stroudpete Posted 6 December , 2020 Share Posted 6 December , 2020 A couple of queries: 1. My Grandfather joined the Section A Reserve in 1911 after he was discharged after 2 years from the Army Service Corps based at Aldershot. According to his records he moved to Swansea after he joined the Special A Reserve. Is there a link between the Special A reserve and Swansea? He reverted to section B reserve in June 1912. Also, in August 1918 his record says that he was absent on mobilisation. What does this mean? His name was William Thomas Harwood and his Reg. No was 27663. 2. His WWI records appear to be destroyed. All I know from his medal roll is that he joined the RGA at Reading and joined the theatre of war in France on 10th March 1915 and his Reg. No was 40796 and his company was WO329. He was a Gunner and then Corporal. Any assistance in helping me piece together his war service and the other question re the reserves would be very gratefully received. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ss002d6252 Posted 6 December , 2020 Share Posted 6 December , 2020 Quote 1. My Grandfather joined the Section A Reserve in 1911 after he was discharged after 2 years from the Army Service Corps based at Aldershot. According to his records he moved to Swansea after he joined the Special A Reserve. Is there a link between the Special A reserve and Swansea? He reverted to section B reserve in June 1912. When a man went in to his reserve capacity he went either in to the standard section B (recalled in an emergency) or section A (recalled if the army needed him, at any time). He could do a maximum of 2 years in the Section A before dropping back in to Section B for the remainder of his term of service. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 7 December , 2020 Share Posted 7 December , 2020 (edited) The absent on mobilisation quote is an interesting one. In 1918 the maximum age for call up reached a new highest age (following earlier hikes) as one of the reactions to the casualties caused by the German March offensive. My guess is that your grandfather found himself falling within the new age limit and was called up. According to the record that you quote he seemingly failed to report and was thus reported as absent. Edited 7 December , 2020 by FROGSMILE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 7 December , 2020 Admin Share Posted 7 December , 2020 WO329 would refer to the medal roll numbers I would have thought, not be his company/ battery number Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith_history_buff Posted 7 December , 2020 Share Posted 7 December , 2020 The phrase "Company: WO 329" or similar is something I keep seeing posted by people researching family members for the first time, who have obtained the MIC transcription via ForcesWarRecords. It's one of those cases where the data provider provides misinformation, like FindMyPast having classed its records for veterans of Nelson's Navy as "British Army service records 1852-1862". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stroudpete Posted 7 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 7 December , 2020 39 minutes ago, Keith_history_buff said: The phrase "Company: WO 329" or similar is something I keep seeing posted by people researching family members for the first time, who have obtained the MIC transcription via ForcesWarRecords. It's one of those cases where the data provider provides misinformation, like FindMyPast having classed its records for veterans of Nelson's Navy as "British Army service records 1852-1862". Yes, you are correct. I eventually worked this out myself. Because I have no WWI records for my grandfather I saw this being described by Ancestry as relating to his company and got excited. However, I then worked out that it wasn't the case. Thanks anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stroudpete Posted 7 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 7 December , 2020 1 hour ago, Michelle Young said: WO329 would refer to the medal roll numbers I would have thought, not be his company/ battery number Yes, you are correct. I eventually worked this out myself. Because I have no WWI records for my grandfather I saw this being described by Ancestry as relating to his company and got excited. However, I then worked out that it wasn't the case. Thanks anyway. 13 hours ago, ss002d6252 said: When a man went in to his reserve capacity he went either in to the standard section B (recalled in an emergency) or section A (recalled if the army needed him, at any time). He could do a maximum of 2 years in the Section A before dropping back in to Section B for the remainder of his term of service. Craig Thanks Craig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinrowlinson Posted 7 December , 2020 Share Posted 7 December , 2020 If you are sure your grandfather was RGA 40796 W T Harwood then his number would imply him enlisting as a regular not long before the war started in May 1914. He would have been asked whether he had previous service, so he either lied if he said no, or told the truth and the relevant permission and paper work wasn't brought up to date by the ASC. You should check the original medal rolls, but I would suggest he was a reinforcement gunner and probably says "Base Details". Trying to find the unit, or units, he served with will be very difficult without any further leads. Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith_history_buff Posted 7 December , 2020 Share Posted 7 December , 2020 It really irks me when I see rubbish information provided by the genealogical data companies. Here's a link to his medal index card, as recorded in the catalogue of The National Archives:https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D2596976 The index card references the following documents:WO 329/2563 1914-15 Star medal roll, Royal Garrison Artillery other ranks WO 329/265 Victory Medal and/or British War Medal, Royal Garrison Artillery other ranks The latter roll mentions 'Base D'tls R.G.A.' There is no unit information on the former, it just states that he arrived in the F&F theatre of war on 10 March 1915. