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Remembered Today:

CWGC entry


Northern Soul

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This man seems to have a rather long service number for an infantryman;

Name: BREAKWELL, ELI

Initials: E

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Private

Regiment: King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regt.)

Unit Text: 1st Bn.

Age: 32

Date of Death: 23/06/1921

Service No: 3701821

Additional information: Son of John and Mary Breakwell; husband of Edith Maud Breakwell, of 3 Spring Gardens, Ulverston. Born at Barrow-in-Furness.

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: B. NC. 66.

Cemetery: ULVERSTON CEMETERY

According to his Medal Index Card it was 13532, so is this a error in the CWGC database or is it correct? <_<

Andy.

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This man seems to have a rather long service number for an infantryman;

Name: BREAKWELL, ELI

Initials: E

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Private

Regiment: King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regt.)

Unit Text: 1st Bn.

Age: 32

Date of Death: 23/06/1921

Service No: 3701821

Additional information: Son of John and Mary Breakwell; husband of Edith Maud Breakwell, of 3 Spring Gardens, Ulverston. Born at Barrow-in-Furness. 

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: B. NC. 66.

Cemetery: ULVERSTON CEMETERY        

According to his Medal Index Card it was 13532, so is this a error in the CWGC database or is it correct? <_<

Andy.

Looks like a number from the post 1920 "blocks" of 7 digit army numbers, note army number not regimental number.

This was a scheme by which soldiers were issued with one number, an ARMY number, and kept the same number no matter how many times they were transferred.

Numbers from these "blocks" were still being used in WW2.

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An 8 digit "regimental" number starting with 14 had already been allocated to the Pioneer Corps (14000000) from 1939 , the Lowland Regiment and the Highland Regiment from 1943, and the General Service Corps also in 1943. Along with these , 15 other units were allocated 8 digit numbers between 1939 and 1950.

Dave.

You could be right on that Dave. However, the 1920 "blocks" were still being used alongside these "afterthought" units with 8 figure numbers.

Somewhere I read, and you may know more of this, that the 1920 "blocks" were being issued as long as individual units trained their own soldiers.

At the start of WW2 a soldier would join the "Blankshires" and get a number from the "Blankshires" block, and keep it as long as they were in the army. Around the middle of the war new recruits began to be directed into the army, given a General Service number, and then transferred to which ever arm suited their aptitude or, more likely, where soldiers were most needed!

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