Ledger: 2 RSR

[JMB1943]

I need some crowd-sourcing help to reach a consensus on the likely meaning of an entry in the Ledger of the 2nd Bn, Royal Sussex Regiment.

In the photo, the middle entry has 3 lines,

Upper : HP 3.2.15 = to Hospital, 3rd Feb. 1915   ; Lower : To Bn 27.9.15 = To Battalion, 27th September 1915

Middle : ????

I have a possible interpretation in mind, but wish to not bias the thoughts of others.

For comparison, second photo shows some entries that include "To Eng" = (Sent) To England

Regards,

JMB

 

[clk]

Hi JMB,

Might it be ' to Entrenching Battalion' ??

Regards
Chris

[ss002d6252]

I would agree with Chris, 'To Entrenching Battalion'.

Craig

[JMB1943]

Thank you both for the eye-opener.

I was not even aware that such a beast as an 'entrenching battalion' existed!

So this man joins the battalion on Jan. 18, goes to hospital (reaction to inoculation/injury/wound???) on Feb. 3, serves with unit until Aug. 8, when he is transferred to an entrenching battalion for about 6 weeks; then returns to unit at end of September.

I searched GWF for 'entrenching battalions' and from that, my understanding is that they would later become the Pioneer Bns & the Labour Corps---is that correct?

Do you have any feeling for why any particular man would be transferred into an entrenching battalion?

Regards,

JMB

 

 

 

[ss002d6252]

2 hours ago, JMB1943 said:

I was not even aware that such a beast as an 'entrenching battalion' existed!

There were two separate lives of the entrenching battalions - the 1915 use as working battalions that were often used to introduce men to life in the trenches and the 1918 use as temporary holding battalions for men otherwise without a battalion.

Craig