Pre-GW Imperial yeomanry commissions and GW service

[trajan]

Can and will anyone direct me towards where I can find out more on how to research this ? I am new to genealogy research and I am looking for help on understanding a chap who was a 2nd Lt. in the Duke of Lancaster's Own in 1901-1913, and was then re-commissioned in the GW for service with another unit as a Temp.Lt, before rising to Actg. Capt. when posted to another... I know, many would cry "More details are needed", but I really want guidance to see how far I can go on this before pleading for help! For starters, what was the 'usual' age for a man to be commissioned as a 2nd Lt. in the DOL Own or a similar units?

Thanks in advance!

Julian

EDIT: added details to topic tags

[Guest]

Trajan. Not quite Imperial Yeomanry but I do have the "Regulations for the Territorial Force and County Associations 1912". The rules will be largely the same. Candidates nominated for commission must be British subjects and not under 17 years of age . Applications were made to the President of the County Association and required a birth certificate.

In the case of candidates who have previously held a commission in the TF or other force a certificate from the candidate's late CO was required.

There are pages of detail on applications, vacancies, transfers etc.

When he was commissioned again for the Great War was he with the TF?

MG

[JMB1943]

Trajan,

You had given the date range 1901-13, so I downloaded 'Hart's Annual Army List 1902' (rather than 1901, in case he was not listed in the 1901).

Moving the pointer at the bottom of screen to p.1098 brings up the officers of the Duke of Lancaster's Own, together with date of commission, on the lower half of right-hand page.

Dates of commission for 2/Lts. are in the range from 28 June 1899 to 16 November 1901.

Regards,

JMB

[trajan]

Trajan. Not quite Imperial Yeomanry but I do have the "Regulations for the Territorial Force and County Associations 1912". The rules will be largely the same. Candidates nominated for commission must be British subjects and not under 17 years of age . Applications were made to the President of the County Association and required a birth certificate.

In the case of candidates who have previously held a commission in the TF or other force a certificate from the candidate's late CO was required.

There are pages of detail on applications, vacancies, transfers etc.

When he was commissioned again for the Great War was he with the TF?

MG

Thanks Martin, you have enough on your plate elsewhere so I appreciate you answering this one!

I haven't got into any records yet other than the LG entries which indicate my subject was commissioned as 2nd Lt. in the DOL Own in 1901, retaining that rank with the introduction of the Militia and Yeomanry Act, and resigning his commission with the regiment effective 13th June, 1903. He then re-appears in the LG in January 1917 when transferred from the DLI to ASC as a Temp. Lt., and appears again in the LG in August 1917 as "Temp. Lt. XXX to be actg. Capt." [backdated - or whatever the correct term is! - to] May 1917.... BUT he does have a 1914-1915 Star.

I am sorry to be so deliberately elliptical on this, but as I said in the OP, I'd like to see how far I can get before throwing myself on the mercy of the specialists on the GWF in what is an entirely new field of research for me!

Julian

EDIT: thanks JMB - like I said, being obtuse on purpose, but... And it promises to be a sunny day tomorrow for that background view!

[JMB1943]

I should have included also the FreeBMD website,

www.freebmd.org.uk

into which you can enter the gentleman's surname and first name or initials to find the Birth, Marriage and Death dates.

In the case where a person has more than two christian names, it may be best to only enter the first two in the search parameters.

Regards,

JMB

[trajan]

Thanks JMB - I tried that but without a rough idea of his age when joining the DOL Own, other than perhaps 20 or so, then there are an awful lot of possibles! It can wait a while, I suppose...

Julian

[trajan]

Well, I think I have finally found out the answer for this man, one Harold Wilton Hardman...

If I have him identified properly, and there is only one Harold Wilton Hardman to be found on FMP, then he was a Lancashire bloke from a wealthy mill family - "living on his own means" in the 1901 census - and born 1869, and so he was 32 or so when gazetted as 2nd Lt. for the Duke of Lancaster's Own in 1901, and 46 or so when he was joined the 12th DLI in 1915.

Isn't that rather old?

Either way, thanks to forum mate SMG65 (Sean), via http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=107917I now know that the poor chap left the regiment with shell shock on 12 04 16 with shellshock, and went to the ASC on 18 12 16.....

Trajan

[trajan]

Ah-hah, I have to admit that I now think I am barking up the wrong tree in my first real attempt at this tracing lark... That is to say that my DOL's Own man is different from my DLI one... Back to the drawing board... Or time to get an Ancestry subscription - but I have a faint recollection that officers' service records from the GW are not on-line?

Trajan