Captain Arnold Drew 1/HAC and RHA

[Jon Shattock]

Does anyone have any information about this officer please. I have his MIC which shows service with the 1st HAC and RHA. However, his 15 star has his regiment as the RFA (RFA is not shown on his MIC as a unit he served in, but the medal roll for his BWM and Victory is an RFA roll)

His papers are not available in the National Archives as he has a long number starting with a "P", so I guess he served after 1923(?).

Any help will be appreciated, especially about the specific units he served in.

Jon

[rflory]

Major Arnold Drew, RA

Born 3 Apr 94

Temp 2Lt, 28 Oct 14 to 11 Sep 15

Served in France and Belgium from 2 Feb 15 to 19 Jul 16, Wounded

Temp Lt., 12 Sep 15 to 30 Jun 17

2 Lt, RFA, 24 Jun 16 (effective 28 Jul 15)

Served in France and Belgium from 5 Nov 16 to 6 Jun 17, Wounded

Acting Capt, 29 Jan 17 to 7 Apr 17

Lieut, RA, 1 Jul 17

Awarded 1914-15 Star, BWM and VM

ADC to GOC Egypt and Palestine from 1 Dec 21 to 15 Apr 23

ADC to GOC Southern Command from 16 Apr 23 to 16 Jun 24

ADC to Governor and C-in-C Malta, 20 Jun 24 to 29 Mar 26

Capt, RA, 28 Apr 27

Adjutant, RA 11 Mar 31 to 10 Mar 34

Major, RA 5 Mar 26

Lt. Col., RA, 11 Jan 43

Retired, 12 Dec 43

Regards. Dick

[Jon Shattock]

Dick,

Thank you very much - that's an incredible amount of detail. He had a much longer and more interesting career that I was expecting.

It's fascinating that he spent so much time as ADC to senior officers. Presumably that was a job given to highly regarded officers? Would there have been several ADC's alongside him or was it just him - lieutenant seems quite a junior rank for such an appointment.

I'll be grateful if you could clarify a couple of things that I'm not too clear on:

I assume when he went to F&F on 2 Feb 15, it was with the RFA? Apart from getting my hands on his papers, is there any way of finding out the specific units he served with?

He was appointed 2/Lt RFA, 24 June '16, whilst he was serving as a temp Lt. Does this mean he took a reduction in rank to get a permanent commission, but that he would have continued to wear the badges of rank of a Lieutenant during the period from 24 June '16 to 1 July '17?

You gave the date that he was appointed Major as 5 March '26, did you mean '36?

Regards,

Jon

[rflory]

Jon wrote:

It's fascinating that he spent so much time as ADC to senior officers. Presumably that was a job given to highly regarded officers? Would there have been several ADC's alongside him or was it just him - lieutenant seems quite a junior rank for such an appointment.

ADCs, even for Lieut. Generals are usually Lieutenants.

I assume when he went to F&F on 2 Feb 15, it was with the RFA? Apart from getting my hands on his papers, is there any way of finding out the specific units he served with?

He was serving with 1A Reserve Brigade, RFA in March 1915 but I have not been able to determine what unit he served with overseas.

He was appointed 2/Lt RFA, 24 June '16, whilst he was serving as a temp Lt. Does this mean he took a reduction in rank to get a permanent commission, but that he would have continued to wear the badges of rank of a Lieutenant during the period from 24 June '16 to 1 July '17?

This is a complicated question because we are talking about two different types of ranks.

Until he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieut, RA in 24 Jun 16 he did not hold a permanent commission and therefore his ranks were only temporary. Once he received his regular commission he would have been a 2nd Lieut, RA with a date of rank of 28 July 1915 and a Temporary Lieutenant, RFA with a date of rank of 12 Sep 15. So he would have continued to wear a Lieutenants badge of rank.

You gave the date that he was appointed Major as 5 March '26, did you mean '36?

Yes I meant 5 March 1936.

Regards. Dick

[Jon Shattock]

Thanks for these - all very clear.

Regards,

Jon