MIC for RGA gunner

[Guest vic951]

Hi everyone,

I'm a newbie. This is a simple question about medal cards/roll numbers, but I don't seem to be able to find a simple answer.

I'm researching Richie Hopkins, my husband's grandfather. He served in the RGA. All I can find is his medal card. Nothing else, so I presume his records were some of those lost.

He's the only Richie Hopkins when you search Ancestry. I've tried attaching the jpeg of the card but it says its too big. My apologies (I also tried to paste it here but no luck).

Anyhow, for both Victory & British medals, under the column "Roll" it says RGA 229B. Does the 229B refer to a Battery or is it just a ref. no.?

Richie never spoke of the action he saw, so we know absolutely nothing first hand.

There are also various figures after the Ret(urn)d in the Remarks. The code 8100/Adt appears there and is repeated at the base of the card. Anyone know what this means?

Any help gratefully received,

Vicky

[dannyhill86]

Hi Vicky,

I had a quick look at Richie's MIC, Although I am definately not an expert at MIC's his entitlement to a medal pair is clear enough. the fact that he was awarded a pair would suggest that he arrived in the theatre of war after 1st january 1916. Any earlier (on the Western Front) would have shown up by way of a 1914 or 1914/15 star.

With regard to the notes figures shown in the medal boxes, they are references for the medal roll in which his name is listed. The other figures in the comments sectionc i'm afraid I can't help with although at a guess 1743 K.R 1912 would possibly be to do with previous service in that year (King's Rifles).

In terms of finding further information it is not very easy, there is a way to check service numbers (that later in the war were in sequence and can be traced to a prticular unit, but unfortunately I don't know how to do it, hopefully a kind member on here will be able to do that soon. His service number was 215611. It may be worth checking service records on ancestry with the name Richard or the initial 'R' as more than once I have had the same man named in several different ways. Sorry I can't be of more help, someone will be along shotly though i'm sure

Good Luck!

Dan

[Nepper]

The reference to 1743 KR 1912 is a reference to paragraph 1743 of Kings Regulations 1912. It refers to medals undelivered for some reason, so he might have moved or somethng like that. There are some Richard Hopkins in the RGA whose service records do survive. Do you have an address for Richie?

Nigel

[kenf48]

You may also like to check out the link mentioned at the top of the page http://www.1914-1918...grandad/mic.htm

229B is (as it says on the heading the Roll No.) and 12951 the page on the Roll You will need these numbers if you visit the National Archives to view the Rolls as described in the above link.

Ret'd means returned ((under the terms of KR as described by Nigel) adt probably means adjustment so as well as the possiblity the address was wrong it may be the medals were sent out and returned because, for example, the name was misspelt

Ken

[Guest vic951]

Hi Dan, Nigel & Ken,

Thank you all for your kind replies and I apologise for late reply as we have been out of the country.

Thank you for clarification as to what the numbers on the card refer to - being where we'd need to look at the rolls at Kew and not reference to his battery.

Richie was christened Richie, and appears as such in the censuses. I had not thought to look for him under the name Richard though (silly me) but I'll use his service number to do a bit more digging under the name Richard. It is possible his name was 'corrected' in admin.

Richie was from Llandybie in Carmarthenshire. Further word of mouth from the family has revealed that it was believed he returned his medals through personal choice, however it is possible that there was a spelling error, especially bearing in mind his unusual first name, which further encourages a search under the name Richard.

Thanks again chaps, for your very kind help and time. I shall post again if I've any luck!

Best regards,

Vicky