R.F.A.V.B.

[munce]

Hi everyone,

I have a Territorial Force attestation form which, when asked the question 'In what corps did you serve with the Army or other force?', has "R.F.A.V.B.". Does anyone know what this stands for? I'm guessing "RFA Volunteer Brigade" or some such, which leads me to my next question of what was that and does anyonw knnow more about it?

Many thanks,

Munce

[daggers]

Munce

I guess that your guess is correct. The Volunteers - Artillery, Engineers and Infantry - were the part-time or amateur soldiers before the formation of the Territorial Force in 1908, with some units dating from c1859/60. Does your man's age tie in with that?

D

[Jonathan D'Hooghe]

I believe it is 'Volunteer Battalion'

The volunteer battalions were not part of the regular army but part time soldiers who were able to respond to the government's request for military service. This normally involved home service only but in the Boer War most (if not all) regular infantry regiments provided a volunteer service company from one of their volunteer battalions for service in South Africa. I assume something similar applied to the RFA

Jonathan

[rflory]

The Volunteer Artillery was organized into brigades and batteries; the infantry was organized into volunteer battalions. In order to understand the organization of the Volunteer Artillery you need to consult The Volunteer Artillery, 1859-1908by Norman Litchfield and Ray Westlake, Nottingham, The Sherwood Press, 1982. Dick Flory