Alfred Darrington Boer War and WW1 3rd Hampshire Bty Gosport

[grandsonenfield]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new here and am trying to get info on my great grandfather Alfred Darrington RFA 1388

Can anyone tell me what Regiment this could be?

He was from Gosport England near South Hampton / Portsmouth UK

This is the only photo we have of him. I have his Boer war medals card and it says he was with the 74th Battery of RFA, he got the Kings medal with 2 bars.

I apologize if I am in the wrong post area.

[keithmroberts]

The Royal Field Artillery. try looking at this site http://www.1914-1918.net/

it is full of helpful guidance about your army history research

Keith

[woollamc]

If you subscribe to Ancestry and follow this link, you will find 10 pages of his records.

If you don't subscribe to Ancestry, I'm happy to provide a summary.

C

[grandsonenfield]

If you subscribe to Ancestry and follow this link, you will find 10 pages of his records.

If you don't subscribe to Ancestry, I'm happy to provide a summary.

C

Actually I don't have one. Would you be able to?

[keithmroberts]

You should be ablke to get free access to Ancestry at your local "Local Studies" library. You will be able to print things off for a small fee, or possibly to save them to a memory stick to use at home.

Keith

[grandsonenfield]

Perfect

[Loader]

Photo shows he had Queen's South Africa medal as well as King's. MIC looks to be only the BWM. Nice pic in any case.

[woollamc]

Photo shows he had Queen's South Africa medal as well as King's. MIC looks to be only the BWM. Nice pic in any case.

This is correct - QSA Medal had three bars - Jo'burg, Cape Colony and Orange Free State. By 9 September 1914, when 33 year old Darrington attested, he had been working as a labourer near Gosport and was posted to India between 9 October 1914 and 16 December 1915, before being discharged on 14 April 1916 as being "no longer fit for war services". He died on 4 March 1921 from some malignancy to his spleen. He served overseas, thereby qualifying for his war medal but not in a theatre of war so no Victory Medal.

C

Edited 21 March , 2015 by woollamc

[grandsonenfield]

Wow WoollAMC, I could not decipher some of this info. My family had always told me he went to Africa. SO with this info you can say for sure he was in India not Africa correct?

So he did not get the Queen's medal correct? He only got the KIngs Medal and he later got the above ww1 British war medal?

[Stebie9173]

No - the King's South Africa was not issued without the Queen's South Africa Medal. He served in South Africa in the 2nd Boer War and in India during the Great War period.

Steve.

[Birdog56]

Wow, I'm about to retire, a workmate asked me in my retirement to research a medal he has. Number 1388 DVR A Darrington R.A.

I'm no expert by any means, but surely it's his medal? Silver in colour.

 

 

[PRC]

Hp @Birdog56 and welcome to the forum.

The only service medal that Driver Darrington qualified for was the British War Medal.

Our parent site, the Long, Long Trail has this picture

Image courtesy https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/how-to-research-a-soldier/campaign-medal-records/the-british-campaign-medals-for-the-great-war/

Rank, number, unit and name are inscribed round the rim, which is where I assume you got the details from.

His surviving service records will be on Ancestry, FindMyPast and Fold3.

Hope that helps,
Peter

Edited 1 April , 2022 by PRC
Typo

[charlie962]

Birdog, welcome.

Just to add that the silver British War Medal was inscribed as you said whereas his South Africa medals had a different service number, 31880.

Charlie 

His WW1 service record is linked earlier in this thread. His original 1898-1910 service papers have also survived and are here on Findmypast.

"British Army Service Records 1760-1915 Image | findmypast.co.uk" https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBM%2FWO97%2F4642%2F106%2F001&parentid=GBM%2FWO97%2F4642%2F542807

Edited 1 April , 2022 by charlie962

[Birdog56]

12 hours ago, PRC said:

Hp @Birdog56 and welcome to the forum.

The only service medal that Driver Darrington qualified for was the British War Medal.

Our parent site, the Long, Long Trail has this picture

Image courtesy https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/how-to-research-a-soldier/campaign-medal-records/the-british-campaign-medals-for-the-great-war/

Rank, number, unit and name are inscribed round the rim, which is where I assume you got the details from.

His surviving service records will be on Ancestry, FindMyPast and Fold3.

Hope that helps,
Peter

Hi Peter, thank you for your info. I will try and get onto that and see what I can find.

[Birdog56]

12 hours ago, charlie962 said:

Birdog, welcome.

Just to add that the silver British War Medal was inscribed as you said whereas his South Africa medals had a different service number, 31880.

Charlie 

His WW1 service record is linked earlier in this thread. His original 1898-1910 service papers have also survived and are here on Findmypast.

