Questions about soldiers training

[KRodgers]

Hello all!

 

I have a few specific questions about training that recruits went through, which might be able to help me better understand what an ancestors experiences where like.

 

- my great grandfather came over from Canada to England (where his family still lived) would he have had the chance to see them before starting training or leaving for France?

- His brother's wife had a child whilst training, would he have been able to see his son before leaving for France?

- My great great uncle was I believe in the territorial force and away training when the war broke out and was then sent straight to specific training camps from here. Would he have had the chance to go home again or would it have been straight to France from there?

 

Thanks in advance for any help you might be able to give me!

 

Katie

[TullochArd]

Hi Katie,  Every individual's experience was different.  If you want specifics give us a start ..... and share a name ……...

Edited 25 April , 2020 by TullochArd

[PRC]

37 minutes ago, KRodgers said:

my great grandfather came over from Canada to England (where his family still lived) would he have had the chance to see them before starting training or leaving for France?

 

If he was a Canadian Soldier then as far as I can tell there was usually several months between arriving in the UK and being sent on to France & Flanders. Depending on his conduct he may well have had a chance to have had leave for long enough to visit relatives.

 

For an example see this thread from earlier in the month where after a lot of digging by forum members we were able to deduce that it seems likely that a Canadian Soldier nephew visited an aunt and her family that he had never seen before.

His Canadian Service records may well show any leave he had while training in the UK, and his whether his conduct would have limited the length of that leave. You also have to take into account where he was training with regard to where the family was living and ease or lack of in using public transport in wartime. Someone given five days leave from the Wiltshire\ Salisbury Plain area and needing to get to the Highlands & Islands of Scotland may have thought it not worth the effort.

 

44 minutes ago, KRodgers said:

- His brother's wife had a child whilst training, would he have been able to see his son before leaving for France?

 

That needs a lot more context and should probably be a thread in it's own right, with specific details. But he almost certainly wouldn't have got leave just because his son was born. Is this separate to the great, great uncle you mention next, or is it the same man?

 

49 minutes ago, KRodgers said:

My great great uncle was I believe in the territorial force and away training when the war broke out and was then sent straight to specific training camps from here. Would he have had the chance to go home again or would it have been straight to France from there?

 

Many Territorial Force units were on their annual camp at the time that war broke out and they would have been sent straight to their wartime stations in the UK. Very few Territoiral Force units made it into a Theatre of War before the Spring of 1915, so lots of opportunity for week-end passes, christmas\new year leave and embarkation leave. His Medal Index card will show when he entered a Theatre of War, (if it was before the 1st January 1916), so that will give you some idea of the period since war was decalred that he might have had leave to visit home.

 

As TullochArd says - specific names and units are needed, otherwise every eventuality, and there are many, will need to be covered.

 

Hope that helps,

Peter

[WhiteStarLine]

5 hours ago, PRC said:

Depending on his conduct he may well have had a chance to have had leave for long enough to visit relatives.

Hi Katie,

 

A great reference for training and local leave and conditions is by forum member Moonraker.  I found him very helpful when I was researching and his book "Wiltshire and the Great War - Training the Empire's Soldiers" covers Salisbury Plain, locations, training and local leave and there is a section on Canadians around page 60 or so.  Canadians had plenty of local leave as did the Australians.  My grandfather (Australian) took photographs of his mates at Stonehenge, Figheldean, Ickwell Bury, various local pubs and walking the fields.

 

At some stage he caught up with local family as he mentions them frequently in his letters.  Here is a photo of him in England in 1917 taken by a fellow Australian soldier.  The one below shows him drinking with Australians,a British soldier and a sailor in a local pub.  We still have his camera.

[KRodgers]

Hi guys

 

Thanks for getting back so quickly and those pictures are great!

 

I have their service records, but they are quite hard to decipher because of damage etc

 

My great grand father : Charles Henry Smith Reg no. 1010100

His records are here - http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?op=pdf&app=CEF&id=B9020-S030

From what I can see he arrived in England 29/4/17 and left for France 20/6/17. He was in Bramshott and his family lived in Camberwell.

 

His brother: Robert Cecil Smith Reg no. 302687 and he was in the 5th London city rifles

His records are here - https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/1114/MIUK1914A_086955-01036/711867?backurl=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/8069776/person/222159664251/facts/citation/742220964042/edit/record

I believe he went enlisted in Dec 1915, but was training from 15/6/16- 25/1/17 and his son was born 5/1/17

 

My great great uncle was my great grandmother's brother: William Thomas Garland Reg no. 5300/955380 in the 6th London brigade royal field artillery

His records are here - https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/1219/30836_146536-00794/782236?backurl=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/8069776/person/6114412437/facts/citation/742227101997/edit/record

I don't know a lot about him but i did find this very helpful https://wartimememoriesproject.com/greatwar/allied/fartillery.php?pid=873 for a bit about where he was etc

 

I don't know how helpful that is?

 

Thanks

 

Katie

 

 

 

 

[PRC]

2 hours ago, KRodgers said:

My great grand father : Charles Henry Smith Reg no. 1010100

His records are here - http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?op=pdf&app=CEF&id=B9020-S030

From what I can see he arrived in England 29/4/17 and left for France 20/6/17. He was in Bramshott and his family lived in Camberwell.

 

Nothing in the record to say he did get leave but conversely nothing to say he didn't. Give the relative ease of getting from Wiltshire to London, the probability that any leave granted would be spent with family in London would be high. I see he was also having a deduction from his wage being paid to a married sister at Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, so he may also have found time to visit her. I don't know if you have access to the British Newspaper Archive or something similar through Ancestry, but one of the Yarmouth papers is available. There is alway a possibility that reference to his wounding may crop up as a local news item. Same may be true of the papers local to Camberwell, but it seems you need some real local knowledge to identify which titles those might be,

 

Hope that helps,

Peter

 

 

[Moonraker]

17 hours ago, KRodgers said:

... my great grandfather came over from Canada to England (where his family still lived) would he have had the chance to see them before starting training or leaving for France...

 

10 hours ago, WhiteStarLine said:

A great reference for training and local leave and conditions is by forum member Moonraker.  I found him very helpful when I was researching and his book "Wiltshire and the Great War - Training the Empire's Soldiers" covers Salisbury Plain, locations, training and local leave and there is a section on Canadians around page 60 or so.  Canadians had plenty of local leave as did the Australians.

 

 

10 minutes ago, PRC said:

Nothing in the record to say he did get leave but conversely nothing to say he didn't. Give the relative ease of getting from Wiltshire to London, the probability that any leave granted would be spent with family in London would be high.

Thanks to WhiteStarLine for the plug, but just to point out that Canadians were only on Salisbury Plain from mid-October 1914 to early February 1915 (apart from a very few soldiers and airmen.). Thereafter they were at other camps outside Wiltshire, several of which were within very easy reach of London by train. Generally, leave would have been available to everyone, and London would have an obvious attraction, whether or not family members lived there.

 

Bramshott is close to Liphook Station, so it would be easy to get to London and back in a day, though by 1917 train services were being reduced.