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Posted 7 December , 2020 Share Posted 7 December , 2020 Just to clarify what others have said. WO329 is The National Archive reference number for: "War Office and Air Ministry: Service Medal and Award Rolls, First World War The volumes in this series record the entitlement to medals and awards of men and women serving in some capacity during the First World War." The date for the formation of these records and details regarding subseries and contents are given herehttp://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/C14533 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith_history_buff Posted 7 December , 2020 Share Posted 7 December , 2020 I took a look at the Absent Voters Lists, but did not see any records for Reading. All I saw was records for men named Harwood in Bedfordshire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stroudpete Posted 7 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 7 December , 2020 2 hours ago, FROGSMILE said: The absent on mobilisation quote is an interesting one. In 1918 the maximum age for call up reached a new highest age (following earlier hikes) as one of the reactions to the casualties caused by the German’s March offensive. My guess is that your grandfather found himself falling within the new age limit and was called up. According to the record that you quote he seemingly failed to report and was thus reported as absent. I don't think this applies to my grandfather as he was 22 when war was declared. He was also in the reserves at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 7 December , 2020 Share Posted 7 December , 2020 8 minutes ago, stroudpete said: I don't think this applies to my grandfather as he was 22 when war was declared. He was also in the reserves at the time. I can’t really help then. You didn’t mention his date of birth / age in your post. Good luck with your research. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stroudpete Posted 7 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 7 December , 2020 5 minutes ago, FROGSMILE said: I can’t really help then. You didn’t mention his date of birth / age in your post. Good luck with your research. Thanks for your help Frogsmile, much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stroudpete Posted 7 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 7 December , 2020 OK, It seems that I may have to accept that I will never know any more details about my grandfathers war service. Thanks for all your help everybody. In the absence of his war records I'm left with trying to understand his pre war army situation. I mentioned the link with Swansea which is where he moved to when he joined Section A reserves (ASC). Is there a link between Swansea and the ASC? I just don't understand why he would have moved there. Cheers, Pete 40 minutes ago, Keith_history_buff said: I took a look at the Absent Voters Lists, but did not see any records for Reading. All I saw was records for men named Harwood in Bedfordshire. Thanks for trying Keith Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stroudpete Posted 7 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 7 December , 2020 I have a couple more questions. 1. He entered the theatre of war on 10th March 1915. He was already in section B reserves when war broke out. Would it be correct to assume that between the start of the war and when he went to France he would have been training? 2. He was in the ASC before the war. How did he end up being in the RGA when war started? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinrowlinson Posted 7 December , 2020 Share Posted 7 December , 2020 I am not sure whether my earlier post was of any interest, but if you subscribe to FMP you will see he re-enlisted and given the new number 1409702. His original enlistment in to the RGA was 19th May 1914. As he was a post war gunner there is a possibility that his service records have survived with the MOD. How to obtain them can be found on the Long Long Trail. As to your questions; yes he would have been training, and as he enlisted under his own free will he may just have liked the idea of becoming a gunner. Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Posted 7 December , 2020 Share Posted 7 December , 2020 (edited) I posted this on another thread earlier this morning about Post 1920 numbers: https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/287146-bedfordshire-regiment-service-number-plus-one-more-date-confirmation/?do=findComment&comment=2961335 Edited 7 December , 2020 by Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stroudpete Posted 7 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 7 December , 2020 3 hours ago, kevinrowlinson said: I am not sure whether my earlier post was of any interest, but if you subscribe to FMP you will see he re-enlisted and given the new number 1409702. His original enlistment in to the RGA was 19th May 1914. As he was a post war gunner there is a possibility that his service records have survived with the MOD. How to obtain them can be found on the Long Long Trail. As to your questions; yes he would have been training, and as he enlisted under his own free will he may just have liked the idea of becoming a gunner. Kevin Kevin, thank you so much! How on earth did I miss that? You have made my day. I've got the FMP record and am now going to look for the post war records at the national Archives. Thanks again. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith_history_buff Posted 7 December , 2020 Share Posted 7 December , 2020 Hello Pete, The army service records for men who served after 1920 are still with the Army Personnel Centre in Glasgow. All the info you need will be found via the following link:https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fguidance%2Frequest-records-of-deceased-service-personnel%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR02hbDDRt1VPDu3AaMTxYmAQd9h0oiiqrCLdqjUj7Gc3yTEBnk4fBWtTyM&h=AT3CyOMzY2_k38b6f3rj0qV35kz0glqBaL_VzEa4o-Xa8nzJfH8KgWaieNOMsMAauNdAn7DJdtFaNWU0IxmHuciGfF60GCqW_FjipqXOA-MguBLFcmG4tEivOB9oyK7wYeG1X_EeCBvbvt0qVrfo9PBUDywe9w&__tn__=R]-R&c[0]=AT0M5LyJNaqw3EsK3INxvfEtXTeHCmaD1AX9fShy4CBaNLakG6PF7fCt_LthH6eHro55D-BRR6NRgOI6l9eOGjv76g6HKPqzLvdw50O3FZpG6FxvE5_1uUGXczCIlgXDiUM36qPESLmMLEBrKJbUufF0bSHGHsVpOQ_nHBo7iTrvQjtzJAVNoOSKTbL6Me6EGst9Fpp6wAgiWVfbiqK2cAo Best of luck Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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