felicity.cleaves Posted 13 May , 2015 Share Posted 13 May , 2015 My grandfather began a course of teacher training after the war and I have a letter which has been sent by the War Office to the District Director, O.U.T.C 16, Hills Road, Cambridge. Does anybody know what the O.U.T.C was? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coldstreamer Posted 13 May , 2015 Share Posted 13 May , 2015 officer university training corps ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 13 May , 2015 Share Posted 13 May , 2015 My grandfather began a course of teacher training after the war and I have a letter which has been sent by the War Office to the District Director, O.U.T.C 16, Hills Road, Cambridge. Does anybody know what the O.U.T.C was? Felicity it is just transposition in error of some of the letters. It should be University Officer Training Corps (UOTC) No 16, which was at Cambridge. UOTCs were officer training units based in universities and other educational establishments and institutions. They were dispersed right across Britain and Ireland and numbered for recognition. Many of them provided officers for specific regiments or corps, others provided more generally. They did (and still do) this in peace and in war, although of course once conflict commences their numbers grow exponentially. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felicity.cleaves Posted 13 May , 2015 Author Share Posted 13 May , 2015 I am not entirely convinced of your answer. I know he did do some Officer training in 1916 in Scotland - where he was taught to ride. We know he went to Cambridge after the War we think to begin training as a teacher but this was stopped because he was not able to stand for long periods due to his war wound. The letter is from the officer commanding Eastern Command is sent to 16, Hills Road, Cambridge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaJane Posted 13 May , 2015 Share Posted 13 May , 2015 A letter headed Posts for Ex-Officers in the Times, Wednesday Dec 11 1918, references O.U.T.C. as the Officers' University and Technical Corps. sJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felicity.cleaves Posted 14 May , 2015 Author Share Posted 14 May , 2015 Thank you that, sounds worth exploring Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlesmessenger Posted 14 May , 2015 Share Posted 14 May , 2015 Felicity I think that Frogsmile may be right. If the War Office was sponsoring his teacher training course, he is likely to have been attached to the Cambridge UOTC. Certainly, I have never heard of the Officers' University and Technical Corps. Charles M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaJane Posted 9 October , 2015 Share Posted 9 October , 2015 Sorry chaps I'm going to stick with my theory - that the Officers' University and Technical Corps was based in London but had a Cambridge regional office. Times extracts below. sJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 9 October , 2015 Share Posted 9 October , 2015 "Seems to be too little known," says the letter - and so appears to be the case today. Charles' knowledge is extensive, and as my own knowledge in comparison is minimal (to the point of nothing in this case), I Googled - and had no hits at all. Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 9 October , 2015 Share Posted 9 October , 2015 Very interesting Felicity, and Jane, it's extraordinary how these obscure organisations sometimes turn up. Thank you both for posting, and Jane for clearing the acronym up. Not the first time it has been mixed up with OCTU or UOTC I should think! Teacher training after the war certainly chimes with the context and raisson d'être of the organisation concerned. I wonder if there might be anything in HANSARD about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loader Posted 9 October , 2015 Share Posted 9 October , 2015 This one right up there with the Office of Registry of Bridges & Canals. Or Office of Railroad Rights of Way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaJane Posted 9 October , 2015 Share Posted 9 October , 2015 Hansard is searchable online - I'll have a look when I can (not on this tiny phone screen) if nobody gets there first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 10 October , 2015 Share Posted 10 October , 2015 I did a search in Hansard from 1919 to 1929 inclusive. Couldn't find anything. But feel free to have a look yourself, anyone, just in case I mis-entered the search words. Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scalyback Posted 10 October , 2015 Share Posted 10 October , 2015 Sorry but if the OP was later placed on a course for teacher training, it would not be with the OTC. OTC is to train young men to be officers be their university course chemistry or Latin. The context of the letter may help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaJane Posted 11 October , 2015 Share Posted 11 October , 2015 I think we have confirmed that it's not the OTC, Scalyback, but really is the OUTC, a different thing. Moonraker, I have one (count it, 1!) result on O.U.T.C. from Hansard - but nothing on "Officers' University and Technical Corps"! http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/written_answers/1919/jul/02/ex-servicemen-training#S5CV0117P0_19190702_CWA_72 Couldn't find anything in TNA Kew. sJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scalyback Posted 11 October , 2015 Share Posted 11 October , 2015 Thank you Seajane. Wondering out loud if this corps was linked to the teaching professions. OTC for those under study, OUTC for those employed at educational establishment's. Just finding reference to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 11 October , 2015 Share Posted 11 October , 2015 I think we have confirmed that it's not the OTC, Scalyback, but really is the OUTC, a different thing. Moonraker, I have one (count it, 1!) result on O.U.T.C. from Hansard - but nothing on "Officers' University and Technical Corps"! http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/written_answers/1919/jul/02/ex-servicemen-training#S5CV0117P0_19190702_CWA_72 Couldn't find anything in TNA Kew. sJ Well done Jane, another very interesting find. I had not considered disabled officers, of which there must have been many, with the OUTC as a godsend for those well educated but needing help in finding suitable opportunities for employment. I imagine that any surviving papers for hospitals that specialised in maimed and disabled officers might prove fruitful in finding mention of the OUTC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaJane Posted 11 October , 2015 Share Posted 11 October , 2015 If I could find them I think I would have done, as the Hospital Records Database at the Wellcome Institute is linked in to TNA Kew - on the other hand there may well be minimally-indexed papers all over the place that mention the organisation, if only whoever looked at them had made the right note ... or, come to that, records that aren't yet catalogued at all... I think I may need to get in touch with FelicityJ and notify her that more has happened on this thread. sJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaJane Posted 11 October , 2015 Share Posted 11 October , 2015 Thank you Seajane. Wondering out loud if this corps was linked to the teaching professions. OTC for those under study, OUTC for those employed at educational establishment's. Just finding reference to it. Oh, I see - might well be a possibility, indeed. I will say that the Times used CUOTC and OUOTC when referring to the Cambridge and Oxford University OTCs respectively - the search using OUTC picked most of those examples up too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 12 October , 2015 Share Posted 12 October , 2015 If I could find them I think I would have done, as the Hospital Records Database at the Wellcome Institute is linked in to TNA Kew - on the other hand there may well be minimally-indexed papers all over the place that mention the organisation, if only whoever looked at them had made the right note ... or, come to that, records that aren't yet catalogued at all... I think I may need to get in touch with FelicityJ and notify her that more has happened on this thread. sJ It would be interesting to learn what degree of coordination there was with hospitals treating severely injured officers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaJane Posted 12 October , 2015 Share Posted 12 October , 2015 My gut feeling, entirely unsupported by research, is "not much" - or surely there would be more of a footprint? But until some researcher has enough time to read the letter books for the Royal Naval and military hospitals, we'll never know... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 12 October , 2015 Share Posted 12 October , 2015 My gut feeling, entirely unsupported by research, is "not much" - or surely there would be more of a footprint? But until some researcher has enough time to read the letter books for the Royal Naval and military hospitals, we'll never know... Yes, I think that you are right Jane and there would have been more of a footprint. Also people of officer status would not generally have been 'spoon fed' in those times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry_Reeves Posted 12 October , 2015 Share Posted 12 October , 2015 OUTC stands for Officers University and a Technical Training Committee. There are several files on the subject in TNA catalogue. TR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaJane Posted 13 October , 2015 Share Posted 13 October , 2015 If you can point me at them (are they reference WO, for example?) Terry, I'll be most grateful - I thought I'd searched all the ways possible! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry_Reeves Posted 13 October , 2015 Share Posted 13 October , 2015 sJane This link should do it: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_q=officers+university+technical Apologies, It should have been Officers University and Technical Classes, although the committee is relevant of course. TR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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