242 South Midland Brigade RFA

[PRC]

41 minutes ago, RussT said:

One possibility is that he was re-numbered according to the unit with whom he first enlisted and to which his original number of 1945 belonged. So it seems a later posting to the DAC before the re-numbering took place did not result in a new 4-digit re-numbering that would have resulted in a 1917 re-number from the block you quote.

Agree it is a possibility, although it won't seem to run counter to the "spirit" of the exercise - that is if the exercise was meant to introduce clarity! Seems like the information on the LLT page for the Territorial Forced Artillery renumbering may need to come with a caveat.

Another slight quirk more specific to the 242 South Midland Brigade is that according to the LLT, they left the Division to become an Army Brigade on the 20th January 1917.

Questions for everyone - not just Russ

So which way did Isaac go - back to the 242 Brigade or remain with 48th DAC, if indeed he ever served with that unit..
Does his renumbering reflect a new reality of the split, or was it all organised from the records office in the UK with only a general recognition of the situation on the ground.
How much could timing be a factor - how far in advance was it known that 242 Brigade would move under Army control.

Cheers,
Peter

[Ian]

Gentlemen, thank you all very much for your replies sharing your knowledge which I appreciate very much. 

I wonder if the details of Isaac’s  service will ever be fully understood in the absence of a service record. 
 

He had seven children of which six survived and all I know is what my mother, aunts and uncle told me, that he was a driver  on a horse team taking guns (I presume 18 pounders) to the firing line who was later  assigned to howitzers.  I was told that he was at the battle of the Somme and either there or somewhere else had a horse shot from under him and on another occasion had just set off at the head of a  team to collect a gun from the field and a shell killed the whole team behind him leaving only him and his two front horses, one was unhurt like him and he later had to shoot the other horse. His comrades and the other horses died instantly. Apparently he wasn’t usually the lead driver, but swapped planes due to having new horses in the team.

Apparently Isaac used to have nightmares at home and hide on hearing loud noises. My mother recalled him jumping into a bush when a car exhaust banged. Sadly he became an alcoholic.

I will look out for one of those cap badges as I would like to obtain replica medals and mount them together with his photograph.

If anyone can offer any further explanation and guidance I would be very grateful.