Trooping Party

[SteveE]

Pals

 

I've come across the term "22 OR Trooping Party" in relation to a troopship calling at Malta. The term is separate from the nominal unit rolls so I'm wondering to what it relates, is it likely to be the RAMC detachment allocated to that particular troopship?

 

Steve

[pjwmacro]

Steve

 

Are - the officers of a unit listed by name? And what makes you say RAMC?  It presumably refers to a Trooping Party of 22 Other Ranks - see the passenger list in my blog at: 

 

For all units you can see the officers listed by name on the left of the page and then the column towards the right recording the number of NCOs and ORs.

 

Regards

 

Paul

[SteveE]

On ‎13‎/‎03‎/‎2019 at 14:47, pjwmacro said:

Are - the officers of a unit listed by name? And what makes you say RAMC?  It presumably refers to a Trooping Party of 22 Other Ranks - see the passenger list in my blog 

<snip>

For all units you can see the officers listed by name on the left of the page and then the column towards the right recording the number of NCOs and ORs.

Paul

 

Thanks for your reply.  As per 'your' passenger list I have a similar copy of the Troopship Embarkation Roll for 'my' ship which, as per your example, shows officers by name, and then records units, numbers of ORs and destinations for the rest of those aboard, what that particular roll doesn't mention is the term 'Trooping Party'.

 

I have been given access to old (1990s?) handwritten notes of an, as yet, unidentified National Archives document which is a verbatim copy of a printed document detailing the ships arrival in Malta.  It doesn't mention anybody by name and simply records the numbers of troops (officers, warrant officers and ORs) bound for each port it was calling at.  Amongst the grand total however is the addition of 2 WOs and 22 ORs of the 'Trooping Party' with no mention of a destination for these troops and it is these men that I am trying to find out to what the term refers. 

 

I say RAMC because every (limited) reference I can find on the internet suggests the "Trooping Party" reference relates to a medical unit aboard ship but I was after confirmation that this was correct.

 

Regards

 

Steve

[Ron Clifton]

A possible explanation is that these men were part of the "permanent" staff of the troopship, as distinct from those going from A to B in her. These men would be responsible for general housekeeping duties which might have included maintenance of hygienic water supplies and cleaning duties, so they could well be RAMC personnel.

 

Ron

[pjwmacro]

12 hours ago, SteveE said:

I say RAMC because every (limited) reference I can find on the internet suggests the "Trooping Party" reference relates to a medical unit aboard ship but I was after confirmation that this was correc

 

Sorry Steve.

 

I have not heard the name before and haven't seen a specific reference like that.  As you and Ron say - it sounds plausible - but I cannot confirm.

 

Regards, Paul

[SteveE]

22 hours ago, Ron Clifton said:

A possible explanation is that these men were part of the "permanent" staff of the troopship, as distinct from those going from A to B in her. These men would be responsible for general housekeeping duties which might have included maintenance of hygienic water supplies and cleaning duties, so they could well be RAMC personnel.

Ron

 

Many thanks for your valuable input, as you too suggest I believe the term to relate to a troopship "permanent staff" rather than to those being transported but it's clearly not a term that is widely recorded.  The "Trooping Party" reference in the handwritten notes is specifically under the heading "British Troops" along with those numbers of men bound for actual destinations hence the suspicion that they are RAMC and the 'other' embarkation roll I have for the voyage does show a large number of RAMC men aboard although it's a significantly higher number than the "Trooping Party" so I suspect some of those were bound for Malta and Egypt. 

 

11 hours ago, pjwmacro said:

I have not heard the name before and haven't seen a specific reference like that.  As you and Ron say - it sounds plausible - but I cannot confirm.

Paul

 

No problem, many thanks for taking the time to make suggestions etc,, it's appreciated.

 

 

 

 

Regards

 

Steve

[JimE]

Archives.org has in the  "Official History of the Indian Armed Forces in the Second World War - 1939-45 Administration" 

"THE TROOPING PARTIES Trooping parties were raised for duty with the troops on a voyage The establishment of a trooping party consisted of i medical officer, 5 Bntish other ranks, RAMG, and 3 other ranks, lAMG Twenty trooping parties were raised in January 1945 These were under the control of the Movements Control, QMG’s Branch 3 "°

at

https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.119524/2015.119524.Official-History-Of-The-Indian-Armed-Forces-In-The-Second-World-War---1939-45-Administration_djvu.txt

I assume that it should be RAMC and IAMC that have become corrupted in the scanning

 

Searching in Google using "trooping parties" gives other similar results form WW2

Jim

[SteveE]

20 hours ago, JimE said:

Archives.org has in the  "Official History of the Indian Armed Forces in the Second World War - 1939-45 Administration" 

"THE TROOPING PARTIES Trooping parties were raised for duty with the troops on a voyage The establishment of a trooping party consisted of i medical officer, 5 Bntish other ranks, RAMG, and 3 other ranks, lAMG Twenty trooping parties were raised in January 1945 These were under the control of the Movements Control, QMG’s Branch 3 "

Jim

 

Thanks for the links etc., appreciate your help.  Pretty much everything I have found for "Trooping Party" relates to either a few years prior to the Great War or for the Second World War, nothing actually during the Great War which is a nuisance but I think I'm on the right track based on what has been found.

 

Regards

 

Steve