Andrew Olsson.. 4658. 2nd London Regiment Army Pay Corps

[Adam_Jones]

Hello everyone,

Am reserching yet another of my WW1 ansestors..i used this site a year ago and you guys helped me loads in finding out info on my great grandad George Jones who was part of the 31st Battalion CEF..managed to get his full service record from the calgery archives and lots of other info.

This time Im on the trail of Andrew Olsson who was in the 2nd London Regiment, Army Pay Corps...I have found his Medal roll card which gives his army number as 4658, and his regimental number as 16114. His date of enlistment was 1/1/16 and date of discharge was 15/11/18. I have found him on the 1911 census and hes listed as a clerk, which i guess is why he was in the Army Pay Corps. What im after is info on the 2nd London Regiment Army Pay Corps.........does this mean Andew wouldnt of actually fought and that he was more office based? Were the Army Pay Corps based in the UK or were they also sent to europe?

I have searched Ancestry and Find My Past to see if i could find his service record but they only thing i found was his Medal Roll Card which doesnt really give much info at all...apart from regiment and army number.

We know he died in 1946 in Hackney and my gran thinks it was due to the effects of mustard gas.

any info would be greatly appreciated

Adam

[David_Underdown]

Some slight confusion here. 4658 was his London Regiment number, 16114 his APC number. Looks like he served with the London Regiment initially, it was probably after his gassing he was transferred to the pay corps as he wouldn't have needed A1 fitness for that

Certainly he was in the pay corps at discharge, the actual list is now online at http://search.ancestry.co.uk/iexec?htx=View&r=5538&dbid=2456&iid=wo329_3242-00141&fn=A.&ln=Olson&st=d&ssrc=&pid=854665 (subscription required)

I'm not sure why you think he was 2nd Londons, possibly you've been misled by the asterisk used to mark what needed correction

[Adam_Jones]

Some slight confusion here. 4658 was his London Regiment number, 16114 his APC number. Looks like he served with the London Regiment initially, it was probably after his gassing he was transferred to the pay corps as he wouldn't have needed A1 fitness for that

Certainly he was in the pay corps at discharge, the actual list is now online at http://search.ancest...src=&pid=854665 (subscription required)

I'm not sure why you think he was 2nd Londons, possibly you've been misled by the asterisk used to mark what needed correction

Thank you very much for the swift reply David. Ok so 4658 was his army number and then 16114 was his APC number…but I thought someones army number stayed with them during their whole time in the army? Do you think he was in a different regiment before being in the APC then? Was it slightly odd for someone totally able bodied to be recruited straight into the APC rather than a fighting regiment? If he did initally serve with a London Regiment then I would like to try and find out which one…if that's possible!

I will post a pic of the medal roll card for you to have a look

[David_Underdown]

In WWI you only had regimental numbers, not army numbers (they didn't come in till about 1921), so 4658 was his London Regiment number and 16114 Army Pay Corps, when you changed regiment (sometimes even battalion within regiment) you changed number (and in some circumstances you got a new number even when staying in the same battalion)