RNR and RNVR - what is the difference?

[Pinkerton]

Dear Forum,

I am researching a family history and am currently looking at my maternal Grandfather Norman Mousley. He joined up on 21 November 1918. He was deaf, and possibly was only accepted after the war for service - I am not sure.

He has been identified on this Forum as wearing RNVR uniform and was listed as Temporary Paymaster Sub Lieutenant (see my previous thread 'Identifying the Uniform my Grandfather is wearing' under the Uniforms division of this Forum.) He went to India and served in the above posting, then is later (around April 1919) listed as Secretary's Clerk serving Vice Admiral Ernest Frederic Augustus Gaunt who was Commander-in-Chief East Indies Station. I have a photo of my grandfather Norman in RNVR uniform and another photo, possibly of him without glasses but it could be another person - I am not sure - who has been identified on this Forum as wearing RNR uniform post October 1918.

To establish if this could be one and the same person but in different uniforms may I please ask the following questions: 

1. Could a person have been transferred to the RNR from the RNVR and would that show on the Naval listings?

2. If a person were posted to India, where perhaps there was a shortage of uniforms or more laxity about uniforms (could this be so?) then could they have been given an RNR uniform to wear even if they were still in the RNVR?

And the other question I have please is:

What is the difference between the Royal Navy, the RNR and the RNVR?

I hope this makes some sense! 

 

Thankyou very much for your help.

[KizmeRD]

To establish if this could be one and the same person but in different uniforms may I please ask the following questions: 

1. Could a person have been transferred to the RNR from the RNVR and would that show on the Naval listings?

I know of one man who made just such a transfer, but it is an extremely rare exception, and would not have been the case with your maternal GF who was demobbed whilst still only a Paymaster Sub-Lieutenant RNVR. The other chap is a Lieutenant Paymaster RNR, probably a fellow officer serving on the staff of Admiral Gaunt (C-in-C East Indies Station).

2. If a person were posted to India, where perhaps there was a shortage of uniforms or more laxity about uniforms (could this be so?) then could they have been given an RNR uniform to wear even if they were still in the RNVR?

I doubt very much that a junior officer serving on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief would have beenallowed to wear the uniform of a superior officer in another branch of the naval reserves, or that there might even have been a shortage of uniforms in India.

And the other question I have please is:

What is the difference between the Royal Navy, the RNR and the RNVR.

This question has been dealt with many times on the forum, but basically it’s the difference between being a professional mariner (RNR) and a civilian volunteer (RNVR).

The RN were full time members of the navy (during peace and war), whereas reservists were called-out for emergency/wartime service and demobbed afterwards.

MB

[Pinkerton]

Ok many thanks. Might I ask how I find previous threads that cover a topic so that I don't ask the same question other people have asked? 

[Jim Strawbridge]

As an aside, I don't think that the person in the fourth photograph is the same person showing in the previous three.

[Michelle Young]

17 hours ago, Pinkerton said:

Ok many thanks. Might I ask how I find previous threads that cover a topic so that I don't ask the same question other people have asked? 

Use the search box, as indicated in the screenshot. 

[Michelle Young]

To avoid going over previous ground and repeating any research/answers, here’s the previous thread referred to by the OP.

 

[Pinkerton]

Yes thanks. I don't know how to link threads or I would have done it. I will hopefully learn how to use the forum better. It is my first post and second post only. It is a great site. Thanks for the help

[Pinkerton]

8 hours ago, Jim Strawbridge said:

As an aside, I don't think that the person in the fourth photograph is the same person showing in the previous three.

Yes Jim, I'm wondering the same. They are sort of similar but not that similar. Face shape is a bit different and also eyes. I am puzzled as to how this chap got included in the family suitcase of photos though, because they were exclusively family apart from this one which seems to be a stranger. Very odd. Wish I knew who it was. It is a lovely photograph.