Transfer from Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers to Machine Gun Corps

[Pat Twomey]

Would be very grateful if someone could provide some information on the following.

 

I am researching Pte Michael McMillan who served with the 1st Bt Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and somewhere along the line ended up in the 8th Bt Machine Gun Corps. Looking at the medal roll for the Victory and British medals (see below) it seems that a lot (if not all) of the Inniskilling troops transferred at the same time to the MGC. However, I can't find anything about why, where or when this might have happened.

 

McMillan ended up with Grogan's Brigade in North Russia and was kia in June 1919.

 

Thanks in anticipation,

Pat

 

 

[ss002d6252]

Usually where there's a large batch of men it was following the transfer of the battalion  brigade machine gun companies to the MGC in early 1916.

 

Craig

[Pat Twomey]

Thanks Craig that's interesting - does that mean that there was a Machine Gun company in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and in 1916 it was transferred to the MGC?

 

[Ivor Anderson]

This LLT page will help explain it: http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/machine-gun-corps-in-the-first-world-war/

[FROGSMILE]

53 minutes ago, Pat Twomey said:

Thanks Craig that's interesting - does that mean that there was a Machine Gun company in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and in 1916 it was transferred to the MGC?

 

Each battalion had a MG section Pat, and all the battalion sections within an infantry brigade combined to form a company, the idea being to better focus command and control and achieve an economy of scale.  It was those companies that then passed over to form the MGC.

Edited 7 April , 2021 by FROGSMILE

[andrew moberly]

26 men transferred from 1Bn Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers to 87 Co MGC on its formation at Suez on 1 Feb 1916, but their new MGC numbers range from 21387 (Sgt McAteer) to 21419 (Pte W Radcliffe).     They are conveniently listed in 87 MGC War Diary for (I think) June 1916.     Pte Michael McMillan, whose new MGC number was 48141, was not among them.       

8 Bn MGC was formed on 20 Jan 1918 from 23, 24, 25 and 218 Cos MGC  (thank you Graham Sacker - see "The Suicide Club - MGC Companies and Battalions").      

 

[Pat Twomey]

Thanks everyone for such detailed responses - I'm very appreciative.

 

My understanding now is that Pte Michael McMillan joined the 1st Bt Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in early 1915 and saw action in the Balkans and the Western Front. He was a member of the Inniskilling's Machine Gun section which in 1916 was transferred to either the 23,24,25 or 218 company of the MGC. In January 1918 he was tranferred once more to the 8th Bt of the MGC which in May 1919 became part of Grogan's Brigade of the NRRF. During a battle on the Vaga river front McMillan was KIA and was buried in Ust-Vaga Burial ground (now lost to time). He is commemorated on a special memorial in the Archangel Allied Cemetery.

 

A lot further along now since I posted two hours ago so thanks once again for your help.

Pat

[andrew moberly]

On 08/04/2021 at 05:18, Pat Twomey said:

I am researching Pte Michael McMillan who served with the 1st Bt Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and somewhere along the line ended up in the 8th Bt Machine Gun Corps.

Pat are you sure he was with 1st Bn, and not  6th Bn, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers?   A document on Ancestry shows him in 6th RIF.      That might put him in 31 Co MGC, which was formed at Hortakoi, Salonika on 11 May 1916 and served with 6th RIF through to 1918 (by which time they were in Palestine).      But that doesn't explain how he ended up in Russia with 8 Bn MGC, as 31 Co MGC later formed part of 10 Bn MGC (from May 1918) - which served in Egypt in 1919.     Perhaps he volunteered to transfer to 8 Bn when 10 Bn began to demobilise in January 1919?

        

 

[Pat Twomey]

Thanks for that Andrew. The date of entry is 25/4/1915 (on the above roll and the MIC below) and this ties in with the 1st Battalion landing in Helles Bay, Gallipoli. The 6th landed in Gallipoli on 7/8/15 so not sure how that came about. Would it be possible he landed with the 1st and then transferred to the 6th a few months later?

 

[hmsk212]

His service number with the MGC, 48141, would suggest a transfer date of mid May 1916

 

Steve

[Pat Twomey]

Thanks Steve that would seem to fit with Andrew's chronology above

"That might put him in 31 Co MGC, which was formed at Hortakoi, Salonika on 11 May 1916"