RHA Batteries - nominal rolls

[wesleycj]

Could anyone provide or point me in the direction of a nominal roll for any of the RHA Batteries with the Desert Force in 1918.

Or could I go for broke and ask if Driver Edward Vincent James 196598 is listed to any of the Batteries. I'll also post this under the Soldier Forum

18 Bde - Invernesshire, Ayrshire & Somerset Btys

19 Bde - A & B Btys HAC, Notts Bty

20 Bde - Berkshire, Hampshire & Leicestershire

Many thanks

Chris

[wesleycj]

To save any duplication of effort this was solved in the Soldier Forum - paperwork could not cope with a man with 3 Christian names!

Post closed

[susancammas]

Good evening - what is a "nominal roll" - a list of names of the officers and artillerymen in a battery?

If so, where can these lists be found?

Thanks

Susan

[Guest]

Mate,

Few nom rolls are left to us after all these years.

Most are made up from a number of Sources and are never complete.

You have to go threw all the known sources Like War dairy, and Routine Orders to see what personal lists are there.

So its a long hard road you have to go.

Good Luck

S.B

[susancammas]

Thanks SB - it sounds a daunting task indeed!

Do these liste include rank and file or is it only officers only?

Susan

[Guest]

Mate,

Hard to say what any list cotains, some times you get lucky, but don't count on it.

The only way is to look to see what's there

S.B

[susancammas]

Thanks.

Susan

[rflory]

I have been through most, if not all, of the RHA war diaries and I do not remember seeing any nominal rolls of other ranks. A few RFA brigade war diaries contain nominal rolls of other ranks by battery but they are only for one or two dates. A number of RA unit histories contain complete nominal rolls of ORs.

[susancammas]

Good evening rflory

Thank you (and everyone else) for your help.

I'm afraid I'm still struggling with this topic!

I'm not really sure exactly what nominal rolls are and where they can be found.

Stupid or what?

Can I assume that:

* these are named lists and can contain officers names and possibly other ranks names too

* these lists are sometimes part of a war diary

* they can possibly be found in "routine orders" - in which case, what are these "routine orders and where can I find them??

You state "A number of RA unit histories contain complete nominal rolls of ORs"

Do any of these histories concern F battery in France where the ancestor I'm researching served?

He was BQSM with them until 4th Decmber 1914 after which he was commissioned and sent to to Mesopotamia.

Thanks again

Susan

[Guest]

Mate,

Its a shady area as all nominal rolls were done threw unit roll books, but in all my years of reseach I am yet to see any of these that survived in full..

That said unit clerks and some officers did place lists of soldiers in the unit War diaries, but most names show up in the Unit Routine Orders (if these survie in these British units?).

I have found good nom rolls in some AIF war diaries where the unit is formed or a change of station, and or some AIF units have lists of soldiers awarded their "A" for service on Anzac.

Australian units also submitted a unit strength state each week in which they detailed the sick and casualties during the week, but again it depends on the clerk/Adjt as to how much details are put in.

Again having looked at a number of British War diaries for these RHA attached to the Light Horse units there is not much in them.

Have you made inquires to the Nation Archives in London?

Sorry

S.B

[rflory]

Susan: Nominal rolls are a list of names of the officers and/or other ranks in a unit at the time in which the roll was compiled. A few war diaries for RFA and RGA units contain nominal rolls but I have not kept track of which as my research only involves RA officers. I am quite sure that none of the diaries were RHA diaries. Routine orders are sometimes found included in RA war diaries but from my experience are not common. Unit histories were produced by some RA units after the Great War and some of these have nominal rolls of the unit which contain the names of the other ranks in the unit. The unit history for F Battery, RHA during the Great War (The Story of "F" Troop Royal Horse Artillery) contains nominal rolls of the officers, Battery Serjeant Majors and Battery QM Serjeants in that unit from 1801 to 1932. If I am not mistaken I have already indicated in another of your posts that Charles JT Johnston is listed as a QM Serjeant in F/RHA from 1910 through 1914.