacements? Given that this was the start of the war, I am thinking the admin may have been done at regimental level.

Although this man would have been one of the first from the East End to have died in the Great War, there was no mention in the local newspapers of the time.

Are there files of miscellaneous regimental correspondence at the National Archives that can be scoured which may mention further detail?

(I've done some research on Royal Marines in the Napoleonic Wars. The letters from Captains and Lieutenants that have survived do tend to relate to admin issues of pay and leave, rather than any references to operations.

Interestingly, the Portsmouth Division kept an alphabetic promotion register which listed the dates of promotions (and demotions where applicable). The Marines were a corps of 30,000 men, and I doubt that a County regiment of 2 battalions would have been able to justify this degree of attention to administration during the Napoleonic Wars).

Thanks,

GP

[Guest]

Hi GP. Can't answer your question, but going by date of entry into theatre, he was in the 1st Bn. There Diary is available HERE for £3.50, there's a slim chance he's mentioned in it?

Mike