Tracing RFA Driver L/23361

[BridgetF]

Hello All,

I'm new to the Forum. I have been trying to find out what happened to my grandfather George Smith - L/23361 from Whittington Moor , Derbyshire who joined the RFA, Amunition Column, General Brigade in 1915. I have a photo of him in uniform, a Christmas card sent to his sister from Ypres in 1916. I have his Service Record and also his Medal Record, but can find no record that he died in the war, and cannot trace what happened to him either during the war or after. Can anyone assist? Any help gratefully recieved, since I've come to a full stop!

[battiscombe]

the details.. such as they are .. are in his records... this is one of the locally raised Brigades.. in fact titled here 'Gun Brigade' ammunition column.. which his records show was initially with C Battery of 152nd Brigade RFA and was then posted to 34th Division Ammunition Column - as i remember it was mostly men coming from Nottingham area who were posted to form the Divisional Ammunition Column when it formed .. and looks likely to have served with then throughout the war in France..arriving 12th january 1916.. http://www.1914-1918.net/34div.htm .. in Jan 1919 he was still in 2nd section of 34th DAC .. page 0532 of his records shows an uneventful wartime career within different sections for the Divisional Ammunition Column,, unwounded and surviving.. finally discharged in 1920 it appears.. an address in the NE..

[BridgetF]

Thanks you so much for that info- really helpful. I wondered how you were able to find out about this in such a short time. what records do you have access to? Again, many thanks, it's almost solved the puzzle!

[battiscombe]

this comes from the rest of the records with the first page you posted on line [listed as page 0549] ... That is accompanied by a series of pages [many blank and water damaged] from his file.. have you access to them?. The 'protection certificate' amongst them lists the unit he was serving in when returned home .. in 1919, and I think shows an address in England..I seem to remember. From what i remember from other men in those units there were a lot of miners in 152nd Brigade .. and the 34th DAC ... from colliery villages in Derbyshire and Notts

[BridgetF]

HI there , no , I don't have access to the rest of his records- how would I do that? i'd be interested to see them and find out the address you mentioned. Many thanks

[battiscombe]

I was wondering where you have this image of the front page of his service record from? - this comes from his service record file [a bit damaged..] which is available on 'Ancestry' and contains a great deal of information. The photo you post bears their number at the bottom '0549'.. and there are many more [30 pages?? if some duplicated or blank..] if you can get online access.

[BridgetF]

Yes, I did get the Service REcord page from Ancestry, but the Library version, as being a bit of a scrimper, you don't have to pay for a subscription. I didn't see any other pages, so perhaps it's only with the subcription based Ancestry you can view all? I'll have to look into that. thanks much for all you help.

[battiscombe]

I would perhaps try again and then scroll forwards and backwards through the record pages.. there should be [MUST be, I am sure] an arrow/button which allows you to do this.. in this case the file/record contains many pages, which display one at a time.

[tullybrone]

Hi Bridget,

I only use Ancestry in the library and rest assured you will find more than one page.

Follow Battiscombes advice and all will be revealed.

Scroll backwards & forwards is a good piece of advice. I only scrolled forwards on my grandfathers record and found 8 pages. 3 years later I followed advice here and scrolled backwards and found another 30 odd pages.

Steve Y

[BridgetF]

Ok, thank you both, I will definitely try that next time I'm at the library. Much appreciate your advice. Bridget.