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Remembered Today:

Service Numbers, Connaught Rangers and Labour Corps.


jack

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My great uncle  Pte Michael Conlon, firstly 6298 Connaught Rangers and 2nd 379580 Labour Corps. Can anyone tell me approximately when these numbers were issued?

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The date for his LC number will be easy to provide.

For his CR number, perhaps not so. Typical for the LC, there is no Battalion reference for his CR number.

This number is unlikely to be from the Regular series as numbers is the 6000s were reached in the late 1890s and they had reached 10860 by February 1914.

The 3rd SR and 4th SR had reached the low 5000s by December 1914 so it could be from one of those series.

Apparently the only 2 Service Battalions (5th and 6th) also had their own number series differentiated by a Bn prefix number. But as per usual with the LC, they might well have missed that prefix off his Roll if indeed he had one.

So could be tricky.

Russ

LC number fell in a block allotted between Sept and Nov 1917.

Russ

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Possibly rule out 6/Bn as 6298 Patrick Reilly DCM died on 10/09/1915 whilst serving with the 6/Bn.

It remains to be seen if others can be ruled out and so work out Conlon's by a process of elimination.

Russ

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Thank you Russ. Michael Conlon was transferred to the Labour Corps due to the fact that 4 of his younger brothers had already died and was sent back. He is believed to be working in a store or in an office on the south coast somewhere.

Jack

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He is on a WiA List dated 20/09/1917 (so not in LC by ~ 3-6 weeks before that date).

Thing to do now is to see if the other men on this List can give a clue as to the Battalion.

Russ

 

image.png

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6 minutes ago, jack said:

is WiA wounded in action?

Yes

So checked the Rolls for the first 5 and they all had served with the 6th Battalion - so looks like Conlon was  serving with them too at this time.

None of the men have Bn prefix numbers on their documents so we can't be certain that Conlon did indeed enlist with the 6/Bn but it is probably the best estimate, That would then imply that 6298 Reilly was not a 6th Bn-enlisted man although he had served with them.

Russ

 

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57 minutes ago, jack said:

Michael Conlon was transferred to the Labour Corps due to the fact that 4 of his younger brothers had already died and was sent back

From where did you find that information?

Labour Corps Rolls reveal the men with LC numbers 379575 to 379580 inclusive (6 men) were all ex Connaught Rangers. There are at least 3 Service Records and they show they were serving with the 6th Bn before they transferred on 17/09/1917 to the 174 Labour Company.

Russ

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So, he could be 3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th Btn. Most likely 6th.  Where might I find issue dates for each Btn?

 

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I got the information on Ancestry on a Pension Ledger card. Very blurred as I would need to pay more to see it properly.

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46 minutes ago, jack said:

So, he could be 3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th Btn. Most likely 6th.  Where might I find issue dates for each Btn?

You will need to seek out surviving Service Records for as many men as you can find with numbers as close to 6298 and sort them into chronological order for each Battalion. When you have a decent list for each Battalion, then you will be able to interpolate between dates for each. A bit of work but can be done.

42 minutes ago, jack said:

I got the information on Ancestry on a Pension Ledger card

I can see that Card but there is nothing in on it relating to the suggestion that he was supposedly transferred to LC because of his fallen brothers.

As I noted, it seems these similarly-numbered Labour Corps ex Connaught Rangers men were transferred to the 174 Labour Company, which I understand was in France, not at "home".

Russ

 

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No, you are right. The family stories handed down were the source for that information. My grandfather, one of the surviving brothers is one source. 5 of the 8 brothers died because of the war. Patrick, 1915 France, Thomas 1915 France, James 1916 Mesopotamia, Alex 1917 Mesopotamia and John 1922 Home Hospital. Michael, Joseph and Andrew survived.

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Quite some thing:

Patrick 7660 1/Bn Connaught Rangers

Thomas 8931 1/Bn East Lancashire Regiment

James 10893 1/Bn Connaught Rangers

Alex 61896 131/Coy MGC (ex 4217 Connaught Rangers)

Can't find John - missed the CWGC cut-off?

Regards

Russ

 

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I wasn't aware that Thomas had been to Gallipoli. I will ask Brian Scanlon as to where he got that information.

Jack

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image.png.5c3b49e6b06446527ced417750dfe424.png

image.png.6f4d2d05eed6166a88212dbd39379b80.png

image.png.6adf831bd5a05413bb003938c2642527.png

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image.png.bd54f9fb54ef554cd6b06e2759dc6fec.png

Images from-

image.png.414529a14c261c6623d0a43869425767.png

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 09/03/2024 at 21:20, RussT said:

Quite some thing:

Patrick 7660 1/Bn Connaught Rangers

Thomas 8931 1/Bn East Lancashire Regiment

James 10893 1/Bn Connaught Rangers

Alex 61896 131/Coy MGC (ex 4217 Connaught Rangers)

Can't find John - missed the CWGC cut-off?

Regards

Russ

 

Hi Russ. John died 16 Sep 1922 in Sligo of Trench fever.

Jack

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image.png.40fb54f9767bdc5b50868d140ac107c1.png

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On 28/03/2024 at 21:36, museumtom said:

image.png.40fb54f9767bdc5b50868d140ac107c1.png

52 minutes ago, jack said:

Thank you Tom. Do you know if those symptoms may be caused by Shell Shock?

I am not a medic.

There was initially an early-war opinion that "shell shock" was caused by the percussive effect of shell bursts on the body and brain [Commotional Shell Shock]

However it was later felt most cases of "shell shock"were actually of differing neurological phychoses & emotional shock origins [Emotional Shell Shock] and 'neurasthenia' became more commonly the description late-war.  [I suppose now likely broadly considered under the description of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder]

That said I believe that in more recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have identified that micro-bleeds in the brain can occur as a result of exposure to explosions.

Whether anyone could in this man's case make that connection to the later cause of his death recorded on the DC is outwith my knowledge.

Perhaps one for @Dai Bach y Sowldiwr ??

M

Edited by Matlock1418
tweak
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4 minutes ago, Matlock1418 said:

I am not a medic.

There was initially an early-war opinion that "shell shock" was caused by the percussive effect of shell bursts on the body and brain [Commotional Shell Shock]

However it was later felt most cases of "shell shock"were actually of differing neurological & emotional shock origins [Emotional Shell Shock] and 'neurasthenia' became more commonly the description late-war.  [I suppose now likely considered under the description of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder]

That said I believe that in more recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have identified that micro-bleeds in the brain can occur as a result of exposure to explosions.

Whether anyone could in this man's case make that connection to the later cause of his death recorded on the DC is outwith my knowledge.

Perhaps one for @Dai Bach y Sowldiwr ??

M

Thanks M. The family had put Trench Fever on his gravestone but believed it was actually shell shock. Not knowing what else to call it.

Jack

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Just now, jack said:

The family had put Trench Fever on his gravestone but believed it was actually shell shock.

'Trench fever' was a completly different matter which was caused by a louse-borne bacterial infection

M

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