MIC translation and two card query.

[GaryS]

Hi all.

I'm a newbie to all this and I appreciate (honestly) that I am being very cheeky in my questions (regarding the attached picture of the cards), but here they go:

There seems to be two cards for William H Sawyer (my Grandfather) and they seem to be remarkably similar with the exceptions of the Silver War Badge on the second one, he did have an SWB in his effects (not his original medals though, he pawned them )and was wounded.

Are these cards for the same bloke?

On the first card the first corps was 1 London R, while on the second it is 17 Lond R. Is that correct, was there a 1 Lond R and the name is simply a coincidence? Was the 1 Lond R the 1st London Regiment as opposed to the 1st London Rifle Brigade? Have I got myself well and truly confused? I think I am incredibly confused but I'm in a too confused state to make that catagorical. I think.

[Chris_Baker]

Gary, these appear to be two different men.

There was indeed a 1st Battalion of the London Regiment, and a 17th Battalion.

Strictly speaking, the 1st was called the 1st (City of London) Battalion TF (Royal Fusiliers). Don't be confused by the reference to Royal Fusiliers: some London battalions were affiliated to this regiment.

The 17th was properly called 17th (County of London) Battalion TF (Poplar and Stepney Rifles).

To add to your agony, the 5th Battalion was called the London Rifle Brigade!

Interesting that both men were posted to the Labour Corps: they had been medically downgraded, possibly after recovering from wounds.

[GaryS]

Chris

Many thanks. Now that you have commented it has sunk in my thick skull that they are two different people! It always helps to get some experienced comment.

I now have, more or less, certainly got my Grandfather and it looks like the prospect of visiting Kew is upon me or should that be

[CROONAERT]

It is possible , however, to find two cards to the same person (and I don't mean a 1914 star card being seperate from a pair card, etc.). I've got a couple which ,for some reason, one card has all the expected details and the other card is blank apart from the addition of a middle name to the soldier and a lack of mention of one of his service numbers.

Dave.

[GaryS]

Thanks Dave, understood.