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Remembered Today:

War Gratuity and length of Service WW1


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Quote

 

Private                                PERKINS, WILLIAM JOHN

Service Number                 20515

Died                                    28/02/1919

Aged                                   23

                                           6th Bn. Somerset Light Infantry

                                           Son of John and Martha Perkins, of 2, St. Mary's Cottages, London Rd., Newbury.

Buried at                             SHAW CEMETERY, NEWBURY


 

For comparison

 

#20558 was allocated 21 Jan 1916 so the date is narrowed to between 29 Dec 15 and 21 Jan 16.


Craig

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  • 11 months later...

Hi, I am trying to work out part of this War Gratuity which was paid to my ancestors on the death of Harry Thompson, C/12149 I have spotted that he had the basic war gratuity for a year or less service of £3 but what do the 13 shillings and 1 penny refer to here? Could these be the accumulation of his overseas allowance? I shall attach the document here. Many thanks and I hope you are all keeping well in these challenging times.

Harrywargratuity.jpg

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21 minutes ago, mindful45 said:

Hi, I am trying to work out part of this War Gratuity which was paid to my ancestors on the death of Harry Thompson, C/12149 I have spotted that he had the basic war gratuity for a year or less service of £3 but what do the 13 shillings and 1 penny refer to here? Could these be the accumulation of his overseas allowance? I shall attach the document here. Many thanks and I hope you are all keeping well in these challenging times.

 

Only the red figure, the £3, is war gratuity. The remaining figure is unpaid wages etc.

 

You are correct in that the £3 (net) is for less than 12 months service.

 

Craig

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Thankyou. You have been a big help. I was puzzling over this for months...trying to work it out and getting nowhere. That makes sense. ;) 

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Hi mindful45,

 

21 hours ago, mindful45 said:

Harry Thompson, C/12149 I have spotted that he had the basic war gratuity for a year or less service

 

It looks like he probably joined up in early November 1915. Surviving papers show:

 

C/12128 - attested 4.11.1915

C/12129 - attested 4.11.1915

C/12136  - attested 5.11.1915

C/12149

C/12150 - attested 8.11.1915

C/12175 - attested 9.11.1915

C/12179 - attested 9.11.1915

 

Regards

Chris

 

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59 minutes ago, mindful45 said:

Thankyou. You have been a big help. I was puzzling over this for months...trying to work it out and getting nowhere. That makes sense. ;) 

Don't worry, it took me many, many hours of work to crack the actual gratuity calculations ! (and even now I often have to go back to original docs to check things).


Craig

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Hi Both,

 

Re: when Harry enlisted, I did some sleuthing last year and I found that in the Bradford Roll of Honour (which is a really BIG tome) that he gets a mention as his family were living there at the time. In this book it states that he joined up on the 6th November 1915. Thought to share this with the info you have provided above, so yes he was one of the earliest recruits I guess.

 

Now then, how much would £3, 13S and 1d be worth in our money? Does anyone know? I was born after metrification and talk of shillings and pence, 'bob's and ha'pennies confuses the life out of me! ha!

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Hello Mindful

 

£1 in 1918 would be worth £57.20 today, according to Google.

 

£3.13.1 equates to £3 + (13 x 5)p = £3.65p

 

So multiplying by 57.2 gives to £208.78p

 

Not a lot!!

  

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi, I hope you are keeping well. Sorry for the delay in replying. No that isn't a lot - I didn't think it would be. Not much to show for a life is it? Thanks for helping me with this. 

 

Btw the Bradford Roll of Honour which indicates the date that Harry enlisted - the 6th November 1916 is available online if anyone wishes to use this as information.

Thompson, H - Thompson, J

 

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I have seen a very few cases where war gratuity was not awarded. Less than 6 months home service I get but the cases (about 3) were in France so would be entitled to the min from Day 1 as I understand it... 

 1 Option is clerical error which in 1 case is an issue as there was 2 seperate entries but linked. 

 

Is there any other reason the min would not have been awarded? 

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  • Admin

Can you share with us the details of the cases you have come across - then we can have a look at possible reasons

 

Regards

 

Russ

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