planehome Posted 2 April Share Posted 2 April Hello. I have a similar query about a soldier called James Batchford, linked to the Royal Engineers (Railways) on his WW1 medal roll cards but he has two numbers: 290193 and 275124. A previous post explaining a number change in march 1917 now makes sense but can anyone help with what his role might have been and where he was during his service. Thank you, Pete Lane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 2 April Admin Share Posted 2 April https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-corps-of-royal-engineers-in-the-first-world-war/railway-construction-companies-of-the-royal-engineers/ https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-corps-of-royal-engineers-in-the-first-world-war/light-railway-operating-companies-of-the-royal-engineers/ The above might help. If you know what company he was in, you could consult the relevant war diaries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
planehome Posted 2 April Author Share Posted 2 April 26 minutes ago, Michelle Young said: https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-corps-of-royal-engineers-in-the-first-world-war/railway-construction-companies-of-the-royal-engineers/ https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-corps-of-royal-engineers-in-the-first-world-war/light-railway-operating-companies-of-the-royal-engineers/ The above might help. If you know what company he was in, you could consult the relevant war diaries. Thank you for this Michelle. Unfortunately I am at the start of my search with limited information, so still trying to identify the company but your information will be great when I have more to go on. Thank you, Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 2 April Admin Share Posted 2 April I don’t know whether the medal rolls would give you any more information? @planehome Split into new thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
planehome Posted 2 April Author Share Posted 2 April 9 minutes ago, Michelle Young said: I don’t know whether the medal rolls would give you any more information? Split into new thread. Only two docs available - Medal Roll Index Card for JB and medal and awards rolls for Royal Engineers- Railways (1919). No service record that I can find and no further anecdotal information. It may be a red herring but Ancestry somehow produced life story text that mentioned James Batchford being at Walls, Orkney in 1914 ? ... but nothing I can see on the two documents refers to this. Also, his two serial numbers are quite close together (290193 and 275124) so maybe I am wrong to assume that this was part of the 1917 renumbering for TF RE ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
planehome Posted 2 April Author Share Posted 2 April (edited) 33 minutes ago, planehome said: Only two docs available - Medal Roll Index Card for JB and medal and awards rolls for Royal Engineers- Railways (1919). No service record that I can find and no further anecdotal information. It may be a red herring but Ancestry somehow produced life story text that mentioned James Batchford being at Walls, Orkney in 1914 ? ... but nothing I can see on the two documents refers to this. Also, his two serial numbers are quite close together (290193 and 275124) so maybe I am wrong to assume that this was part of the 1917 renumbering for TF RE ! I have also noticed in my own post that the WR Numbers in the Awards and Rolls for Royal Engineers - Railways have, in all cases, replaced the original numbers in the 290... sequence, albeit with some of the 290... sequence numbers missing. Is this meaningful ? According to Paul Nixon's Army Service Numbers site, the WR prefix stands for Royal Engineers (Waterways & Railways). One additional piece of information - he was married in Sheffield in July 1918 and his address was just listed as 'On Leave From France' ! Thank you all ! Edited 2 April by planehome Additional information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry_Reeves Posted 2 April Share Posted 2 April I have posted on this before. WR pre- fixed numbers were issued to transportation troops units in 1918 as the result of a major reorganisation. Units were required to submit nominal rolls to as the result of an Army Order of March 1918. These numbers were given a WR pre-fix. Unfortunately these do not denote the specific roll the man fulfilled except, as in this case, he was with a railway unit of some sort. TR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
planehome Posted 2 April Author Share Posted 2 April 2 minutes ago, Terry_Reeves said: I have posted on this before. WR pre- fixed numbers were issued to transportation troops units in 1918 as the result of a major reorganisation. Units were required to submit nominal rolls to as the result of an Army Order of March 1918. These numbers were given a WR pre-fix. Unfortunately these do not denote the specific roll the man fulfilled except, as in this case, he was with a railway unit of some sort. TR Thank you Terry. Apologies that I hadn't found the previous reference to WR. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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