Which Regiment?

[Tidgy]

Hi all,

I am trying to find out more information about George Bruce Collins b1899 in Surrey. He was conscripted to the Army in Sept 1917 as listed in the book at Surrey Archives of the "Queens and East Surrey Regiments".

I would like to know how we discover which regiment he was assigned to. He trade before the Army was "Turner" and next in the Regiment column it has the words "Lab Co".

Is this the Labour Corps? If so, is it possible to tell if it was the Queens Regiment or the East Surrey Regiment? Sadly there is no regiment number and I cannot locate a MIC for him.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Tidgy

[Stebie9173]

He may be George Collins, No. 32059 in the Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment and No. 56543 in the Labour Corps. This combination of numbers would put him in the 13th Battalion of the Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment which was broken up on the Western Front to form 93rd and 94th Labour Companies of the Labour Corps. The number 56543 belongs to the 94th Company of the Labour Corps.

See: http://www.1914-1918.net/queens.htm for a bit more information.

Steve.

[Tidgy]

Thanks Steve. It's definately Labour Corps. I don't understand why it would be Queens Royal West Surrey when the attestation record was for East Surrey Regiment. Were they the same at the time?

I have now got the scan of the original document and it clearly reads "Labr Co" in the Regiment Column. There is then a number, 32550. I think that is the index number of the attestation record as the list of men are numerically recorded with those figures.

Also, I noted that he actually attested on the 1st Feb 1917 on his 18th Birthday. To the left of that date is the letter "G" and numbers "134018" and underneath "10006". Does anyone know what they are?

There is also a date of 15th Sept 1917 in another unmarked column.

It's frustrating because although the columns are marked with titles the recorder did not complete them accordingly.

[tony paley]

No the Queens Royal West Surrey Regt. and the East Surrey Regt. although both recruited in Surrey were not the same. However it was not unusual, in fact quite common, for conscripts to be drafted to whatever unit needed reinforcements at the time.

tony P