rolt968 Posted 7 July , 2019 Share Posted 7 July , 2019 (edited) George Hebenton enlisted in the Black Watch somewhere about November 1914. He had tried to enlist on more than one occasion and been rejected because of an unspecified problem with his hands. His number appears as S/6332 on most documents but has been corrected to 3/6332 in the Registers of Soldiers' Effects. I have come across S prefixes wrongly transcribed as 3 prefixes before. However in this case I wonder if he was a Special Reservist? He went to France on 14 July 1915, a week after 9 Black Watch. (He was originally 9 Black Watch then 8 Black watch after being wounded.) He made a soldier's will on 7 August 1915 (giving his unit as 9 Black Watch and a serial number with no prefix). On 21 August 1915, 8 Black Watch received a draft of 30 men "from base" the "majority recruits from Special Reserve Battalion". Was he one of the special reservists? If he was a special reservist would he have found it easier to enlist with whatever the hand problem was? RM Edited 7 July , 2019 by rolt968 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ss002d6252 Posted 7 July , 2019 Share Posted 7 July , 2019 #6332 in mid/late 1914 would certainly be typical of a Special Reservists - typically too low for a regular sequence of that time and too high for a territorial. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolt968 Posted 7 July , 2019 Author Share Posted 7 July , 2019 Thanks, Craig. I think quite a lot of circumstantial evidence suggests that he was a special reservist. His family lived in Tannadice. According to Soldiers Died in the Great War he enlisted in Perth, though that may be where he attested rather than actually enlisted. I don't know how many times he was turned down, but the newspaper report suggests more than once. His nearest battalion HQ would have been 5 BW in Forfar. RM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnboy Posted 7 July , 2019 Share Posted 7 July , 2019 From LLT 8th (Service) BattalionFormed at Perth on 21 August 1914 as part of K1 and came under command of 26th Brigade in 9th (Scottish) Division. Moved to Aldershot.In January 1915 went on to Alton and in March to Bordon.Landed at Boulogne on 10 March 1915. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolt968 Posted 7 July , 2019 Author Share Posted 7 July , 2019 36 minutes ago, johnboy said: From LLT 8th (Service) BattalionFormed at Perth on 21 August 1914 as part of K1 and came under command of 26th Brigade in 9th (Scottish) Division. Moved to Aldershot.In January 1915 went on to Alton and in March to Bordon.Landed at Boulogne on 10 March 1915. He was killed serving with 8 Black Watch, but originally served (until wounded) with 9 Black Watch (44 Brigade, 15 Division). 9 Black Watch landed at Boulogne on 8 July 1915. (George Hebenton landed on 14 July 1915.) RM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnboy Posted 7 July , 2019 Share Posted 7 July , 2019 Think 9th were also formed at Perth and you were querying his place of enlistment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ss002d6252 Posted 7 July , 2019 Share Posted 7 July , 2019 2 hours ago, rolt968 said: He was killed serving with 8 Black Watch, but originally served (until wounded) with 9 Black Watch (44 Brigade, 15 Division). 9 Black Watch landed at Boulogne on 8 July 1915. (George Hebenton landed on 14 July 1915.) RM Actually, having just looked at some records, #6317 - 26 Oct 14 3yr short service enlistment Leith #6329 - 27 Oct 14 3yr short service enlistment Kirclady #6335 - 26 Oct 14 3yr short service enlistment Perth #6339 - 26 Oct 14 3yr short service enlistment ? Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolt968 Posted 7 July , 2019 Author Share Posted 7 July , 2019 24 minutes ago, ss002d6252 said: Actually, having just looked at some records, #6317 - 26 Oct 14 3yr short service enlistment Leith #6329 - 27 Oct 14 3yr short service enlistment Kirclady #6335 - 26 Oct 14 3yr short service enlistment Perth #6339 - 26 Oct 14 3yr short service enlistment ? Craig Are they Special Reserve engagements? Archibald Steele #6319 went to France on 14 July 1915. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ss002d6252 Posted 7 July , 2019 Share Posted 7 July , 2019 1 minute ago, rolt968 said: Are they Special Reserve engagements? Archibald Steele #6319 went to France on 14 July 1915. 3 years (or the DoW, if longer) was the standard New Army term. SR standard was 6 years (or sometimes 1yr on a special war time enlistment). Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolt968 Posted 7 July , 2019 Author Share Posted 7 July , 2019 2 minutes ago, ss002d6252 said: 3 years (or the DoW, if longer) was the standard New Army term. SR standard was 6 years (or sometimes 1yr on a special war time enlistment). Craig Thanks Craig. It looks as if this is another 3/ - S/ mis-transcription. I was about to say that it's "3/" on his gravestone - but he's on the Thiepval Memorial. RM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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