"C" prefix - King's Royal Rifle Corps

[brianmorris547]

From July 1915 until the Bolton Journal stopped publishing Rally to the Flag at the end of November there were only a handful of recruits to the KRRC and Rifle Brigade whereas hundreds enlisted into Bolton's local Bn 5 Loyal North Lancs.

02/07/1915 KRRC

Dewhurst, Harry. 6 Dudley St, Elton, Bury

Rifle Brigade

Blinkhorn, Richard. 11 Stopes Rd, Little Lever - S/13269. SDGW 3 Bn 17/06/1916. WO 363 D of W 1 Can CCS.

Holland, Samuel. 3 Salisbury Terrace, Little Lever

20/08/1915 KRRC

Sixsmith, Peter. 29 Jubilee St - R/15029. 7 Bn and 18 Bn KRRC.

WO 364 shows that he enlisted into the KRRC in December 1914 R/8249. He was discharged under para 392 on 03/04/1915 with defective vision. I posted his original enlistment on 30/09 this year (Bolton Journal 18/12/1914).

Ramsden, Thos. 407 Bury Rd - R/15030. 20 KRRC.

27/08/1915 KRRC

Stones, John. 43 Hampton Rd - Poss 18835 or 18635 9 KRRC. MH 106/484 adm 11 CCS 24/10/1917 gas. 

19/11/1915 KRRC

Dagnall, Francis. 68 Parrott St - R/16747. Discharge under para 392 wounds 25/07/1917. Named on these 1917 Part 2 Orders.

Read, Harry. Critchley Fold, Hawkshaw Lane, Bury - R/16746. Later Labour Corps and Royal Fusiliers

 

Edited 15 November , 2022 by brianmorris547
typo

[MBrockway]

Thanks once more Brian. 
 

Away from home in Scotland just now, but looking forward to adding all your excellent material into my KRR files.

The switch to 5/LNL is interesting- would this have been regarded as the local “Pals” battalion ?

Mark

[MBrockway]

Andy,

In Bryan’s 2 Apr 1917 Rifles Depot Part Two orders above, I spot an A/203148 Rfn HC Channon transferring from strength of 16/KRRC. Weren’t we looking at him in our chat the other night re A/203xxx range before I left for Scotland? Has he originated from an RB bn?

Mark

Edited 16 November , 2022 by MBrockway

[stiletto_33853]

Hi Mark,

Yes he did come up in the conversation, attested 29/2/16, Mobilised 14/4/16 as S/16828 in 6th RB, overseas to 1st Rifle Brigade 2/7/16, attached 16th KRRC 20/7/16, transferred to 16th KRRC 11/9/16, Disc 5/9/17, SWB List M/1105.

MIC states S/16829 record says S/16828

 

Thanks for all these Brian, great help.

 

Andy 

Edited 16 November , 2022 by stiletto_33853

[brianmorris547]

5 hours ago, MBrockway said:

The switch to 5/LNL is interesting- would this have been regarded as the local “Pals” battalion ?

Mark

 

33 minutes ago, stiletto_33853 said:

Thanks for all these Brian, great help.

 

Andy 

Pleased to help.

Mark

5 Bn LNL was the pre war TF Bn based in Bolton and when recruiting to expand the TF began in March 1915 it was referred to as the Pals Bn. The Bolton papers explained that it could not be a proper Pals Bn but the name stuck. Rally to the Flag always called it the Pals Bn, in order no doubt to assist recruiting. Here is an example from Rally to the Flag 23/04/1915. 3 East Lancs Brigade was the Bolton Artillery. Between them they accounted for the majority of recruits in 1915.

When the library returns to it's proper location I will check the Index books for any articles about the CLB Bn. Also if yourself or Andy require any photographs/biographies of those names in RTF who became casualties I can have a look for them.

Brian

 

 

[conijoni]

 

[conijoni]

Here we go again. Sold on eBay recently. Yet another 'C' prefix associated with the Church Lads' Brigade.

[MBrockway]

Just to share conijoni's exasperation, I can confirm C/9143 Ralph Walton only served in 20/KRRC, one of the regiment's two pioneer battalions.  He never saw service in 16/KRRC and is unlikely to have had any connection to the Church Lads' Brigade.

As always with fleaBay: caveat emptor

[Ivor Anderson]

Looking at other prefix letters used during WW1 leads me to assume that 'C' actually stood for something:

e.g. B = Bankers, D = Dragoons, E = Empire, F = Football, G = Garrison/General, H = Hussars, J = Jewish, L = Lancers

e.g. https://kiwimedals.com/british-service-number-prefixes/

Or is the consensus that these early letters were often just used alphabetically for recruitment periods/certain battalions?

Edited 9 December , 2022 by Ivor Anderson

[MBrockway]

15 hours ago, Ivor Anderson said:

Looking at other prefix letters used during WW1 leads me to assume that 'C' actually stood for something:

e.g. B = Bankers, D = Dragoons, E = Empire, F = Football, G = Garrison/General, H = Hussars, J = Jewish, L = Lancers

e.g. https://kiwimedals.com/british-service-number-prefixes/

Or is the consensus that these early letters were often just used alphabetically for recruitment periods/certain battalions?

None of these were in use in this manner in the King's Royal Rifle Corps or the Rifle Brigade.  The B prefix was used in the RB, but not to signify Bankers.

[conijoni]

On 09/12/2022 at 13:59, MBrockway said:

Just to share conijoni's exasperation, I can confirm C/9143 Ralph Walton only served in 20/KRRC, one of the regiment's two pioneer battalions.  He never saw service in 16/KRRC and is unlikely to have had any connection to the Church Lads' Brigade.

As always with fleaBay: caveat emptor

Thank you, Mark.