3rd Dragoon Guards War Diary

[james drury]

Hi all 

Just wondered if anyone could give advice on this  3rd Dragoon Guards War Diary entry 

Its great as its lists men by Squadron but I am unsure for the entries in the 'remarks' column 

The man I am interested in is R Litchfield  - in his remarks it says ENG 3.10.15 rejoin 11.6.16 

Many of the men have similar entries - would ENG be England, Engaged .... or something totally different.

many thanks :-)

Edited 26 March , 2022 by james drury

[charlie962]

43 minutes ago, james drury said:

Many of the men have similar entries - would ENG be England, Engaged .... or

England. It corresponds to the date they returned to England, perhaps due to wounds. See as an example the SVC record of Docherty J 3034.

Charlie

[PRC]

I agree with Charlie - thats the dates their medical evacuation saw them repatriated to England.

I had a quick look at the newspaper search on FMP and turned up references to this couple of casualty lists- timewise they would seem to fit in with the dates in the War Diary.

Cheers,
Peter

 

 

[charlie962]

I didn't spot a 1915 wounding for Litchfield but I see his name as wounded in the Daily List published 14/5/17. This would suggest a wounding beginning of April 1917. Probable the Battle of the Scarpe at Arras.

There is an interesting blog by a grandson of another 3DG man wounded that day.

"Jack Greenwood of the 3rd Dragoon Guards at the First Battle of Scarpe, 11th April 1917 – My Greenwood Family Tree" https://thegreenwoodtreeblog.wordpress.com/2017/05/12/jack-greenwood-of-the-3rd-dragoon-guards-at-the-first-battle-of-scarpe-11th-april-1917/

[Steven Broomfield]

Could I just deploy my inner pedant here? You refer to the '3rd Dragoons': it should be '3rd Dragoon Guards'. Dragoon Guards and Dragoons were very different things (Dragoon Guards would be appalled to be lumped with the hoi polloi of mere Dragoons!), and there was actually no 3rd Dragoons.

[6RRF]

1 hour ago, Steven Broomfield said:

Could I just deploy my inner pedant here? You refer to the '3rd Dragoons': it should be '3rd Dragoon Guards'. Dragoon Guards and Dragoons were very different things (Dragoon Guards would be appalled to be lumped with the hoi polloi of mere Dragoons!), and there was actually no 3rd Dragoons.

Quite right, but as one pedant to another I should point out that there used to be a 3rd Dragoons, but that they became Hussars in 1861 - not that 3DG would have reckoned that was an improvement 

[james drury]

Many thanks all for the tips - very useful. I thought might be due to a wound etc but couldn't find any trance (so far) of one in 1915.  - will keep hunting.

The 1917 wound was on April 11th  - he was noted in the War Diary as 'missing believed killed' - lucky chap I guess. 

Apologies for the mixing if Dragoons and Dragoons Guards - still learning - have corrected. 

Thank again all - very much appreciated :-)

 

[Steven Broomfield]

On 26/03/2022 at 10:27, 6RRF said:

Quite right, but as one pedant to another I should point out that there used to be a 3rd Dragoons, but that they became Hussars in 1861 - not that 3DG would have reckoned that was an improvement 

Well, if we're really delving, the 3rd Dragoons became Light Dragoons in 1818.

 

On 26/03/2022 at 12:07, james drury said:

 

Apologies for the mixing if Dragoons and Dragoons Guards - still learning - have corrected. 

Don't worry: it's very easily done. Basically, Dragoon Guards are descended from the posh boys of 'The Horse' (who fought mounted - think Cavaliers and you won't go far wrong), whereas Dragoons started off as mounted infantry (Roundheads?). When the government of the day (early 18th century) decided to save a few bob by making all mounted troops Dragoons, the Horse objected and were retitled Dragoon Guards.

As 6RRF points out, the Dragoon regiments generally morphed into either Hussars or Lancers, only the 1st (Royals), 2nd (Greys) and 6th (Inniskilling) retaining the 'Dragoon' title, the rest all changing.