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Remembered Today:

'K.A.' abbreviation in Newspaper archive?


Andy Wade

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Hello Everyone,

I'm currently transcribing the 900+ names from a newspaper publication called 'Keighley's Gallant Sons' which appeared in the Bradford Telegraph and Argus newspaper in 1916. It's a list of all those who volunteered for war service before the Military Service Act introduced conscription in January 1916.

There's an abbreviation 'K.A.' that I can't fathom out, and maybe I've just got my thick head on because I'm stumped. Can anyone throw some light on what it could mean?

It appears at the end of the man's details and usually this refers to which regiment or service they enlisted with, Mostly these are '6th W.R.' for the 6th battalion West Riding regiment or 'W.Y.' for the West Yorkshire Regiment, R.F.A. for Royal Field Artillery, or North. Fus. for the Northumberland Fusiliers etc.

It is unlikely to mean 'Killed in Action' because some of the men do have 'killed' or 'killed in action' written in brackets in this column. Apart from something a bit silly like 'King's Army' I can't think what it could mean.
Here's a small image from the archive which shows couple of men with the 'K.A.' after their names, they are Fred Pamment and Luke Parle. From their available service documents/medal cards I have discovered that Fred Pamment was in the Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment, then the Machine Gun Corps then the West Riding Regiment and Luke Parle was in the West Riding Regiment, so the 'K.A.' abbreviation seems to make no sense at all. Please put me out of my misery!

post-9980-0-68668200-1432990585_thumb.jp

I've looked on the list of regiments in 'Geoff's Wonderful Search Engine' and it hasn't come up with anything obvious:

KALAHARI HORSE
KAPURTHALA INFANTRY (JAGATJIT REGIMENT)
KASHMIR LANCERS
KENHARDT COMMAND
KENT CYCLIST BATTALION
KENYA DEFENCE FORCE
KHAIRPUR MOUNTED RIFLES AND CAMEL CORPS
KING'S AFRICAN RIFLES
KING'S OWN (ROYAL LANCASTER REGIMENT)
KING'S OWN MALTA REGIMENT
KING'S OWN SCOTTISH BORDERERS
KING'S OWN YORKSHIRE LIGHT INFANTRY
KING'S ROYAL RIFLE CORPS
KING'S SHROPSHIRE LIGHT INFANTRY

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kitcheners army?

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Well I hadn't thought of that but it's a very good suggestion! That would have been a term in general use back then wouldn't it.

Thank you very much indeed for this Coldstreamer.

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maybe it wasnt known at the time into which regiment they where going so used this

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Yes, I think you're right with that, it would make sense. We're not sure where all the information came from to compile this list. Certainly a lot was volunteered by relatives as a call went out in the newspaper for people to submit names of those who volunteered, but maybe some came from the drill hall where the men volunteered. The information is very patchy for some of the men with just a surname and a street in some cases, which could suggest someone using their own memory to submit names.

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That link has a William Wareham (and others) who have the entry K.A. for 'Kitcheners Army' and the last column was 'Killed in action'.

I'm convinced anyway, not that I needed much prompting... Many thanks again. :thumbsup:

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