Identifying an RFA driver via His Regimental number?

[jtscoot]

Good afternoon,

 

I have been researching my 2 grandfather's WW1 records with varying results. My paternal Grandfather was a career soldier who went through the entire war with the 10th Hussars and with that plus a surname of Strudwick, research has been relatively easy.

 

Not so my maternal Grandfather Thomas (Tom) James Smith !

 

The only thing that my mother has is an old scrap of paper which seems to be a transcript of a medal card indicating that he was in the RFA as a driver with a service number of 267102, roll number RFA 321B page 44351. He received the British War Medal and Victory medal, but not the 1914-15 Star. My mum only remembers him speaking of the war once in his life, when he mentioned the slaughter at Paschendale (with particular reference to the number of horses), his moving ammunition to the front and the wounded back. I have a picture of him in uniform leaning on a Daimler lorry with the inisgnia of the 8th Division under the windscreen.

 

He was born (in 1899) and lived in Westminster, London, with his father being a greengrocer who kept horses as part of his trade, and became a groom after the war for a big estate.

 

Sorry for the what I now see is a large amount of info in one mail, but thought that I would try and give as much background information as possible.

 

Any help at all with pushing my research further would be gratefully received by me and my mother who turned 90 in August - she has always wondered about her fathers' war service.

 

Many thanks

Paul Strudwick

[Michelle Young]

Dear Paul,

Welcome to the forum. Rather than tack onto a old thread, I recommend starting a new thread in Soldiers where it is likely to get more attention.

 

Michelle 

[jtscoot]

Many thanks for the guidance Michelle. I will do as you suggest. 

[philipthespur]

On 18/10/2018 at 21:17, David26 said:

Philip,

 

sadly not - there are relatively few records, and almost none of individual Other Ranks. 

 

Part of the difficulty is that there is therefore no way of being certain if he travelled out to France as part of a new unit going there for the first time, or whether he went as a replacement. 

 

It is possible to come up with candidate units if you work on the assumption that he went with a new unit alongside a lot of other new soldiers.  The Long Long Trail (linked from this Forum) contains details of every artillery brigade - you could look through those and see if any first went to France on 27 Dec 1915.  (But here's another challenge - the date on your grandfather's MIC may be a day or so out - sometimes, they record the date of departure, usually they record the date of arrival, occasionally they appear to have been recorded some time later from imprecise memory.)

 

Another option is to look at soldiers with service numbers close to your grandfather's and see if - for those whose service records survived the Blitz - there is a big cluster of men who served in the same unit in 1915 and who arrived in France on the same date as your grandfather.  That might suggest your grandfather was in the same unit.  If you wanted to do that, quite a good way is to look at the rolls of those RFA men who were awarded the 1914-15 Star.  If you have a subscription to Ancestry, the relevant volume is here.  However, I've just taken a look at all the RFA soldiers whose service numbers fall in the range 83100 - 83500 to see if there are a cluster of men who arrived in France on 27 Dec 1915 and sadly, your grandfather is the only one in that range so that doesn't look promising I'm afraid.

 

David.   

 

 

Thanks David

[Jacorb]

Hello  I am having trouble with finding my great grand uncles unit. His name is George Edward Doughty , he was in the RFA, his regimental number was 23665. Any info would be great, thanks. He might have enlisted at Yorkshire or Nottingham. Again thanks for any info.

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

8 minutes ago, Jacorb said:

Hello  I am having trouble with finding my great grand uncles unit. His name is George Edward Doughty , he was in the RFA, his regimental number was 23665. Any info would be great, thanks. He might have enlisted at Yorkshire or Nottingham. Again thanks for any info.

Jacorb,

I have made a few suggestions on the other thread as to how you should progress:

 

[David Porter]

46 minutes ago, Jacorb said:

Hello  I am having trouble with finding my great grand uncles unit. His name is George Edward Doughty , he was in the RFA, his regimental number was 23665. Any info would be great, thanks. He might have enlisted at Yorkshire or Nottingham. Again thanks for any info.

 

Jacorb,

 

I found his service record quite quickly on Findmypast under his full name. I presume it is also indexed on Ancestry. His number has an L prefix and he enlisted in Nottingham. Please start a new thread with any questions related to his units. Initially he was placed in the 34th Divisional Ammunition Column having enlisted in 152nd (Nottingham) Brigade RFA but went on to Trench Mortar Batteries and more.

Edited 30 December , 2018 by David Porter

[Jacorb]

Thanks a lot, you said you got this all from find my past?

[David26]

And his service record is also on Ancestry - though without the "L" prefix on his service number. 

[Jacorb]

Thank you so much 

[philipthespur]

On 16/12/2018 at 12:21, philipthespur said:

Thanks David

Hi David,

I had a look at the RFA 14-15 Star register and found around 30 men who arrived in France on 27/12/15, drivers or gunners. One of them, Gunner Robert William Thompson 81177 from Consett in Durham was discharged from service in Jan 1918 due to wonds recieved. He was in RFA 78 Brigade, 17th division. Signed on in May 1915 around the same time as my grand father i suspect. The 78 brigade travelled to France in July 1915 and were in Ypres on 27/12/15 having a "quiet" day according to the war diary. So what are the chances that my grandfather joined Robert and others that day as replacements perhaps?

[David Porter]

43 minutes ago, philipthespur said:

So what are the chances that my grandfather joined Robert and others that day as replacements perhaps?

 

He would more than likely be in the same reinforcement draft for Base Depot at Havre. 78th Brigade RFA is the unit Robert was discharged from, there doesn't seem to be evidence he was posted to it from Base. Postings from Base were rather random, so you cannot say your grandfather was also in 78th Brigade RFA. Some men were at Base a month or more before being sent to the front.

 

According to the Base Commandant, the only arrivals at Havre on December 27, 1915 were reinforcements and men looking after remount horses.

[philipthespur]

Thanks for the Reply David! So were most RFA soldiers sent to Le Harve from Southampton? Could it be possible my Grandfather was among the "reinforcements" arriving on December 27th 1915?

 

Best Regards,

 

Philip

[David Porter]

Southampton to Havre was the main route as that was where Base Depot was. Some men attached to Headquarters would go the Folkestone to Boulogne route. Those for destinations further East would depart from Devonport. Later, some would arrive at Cherbourg en route for Marseilles or Taranto to lessen the journey by sea.

 

The problem with the given date on the Medal Index Card is that it can refer to an embarkation. That was the date that King's Regulations determined was the first day of overseas service. So the entry date is ambiguous. The only other possibility is that he was with 168th Brigade RFA, but those men are likely to have an "L" prefix. So on balance I would say he was one of the 2000+ reinforcements (all arms) arriving on December 27, 1915.

[philipthespur]

Thanks agian David. Much appreciated. May I ask why you say the possibility of him joining the 168th brigade?

[David Porter]

51 minutes ago, philipthespur said:

May I ask why you say the possibility of him joining the 168th brigade?

 

They part embarked at Southampton on December 27, 1915, but did not disembark at Havre until December 29, 1915.

[philipthespur]

Many thanks David.

[Charles Spencer]

Hi All,

 

I was after some extra info (if there is any) on my Grandfather, should I post his details here or start another topic.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Charlie

[jay dubaya]

5 minutes ago, Charles Spencer said:

Hi All,

 

I was after some extra info (if there is any) on my Grandfather, should I post his details here or start another topic.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Charlie

welcome to the forum Charlie, definitely start a new thread and post as many details as you can

 

J

[Charles Spencer]

Hi Jay,

 

Many thanks for the quick reply.

 

Will do now.

 

Kind Regards

 

Charlie