Heavy Battery Park Establishment Form. 232 Army Brigade R.F.A.

[high wood]

I am in the process of sorting through the Army Service Corps ephemera in my collection and have found this form amongst a soldiers paper work. It is a rare survivor and was probably kept as a souvenir.

I thought that it might be of interest to anyone who is compiling a list of Great War British Army vehicles or WD numbers.

Edited 9 June , 2023 by high wood

[David Porter]

This is quite interesting from the artillery point of view. The fact that A.F.A. is crossed out means there was a concerted effort to distinguish them from Australian Field Artillery. Attached to each Army Brigade Park Section were 8 artillery ORs which equates to one for each ammunition lorry. The ninth lorry was a spare. C.A.P. was the Corps Artillery Park in the Corps that the Army Brigade had been allocated to. I think the total establishment of men in a Park Section was around 47, with most being from the Army Service Corps. You can also see that the ammunition and supply side were merged in March 1918 into one Divisional MT Company.

High Wood, you might like to change the title of your post, as this form refers to 232 Army Brigade RFA

[high wood]

David,

thank you for your thoughts. I have corrected the title and will in future wear my reading glasses when I start a new thread. As to the form itself, I wonder if the A.F.A. came up with the idea for the form and a visiting A.S.C. driver thought to himself that they would come in useful and borrowed half a dozen. The R.F.A. probably had similar forms of their own.

I am pleased that there is information about different makes of lorry and their individual WD numbers. There may even be photographs of some of these lorries out there somewhere. I do know that some people like to compile databases about vehicle numbers and types.

I have a few photographs of lorries in my collection and would be happy to post them if there was a dedicated lorry thread.

Simon.

 

 

[Great War Truck]

Thank you. That is a very interesting document. I will see if I can find any photos of the ones listed. You never know.

 

[Great War Truck]

The closest image i can find to Peerless 11302 was 11287 and the closest to Daimler 6157 was 6175. So, no prize. Sorry.

[high wood]

No problem, thank you for looking. A quick look through my A.S.C. album and I have found two photographs that show clear W.D. numbers. 39417 and 27144 whch has Commer car on the radiator and was possibly used by 681 M.T. Coy.

[Great War Truck]

I dont have either of those numbers on my list, with the closest I have being 27149 which was also a Commer, belonging to 681 Co and 39413 being a RAF Leyland which was recovered from Bray and reissued to 584 Co. 

Interesting stuff.

 

[high wood]

You want lorries, we got lorries.

Edited 10 June , 2023 by high wood
Adding pictures

[high wood]

Same location, different day. The lorries are Thornycrofts but I am not sure which particular model.

[high wood]

494th M.T. Coy, mobile workshop lorry.

[high wood]

Market Day, Chipping Sodbury.

[high wood]

39417 being used by the Royal Flying Corps.

[Great War Truck]

Thanks. What super pictures. Thornycroft J Type. RAF Leyland at the bottom. The odd one out is the Straker Squire which appears in the Market Day photograph in front of the Thornycrofts. 

[high wood]

An ambulance.

[Great War Truck]

A Wolseley. Not sure which model, but a super photo. Thanks for sharing that one. 

[high wood]

The ambulance was used by the 3rd M.A.C. A.S.C. I think that is the 3rd Motor Ambulance Convoy. A,S.C.

Note the snail in an oval on the side of the ambulance. The snail appears to have been their Coy sign. I have four of their Christmas cards for 1915, 1916, 1917 and 1918 in my collection. The snail appears on the front of two of them.

Edited 20 June , 2023 by high wood

[high wood]

Three of the four Christmas Cards.

[charlie962]

Not contributing but enjoying. Thanks for posting.

[charlie962]

Those fine cards drawn by 'N.Tudor W.'

Could that be Norah Tudor-Williams, a BRC volunteer? Not sure she served overseas? Just a guess.

Edit She had a brother Nevile Arthur Tudor Williams who served as cpl MS/1167 then was commissioned to ASC ? Still guessing! 

Further edit..near number to Nevile, MS/1163 Jones was an ambulance driver attached to 3MAC from 1916, but having first landed Aug 1914 with 6 Div Amm Park, just like Nevile. But Nevile was commissioned Dec 1914.l 

Private tree owner on Ancestry here 

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/pt/RequestTreeAccess.aspx?tid=48760350&pid=27785905077#?_phcmd=u('https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/?name%3DNevile%2BArthur%2Btudor_Williams%26birth%3D1891%26birth_x%3D2-0-0%26count%3D50%26location%3D3257.3250%26name_x%3Di_1%26priority%3Dunited-kingdom%26types%3Dp%26successSource%3DSearch%26queryId%3Deb29297285b230810074c4ff77961dab','successSource')

 

 

Edited 21 June , 2023 by charlie962

[Great War Truck]

Those drawings are incredibly faithful to the Wolseley they are copying. Artist certainly knew his stuff. 

[high wood]

The four Christmas cards and the ambulance photograph all came together and are all signed, Percy. Sadly, I have no other details.

I have now found a Pte Percy Labron MS/1026 who also disembarked in France on the 16th August 1914 serving with the 6th Division Ammunition Park.

Edited 21 June , 2023 by high wood

[high wood]

Some more ambulances, these belonged to the 41st Auxiliary (Ambulance car) Coy.

[high wood]

Depot 41st Auxiliary (Ambulance car) Coy.

[Great War Truck]

Great photos. A couple of Vauxhalls, a Napier and then a pair of Siddeley-Deasy. I understand that these were all donated (paid for) by the NZ Gvt.

[high wood]

Depot 41st Auxiliary (Ambulance car) Coy. More photographs.