'Acting' rank question

[WD61JG]

Hi

Please could anyway confirm that if someone was a 2nd Lieutenant of a particular regiment/battalion, but 'Acting' Captain of another, for the purposes of tracking their movements in war diairies, would they be with the battalion for whom they were the 'Acting Capt' as this is the higher rank?

Thanks

[Muerrisch]

Because "Acring" was only for doing the job with a current unit, I think the best bet is that he should be as a Captain with the new unit.

[Ron Clifton]

If he was attached to a battalion different from his own, he would not be with his own unit and his activities, promotions or becoming a casualty would not be mentioned in its war diary, except on leaving or rejoining.

Ron

[Pylon1357II]

I think this is already covered, however... an Acting rank is just that. he is Acting as a Captain, with Captains duties and responsibilities, but for purposes of pay, he would be drawing the pay of a 2Lt. Regardless of any soldiers rank, his movements and any mention of him would be be in the Records of the Battalion he was attached to at the time. There may be mention of his being attached to a different battalion, then mention of his return within his usual battalion. But between those two dates, he would be recorded in his attached battalion.

[Muerrisch]

I think this is already covered, however... an Acting rank is just that. he is Acting as a Captain, with Captains duties and responsibilities, but for purposes of pay, he would be drawing the pay of a 2Lt. Regardless of any soldiers rank, his movements and any mention of him would be be in the Records of the Battalion he was attached to at the time. There may be mention of his being attached to a different battalion, then mention of his return within his usual battalion. But between those two dates, he would be recorded in his attached battalion.

Simply not true. Acting rank would be with pay in most circumstances, and without pay under others.

Authority: the various editions of "Instructions Regarding Promotion of Officers" CDS 384.

[trajan]

Not my field at all, but an officer chappie I am interested in is listed in the LG for December 1917 as:

"The Rev. F. J. Walker, M.A., B.D., Chapln. to the Forces, 3rd Cl., to be Chapln. to the Forces, 2nd Cl. (without increase of pay or allowances), whilst actg. as Senior Chapln. to the Forces (C. of E.) of an Army Corps, vice the Rev. M. Tobias, who reverts to Chapln. to the Forces, 4th Cl. 24th Aug. 1917."

Emphasis added.

Trajan

[Muerrisch]

As I said/implied above, there were exceptions.

[Ron Clifton]

For army chaplains, promotion was dependent on length of service rather than being linked to a particular appointment, according to the Pay Warrant. In Rev Walker's case, the acting promotion was presumably to give him the appropriate seniority over other Chaplains 3rd Class within the Army Corps, for ease of administration.

We can only speculate why Rev Tobias was demoted: it could have been at his own request, or for health, competence or even disciplinary reasons. There might be some references in the Corps A&Q War Diary.

Ron

[David_Underdown]

In the case of chaplains, there's also the aspect that he felt called to be actually doing pastoral work with troops, rather than the more administrative role of senior chaplain (more akin to being a rural dean or archdeacon back home, rather than a parish priest). His interview card seems to suggest he had been a regular army chaplain before the war, and was a reservist, though I may be misinterpreting http://www.chaplains-museum.co.uk/entity/142341-m-tobias