Pte 17/2078 C. Kemmet, Royal Irish Rifles.

[Duncan]

Hi,

Could anyone tell me the battalion of a Pte 17/2078 Charles Kemmet, Royal Irish Rifles. Odd service number, must match up with a battalion I guess? Would this be a New Army number?

Cheers

Duncan.

[Desmond7]

Duncan - 17th Btn R I Rifles was one of the 'training battalions'. Men would enlist and be sent to one of these high numbered btns for their basic training and then posted on to the 'frontline' btns for service in France.

See 'The Long Long Trail' directly above your 'logged in' name. You will find much more info if you navigate to the section on 'infantry'

Des

[Duncan]

Thanks for the info. The details are from his Victory Medal. I just assumed men were re-allocated a service number once posted overseas and that re-allocated number was what appeared on their medals? Seems odd that he’s stick with his training battalion number.

Cheers,

Duncan.

[Desmond7]

Duncan - my grandfather had an 18th Btn no.

It's really frustrating because I am more or less convinced that he served with the 12th Royal Irish Rifles!

Thus - go here and see my similar problem to your own!

http://1914-1918.org/forum/index.php?showt...=11909&hl=depot

As you will see, I made a mistake in listing him originally as 20th Btn. Aside from that, all the info on there should help you along.

One thing in your favour ... Kemmet is a much less common name than Thompson!

[Duncan]

Many thanks for your help.

Interestingly I see there's a Charles Kemmet on the 1901 census from Guernsey. I notice the 7th RIR took on a company from the Royal Jersey Militia in March 1915. May be just a coincidence though.

Anyway, the MIC which I've just downloaded says he was only entitled to a BWM/Victory pair, so didn't go abroad until Jan 1916 at the earliest.

Frustrating ain't it!

Duncan.