1987 Posted 9 July , 2020 Share Posted 9 July , 2020 Hi. Researching my great great grandfather. He first served with the Royal Irish Rifles.. However he also was attached to the tank corps after that. Does anyone have knowledge about the tank corps? His regiment number for this was 309672. Any information would be great. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFBSM Posted 9 July , 2020 Share Posted 9 July , 2020 (edited) If you look at the archive.org website you can find some books available to read (pdf). The first you could look at is here: https://archive.org/details/tankcorps00willgoog This is the result of a search for Royal Tank Corps: https://archive.org/search.php?query=royal tank corps Mark Edited 9 July , 2020 by BFBSM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david murdoch Posted 10 July , 2020 Share Posted 10 July , 2020 James Mount 309672 Tank Corps. Discharged 6/3/1919 He has a pension record card showing he had a gun shot wound to left arm. His medal roll notes he was previously Rifleman 13/6254 in 11th R I R He first went to France 3/10/1915 with them. There is also a widows pension card dating from 1923. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johntaylor Posted 10 July , 2020 Share Posted 10 July , 2020 Hi, this is quite frustrating but to find anything about his Tank Corps activities you need to know which battalion he belonged to, and this doesn't seem to be recorded in the medal register or pension records. I can't find any sign of a service record, and I couldn't find him in the medical records or post-war Tank Corps enlistment records which might have given this information. Someone may be able to tell you roughly when he transferred to the Tank Corps based on his service number, but I'm afraid beyond that I've drawn a blank for now. All the best, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie962 Posted 10 July , 2020 Share Posted 10 July , 2020 (edited) 4 hours ago, johntaylor said: Someone may be able to tell you roughly when he transferred to the Tank Corps based on his service number, but I'm afraid beyond that I've drawn a blank for now. Looking at near numbers for Tank Corps it suggests a Transfer to Tank Corp on 13/3?/18 with a posting to Tank Depot 13/4/18; The 3 or four Service Records that I saw all seemed to be men who had previously served in Infantry, for various reasons (usually wounds) were back in UK ending up with Labour Corps before being transferred to Tank Corps. Might this have significance for their role in TC ? Charlie Edited 10 July , 2020 by charlie962 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johntaylor Posted 10 July , 2020 Share Posted 10 July , 2020 Hi, the high number certainly suggests to me that he was a relatively late arrival in the Tank Corps. Presumably he was wounded serving with the Royal Irish Rifles, which is where I would focus my research. For example, he appears in the embarkation list at the end of this history of 11th Battalion RIR: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/43969/43969-h/43969-h.htm If you haven't checked the Battalion War Diary, there's an outside chance that he might be mentioned though I'm afraid it's the exception rather than the rule. Local newspapers may also shed some more light. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie962 Posted 12 July , 2020 Share Posted 12 July , 2020 I've searched again for this man in Casualty Lists and at last found him. This suggests an actual wounding end of Sept 1916. He would probably have been shipped back to UK, recovered, transferred to Labour Corps Home Service Battalion then been Transferred March 1918 to the Tank Corps. This also gives you some other names to follow up for clues although they might not all be in same Bn of RIrishRifles ? Charlie Courtesy FindmyPast Newspapers: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie962 Posted 12 July , 2020 Share Posted 12 July , 2020 (edited) Following on from that Casualty List I note the following events end of Sept 1916 in the 11th Bn War Diary (here on Ancestry) 11th R Irish Rifles War Diary Sept 1916: 22/9/16 Relieved the 12th RIRif...... (22-28 no mention of any casualties) 28/9/16 ...Relieved by 12 RIRif... 29/9/16 ....Party of 3 Officers and 70 ORs practised for raid. 30/9/16 resting. Raiding party still training. At 5.30pm this party moved up to trenches preparatory to carrying out the raid. At 8pm while bombs were being issued to the party, one accidentally exploded causing casualties as follows:- Killed 1 OR (559 Webb J), wounded 1 Officer and 19 ORs. Most of these were very slight. At 9pm raid was cancelled and party marched home. The Appendix has the detailed Operational Order for the aborted raid. I wonder if this was the incident and he might have been one of the more seriously wounded ? Charlie Edited 15 July , 2020 by charlie962 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie962 Posted 12 July , 2020 Share Posted 12 July , 2020 Joseph Webb 11/559 is noted in SDGW as Killed in Action. CWGC says he was B Company 11th Bn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie962 Posted 12 July , 2020 Share Posted 12 July , 2020 (edited) Robert Clements 5328 in that casualty list has a surving service record. It does not show him as 11th Bn but it does show he was wounded on 30/9/16. CochraneJ 1567 was also wounded 30/9/16. (Hosp Admis.) I think Clements and Cochrane were 2nd Bn men, but it does make the wounding date of 30/9/16 seem correct for that Casualty List. Charlie Edit - But now I see McCulloch 18253 was wounded with 14th Bn 7/10/16. The 11th Bn Diary has two men wounded that day. I wonder whether we need to stretch that far? My feeling is still 30/9/16. Edited 12 July , 2020 by charlie962 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johntaylor Posted 13 July , 2020 Share Posted 13 July , 2020 Hi Charlie, well done - I think you're onto something there. Unfortunately the book I sent a link to ends on 1 July 1916 and doesn't shed any light on later events. However it does give an excellent picture of the battalion's earlier activities in which James Mount would have been involved. A reprint is available from Naval & Military Press, and I've just discovered a digital copy here: https://digital.library.villanova.edu/Item/vudl:132801 All the best, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1987 Posted 14 July , 2020 Author Share Posted 14 July , 2020 (edited) Sorry for the late reply to all this information. I didn't get my notifications about replies. Wow this is all amazing. Yes I could not find his service record but had previously found the information on the pension and medal records. It was the lack of information around the time frame of his wound and joining the tank corps which I wanted to clear up. If his injury was the time frame suggested then he very possibly took part in the Somme offensive. Just amazing. He was an older guy too. Not a young man. So proud of this history. Thank you sincerely for looking into this for me. Edited 14 July , 2020 by 1987 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1987 Posted 14 July , 2020 Author Share Posted 14 July , 2020 His wound is recorded as a gsw. Would this be possible if he had been involved with the raid party and got injured due to the bomb explosion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie962 Posted 15 July , 2020 Share Posted 15 July , 2020 (edited) gsw stands for gunshotwound but covers all wounds by bullet, shell and shrapnel (be it grenade or shell). thanks for sharing photo charle Edited 15 July , 2020 by charlie962 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1987 Posted 15 July , 2020 Author Share Posted 15 July , 2020 Did not realise that. Thank you for the info. 1 hour ago, charlie962 said: gsw stands for gunshotwound but covers all wounds by bullet, shell and shrapnel (be it grenade or shell). thanks for sharing photo charle On 13/07/2020 at 11:14, johntaylor said: Hi Charlie, well done - I think you're onto something there. Unfortunately the book I sent a link to ends on 1 July 1916 and doesn't shed any light on later events. However it does give an excellent picture of the battalion's earlier activities in which James Mount would have been involved. A reprint is available from Naval & Military Press, and I've just discovered a digital copy here: https://digital.library.villanova.edu/Item/vudl:132801 All the best, John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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