Deciphering Army Discharge documents from 1919

[TriciaM]

On my Grandfather's Discharge documents under Statement of Services it says:

Granted Messing Allee for 14.6.05

On the same day it also says

Granted G C Badge.

 

I think G.C. is Good Conduct  but can anyone help with the first bit Messing Allee please?

Thank you.

[rksimpson]

Hi

 

Yes to GC

read this for the other - https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=552846.0

 

regards

 

Robert

[TriciaM]

Many thanks, Robert.  That seems to sort it out.  Now to let my sister know!

 

Kind Regards

 

Triciua

[FROGSMILE]

On 16/07/2020 at 03:49, TriciaM said:

On my Grandfather's Discharge documents under Statement of Services it says:

Granted Messing Allee for 14.6.05

On the same day it also says

Granted G C Badge.

 

I think G.C. is Good Conduct  but can anyone help with the first bit Messing Allee please?

Thank you.

Tricia, the Messing Allowance related to new messing regulations (contained in Army Order 65, May 1, of 1898).  A recruit, until he was nineteen years old, got twelvepence a day; he subsequently got fifteenpence a day. The increase of 3d. was due to the so-called "messing" allowance. This term "messing" allowance is misleading. In effect it was a ‘stoppage’ (an Army term) and he was stopped, by the War Office, 3d. per diem for his groceries including vegetables. The soldier's food provided in kind by the Government consisted of 1 lb. of bread and ¾ lb. of raw meat, including bone. All the rest of the soldier's food was paid for out of the soldier's own pocket and so —3d. per diem was stopped from the soldier's pay for tea, coffee, and other groceries and vegetables. 
At the time the new regulation benefited sergeants who had service between twelve and twenty-one years (as by virtue of privilege afforded to their rank they already had a similar scheme), to the extent of 1d. a day. Thus deferred pay to be credited to them was the amount that had accrued to the date on which they, in each individual case, elected to draw the messing allowance (they had to choose whether to do so). The upshot was that the private paid 3d. and the sergeant from 6d. to 7½d. for messing.

Edited 27 July , 2020 by FROGSMILE

[TriciaM]

Thank you very much for expanding on what the Messing Allowance actually meant. 

Was twelvepence/fifteenpense a day considered a good amount to get? My grandfather was listed as a General Labourer in the 1901 Census.

 

Kind Regards

 

Tricia

[kenf48]

34 minutes ago, TriciaM said:

My grandfather was listed as a General Labourer in the 1901 Census

 

The average annual wage of an unskilled worker in 1913-14 was £63, around 6-10% higher than 1901.

 

The basic pay for an infantry soldier in 1914 was a shilling a day, or 12d (pennies) in old money (various allowances could increase the amount) but 1/- or 1/3d was the quivalent of a days pay before stoppages.  [Pay did increase during the war and there was a separation allowance for those on active service which was paid to dependants.]

[ss002d6252]

I've just been looking at the Separation Allowance for some work - in Aug 1914 you're looking at a Private getting a basic amount of 7s 7d per week for a wife and 1s 2d per week for a child. On top of this his wage would have 2s 4d per week deducted and sent to his wife and 7d per child. (Rates did change over time).

Craig

[TriciaM]

Thanks very much. This is all fascinating.  did the soldiers get their money weekly at the Front or how?  How did the wife and child actually get the allowance? 

[kenf48]

7 hours ago, TriciaM said:

Thanks very much. This is all fascinating.  did the soldiers get their money weekly at the Front or how?  How did the wife and child actually get the allowance? 

 

Soldiers were paid in the local currency.  Memoirs recall that payment in the field was erratic and men were always short of money. 

A full list of the rates of pay (and a picture of a pay parade) are on the LLT http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/a-soldiers-life-1914-1918/british-army-rates-pay-1914/

where there is lots more information a soldier's life which was for the most part boring and mundane, although always dangerous.

 

This poster gives details of the Separation Allowance, referred to by Craig, as paid on the 1st March 1915.  Soldiers allotted a proportion of their pay as a contribution.  Women, and their children as young as fourteen, could find work in the war industries.  This led to conflict and denigration of the 'lower classes' from the establishment and contributed to wartime inflation, and allegations of extravagance.  The allowance was collected from the local post office. There were allegations this was often misspent of luxuries and drink, plus ca change!

 

The Mayor of Kingston commented on a court hearing where a soldier's wife was reported to be in receipt of £3 a week in Army allowances and nearly as much working in munitions (dirty and dangerous work) while her thirteen year old son was earning £2 a week.  The Mayor commented, "Eight pounds a week, four hundred pounds a year!  It sounds like a fairy tale from the Arabian Nights'.