SILVER WAR BADGE - DATE OF ENLISTMENT RE. RESERVISTS

[Guest]

   Just a little knotty problem with an awkwardly recorded local casualty.  Killed serving 4th Royal Fusiliers in 1917, FMP has his pre-war militia records which show he first enlisted in  RF in 1905.

    The next nearest service number (one less) is a SWB man also enlisted July 1905. His date of enlistment is given on the SWB Roll, as per usual.  So here comes the question- I suspect both these men were actually recalled reservists, so is their date of enlistment  likely to be their ORIGINAL enlistment-on the basis that their original signing-on terms  , under which they were recalled in 1914- was what counted, even if a man had been out of the army as a reservist for several years pre-1914??????

[Keith_history_buff]

As I understand it, this reminds me of the Millennium bug. The world was created in 1984 (or thereabouts) in its eyes.

With the Special Reserve, whilst it was created in 1908, in a lot of cases these men continued their service from the militia, so it was still continuous service, and this is why they retained numbers issued prior to July 1908, as far as the South Wales Borderers are concerned. (This could be similar for other regiments).

Your man above would have signed up in 1905 for a twelve year stretch (9 + 3 as a regular at this time), some of which would be with the reserve, but it would still be continuous service. I did come across an old soldier who let his time expire, and he rejoined several months later, getting a new service number in the process for his new service. ( 3/10610 Michael O'Connell, his service record survives but my subscription has waned.)

[Guest]

  Thanks KHB-   Yes, I agree with all of that. My man would thus have been rather unlucky in  being time expired with the Colours in July 1914- and thus recalled on 5th August  1914. May just have had time to get his boots off and have a cup of tea before going back in.

     There is a little tease with my casualty in all of this-   there is a reference to him being in 3RF and thence 4RF. The Medal Roll for him lists 4RF only, although it lists previous units for others on the same roll. But of course, the MR is for war service only.  Thus, I have to speculate that my man's previous service, pre-July 1914, was with 3RF (at some stage) and as a reservist he would have gone into any RF battalion that needed men.  I have learned long since that  which battalion a man died with as a recalled reservist is no guide whatsoever as to which battalion of the same regiment he served with before the war. 

[Keith_history_buff]

But of course, the MR is for war service only.  Thus, I have to speculate that my man's previous service, pre-July 1914, was with 3RF (at some stage) and as a reservist he would have gone into any RF battalion that needed men.  I have learned long since that  which battalion a man died with as a recalled reservist is no guide whatsoever as to which battalion of the same regiment he served with before the war. 

 

Did you have any luck with finding "your man" on the 1911 Census? I know Sidney Godley appears on the 1911 Census, I believe that he was with the 4th Bn at the time.

 

When I was looking at Silver War Badges and "enlistment" dates, I did recall encountering one man whose date differed from that of the other men in his number block. It was as though he did some misdemeanour that was serious enough to forfeit all service prior to that date.

[Guest]

Yes-got him on the Census- but still do not know  service switch from 3 to 4 RF

 

Tracked him down on Medal Roll as well-  name left off by Ancestry for some reason.