Royal Field Artillery Query

[mickey selcon]

Hi

I am trying to find out about the wartime service of 25289 Driver, (later Bombardier), Robert Frederick LANGDON, Royal Field Artillery.

 

I can't find any trace of his Service Record, but his Medal Cards identify that he deployed to Egypt on 17th July 1915, indicating that he would have joined the Army sometime in late 1914 or early 1915, but unfortunately, I can't find any information about which Battery he would have been attached to.

 

Can anybody help me with any information about which RFA Battery/Brigade/Division he would have been serving with when he deployed and where exactly they deployed to?

 

Thanks in anticipation and best regards

 

Mike

[Ron Clifton]

Unless he was a reinforcement for an existing unit, it is most likely that he was with the artillery of 10th, 11th or 13th Divisions, all New Army divisions which were deployed on the peninsula at Suvla Bay in August 1915. I don't think he could have been a pre-war Territorial soldier with that service number, but there are other Pals better informed than I am on the intricacies of RFA numbering.

 

Ron

[mickey selcon]

Hi Ron  Thank you so much, this is a great start.

 

Best regards

 

Mike

[MaxD]

Apart from his medal card, there is an entry in a medical record for him on FMP shows in April 1918 he was with 117 Brigade RFA in 19th General Hospital and then 44 Stationary Hospital and the Convalescent Depot at Mustapha Egypt.

https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=S2%2FGBM%2FMH106%2FMH106-1257%2F0023&parentid=GBM%2FMH106%2FP2%2F351558

 

117 Bde potted history:

 

http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-royal-artillery-in-the-first-world-war/batteries-and-brigades-of-the-royal-field-artillery/cxiv-cxv-cxvi-and-cxvii-howitzer-brigades-26th-divisional-artillery/

 

Max

[David Porter]

Mike,

 

Looking at other men that show an arrival date in Egypt of July 17, 1915, the evidence points to one of the batteries of 58th Brigade RFA, 11th Division.

However, for 58th Brigade RFA, disembarkation at Alexandria had begun on July 14, 1915 and was completed on July 18, 1915.

There are similar dates for 60th Brigade RFA but I have not found anyone with July 17, 1915 from that brigade yet.

 

He would have arrived at No. 2 Depot RFA, Preston, in the first week of September 1914 then sent to Leeds where 58th Brigade RFA was being formed.

They moved to Milford Camp in April 1915 and embarked at Devonport between July 1 - 4, 1915.

 

As he has been found with 117th Brigade RFA, and still in Egypt in 1918, he might not have been in 58th Brigade RFA beyond June 25, 1916 as they left for France then. Also 117th Brigade RFA, 74th Division, had served in Salonika and only reached Egypt on July 5, 1917. So there are sure to be some interim postings.

[mickey selcon]

Thank you so much to everyone for all the information, it has been really helpful.

 

Best regards

 

Mike

[David26]

Mike,

 

There are quite a few RFA men whose qualifying date was given as 17 Jul 1915.  Most that I've seen come from either 58 Bde or 59 Bde RFA.  Both brigades served in 11th (Northern) Division and were on their way to Suvla Bay, Gallipoli.   Most of these men enlisted in late August or very early September 1914 and landed on Gallipoli on about 9 Aug 1915.  Those who weren't wounded, killed or had to be evacuated sick were withdrawn back to Egypt in Dec 1915 when the Allied Forces withdrew. 

 

Without a service record or other specific evidence, I'm afraid that it may never be possible to determine whether he was in fact in either of these units or in fact in quite another unit. 

 

David.