66 Coy (MT) Army Service Corps, 7th Division Ammunition Park.

[Gunner R.A.]

66 Coy (MT) Army Service Corps, 7^th Division Ammunition Park.

Could anyone give me any further information regarding the above unit.

I am just looking at the service record of M.S. 967 Harry Edwards who enlisted on the 12^th of August 1914.

Looking at his record there are conflicting dates as to when he went overseas, as follows,

Enlisted 12/8/14 – To France 13/8/14 (highly unlikely I would have thought)

Later in his record the date for Embarkation is 4/10/14, however this date has a line through it and the above date is inserted.

Then again in the section for “Campaigns, Medals and Decorations” his embarkation date is once again given as 4/10/14

Edwards himself states in a letter to Army Records that he embarked for France during the last week of September 1914.

As far as I understand the 7^th division was formed during September and very early October 1914, landing in Zeebrugge in the first week of the latter month. So surely the most likely embarkation date for Harry Edwards would have been 4/10/14, or could he have possibly gone over earlier than this?

In a post war news article Harry Edwards, it was stated took part in the retreat from Mons (24 August – 5 September 1914), obviously I have my doubts about this, but could it have been possible? I might add that I would strongly question the honesty/accuracy of the latter article.

Finally could anyone point me in the right direction for the war diary of this unit (up to the end of 1914) please, my knowledge of the A.S.C. is virtually none existent.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated,

Pete.

[Ron Clifton]

Hello Pete

The War Diary is at Kew in this file:

WO 95/802 7 Ammunition Sub Park (66 Company A.S.C.) 1914 Oct. - 1918 Mar.

If it is not already available online, it should become available soon, and it will cost you £3.45. They were part of VI Corps Troops by 1918.

As regards the date of embarkation, it seems more likely that the wrong date was deleted, and it was his date of enlistment which should have been amended. The MS prefix to his service number indicates a "Mechanical Special" enlistment, indicating a man with previous experience of driving and maintaining motor vehicles. It is not impossible that he went to France in August, perhaps as the driver of a staff car or similar - there was a pre-war "Army Motor Reserve" and he may have belonged to that, before being formally enlisted on 12 or 13 August.

Ron

[Gunner R.A.]

Hello Ron,

if i didn't know better i'd say you were stalking me lol.

Twice in two days offering info, much appreciated mate,

kind regards,

Pete.

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

As Ron says, the diary is available to read for free at Kew under that reference.

I have good news......and some bad news regarding its availability on line.

The good news is, that part of it is available in digitised format for you to download.

The bad news is, the period October 1914 - November 1916 is available in 21 different diaries (at £3.45 a pop!)

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_ps=60&_rv=simple&_q=WO+95+and+802+and+ammunition+and+park

I've not seen an ASC Company diary be divided into so many sub units.

If you only need a month, then it might be worth a download, but 21 x £3.45.... that's erm........a lot......

[Gunner R.A.]

Cheers Dai,

                  yes a strange one that, and like you say expensive, fortunately i can get away with just one download,

 

cheers,

 

Pete.