Enlistment in 13th London Regiment (Kensingtons)

[AJKXY]

I am researching the WW1 service of my great uncle, Ernest Beck (Service number 490208). He served with the 13^th London (Kensington) Regiment. I have pretty good idea of his whereabouts and actions from the time he went to France in January 1917 until his death in September 1918, thanks to the diary (albeit skimpy) he kept for those two years and the excellent book on the Kensingtons by Sgts O. F. Bailey and H. M. Hollier.

What I don’t know are the details of his enlistment. I have not been able to obtain his service records from Ancestry and I believe it is because his are among the many records that have not survived. This is very frustrating because I don’t know when he enlisted or when he was promoted. He was a sergeant when he died and there is no indication in the diaries that he was promoted while in France. There are however statements like “took over C/10/2” which I take to mean Section 2, 10^th Platoon, C Company. I conclude from this that he was already a sergeant when he went to France.

Another piece of the puzzle is a Christmas card he sent home at Christmas 1916. It is a regimental card of 3/13 London Regiment. This was the third line battalion that provided reinforcements to the fighting battalions (1/13 in France and 2/13 on the middle east). Thus I conclude that in 1916 my uncle was in 3/13 and was posted to 1/13 in 1917 as part of a replacement contingent. But I would like to know when and how he enlisted.

I also have a newspaper clipping from a local paper that appeared at the time of his death. It states that he “was a Territorial at the outbreak of war.” If this is true, he would have joined 1/13 Battalion because the others had not yet been formed. But 1/13 went to France in November 1914. Could he have been a Home Service man and ended up in 3/13 when it was formed in December 1914? It is also possible the newspaper article is wrong (there were other inaccuracies). In this case, perhaps he joined up after December 1914 and was in 3/13 until he was sent to France. This would mean he would have had to make sergeant in less than 2 years from recruitment. Is this reasonable?

Are there other possibilities? I would be grateful for any light shed on this, or suggestions for other lines of enquiry I could try?

Tony

[johnboy]

No help with an enlistment date but his MIC shows his original number as 1620 Sjt and then 490208 [probable renumbering of TF].

Awarded BWM and Victory Medal.

[spof]

Hi Tony and welcome to the Forum.

Along with your idea of only opting for Home Service, he could also have been regarded as needed for training new recruits. Or not quite fit enough for front line service but became so later.

Going by his original number of 1620, it does look like he was in the TF before the war started but only just. The excellent Army Service Numbers site has some details on hte Kensingtons http://armyservicenumbers.blogspot.com.au/2008/10/13th-county-of-london-bn-london.html

Glen

[Loader]

Wouldn't he have earned a Territorial Force War Medal if pre-war TF & did not earn a star? I think he had to volunteer to serve overseas but not sent in tme to earn a star. So if MIC shows no TFWM, maybe he did not volunteer to serve outside the UK as regs required to earn it.

[johnboy]

To be awarded BWM and Victory Medal he had to have served outside Britain and entered a Theatre ofvWar.

[spof]

You needed to have completed 4 years TF service before about the end of September 1914, volunteered for overseas service and not qualified for either Star to get a TFWM. As he enlisted around the summer of 1914, he didn't qualify.

[Loader]

That is correct. But as a TF there was a form he had to sign early in the war & then go overseas. I didn't word it exactly right but I meant he may not have signed the form in the required time to qualify for the TFWM specifically. But he did indeed serve overseas. Sorry i did not make it clear what I meant.

You needed to have completed 4 years TF service before about the end of September 1914, volunteered for overseas service and not qualified for either Star to get a TFWM. As he enlisted around the summer of 1914, he didn't qualify.

Thanks for a better fuller explanaiton of the regs.

[AJKXY]

Thanks everyone for extremely helpful insight and references.

Tony

[AJKXY]

Speaking of medals, my great uncle earned the BWM and Victory medal as pointed out by Johnboy, but I don't have the actual medals. Were they issued to next of kin for those that did not survive the war?

Tony

[Chris_Baker]

They were. Non-delivery would usually be marked on the medal roll and associated index card.

[AJKXY]

Thanks, Chris.

[AJKXY]

I have concluded from all of the above that my great uncle enlisted in the Territorials on 4 August 1914 or a few days earlier (i.e. when war seemed imminent) and that he did not sign the Imperial Service Obligation. What puzzles me is why anyone would rush to be one of the first to sign up at the outbreak of hostilities and then not volunteer for overseas service. After all the war was in France and Belgium.

Tony

[spof]

Tony

I would not make the assumption he signed the Imperial Service Obligation form.

The "Home Service only" option was removed with the introduction of the Military Service Act in March 1916 so the regiment would have had a fully trained and equipped soldier available to be sent abroad as a reinforcement but he still didn't go for about a year. More likely is that someone, somewhere, decided he was much more useful at home or he wasn't regarded as physically fit enough for the strain of front line service. By 1917, that classification could have changed enough for him to join the battalion in France/Belgium.

in the absence of a service record, I would only record that he enlisted in/around 4th August, did Home Service until 1917 when he was sent to the Western Front. A new post in hte Documents Look Up Section asking for a medal roll lookup for the 13th London Regt may show his assignement at home but that is unlikely as it was not supposed to be recorded. Otherwise, I don't think there is much more to be found.

Glen

[AJKXY]

Thanks, Glen

The only thing is that if he enlised on or before 4 August he would have qualified for the TF War Medal if he signed the Imperial Service Obligation. I don't think the 4 year rule applied to those already enlisted on or before 4 August.

(There is a good exchange of information o this topic under Medals.)

I suppose it is possible that "they" made the decision that he should not go immediately to the front before he was to sign the Imperial Service Obligation so he didn't bother to sign.

Tony