2/6th London Div. RFA

[Sean Thornton]

I'm trying to fill in a time-line for my uncle Frederick Arthur Tottem.

From the fragments of his service record (helpfully transcribed as Tattum ?!) I can see:

He enlisted 19/04/1915 in 2/6th London as a gunner - regimental number 2476

He was promoted 19/06/1915 to Lance Bombardier

He was 'home' until 25/06/1916 when he went to France

He was wounded (right leg and foot) 05/07/1917 and repatriated to UK 11/07/1917

He was discharged as unfit for service 12/10/1918

Now, sometime during his service his regimental number changed to 970563 and this I believe indicates he was in 236 brigade RFA.

But when he was discharged his unit is given as 6 battery 63rd brigade.

I'm now a bit lost, I want to find out what he was doing between March 1915 and when he was sent abroad in June 1916 - it seems a long time for training ?

Similarly I presume he was hospitalised/convalescent on his return until he was discharged - but over a year seems a lot ?

And also why his unit changed at discharge?

Can anyone please advise me how to proceed to fill in the gaps ?

Thanks

[rflory]

Sean: His regimental number '2476' was given to him when he joined the second line of the 6th London Brigade, RFA TF (2/6 Lond Bde, RFA TF) at Brixton on 19 Apr 1915. The second line of the 6th London Bde, RFA TF went to France in June, 1916 as part of the 60th Division and he evidently accompanied the brigade at that time. In late 1916 that brigade was re-designated as the 301st (London) Brigade, RFA TF. In late 1916/early 1917 RFA TF regimental numbers were converted to six-digit numbers. His six-digit number of 970563 indicates that at the time he received that number he was serving with the 2nd London Brigade RFA TF which formed two Divisional Ammunition Columns (DACs), the 47th DAC and the 60th DAC. As he had been previously serving in a brigade of the 60th Division, I would think that he probably transferred to the 60th DAC from 301st Bde, RFA TF. (If he had been serving in 236th Brigade, RFA TF his regimental number would have been in the range 955001 to 960000.

The reason that it took from April 1915 to June 1916 for him to go overseas was that the 2/6 London Bde, RFA TF and the rest of the 60th (2nd/2nd London) Division was being formed; as the division was being formed from scratch it took a long time to bring it up to strength, especially as the first line 'London' Division (47th Division) took many of its men to reach its full strength before going overseas in March 1915. The artillery brigades of the 60th Division did not receive their first guns until late November 1915.

Your statement that his discharged unit was 6th Battery, 63rd Brigade, RFA makes no sense at all as in October 1918, that brigade was serving with the 12th (Eastern) Division in France and its batteries were designated 'A', 'B', 'C' and 'D (H)'.

Regards, Dick Flory

[Sean Thornton]

Mr Flory,

Thanks for your prompt and informative reply - it certainly helps me.

I was wrong when I mentioned his unit as 6 battery 63rd brigade on his discharge - rather this was stated on his pension record a copy (I hope) is attached - but I also note that this states "63rd Bty" so I'm even more confused.

[Roger H]

I suspect that "63rd Bty" was just a mistake and the note should have been addressed to the Officer Commanding RFA "63rd Bdge". ( As written in the entry for Regiment or Corps).

Roger

[rflory]

I think that it is referring to 63rd Reserve Battery, RFA which in late 1918 was a Remount Training battery located at Bulford.

[Sean Thornton]

Thanks for all your help but I'm now more confused than ever.

On Frederick's Statement of Services it states "transferred 0th Lon DAC" on 22/7/16. The part before the zero is torn/not shown. But given his revised regimental number and your advice, this seems to confirm him in 60th DAC.

The 60th DAC were re-organised into 301st Brigade in November 1916

So far so good. I've been through the relevant war diaries (WO 95/3027 & WO 95/4927) at the National Archives and between 22nd & 26th November 1916 they set sail from Marseilles arriving at Salonika between 3rd & 13th December.

One can extrapolate a shortest transit time of 7 days (26th - 3rd) or longest of 21 days (22nd - 13th); an average transit time of (say) about 14 days.

Now, his Statement of Services also records that he was wounded on 7th July 1917 and 'Home' on 11th July. Allowing some time for attention in the field and then getting back 'home', he must have been pretty near UK at the time.

Or in other words he wasn't wounded in the Salonika campaign(?)

There's nowt in the war diaries to indicate people were sent home - or conversely that some people never went - indeed they rather confirm that 301st were in action over Frederick's date of being wounded.

So where was he ?

Any ideas please whether I'm reading all this correctly and where I can delve next ?

Thanks