What was a 'signalling parade'?

[tjpatti]

Hello Teresa

It was because of these, which I looked at too after Nigel's post, as well as my own example which also specifically uses the term 'signalling parade' and describes what they did on it (GV Dennis, also King's Royal Rifle Corps) that I thought the evidence so far gathered was strongly in favour of this being a parade for signallers. You've actually got more than two in your sample and from different regiments.

In fact I didn't think about the attestation papers hard enough when you first posted - they were generally (always?) filled in by the recruiting officer; if you're sure he also signed on behalf of the recruit that seems odd but others may know comparable examples. The signallers in 21/KRRC were certainly reasonably educated - GV Dennis was a trainee teacher.

Liz

Hi Liz

I'm absolutely positive that the recruiting officer signed on behalf of my chap, the recruit, and also as it happens on behalf of the witness. He has a distinctive, quite showy, writing style. In all the browsing I've done, I've never come across a similar case where the recruit didn't actually sign the form although, presumably, there were recruits who were so illiterate they couldn't even sign their own name? I know my chap's mother was that illiterate - her wedding certificate, children's birth certificates etc were marked 'X - her mark'.

I suspect that, even if my chap was a likely candidate for signalling, he didn't make the grade - wouldn't there be some indication on his papers that he'd passed a signalling course? I would actually very much like to think of him as a signaller because I'd reached the point where I felt I knew everything there was to know about him and then suddenly this 'new' (it'd been there all along!) information surfaced.

Kind regards

Teresa

[tjpatti]

Gwyn,

I love the flagwagging photo!

Kind regards

Teresa

[Scalyback]

"Of course - the signallers' badge was crossed flags, too..."

Still is for signals OUTSIDE of Royal Signals unit.

Signals within WW1 was still "infancy" stages. No man pack radios etc. With in infantry units signals was for internal use only. He may not of made the grade for "trained" signalman but may of been kept on as a runner/dogsbody.

Lines get cut, Flags dont work. The way the message got through was "runner". The chap may of been kept on to do this lowly but at times vital task!

[Ron Clifton]

... wouldn't there be some indication on his papers that he'd passed a signalling course?

Hello Teresa

Not necessarily. Infantry signallers did not have the degree of specialist training that the RE Signal Service had, and most training would be on-the-job. There were no unit radios in battalions, so signallers would mostly use semaphore flags or be runners (probably on bicycles), skills which the average Boy Scout would probably pick up fairly quickly.

And, of course, illiteracy does not mean the man was not intelligent and willing to learn!

Ron