Pte George Cooper Webster, 4489, 2/4 Black Watch: Can anyone please decipher the date of his will?

[rolt968]

Apologies everyone I have been asking you to help decipher a lot of documents recently. Please can you help me with another?

 

Can anyone make out the date of the Soldier's Will of Pte. George Cooper Webster, 4489, 2/4 Black Watch? (For some reason I have got a date fixed in my mind which isn't helping as there is no real evidence from what I can see that it is the actual date.)

Thank you,

RM

 

[ss002d6252]

Looks to me like 20 / ?? / 16

Craig

[rolt968]

23 minutes ago, ss002d6252 said:

Looks to me like 20 / ?? / 16

Craig

Thanks Craig.

Actually that narrows it down a bit. he enlisted in May/June 1915 and was killed serving with 9 Black Watch (S/43172) on 8 September 1916. In theory according to the Medal Rolls Index Card he first served overseas with 1/4 Black Watch, but that may only have been at the base depot. Both 1/4 and 2/4 Black Watch were amalgamated with the % Black Watch equivalents in the spring of 1916. However I have noticed that some men still used the original attalion designation after that.

RM

[ss002d6252]

16 minutes ago, rolt968 said:

Both 1/4 and 2/4 Black Watch were amalgamated with the % Black Watch equivalents in the spring of 1916. However I have noticed that some men still used the original attalion designation after that.

That happened when the 1/6th and 1/8th DLI temporarily merged to the 6/8th - both sides wanted to maintain their own designations.

Craig

[Skipman]

I think 20/8/16

Mike

 

[ss002d6252]

I'd agree with that - so three weeks or so before he died.

Craig

[rolt968]

1 hour ago, Skipman said:

I think 20/8/16

 

Mike

 

1 hour ago, ss002d6252 said:

I'd agree with that - so three weeks or so before he died.

Craig

Thank you both that's excellent (and does prove that what I had got into my head was wrong!). I'm very grateful.  It looks as if he went straight to the 4/5 Black Watch Depot in France and was immediately posted to 9 BW. Perhaps he didn't even get to the depot.

RM

[rolt968]

1 hour ago, ss002d6252 said:

That happened when the 1/6th and 1/8th DLI temporarily merged to the 6/8th - both sides wanted to maintain their own designations.

Craig

That's very interesting. I wonder if it was originally believed that the amalgamation of 1/4 and 1/5Black Watch was temporary. Even the administrative parts of the war diaries talk about men as 1/4 and 1/5 for some weeks (months?) after the amalgamation (easy for a while anyway as there were two companies in the new battalion from each). It explains why some casualties were listed under 1/4 or 1/5 after the amlagamation. Reading between the lines of the war diary the depots in France of both battalions seem to have continued for a while.

RM

[ss002d6252]

14 hours ago, rolt968 said:

That's very interesting. I wonder if it was originally believed that the amalgamation of 1/4 and 1/5Black Watch was temporary. Even the administrative parts of the war diaries talk about men as 1/4 and 1/5 for some weeks (months?) after the amalgamation (easy for a while anyway as there were two companies in the new battalion from each). It explains why some casualties were listed under 1/4 or 1/5 after the amlagamation. Reading between the lines of the war diary the depots in France of both battalions seem to have continued for a while.

RM

6/8th was only for a short period but the two parts exhibited their independence as far as possible. Reinforcements etc still came from the relevant home battalions.

Craig

[rolt968]

2 minutes ago, ss002d6252 said:

6/8th was only for a short period but the two parts exhibited their independence as far as possible. Reinforcements etc still came from the relevant home battalions.

Craig

Thanks Craig

At some stage when I have the time I must try and work out when the powers that be stopped referring to men as serving with 1/4 or 1/5 rather than 4/5 and referred to them as serving with 4/5 Black Watch.

RM