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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

16th Auxiliary Horse Transport Company ASC


John Beech

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Afternoon All

 

My Great Uncle, Charles Henry Beech, originally joined the Transport and Supply Column ASC of the Notts and Derby Mounted Brigade on 1st December 1913 as 1275 (T4/244636) Driver, following on from my grandfather who had enlisted earlier in the year. Sometime after the outbreak of war they, along with ten other men, were transferred to No.4 Company, North Midland Divisional Train (46th Divisional Train) in time for the other ten to go into theatre when the North Midland Division was posted to France in February 1915. My grandfather followed in May, with Charles following on 5th November 1915. In January 1916, he went sick for two days, followed on 28th February 1916 with being admitted to No.2 General Hospital in Le Havre with bronchitis. He was evacuated to the UK on 2nd March 1916. He is listed at this time as being with Base Horse Transport, which was based in Le Havre, so I can think of three possibilities: he may not have joined 46th Divisional Train upon his arrival in November, been posted to the Base, or retained after his first bout of illness. 

 

He must have stayed in the UK for sometime after his return as he was married in June 1916 in Watford.

 

I know he was discharged due to sickness in April 1919, but I have a note in my records to the effect that he had at some time served with No.2 Section, 16th Auxiliary Horse Transport Company, ASC. I see from the LLT that this company wasn't formed until January 1917, so it would fit in with his known timeline, and that it was based in Salonika, later becoming 799th Company.

 

I have seen some posts on the Auxiliary Horse Transport  in Salonika, but nothing specifically on this unit. Does anyone know anything about this unit, its base, composition or role?

 

Thank you in anticipation

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Many thanks Dai

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On 02/05/2019 at 14:47, John Beech said:

I have seen some posts on the Auxiliary Horse Transport  in Salonika, but nothing specifically on this unit. Does anyone know anything about this unit, its base, composition or role?

An Auxiliary HT Company was used to supplement the activities of divisional trains when extra supplies or equipment were needed at the front. They consisted of about seven officers and 470 other ranks (the numbers varied slightly over time). They were Lines of Communication units, operating mainly in back areas, but in the Salonika theatre the poor state of metalled roads made horse transport particularly important. I don't  have a more detailed breakdown of their composition but most units of that size were divided into four sections.

 

If you can get to the National Archives at Kew, you can read the War Diary in this file:

WO 95/4808 16 Auxiliary Horse Transport Company (799 Company ASC) 1916 Dec. - 1919 Mar.  

 

War Diaries rarely mention individuals by name other than officers, but numbers of casualties each day are nearly always given, and the location of the unit, with a short description of its activities, is given on each day.
 

Ron

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Thanks Ron

 

Regards

 

John

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  • 1 year later...

Hello,I've been researching an old photo of my family member for many years and back in 2013  I posted it onto this site (sadly thread now archived) for any help in identifying the army company etc.Why I'm replying back to this thread is, if by a miracle,your relation may be on the said photo.The group of soldiers have a number painted onto a board which reads 799 so I do firmly believe(no proof just sense it)that the 799 refers to 799 company which served in Salonika.I come back on here now and again to check to see if anybody is asking for any information regarding 16th horse auxillary in the hope their relation then went onto the 799 company.Basically i'm looking for a needle in a haystack regarding finding my long unknown family member and I'm just hoping that 1 day someone will recognise a family member on the photo who then may lead me in the right direction of a confirmed army company which will in return lead me to my unknown soldier.

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Hi djs thanks for posting.

Any chance of a bigger image or a close up of the cap badges?

At this resolution, I'm not convinced these are mounted troops,- I don't see any spurs,  nor that the cap badges fit the ASC.

They all seem to have rifles.

To me, they look like infantrymen.

The number 799 could well be the photographer's board to help with his printing workflow.

ASC companies usually had 'Coy.' after the number on any board.

Edited by Dai Bach y Sowldiwr
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Sadly everytime I zoom in the definition decreases.This solder has been a mystery for years and years.Back in 2013 I posted this photo and had similar replies back as yours regarding the 799 but i'm not convinced it is related to a printing/photo number-but I may be totally wrong.Think I maybe wishing for a miracle of John's relative been on photo and going from 16th Auxillary then onto the 799 coy (due to both 16th and 799 been mentioned in above comments) and to prove for definite if this is indeed 799 company.I will upload another photo of the same soldier in regards of the badge but it is an earlier dated photo but I think  badge maybe the same 1,possibly before he went to the "799".

799.jpg

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2 hours ago, djs63 said:

I will upload another photo

Thanks for posting. The new photo (No. 1) confirmed what I thought I could see in the original group photo.

The cap badge is a star above a scroll.

I'm not an expert in badges, but I can tell you for certain that this is not an ASC badge and that the group is not of an ASC company.

I'm sure that one of our experts like Mr. @FROGSMILE will be along shortly who will tell us exactly which regiment it is.

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Looks a lot like the Cheshire Regiment, especially in the individual photo, which gives a much clearer view of the cap badge.

 

However, also the Worcestershire Regiment is similar.  It’s between those two I think, with the key feature being the orientation of the title scroll.  Definitely not ASC.

 

The 799 could be a red herring and is more likely to be the photographer’s ‘sitting’ reference, or even a hut number. 

 

 

FB324EAF-47B6-4982-B9DF-781FD81F36AD.jpeg

BD20DD1B-D87B-462D-8FD7-4A9BEC466A93.jpeg

Edited by FROGSMILE
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