1 Print Coy Royal Engineers

[subarulegacy]

Hi

I have a relative who fought in in the retreat from Mons 1914 and was in the 1 Print Coy RE Sapper 20799, \frederick William Carpenter, there are only 5 or 6 other soldiers listed in this section in the medal cards.

Does anyone know about this section of the Royal Engineers?

Regards

Keith

[Terry_Reeves]

The establishment of the Army Printing Company in 1914 was 1 Officer and 39 other ranks and consisted of an HQ and 4 sections. On the formation of the Field Survey Companies (FSC) , the 4 print sections were transferred to the FSC establishment. On the formation of Field Survey battalions, the printing sections became part of the HQ section. The latter arrangement appears not have been very successful and the print sections were reorganised back into an Army Printing Company. These should not be confused with the Army Printing and Stationary Depots which were separate organisations.

TR

[Ron Clifton]

Hello Keith

I can confirm that No.1 Printing Company RE (in fact it was the only one at the time) formed part of the original BEF of Aug 1914, being attached to GHQ. Sections were sometimes detached to the HQs of Armies within the BEF until the formation of FSCs as Terry has described.

Ron

[subarulegacy]

Thank you TR and Tom

Is there any war diarys for this unit that you know of, I believe he was also in Dublin at some time and also had a letter saying that "general Routine Order No 1137 did not apply to him and he could have authorized possession of a camara and take photographs for military purposes. Although he joined before 1914 (I have him in Gilliingham Barracks in the 1911 census) and he was wounded in 1917 I cannot find his service or pension records, I thought that the wounded had their records extracted for the pensions service and had survived the burnt records.

Regards

Keith

Hello Keith

I can confirm that No.1 Printing Company RE (in fact it was the only one at the time) formed part of the original BEF of Aug 1914, being attached to GHQ. Sections were sometimes detached to the HQs of Armies within the BEF until the formation of FSCs as Terry has described.

Ron

[Terry_Reeves]

He was entitled to the silver war badge. If you check the appropriate roll at the NA it should give you start and finish dates for his career. Given that he appears to have been in the print trade and he served in Dublin before the war, he might have been attached the Ordnance Survey in Dublin or 14 Survey Company. With regard to pension records, he may nor have been entitled to one, if so there would not necessarily be a record for him.

TR

[Ron Clifton]

Keith

I cannot see an entry for its War Diary in the index to class WO95 at Kew. It's possible that it is included in that of another RE unit, such as one of the Fd Survey Cos, but we are clutching at straws here. Sorry!

Ron