'Discharge Depot'

[Vollee]

I am researching a soldier from the 3rd SAIR. There is a note on his military record: 'Proceeded to Discharge Depot Bordon and struck of strength 6.2.17' I cannot find the meaning of a Discharge Depot. I wondered if he was being discharged for a wound (received in Delville Wood) or because he had been found to be under age, but the next note is that he is transferred to I.B.D. Rouen on 2.6.17 from where he continues to fight until 1918. I wondered if this was a South African Military term for Regimental Depot?

Could anyone help?

[FROGSMILE]

On 04/04/2024 at 11:23, Vollee said:

I am researching a soldier from the 3rd SAIR. There is a note on his military record: 'Proceeded to Discharge Depot Bordon and struck of strength 6.2.17' I cannot find the meaning of a Discharge Depot. I wondered if he was being discharged for a wound (received in Delville Wood) or because he had been found to be under age, but the next note is that he is transferred to I.B.D. Rouen on 2.6.17 from where he continues to fight until 1918. I wondered if this was a South African Military term for Regimental Depot?

Could anyone help?

The usual meaning of Discharge Depot is the location to whence soldiers discharged from military service are sent.  Once there they are administered, including given a medical examination, personal service records checked, any arrears in pay processed, unneeded military clothing and equipment returned to store, and arrangements for passage home arranged.  As a concept these establishments are very old and date back to the Victorian era.  You can read online about one such establishment at Gosport set up in an old coastal battery (Fort Brockenhurst). 

For British soldiers from the then home nations, WW1 discharge depots were located regionally and much use made of rail and ferry warrants rather than shipping per se.  For the Commonwealth Dominions and SA Union there were dedicated discharge depots, often located near major ports for access to shipping**.

1.  NZEF.  In the case of New Zealand, for example, their discharge depot was at Torquay (Hampton Court, ‘St Marychurch’) in Devon.

2.  CEF.  The Canadians had discharge depots in Buxton (Empire Hotel), London, and Witley (camp on common).

3.  AIF.  The Australian system evolved slightly differently because they were initially diverted to the Middle East and then via Marseilles directly to France, with follow on ‘reinforcements’ arriving from Australia sent to several training depots established on Salisbury Plain. Subsequently four sequentially numbered Australian Command Depots were established and Number 2 Australian Command Depot, at Weymouth (Monte Video House - Now Queen Charlotte Care Home), became the de facto discharge depot, as men were only sent there if they were permanently unfit for service and so to be sent home.  This focus led to a need for enlargement and outstations were established nearby in Westham and Littlemoor camps.

4.  SAOEF.  The South African Discharge Depot was at Bordon in Hampshire, a large all arms garrison of new barracks interrupted by, and not fully completed until the decade after, the 2nd Anglo/Boer.

In the particular instance you’ve quoted I can only speculate.  To be sent to the discharge depot in the first place usually indicated that the man concerned had already failed a medical board, or even more than one.  Often starting at a Base, or Convalescent, Depot in France, and then at a Command Depot (convalescence hub) after hospital treatment in Britain. Perhaps your man was posted to the discharge depot but at medical examination passed the fitness grade, which changed several times during the war due to manning crises.  He might even have expressed a wish to return to his comrades too.  Many men experienced a sense of belonging and purpose that they’d never had before and underwent a form of institutionalisation.  Whatever the case in this instance, your man somehow found himself sent back into the line.

** In addition to the dedicated discharge depots in Britain there were also linked discharge depots close to the ports of disembarkation in their respective home countries, from whence the men received their final processing and were aided to get to their homes.  In places like Australia and Canada that could be many miles from their ports of arrival.

Edited 5 April by FROGSMILE

[Keith_history_buff]

A google search on "Bordon Camp WW1 South African" throws up some interesting results.

Some of the original contingent of the BEF left Bordon for Southampton on 12 August 1914, disembarking the next day at Le Havre.

[FROGSMILE]

Just now, Keith_history_buff said:

A google search on "Bordon Camp WW1 South African" throws up some interesting results.

Some of the original contingent of the BEF left Bordon for Southampton on 12 August 1914, disembarking the next day at Le Havre.

The locations associated with specific Commonwealth Dominions, etc. would often have several establishments collocated.  I imagine that Bordon might have been one such example Keith.

[Vollee]

Many thanks for your detailed response Frogsmile. Much appreciated. I am very much inclined to agree with you guess on what happened. He had a GSW to cheek and neck c. 16/7/1916 in Delville Wood and the record shows reported on 25/7/16. He was probably 18.

Again thanks.

[Vollee]

6 minutes ago, Keith_history_buff said:

A google search on "Bordon Camp WW1 South African" throws up some interesting results.

Some of the original contingent of the BEF left Bordon for Southampton on 12 August 1914, disembarking the next day at Le Havre.

I'll look at that, thanks.

[FROGSMILE]

5 hours ago, Vollee said:

Many thanks for your detailed response Frogsmile. Much appreciated. I am very much inclined to agree with you guess on what happened. He had a GSW to cheek and neck c. 16/7/1916 in Delville Wood and the record shows reported on 25/7/16. He was probably 18.

Again thanks.

I’m glad to help a little.  During the war (i.e. pre Armistice) there was a close relationship between the Command Depots (final stage convalescence hubs), that were also organised on a home country, or dominion basis, and their associated Discharge Depot, with a constant throughput of wounded/sick individuals who had failed medical boards and been discharged.

Once the war ended the need for passage home increased exponentially of course, and so things had to be elevated to a whole new (mind boggling in terms of numbers) scale and discharge depots had to expand to become dispersal centres to meet the demand, with various outstations set up to house soldiers waiting to return home.  There were significant problems with the scale of this due to a shortage of available shipping.

@Vollee: With regards to your subject I think that the following is relevant:

“As soldiers entered the auxiliary hospital system [in Britain], they received their initial classification. This decided if they would be returned to duty or invalided home. Three broad classifications were applied to soldiers by a Medical Board:

Class A - fit for general service

Class B - temporarily unfit for service

Class C - permanently unfit for service

Other classifications existed within each of these categories. It was not unusual for someone's classification to be changed as they recovered.”

Edited 4 April by FROGSMILE