Help Deciphering Text

[D0m99]

I am researching my great grandfather, Peter Heaps who fought in WW1 for the Worcestershire Regiment (number 41439) and I have come across what I believe to be an index card relating to his pension. Is anybody able to tell me what all the letters and numbers on this card mean?

I have also uploaded a second image, this being of his attestation form. I am able to make out some writing underneath the entries for 04/09/1914, a date of 31/10/1914 and some other writing underneath this also. Can anybody read what has been written on this page?

[PRC]

Hi @D0m99 and welcome to the forum

Hopefully one of the forum specialists like @ss002d6252 or @Matlock1418 will be along shortly, but MH forms normally relate to Medical History I believe. The other references are likely to relate to specific memo's which will no longer survive and at best only a generic inference can be drawn.

Looks to me like he applied for a pension based on a condition that he claimed was "attributable or aggravated" by his army service, his medical history was checked, and the decision was that the claim was rejected, the condition not being attributable ("Attrib").

As to the page you have posted, his statement of service, I've tried darkening it and increasing the contrast.

My bests guess is that he was posted to 209 Battery on the 31st October 1914. The entry is then signed underneath, rather than in the right hand columns.

There is then something else, possibly a form number, that was possibly "completed and signed by" with again a signature underneath - "Lt. Dare" perhaps.

The final line mystifies me other than a reference to a named Sergeant, ("Sgt").

Hopefully there is information elsewhere in the surviving paperwork that will make sense of those entries. BTW did the page come from Fold3, Ancestry or FindMyPast? Ancestry is usually the worst in terms of scan quality.

Cheers,
Peter

[D0m99]

1 hour ago, PRC said:

Hi @D0m99 and welcome to the forum

Hopefully one of the forum specialists like @ss002d6252 or @Matlock1418 will be along shortly, but MH forms normally relate to Medical History I believe. The other references are likely to relate to specific memo's which will no longer survive and at best only a generic inference can be drawn.

Looks to me like he applied for a pension based on a condition that he claimed was "attributable or aggravated" by his army service, his medical history was checked, and the decision was that the claim was rejected, the condition not being attributable ("Attrib").

As to the page you have posted, his statement of service, I've tried darkening it and increasing the contrast.

My bests guess is that he was posted to 209 Battery on the 31st October 1914. The entry is then signed underneath, rather than in the right hand columns.

There is then something else, possibly a form number, that was possibly "completed and signed by" with again a signature underneath - "Lt. Dare" perhaps.

The final line mystifies me other than a reference to a named Sergeant, ("Sgt").

Hopefully there is information elsewhere in the surviving paperwork that will make sense of those entries. BTW did the page come from Fold3, Ancestry or FindMyPast? Ancestry is usually the worst in terms of scan quality.

Cheers,
Peter

Hi Peter,

Thank you for taking a look and for the information you have provided, it’s very helpful. The page from the attestation form came from FindMyPast, the version that Ancestry had was not great as you mentioned. 

I’ve uploaded a copy of the full pension card (the back is blank) as I’ve noticed that the same ‘MH’ number is referenced here too.

Thanks.

[Matlock1418]

D0m99, Welcome to GWF

As @PRC has already commented this rather looks like an unsuccessful disability pension claim.

The "MH" mentioned in the posts above is explained as follows:

3/MH/7533

3 = MoP Region 3 [NW England]

MH  = Military claim, H [Heaps] surname

7533 = Regional claim number 7533

M