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28th Labour Company, ASC - Aug '15 - May '16?


anthony osborne

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After too long away from family research I am getting back into the swing of things!

I have recently discovered the unit that my Great, Great Grandfather - William Adams Garlick served in and looking to obtain the units diary detail between August 1915 and May 1916 if anyone has a copy easily to hand please? If not the National Archives it is.

The Unit in question is the 28th Labour Company, ASC.

William Adams Garlick enlisted 19th October 1915 and disembarked in the Egypt theatre on 15th November 1915 (according to his MIC).

The next record I have recently discovered on William is his admission to No 4 Canadian Hospital on 24th April 1916 having been transferred from No 31 CCS suffering from Pyrexia of unknown origin (a) at the age of 43.

An info on the above unit during the above dates would very much appreciated.

And once again - it's great to be back!

 

Regards,

 

Anthony

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Hello Anthony, and welcome back!

 

Bad news, I'm afraid. There does not appear to be a War Diary for any ASC Labour Company War Diary except 33 and 34 which worked with the railways, and the orders of battle do not show any such companies with GHQ, Armies or Corps, so presumably they were used on the Lines of Communication.

 

You might get lucky at Kew if you look at the War Diaries of the Commandants of the various L of C Bases and Areas.

 

Ron

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Hi Ron,

Thanks for your swift reply. Yes, I thought it may be a long shot - not much information about ASC units kept/recorded at all. Had the same problem with field bakeries.

I did see mention of the 28th Labour Company in records held at Kew whilst browsing their site - looks like a trip down there is on the cards.

Thanks again and good to be back!

 

Ant

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There is an Allocation of Units file available for Download from National Archives. Discussed on thread here. Includes ASC Transport Co's Bakeries and Butcheries but info very very limited. This is what it seems to have for 28 Labour Co ASC:

 

5ac7590983721_ASCLabourCompaniesWO9554941.JPG.4634d99c2632eb5a33b7056749ca23e1.JPG

 

Charlie

 

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Myb apologies Anthony - I should have checked the War Diaries index for theatres other than France. I don't know how extensive the diary will be but you will see the number of different units whose diaries are in the same file. On the plus side, you will/should be able to read them at Kew!

 

Ron

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Ron/Charlie,

thanks both for your help, much appreciated.

Ron - I'd spotted the NA files when digging about so looks like a trip to Kew is required.

Charlie - thanks for the document you posted - now looks like William was sent to Salonika rather than Egypt (think I'd seen before that 'Theatre first served' on MICs which states (3) Egypt could mean either Salonika or the Middle East) - another piece in the puzzle added!

 

Thanks again - forgot how resourceful the Forum was!

 

Regards,

 

Ant

 

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I believe that many units and reinforcements for Salonika were sent overland from Cherbourg to Taranto, and thence by sea to Alexandria, so the "Theatre of war first entered" would have been Egypt. That might explain the codes on the index card - although these codes did change during the war, which is another possible explanation.

 

Ron

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Thanks Ron - makes sense.

Need to do some reading up on Salonika I think - know very little about this campaign.

 

Ant

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Ant

There is a website for a society for the Salonika Campaign here. I don't know much about it.

 

The Hospital Admissions record that you found on Forces War Records should have alerted you to Salonika ! 31 CCS and 4 Can Gen Hosp were there. This forum has a number of threads on Salonika Hospitals and of course on the campaign.  eg

 

5ac8a69e22945_SalonikaHospitalsGWFHits.JPG.439b613248951acc1ac1ded2df5130a1.JPG

 

Charlie

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1 hour ago, anthony osborne said:

Need to do some reading up on Salonika I think - know very little about this campaign.

That is of  part of the reward about researching soldiers. You never know where it will lead and you learn to appreciate what the men went through in 'other theatres' or 'sideshows'.

 

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Thanks Charlie - the Egypt link threw me off the trail - had always assumed William had served there so didn't think to look into the Salonika option.

Yes - another avenue of research to follow now.

Got another trail to follow soon too - distant relative who died fighting with the Machine Gin Corps then I shall dabble in my Eastern Europen ancestry during the war.......always something to do!

Thanks again Charlie,

 

Ant

 

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