Attestation forms

[johnboy]

Attestation formB265.  Short Service. Q4 What is your age? Signed 7/10/14

Attestation form 2065 . The question is changed to What is your age.signed 17/10 /14

 Does anyone know why the question was changed?

[IPT]

Not sure what you mean. Mr Boy.  It appears to be the same question on B265 and B2065?

[johnboy]

Sorry IPT. I thought I had Saved copies but now I can.t find them If I do I will Post them

[johnboy]

[Keith_history_buff]

15384 William Baines enlisted on 2nd September 1914.  

He completed an Army Form B2065. This was printed by a local printers in Newport, Monmouthshire. It is for "Short Service (3 years with the colours)". The image is poor on Ancestry, so I cannot decipher the name of the printers.
The fourth question is "What is your age" and an answer in years in months is expected.

It looks to me as though a local printers was asked to reproduce an example of an attestation form. They were given a copy of an older version, in use between May 1902 and October 1904, when the 3 + 9 terms of service were in place.

Here is some further speculation on my part with regard to what you posted, and the small print header:
(101,856) Wt.2615W 143. 80,000 8/14 A.& E. W Sch 9
Forms/B. 265/48

 

Could it be that 80,000 of these forms were ordered in peacetime, for delivery in August 1914?
Is this the 48th iteration of Form B.265?

This does not answer your question, but may get the ball rolling as to when the date of birth question replaced that requiring the age in years and months to be recorded.


 

[johnboy]

Thanks. It would be interesting to know when/why it was changed.

[Keith_history_buff]

11119 Private James Jones, South Wales Borderers, attested on 12 February 1914.

He had to record his age in years and months.

The small print header states:
(5 38 47) W 4477--3237 100,000 11/12 H W V Sch. 95
Forms/B. 265/47.

 

[Alan24]

2 hours ago, Keith_history_buff said:

The image is poor on Ancestry, so I cannot decipher the name of the printers.

 

I much prefer the FMP images of service records, they are much more like photographs rather than Ancestry's photocopies. 

The FMP copies also appear to be their own copies from the originals. I seen folded over corners obscuring info unfolded on the FMP versions.

 

Regards

 

Alan.

[johnboy]

I can only post what I have.

The form number and questions and answers are clearly shown.

Edited 8 July , 2019 by johnboy

[ss002d6252]

 

Quote

Could it be that 80,000 of these forms were ordered in peacetime, for delivery in August 1914?

As I understand it that is correct regarding the batch size but I believe Aug 14 is the date of order.
 

I think the 48 is the revision number - this form is missing the amended DoB question and is B265/47 - in a batch of 80,000 from 11/12 (probably enough for the peacetime army)

https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBM%2FWO363-4%2F007299287%2F00652&parentid=GBM%2FWO363-4%2F7299287%2F50%2F652

 

It looks therefore like the change took place between 11/12 and 08/14

 

Craig

[johnboy]

Thanks Craig I wonder why question was changed?

[ss002d6252]

43 minutes ago, johnboy said:

Thanks Craig I wonder why question was changed?

I wonder if it was to make the task easier in working out who was suitable, age wise, for the various enlistment and service obligations (over which people were becoming more sensitive) . I'll see what I can find.

 

Craig

[johnboy]

Wondered that myself. Also whether the authorities thought that people did not know their dob.Some other questions on the form also seem strange. 

For instance Q6.

Edited 10 July , 2019 by johnboy

[johnboy]

Out of interest I came across another form dated late 1800's and the question was 'do you know your age?

[Keith_history_buff]

Similar to the old form from 1902 being dug out, and passed on to a printer to be reproduced in 1914, as mentioned earlier in this thread, it was interesting to see similar with the Army Form B248 in relation to researching the service history of O'Brien AKA HESLIN.
 

  

On 24/09/2020 at 22:30, PRC said:

 

Based on the attestation form for Thomas Hughes and the recruitment dates identified above these are newly recruited men, albeit I suspect there is a healthy smattering of men who were time expired or had previous military experience. The basic term is set out in the header of the attestation form and looks to me to be a rehash of that used in the Boer War.

 

(Source: FindMyPast)

 

What this means in reality is set out in question 16.

 

(Source: FindMyPast)

 

...

 

Cheers,

Peter