Decypher phrase on Field Return

[fumblina]

Hi,

I've created a WikiTree Space where I am transcribing some of the War Diaries for DLI  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:War_Diary_2nd_Battalion_Durham_Light_Infantry

I have found a Field Return and I was very interested to see in the comments all the different places the soldiers were assigned to.  Something like 20% of the men in the Bn are not on rations assigned elsewhere.  Out of approx 1000 men you have 20 digging latrines, 3 doing the laundry for example.  I found it great to think about what being a soldier meant rather than just shooting guns

I was wondering if someone could help with a phrase on the document - 5th in the list after Officers:

Chapl?? alt for rations

It seems like all the list items after that point are numbers for officers and ORs combined.

Any help on working out that phrase would be much appreciated.

[TEW]

Is it - Chaplain att for rations

att = attached. No number given on the right hand side so I assume it's just the one Chaplain?

TEW

[fumblina]

17 hours ago, TEW said:

Is it - Chaplain att for rations

att = attached. No number given on the right hand side so I assume it's just the one Chaplain?

TEW

Thanks for replying.  It certainly could be but I'm not 100% as other assignments with a single person have numbers next to them.

Other "tt" and "ll" on the page are an equal height match or rising but this is descending (might be due to the descender on the row above admittedly)

I thought the whole remarks section after that line might be people who belong to the regiment but are assigned elsewhere for ration purposes.  The document tallies up people and how many are rationed so this made sense to me.  But it doesn't match up - only 158 people in the list which when added to the 813 rationed only makes 971, not even as many as the the 1024 ORs at the time.

I'm hoping that there is another one of these documents elsewhere in the record set which may be easier to read, but so far I've not seen one even though they would have been submitted weekly

To be honest I'm not even convinced that's a Ch at the start. 

[jay dubaya]

I agree with TEW and perhaps at the point of writing the list - no Chaplains were attached for rations.

[charlie2]

I think it means „Courses of instruction 1 - the Chaplain attached for rations“ indicating who is on the course. It is a list of those detached from the battalion, why would just the Padre be selected for a nil return? Why not a nil return for the QM or Paymaster?
 

Charlie

Edited 13 August , 2023 by charlie2

[fumblina]

I found another form: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/60779/images/43112_1617_0-00292?ssrc=&backlabel=Return&pId=465665  Its a different person writing it.

The officers section at the bottom mirrors the top of the original one with Courses, Sick and Command (nobody on leave).

So I think it is either:

* as Charlie2 says an addendum to say who or what the course was

* a heading for the other rank figures below

None the wiser on the actual text though!

[fumblina]

Ok, I take it back.  I went back in time to find some with the same handwriting, annoyingly only a month back from where I started!

Awful scrawl compared to others I have been transcribing but this is the last row on the list so def not a heading and it does look much more clearly like "Chaplain Attd for rations."

Thanks for all your input