Service History of Pte Lloyd, Labour Corps

[bigstu314]

Hi all,

I am trying to trace the service history of my wife's great grandfather. I have a fair amount of 'jigsaw' pieces but so far I can not complete the picture. This is what I know so far:

Pte Charles Lloyd

Service numbers 44183 and 129631

Enlisted on 25th Feb 1916 in Kington (probably into a Welsh Regt)

By 29th Aug 1916 he was part of 23rd Works Bn Kings Liverpool Regt as we have a marriage certificate and Unit acknowledgement confirming change of pay. I understand that later the 23rd Wk Bn became 1st Labour Bn of the newly formed Labour Corps

Demobbed / Txr to the Reserve 16 Oct 1919 from 264 AE Coy - is this an Area Employment Company?

What I am hoping for is a little clarity and colour as to where he served. I fully accept that the Labour Corps is difficult to track as there are not alot of records to utilise. I am hoping to take my father-in-law (grandson of Pte Lloyd) and my son (gt-gt-gs) on a battlefield tour of the Western Front in the near future and it would be incredibly rewarding and humbling to walk in his footsteps.

Like alot of soldiers of the time he never spoke about his experiences so there is no oral history with which to work with.

Thank you in advance for any help that can be given

[aradgick]

The following at The National Archives at Kew might have some information:

First World War and Army of Occupation War Diaries. DEPLOYMENT OF UNITS. Labour Corps. 1914 - 1919. Reference: WO 95/5495

WO 95/5393 covers 1 Labour Corps, but only for May and June 1919

Neither diary has been digitised yet.

Andrewr

[kenf48]

He did not, apparently serve overseas with the KLR. According to this earlier thread and the contribution by Ivor Lee who is the expert on the LC the 1st Labour Bn only lasted a month.

and the men were disposed to other units.

I can't find him in the medal index cards which I believe are currently free to search on Ancestry. (I subscribe but there's a little tag that says 'FREE').

The Area Employment Companies were engaged in salvage work after the armistice and although a dangerous and unpleasant job sadly no medals were awarded for this work.

Sorry to disappoint you, happy to be proved wrong but it doesn't look as though he served overseas during the war.

Ken

[bigstu314]

Many thanks for the swift and helpful responses gents.

I could not find him in the medal index cards either, I did think it was my incompetence but Ken's search results look to confirm it. Also there is a vague family story about him and his pals throwing their headress in the River Liffey at the War's end which would corroborate this further. So it looks like whilst he did serve in the Labour Corps he was most likely posted to Dublin and served there throughout hence the lack of medals.

By all accounts he was a strong, fit and healthy man, a farmer all of his life well used to handling horses and large livestock. He did however lose a finger (RH) in a chaffing incidient prior to the war. Would this be enough on its own to lower his medical category to one preventing active service?

[kenf48]

At the risk of sounding facetious I guess it depends which finger and whether it would prevent him from firing a rifle.

Unfortunately without a service record we can only speculate. His enlistment which was probably under the Group or Derby Scheme given the date and his initial training may have highlighted some pre-existing condition which made it more appropriate for him to be employed in a Labour or Works Battalion.

Perhaps someone with access to Ivor Lee's book can tell you whether 264 A E Company was stationed in Dublin.

Ken