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familyhistoryman

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I am researching John James Bentley of the Army Ordnance Corps who was killed 29 May 1918. He was attached to the X C A Railhead. What was the XCA Railhead?

Regards, Tony

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Tony

Just a guess, since TLLT is up dating on the AOC, a possible X C on Discovery is 10 Corps Ordnance (WO 95/873). The only "A" that crops up seems to stand for Ammunition.

SGDW shows that he was born in Darwen and enlisted at Blackburn, Lancs. You could try Blackburn Library (Local History). The staff are very helpful and if he lived in the town they will more than likely have a newspaper report of his death which may yield more info.

Brian

Edited by brianmorris547
typo
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A History of the Army Ordnance Services by Maj Gen A Forbes can be found on the web

See page 134 for an explanation of the railhead code letter system

The first two letters are the code for the main railhead in each case

The third letter represents the offshoot from the main railhead in order – A, B, C, etc etc

(alas, I do see any indication of geographical place though)

 

 

Edited by michaeldr
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Many thanks for the various suggestions and help

Regards, Tony

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I've just had a look through the May 1918 WDs of the Deputy Assistant Directors, Ordnance Services on Ancestry by Division. Interesting because I've never read them before. Some mention Railheads by place name e.g. 17 Div mentions Rosel and Belle Eglise, 18 Div mentions Vignacourt and 35 Div also mentions Belle Eglise. The only casualties I noticed were 21 Div for 28/05/1918, which mentions Capt Quarrie wounded at Poilly and being evacuated and other casualties when retiring from the Railhead at Prouilly. The DADOS 38 Div certainly did not believe in wasting ink.

Brian

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On 20/12/2017 at 04:22, familyhistoryman said:

I am researching John James Bentley of the Army Ordnance Corps who was killed 29 May 1918. He was attached to the X C A Railhead. What was the XCA Railhead?

Regards, Tony

I wonder if XCA railhead is associated with the railway A line. I see that John James Bentley is buried in Gwalia Cemetery which is in square 22 of this map. It is very near the A line and its spurs and yards. On this map, railheads are marked in red. Full map here.

If the XC in XCA does refer to X Corps then knowing where X Corps were may help. Peselhoek Railhead is less than 1000 yards from the cemetery. XCA may be shorthand for a place but a quick search of the (full) map did not yield anywhere obvious.

Howard

 

 

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Howard,

 

I don't thinks X Corps were in the area; their ADOS war diary has them in the area of Sains, near St Pol, which is a little out of the area for Poperinghe.  

 

I don't know if it helps but a few months before in February 1918 a Private Seddon of XCB Train was buried at Mendeghem which is  relatively near Poperinghe and Gwalia Cemetery.

 

Regards

 

Colin

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Colin

10 Corps was just a guess on my part. See post 4 from Michael.

Brian

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20 hours ago, brianmorris547 said:

Colin

10 Corps was just a guess on my part. See post 4 from Michael.

Brian

Many thanks for all the help and suggestions 

Tony

Edited by familyhistoryman
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