From enlistment to depot

[johnboy]

I have a soldier who enlisted at Holborn  into Royal Fusiliers. It is possible that he had to report to Colchester. Would he have been given a rail warrant?

  

[clive_hughes]

Might depend on the date/circumstances (could have varied during the conscription era), but yes I'd have thought he would.  

 

He could have been alone or one of a party of recruits taken down to the station, but I'm less sure if they had to be escorted all the way - some men had very long journeys in front of them (like the south of England man who decided he'd enlist in the Northumberland Fus. because that gave him a longer train ride!).  Depending on how long it took there might also have been a case for issuing them with a bit of cash for food en route.  

 

interested to hear others' views on this.

Clive

[johnboy]

Thanks. They might have reported back to the recruitment office and gone in a group? They might have reported to a Sjt. at the station of embarkation?

[clive_hughes]

Either is possible.  It wasn't unknown (pre-conscription) for recruits to be given a few days grace to settle their affairs if they so wished; and if so then a rendezvous of some sort would also have been arranged. 

 

I've had another look at Coulson Kernahan's 1915 book on his experiences as a recruiter.  He states that as soon as a man was attested and given his first day's pay (king's shilling) and allowance, he would be asked "When do you want to go?"  He should (in theory) also have been given the blue Army Form B2505A as evidence of his enlistment, to be handed in when he reached the Depot.  The recruit might want to go at once, or perhaps need to give his employer notice first.  If the latter, a date would be fixed by mutual agreement, and the man assured that he would qualify for Army pay during the meantime.  The recruiter would check his railway timetable and say that a train to the relevant destination would be leaving at X o'clock on the appointed day.  The recruit was to arrive at the recruiting office at X minus an hour (or whatever) so that the sergeant could give him his pay up to date, and a rail warrant for the journey, exchangeable at the station for a ticket.  If needed, Kernahan says the man would also receive from the sergeant a rail warrant to get back home on the day he enlisted.  A man wanting to go off at once would just be given his warrant & blue form.

 

That's one (ideal) scenario anyway!  Might depend how busy the office was as to whether the recruits were despatched in groups or as individuals.

 

Hope that helps

Clive 

 

 

[johnboy]

I'll go with that!

I haven't seen these rail warrants or receipts for them. Mention of warrants on discharge are sometimes seen in service records.