Gloucestershire regiment help

[Maya]

Hi. I was hoping someone could give me some advice on where to look next. I am trying to find information about my great grandfather George Lilley. He served with the Gloucestershire regiment during the war. The only thing I have been able to find is what I believe is his medal card which gives his service number as 267070.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

[FROGSMILE]

22 minutes ago, Maya said:

Hi. I was hoping someone could give me some advice on where to look next. I am trying to find information about my great grandfather George Lilley. He served with the Gloucestershire regiment during the war. The only thing I have been able to find is what I believe is his medal card which gives his service number as 267070.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 It will help the excellent genealogical detectives here in the forum, Maya, if you can provide a bit more information about his origins, things like home town, full name and date of birth, if you know it, are really key to separating him from other men with perhaps the same name.  Any extra detail will make a real difference.

Edited 17 September , 2020 by FROGSMILE

[George Rayner]

Welcome to the forum Maya. Good luck with your research.

 

He appears-if your first find is correct-to have another service number

Gloucestershire Regiment	Private	5485
Gloucestershire Regiment	Private	267070

 

George

 

[Maya]

20 minutes ago, FROGSMILE said:

 It will help the excellent genealogical detectives here in the forum, Maya, if you can provide a bit more information about his origins, things like home town, full name and date of birth, if you know it, are really key to separating him from other men with perhaps the same name.  Any extra detail will make a real difference.

 

Sorry I should have include that. George Lilley was born 1st May 1882 in Christchurch Hampshire.

[battle of loos]

good morning,

 

here's his medal card (Ancestry) :

 

 

regards

 

michel

[Promenade]

He was one of about 93 men from Hampshire who were posted to the 6th Bn Glos Regt (serving abroad with 1/6 but in the main with 2/6 after training) in mid-1916. Most of the men enlisted under the Derby Scheme in early/mid December 1915 and were placed on the Reserve. Mobilised in mid-1916 they were posted to the Glos Regt as stated.

[Maya]

5 hours ago, Promenade said:

He was one of about 93 men from Hampshire who were posted to the 6th Bn Glos Regt (serving abroad with 1/6 but in the main with 2/6 after training) in mid-1916. Most of the men enlisted under the Derby Scheme in early/mid December 1915 and were placed on the Reserve. Mobilised in mid-1916 they were posted to the Glos Regt as stated.

 

Could this be why he had two service numbers - one for the reserves and the other when he was posted to the regiment?

 

Thank you everyone for all your help.

[ss002d6252]

12 minutes ago, Maya said:

 

Could this be why he had two service numbers - one for the reserves and the other when he was posted to the regiment?

 

Thank you everyone for all your help.

No - it was down to a change in the way that the army numbered soldiers (to try and sort some inherent problems regarding duplication of numbers in the system they were using).

Craig

[clk]

Hi Maya,

 

29 minutes ago, ss002d6252 said:

it was down to a change in the way that the army numbered soldiers

 

You can read about the renumbering of the Territorial Force here. What you often find within a Battalion is that men were renumbered to their new 6 digit number based sequentially on their previous (usually) 4 digit service number. The medal rolls/medal index cards usually relate to overseas service only.  

 

8 hours ago, Maya said:

The only thing I have been able to find is what I believe is his medal card which gives his service number as 267070.

 

Do you have access to your great grandfathers' medals? If you do, then the service number on the rims should confirm that you've got the right man. Assuming that you have, then his medal roll record shows overseas service as:

 

Images sourced from Ancestry

 

As his 4 digit service number is shown, it points towards George serving in theatre prior to 1917 when he was renumbered to the 6 digit one.

 

After registration, a Battalion war diary is available as a free download from here. (Unfortunately, the diary only covers the period that the Battalion spent in France/Flanders, and doesn't extend to their service in the Italian/Egyptian theatres. (They are also available from the National Archives, but not as downloads). It is unlikely to mention George by name. It might also be worth downloading a copy of the Infantry Brigade HQ diaries (link) as they often contain things such as maps, orders, and reports on operations that aren't contained in the lower level battalion diary. There is help on reading any map references shown here.

 

I think that with the absence of a service file it might prove difficult to establish precisely when George was sent overseas to serve with the 1/6th Bn. He would have been sent out as a reinforcement sometime after the end of 1915 though as he wasn't awarded a Star medal.

 

7 hours ago, Promenade said:

He was one of about 93 men from Hampshire who were posted to the 6th Bn Glos Regt (serving abroad with 1/6 but in the main with 2/6 after training) in mid-1916. Most of the men enlisted under the Derby Scheme in early/mid December 1915 and were placed on the Reserve. Mobilised in mid-1916 they were posted to the Glos Regt as stated.

 

Given that, it would seems possible that he initially trained/served at home with the 3/6 Bn before being sent for overseas service sometime between mid/late 1916 and early 1917 to serve with the 1/6.

 

1/6 = 1st line, 6th Bn, compared to

2/6 = 2nd line, 6th Bn

3/6 = 3rd line, 6th Bn

 

There is good advice on how to try to research a soldier here.

 

Good luck with your research.

 

Regards

Chris

[FROGSMILE]

Brilliant rundown Chris.  Well explained.  Kudos to you.

[Maya]

18 hours ago, clk said:

Do you have access to your great grandfathers' medals? If you do, then the service number on the rims should confirm that you've got the right man.

 

 

Unfortunately I've never seen his medals or know what happened to them.

 

Thank you so much for all your help Chris.