Transfers from 1st Battalion Norfolk to 1st Battalion Essex: when and

[green_david]

Hello

Wonderingif anyone can shed any light on a transfer of men from the 1st Battalion Norfolk to 1st Battalion Essex, when and why exactly. My grandfather was 9723 Pvt. Charles Patrick O’Riley (joined up under a false name though) in the 1st Norfolk, and then transferred to the 1st Essex (37th Division, 112th Brigade) where he was given a new number, Private 41951.

His medals all have his original number and Regiment, and someone told me that his serial number of 9723 could indicate that he was a pre-war regular soldier. That I can't see, as he would have been 13 or 14 had he joined before the outbreak of war.

At 103 years of age, an old vet named Charles Holman recounted this transfer too, at http://www.hellfire-corner.demon.co.uk/holman.htm

Interestingly, his regimental # was 41946, only 5 digits different than my grandfather's, meaning they knew each other. (My Grandad disappeared in 1929, still suffering shell shock. I was gutted when I learned about Mr. Holman, and that he had died only a couple of months before I found his account, as i would have loved to ask him about my Grandfather.)

Anyhow, if anyone has any info on this transfer, I'd be much obliged.

Also, as I'm posting on Rememberance Day, here's a page from his diary for 11 November, 1918.