Help Interpreting unit 22nd London regt

[mickgall]

Hello All

I'm having a bit of trouble working out which unit my Gt Uncle was transferred to within 22nd London. See attached image. I cant quite work out the second line under corps and unit. On the third line I'm guessing he's been transferred to 3/22nd London.

As always any help greatly appreciated

Mick

[PRC]

10 minutes ago, mickgall said:

I cant quite work out the second line under corps and unit.

106th Provisional Battalion.

From the Long, Long Trail.

In June 1915 the War Office authorised the raising of a number of Provisional Battalions, to be grouped into Provisional Brigades. The manpower would be provided by posting men of the depots and “third-line” training units of the Territorial Force who were classified “for home service only”. This classification may have been due to their medical rating or that they had not signed the Imperial Service Obligation. Had they not signed, the army could not legally transfer them to a different unit and this raised a question in the House of Commons. On 21 June 1915 it was confirmed that these battalions were not considered to be a new corps for the purposes of the Army Act and were simply for “ease of administration”. It was not the intention to separate home service men belonging to the same unit or in any way affect their military identity as a menber of the TF unit into which they had enlisted. In other words, it was a compromise way around the law that enabled a man to remain associated with his unit of enlistment but also to be usefully employed.

Although in some cases a given provisional battalion was wholly manned by troops from a single regiment, the battalion was not considered to be part of that regiment and did not refer to the regiment in its title.

Men who were serving with the provisional battalions became available for posting or transfer if they were medically reclassified as fit for general service, and from the introduction of the Military Service Act 1916 were also deemed available for overseas service if they met the medical standards required.

By March 1916 there were 40 Provisional Battalions under command of Provisional Brigades and another 19 that were independent and unbrigaded.

And

7th Provisional Brigade
Headquartered at Clacton-on-Sea in Essex. Later named 226th Mixed Brigade
29th, 82nd, 106th, 107th and 108th Provisional Battalions
https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/the-territorial-force/provisional-brigades-and-battalions/

Cheers,
Peter

 

[jay dubaya]

106th Provisional Battalion

In June 1915, men of Territorial Force units who had only volunteered for Home service were formed into composite Provisional Battalions for coast defence. In 1916 the Military Service Act swept away the Home/Overseas service distinction and the provisional battalions took on the dual role of home defence and physical conditioning to render men fit for drafting overseas. For example, the 100th Provisional Battalion was formed from Home Service men of 173rd (3/1st London) Brigade (3/1st, 3/2nd, 3/3rd and 3/4th Bns London Regiment). 104th and 105th Provisional Battalions were assigned to the Honourable Artillery Company (which was nominally a battalion of the London Regiment but never accepted that identity), whilst 100th–103rd and 106th–108th Provisional Battalions were assigned to the London Regiment in general. 

[mickgall]

Great, thanks for the quick replies Peter and Jay.

Could you have a look at this page too please. Hes been wounded in France with the MGC but again I can work out the units, its showing a 12 Coy and a 224 coy.

 

many thanks

 

Mick

 

[PRC]

Initially served with 12th Company Machine Gun Corps, (so the Machine Gun Company of 12th Infantry Brigade)

Wounded April 1917 and medically repatriated to the UK.

On recovery and convalescent he would have been posted to a Home Service MGC Company \ Depot for assessment of his fitness for further overseas service - he would not automatically have been sent back to his old unit.

The VickersMG site has the 224th Company, Machine Gun Corps as only going out to France on the 12th November 1917.https://vickersmg.blog/in-use/british-service/the-british-army/machine-gun-corps/machine-gun-corps-infantry/224th-machine-gun-company/

The next bit is confusing - at least for me! 224th Company was attached to the 14th Light Division. In early 1918 the four MG companys of the Division would have been amalgamated to form a 14th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps. The old Company numbers were dropped and usually replaced with "A", "B", "C" and "D".

However by October 1918 he is shown serving with 50th Battalion, so either there must have been another unit move involved that is not referenced in that summary, or he didn't go to 224th Company - the 19th November 1917 seems an odd date given that the 224th Company had only been in France a week and was presumably at full strength. May be worthwhile looking for the Company war diary to see if they were still picking up drafts \ scouring the Base Depots in France.

Is that the only part of the B.103 Casualty Form - Active Service that has survived?

Cheers,
Peter

[mickgall]

Hello Peter

Thanks for the very helpful reply. I've had a look through his service record and the only info regarding wounds are these. Also I can't seem to find a SWB entry for him.

 

Mick

 

 

[PRC]

2 hours ago, mickgall said:

Also I can't seem to find a SWB entry for him.

I'm not seeing anything in the extracts you've posted to indicate there should be one - he is simply recorded as disembodied on demobilization. That doesn't mean he was fully discharged from the army with no liability for future service, but simply that he had been released back to being a reservist, either paid or unpaid depending on the circumstances of his enlistment and whether there was any term outstanding.

The Silver War Badge was issued automatically to other ranks honourably (fully) discharged betweem September 1916 and the ratification of the Peace Treaty. Those other ranks honorably discharged before September 1916 and Officers honourably released from their commission could put in a claim for it.

The vast majority of Silver War Badges went to men who were discharged physically unfit for war service, but that was never the sole justification.

The issue of a Silver War Badge is normally recorded on a mans' Medal Index Card. There is sometime a Silver War Badge only MiC equivalent, but usually that is because the recipient was not entitled to any service medals.There are instances of both a Service Medal Medal MiC and an SWB MiC, but not infrequently this is because there is a discrepancy in the details so that the clerk at the records office didn't make the connection. At the end of the day the MiCs were just an aid to them to be able to find the entry on the thousands of pages of the medal rolls and hundreds of pages of the silver war badge roll.

There is more on the Silver War Badge on our parent site, The Long, Long Trail, here https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/how-to-research-a-soldier/campaign-medal-records/records-of-the-silver-war-badge/

Cheers,
Peter

 

[mickgall]

Right ho, thats cleared that up, I thought a SWB was awarded automatically to a wounded man, a bit like the American purple heart. Thanks Peter for all your help and info.

Kindest Regards

Mick