"British Army Service Records 1760-1915 Image | findmypast.co.uk" https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBM%2FWO97%2F4642%2F106%2F001&parentid=GBM%2FWO97%2F4642%2F542807

Hi Charlie 962. Thankyou for your leads. I will do my best to find them. It be be so nice to have the information. I'm hoping that the medal can be passed on to the family (having said that, it does not belong to me) 

Thanks again.

[Birdog56]

12 hours ago, charlie962 said:

Birdog, welcome.

Just to add that the silver British War Medal was inscribed as you said whereas his South Africa medals had a different service number, 31880.

Charlie 

His WW1 service record is linked earlier in this thread. His original 1898-1910 service papers have also survived and are here on Findmypast.

"British Army Service Records 1760-1915 Image | findmypast.co.uk" https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBM%2FWO97%2F4642%2F106%2F001&parentid=GBM%2FWO97%2F4642%2F542807

I've just had a quick look, I'm guessing I need to subscribe to a couple of sites to see the information on Alfred? 

[charlie962]

2 minutes ago, Birdog56 said:

to subscribe to a couple of sites

Ancestry and Findmypast may be available via your local library? Service records on Findmypast are, I find, easier to search and read but they should also be on Ancestry and/or its associated Fold3.

[Birdog56]

3 minutes ago, charlie962 said:

Ancestry and Findmypast may be available via your local library? Service records on Findmypast are, I find, easier to search and read but they should also be on Ancestry and/or its associated Fold3.

Thank-you, I will give them a go. Thanks so much for your help

[Birdog56]

On 20/03/2015 at 19:01, grandsonenfield said:

Hi Everyone,

I'm new here and am trying to get info on my great grandfather Alfred Darrington RFA 1388

Can anyone tell me what Regiment this could be?

He was from Gosport England near South Hampton / Portsmouth UK

This is the only photo we have of him. I have his Boer war medals card and it says he was with the 74th Battery of RFA, he got the Kings medal with 2 bars.

I apologize if I am in the wrong post area.

I have been asked by a friend to research a medal he has acquired at some point. My plan is to do research in my upcoming retirement. 

I've simply put in the name on the British War Medal and the number.

1388 A Darrington!!!!!!   

[charlie962]

43 minutes ago, Birdog56 said:

I have been asked by a friend to research a medal he has acquired at some point. My plan is to do research in my upcoming retirement. 

I've simply put in the name on the British War Medal and the number.

1388 A Darrington!!!!!!   

Grandsonenfield hasn't visited this site since 2015. Try clicking on his name and sending him a private message. I think you have enough posts. It may trigger an email to him.

Charlie 

If you can't do it I will happily do it for you.

 

Edited 3 April , 2022 by charlie962

[Birdog56]

14 minutes ago, charlie962 said:

Grandsonenfield hasn't visited this site since 2015. Try clicking on his name and sending him a private message. I think you have enough posts. It may trigger an email to him.

Charlie 

If you can't do it I will happily do it for you.

 

Thank-you Charlie, I will try that too. 

I'm guessing he may have all the info that's on the Web about his grandfather,  as yet I've not got access to that. I'm hoping the guy who asked me to research the medal will want to pass it on to the family

[Birdog56]

On 03/04/2022 at 10:47, charlie962 said:

Grandsonenfield hasn't visited this site since 2015. Try clicking on his name and sending him a private message. I think you have enough posts. It may trigger an email to him.

Charlie 

If you can't do it I will happily do it for you.

 

Hi Charlie, I've recently tried to contact Gransonenfield, to tell him I know where his g grandfather's medal is and would hope to return it to him. Unfortunately as yet I've had no response.  I've also tried to find Alfred's records but due to my ignorance with technology have not been able to find anything. 

[charlie962]

45 minutes ago, Birdog56 said:

Hi Charlie, I've recently tried to contact Gransonenfield, to tell him I know where his g grandfather's medal is and would hope to return it to him. Unfortunately as yet I've had no response.  I've also tried to find Alfred's records but due to my ignorance with technology have not been able to find anything. 

Clicking on the links provided earlier will get you to the service record. If you do this on a computer in your local library you should get it for free. Staff may help you! 

Charlie

[grandsonenfield]

I'm so sorry I missed this post, I lost my login to my email associated with the login on this account and I finally just recovered it.  I am shaking ... I am extremely interested.  DM was sent with my email address @charlie962 and @Birdog56
 

[grandsonenfield]

On 02/04/2022 at 04:12, Birdog56 said:

Hi Charlie 962. Thankyou for your leads. I will do my best to find them. It be be so nice to have the information. I'm hoping that the medal can be passed on to the family (having said that, it does not belong to me) 

Thanks again.

 

On 03/04/2022 at 05:47, charlie962 said:

Grandsonenfield hasn't visited this site since 2015. Try clicking on his name and sending him a private message. I think you have enough posts. It may trigger an email to him.

Charlie 

If you can't do it I will happily do it for you.

 

This is him.  I have all his records.  His Boer war medals had his service number of 31880