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Remembered Today:

What does "M. Er. F. " mean?


Down Man

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I've found a war record for an ancestor who served in the Royal Irish Rifles and Royal Flying Corps in 1915.

I'm stumped on the section stated:

"Theatre of war first served in M. Er. F.".

Date of entry is given as 24th July 1915.

Does anyone know what theatre M. Er. F. stands for?

Closest I could find was M.E.F. = Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, so it can't be that.

Thanks!

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Welcome to the forum. I think it is Mediterranean Expiditionary Force, E written rather strangely. Can you post the whole card please?

Michelle 

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10 minutes ago, Michelle Young said:

Welcome to the forum. I think it is Mediterranean Expiditionary Force, E written rather strangely. Can you post the whole card please?

Michelle 

Here's the whole card attached.

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Think he could be 6th RIR who arrived in Mudros 26/7/15.

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I think the E has a downstroke at the end of top and bottom horizontal bars just like the F has on its one horizontal bar.

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26 minutes ago, Michelle Young said:

Think he could be 6th RIR who arrived in Mudros 26/7/15.

Thanks for the welcome earlier!

 

Ah, so that would be the island of Lemnos, Greece?

From the following link, it looks like the 6TH RIR is the correct battalion. 

https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/royal-irish-rifles/

2 minutes ago, PhilB said:

I think the E has a downstroke at the end of top and bottom horizontal bars just like the F has on its one horizontal bar.

Yeah, I can definitely see that now, so Mediterranean Expeditionary Force is correct as Michelle Young said.

Thanks for your help, Michelle and Phil!

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Yes  it is as Michelle says.

The card writer has an unnecessarily flamboyant handwriting style, his serifs on the capital letters E & F unusually prominent, and in the case of the E, there is an unnecessary squiggle of the pen making it look like an extra lower case r.

And they say doctors have bad handwriting?

Edited by Dai Bach y Sowldiwr
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Excellent help on this forum!

Does anyone have access to the UK Military Deserters 1812-1927 file attached?

It seems to have been disciplinary action against the same ancestor 15 years before he fought during WW1, so 7th May 1900.

Figure it doesn't hurt asking for a copy before I upgrade my Ancestry account to see it.

Thanks in advance!

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I also found the medal roll for Felix Monaghan RIR/RAF

I know the "do" means "ditto", but I've no idea what "Trans "G" 4.4.19" means?

Obviously, something happened to on the 4th April 1919.

Thanks!

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Transferred  to Class G of the Army Reserve.

Most soldiers were discharged to Class Z ( Demobbed, but with a theoretical risk of being recalled at short notice should the Armistice break down). I'm not sure what the terms of Class G were.

Edit:

It looks as though it's the same thing in the RAF:
https://www.rafweb.org/Organsation/Reserve_2.htm

Edited by Dai Bach y Sowldiwr
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28 minutes ago, Dai Bach y Sowldiwr said:

Transferred  to Class G of the Army Reserve.

Most soldiers were discharged to Class Z ( Demobbed, but with a theoretical risk of being recalled at short notice should the Armistice break down). I'm not sure what the terms of Class G were.

Edit:

It looks as though it's the same thing in the RAF:
https://www.rafweb.org/Organsation/Reserve_2.htm

Thank you for this information! Appreciate it. 

I've just found further records on Fold 3 which confirms he was part of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force and that he was transferred to the RAF G on the 4/4/19. Not sure what a/27284 after it means?

Attached is screenshots of various parts of the file I found a few mins ago. I'm not sure how to read it all to make sense of it.

Part of it appears to state where and when he saw action. France and then onto to the MEF.

The Trade Classification reads to me as...."Batman". Surely not? If it is, what does it mean?

Many, many thanks once again for your help in understanding these documents!

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