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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Royal Engineers S.S.T.C.


GrahamC

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Hi pals

I've come across the suffix "S.S.T.C" in reference to a posting of a soldier from the R.E. after returning to England with health issues.

It has defeated a search on both Google and The Long Trail ...

Many thanks

Graham

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Graham,

It stands for Signal Service Training Centre, which was the Depot for the RE Signal Service. So your man was most likely a Royal Engineers Signaller.

Paul

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Thanks Paul - I was sure someone would know

Graham

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No problem, the SSTCs were formed from the pre-war Army Troops Signal Companies (TF), so there were five SSTCs until 1918, does your records give any indication of location as this would dictate which Centre he was posted to.

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Hi Paul

He enlisted at Biggleswade, and was with the 37th Div. His surviving records have the Code No: "V.S.2.B6549" next to his base at S.S.T.C. if that means anything.

Cheers

Graham

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Biggleswade was originally the Northern Signal Service Training Centre, created from the former Northern Command (Army Troops) Signal Companies, RE (TF). They moved south upon mobilisation.

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  • 6 years later...

I am researching John Clifford Thompson, Corporal 72480, whose badly burned Service Record states he trained at the Northern Signal Service Training Camp. His Medal Roll Index Card gives the date he went to France on 7th May 1915. He was a motor cycle despatch rider. He was gassed in 1916 and returned to the UK, where he trained as an officer and was discharged to commission in the RE on 31st August 1916. He later transferred to the RFC and served in the Middle East. Several photos of his war service have been shared with me by his grandson.

 

Specifically, I am trying to find out the circumstances in which he met up with his school friend Laurie Denison, Private 2428, 1-6th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment. A photo of the two of them is labelled 'Proven'. The 1-6th was at Proven for 5 days until 4th July 1915, described by the battalion historian E.V. Tempest as 'one of the prettiest villages in Flanders'. However, the photo of Thompson taken with Denison shows them in a trench with a timber and sandbag shelter behind them - this seems to fit better with Tempest's description of the support position on the Canal Bank, Ypres, where 1-6th arrived at 11 pm on 4th July:  'Even in July, 1915, some corners of the Canal Bank, lined with poplars eighty feet high, gave one the delusion of peace and safety. Men, for a few days of the summer at least, bathed in the Canal, where there were fishes and water lillies. In the shelter of the East Bank men in reserve moved freely on quiet days. When the battalion first took over the line, the trenches had not fallen in, and were deeper and narrower (for protection against heavier shell fire) than those further south in Fleurbaix. In fact, in the middle of summer the trench system at Ypres seemed tolerable. There were support and reserve lines …communication trenches: and shelters …’

 

Can anyone help with the specific unit Thompson was in and its location in late June/early July, which would have enabled him to meet up with Denison? I am attaching the photo shared with me by Thompson's grandson.

Thompson and Denison.png

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