Cadets Record Book, No 12 Officer Cadet Battalion, late 1918

[Charles Fair]

With the closure of archives for the moment I wanted to share an interesting recent find in the Liddle Collection, U of Leeds.  Its a record book for the cadets of a platoon in No 12 OCB at Newmarket.  It is from the papers of Capt Sir Conrad Corfield, 1st Bn Cambridgeshire Regt who was the instructor of No, 2 Platoon, A Company.  The details of 21 cadets are listed, and over three double spreads if gives details of their background, prior training, exam and test scores, disciplinary offences and an assessment.  I hope these men may be of interest to some of the unit historians on the GWF.

 

It is possibly a unique survivor, and its value is that it gives good insight into the make up of the infantry OCBs at the end of the war.  I don't know if these books were used by all OCBs, or whether it was just a tool used by No. 12 OCB.

 

These cadets were still in training at the Armistice.

 

I will post some analysis and initial commentary below in due course.

Edited 19 March , 2020 by Charles Fair

[Charles Fair]

This image lists the 21 men in the platoon and their backgrounds.  They came from a variety of units, with two having come straight from their school OTCs.  Three more had spent between 5 and 7 months with the 2/28th London Regt, the Artists Rifles, who were acting as an OTC in Essex.

 

At least 4 were former public schoolboys (highlighted in yellow). As well as the two from school OTCs, another two had enlisted in the ranks.  A fifth - one of the Artists' - was an old boy of Manchester Grammar School.  (I don't believe it was fee paying at that time, though like many grammar schools was on the borderline and had many of the trappings of a public school such as an OTC.  It was not a member of the HMC in 1914.)

 

Roughly 20 - 25 per cent of the platoon therefore came from the traditional recruiting grounds of army officers.

 

The table shows the occupations of their platoon, with the majority of the non-public schoolboys in typical lower middle class occupations - usually clerks, with some in commercial roles.

Edited 19 March , 2020 by Charles Fair

[Charles Fair]

This table shows their ages and experience.  (The unit column is also showing.)

 

The 5 recent schoolboys from the school OTCs and Artists were all aged between 18 years 6 months and 18 years 9 months. 

 

If we take them out, the average age of the remaining 15 men is 24 years and 6 months.  13 of these 15 were NCOs including 6 sergeants and 2 Warrant Officers.  Average service of the 15 is 43 months.  Two were pre-war territorials with 60 and 72 months service.  8 others had over 43 -49 months service which implies enlistment in late 1914.  They had had an average of over 26 months at home and over 16 months 'in the field'.  Eight had spent 18 months or more in the field, and four had been decorated.

Edited 19 March , 2020 by Charles Fair

[Charles Fair]

This table shows the variety of courses that the platoon had already attended while they were in the ranks.  The three former Artists had all attended a Lewis Gun course while with the unit.

[Charles Fair]

The second double spread shown in the photos above is possibly the most interesting as it gives insight into the evaluation process of the OCB.  I have summarised the results in this table.

 

The columns with orange headers are the various assessments for which they were graded from A to at least E.  The first column, shown in the photo is 'C.C.' but as no one was assessed for that it is not shown in the table.  I am not sure what this is for, but suspect it could stand for 'Company Command'.  Similarly I have taken P.C. to be 'Platoon Command'.  The others are generally self explanatory with B.T. being bayonet training and F.E. being field engineering.  Some elements of the syllabus were assessed twice.  They were only partway through the course so some elements may not have been assessed by then.

 

The final four columns are headed by numbers, and I believe these are for exams, with the numbers in the header being the score for attaining full marks. I will hazard a guess that these are for the mid-term exams which were introduced to OCBs in September 1918. I would guess that these results are either from the Sept or October 1918 mid terms.   The red column in my table is the total. The cadets achieved a wide range of scores ranging from 208 (out of 265 or 78%) to a mere 118 (or 35%).

 

The final column in my table is called 'first report' and is a short summary of Corfield's assessment of the cadets.  There is space for further reports, and I assume that something would have been entered up prior to the writing of their Form SD622 confidential report at the end of the course.

 

The final double spread shown in the photos is for disciplinary offences.  Four cadets were 'admonished', having been caught 'playing cards during study time' on 16 July 1918. This must have been quite near the start of the course,

Edited 19 March , 2020 by Charles Fair

[Charles Fair]

I haven't yet had much chance to research these men, though its not top priority at the moment.  Unfortunately I don't have their regimental numbers, and only initials.  The book doesn't state whether they took their commissions after the armistice, and if so, which regiments they were commissioned into.  I'm hopeful I can track down some service records in WO339 or WO374 in due course.

 

AS Goss was an Old Sedberghian. He was born Dec 1899, arrived Sedbergh Jan 1912 - home address SL Goss, Esq, Greenhaw, Moreton Rd, Upton, Cheshire. He was Secretary of Cricket and President of the Debating Society (The Sedberghian Vol 39 No 1 Feb 1918 pp. 22 and 26) He was described as "an efficient Captain and manager of the School cricket; a very useful bowler and a good fieldsman" (The Sedberghian, Vol. 39 No. 4, July 1918, p. 108)
    
He was Head of School in his final term, Summer 1918 (The Sedberghian Vol 39 No 3 June 1918 p. 86).  However, Goss was called up before the end of term: "The long arm of the War Office has been more exacting this term than we have ever known it. More, Goss, Duxbury, Sunderland and Martin have all been taken from us at short notice, and several others have been called up but will not go till the end of the term." (The Sedberghian Vol 39 No 4 July 1918 p. 91)

[Charles Fair]

These men have proved a little tricky to track down given that I do not have regimental numbers, only their initials, and don't know what they were commissioned into. However, with some educated guesses and the London Gazette, I have found 15 or possibly 16 of them in that publication.  All were commissioned on 4 March 1919, presumably discharged to a commission. The majority were TF.  The London Gazette entries confirmed the forenames and regiments (usually the same regiment.)  Seven have files in TNA WO 339 or WO 374 which I will hope to see as soon as I can get to TNA.  Files for the remainder are presumably still with the MOD.

[KPRC]

5373271 Regimental Sergeant Major Harry Clark Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, was my Grandfather.

[tankengine888]

52 minutes ago, KPRC said:

5373271 Regimental Sergeant Major Harry Clark Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, was my Grandfather.

How is he connected? Is there something I am missing?

5373271 Clark, Beds and Herts, born October 31st 1892, discharged WW2 or later.
Zidane

[KPRC]

My apologies, I should have said I believe my grandfather was one of the trainers of these men.

Please delete my message if it’s not relevant.

[tankengine888]

27 minutes ago, KPRC said:

My apologies, I should have said I believe my grandfather was one of the trainers of these men.

Please delete my message if it’s not relevant.

I'd say it's still probably applicable I suppose.
Zidane

[Michelle Young]

@Charles Fair is still active on the forum, so hopefully he will see your posts.