James Biggans (perhaps Biggins) - The Black Watch

[Jean Coombs]

Good Evening and thank you for letting me join the group. This is a photo of my Grandfather, James Biggans, and I have recently found out that he was in the Black Watch. He was born in Dundee, Scotland in 1881 and the family believe that he lied about his age and enlisted at the age of 16 1/2. My question is where would I look to find information about his time in the Black Watch.

Many thanks

Jean Coombs nee Biggans

[Bob Davies]

Welcome to the 'Great War Forum' Jean.

There is a link at the top of the page in the blue bar, called 'Long Long Trail'.

Some reading of that should give you some good advice, it is quite easy really.

Thank you for posting his picture.

If you get stuck or need advice please don't hesitate ask on here, there are plenty of experts willing to help you.

Best of luck, regards,

Bob.

https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/

[RussT]

27 minutes ago, Jean Coombs said:

James Biggans

That is an unusual spelling. There seems to be just one man with that surname in the Medal Index Card (MIC) database but he was named William J Biggans who served in the Gloucestershire Regiment.

How sure are you of the spelling? There are plenty of men named James Biggins. There is one (see MIC attached) who was in the Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) who ended up in the Machine Gun Corps with a rank that he might well have reached given the photograph.

Regards

Russ

Image - Courtesy Ancestry

 

[Jean Coombs]

RussT many thanks for your reply and the document you posted is my Granda as his Army Registration number was 9274. The surname of Biggan is a not an easy one as it as been recorded over the years as Beagin, Biggan and then. We think that Granda ended up in 1916 as a Serg. Major Instructor at Harrowby Camp, Grantham, Lincolnshire but I am interested to find his whereabouts at the start of WW1 .

[RussT]

18 minutes ago, Jean Coombs said:

Grantham, Lincolnshire

This was the location of Training Depot of the MGC, so that makes perfect sense.

Because he is on the MGC Medal Roll, there is no mention of the Black Watch Battalion(s) in which he served nor is his MGC Company/Battalion(s) mentioned (assuming he also served with them overseas).

The only other detail I can add is that he was transferred to the Army Reserve Class Z on 10/04/1919 (Medal Roll refers).

I have searched in every record set I have access - but I can find nothing more on him I'm afraid - perhaps others might.

During WW2 about 60%-70% of WW1 Service Records were destroyed during an air raid, and his has evidently been lost. I fear that you might not find anything more about his service in WW1 - but good luck.

Regards

Russ

[RussT]

The MGC was formed in the autumn of 1915 - Machine Gun Corps in the First World War - The Long, Long Trail (longlongtrail.co.uk)

His low MGC service number of 9274 is commensurate with him joining the MGC upon it's creation. It is very likely he was a machine gunner in a Black Watch Battalion before his transfer.

All the other men on the pages adjacent to his Medal Roll page are of WO II rank from a variety of former Regiments.

Russ

[Bob Davies]

Not wishing to send you down a rabbit hole @Jean Coombs, there are a series of three books giving us the 'History of the Black Watch in the Great War'.

They are online at Internet Archive, which is a reputable site and free to view. Some books you have to log in and borrow for an hour, also free but these three are not in that category.

There may be snippets of information within them, such as this paragraph.

Screen shot courtesy of Internet Archive. Volume 2 link here; https://archive.org/details/historyblackwatch-vol2/page/49/mode/2up

Volume 1 link here; https://archive.org/details/historyblackwatch-vol1/page/n9/mode/2up

Volume 3 link here; https://archive.org/details/black-watch-vol3/page/n9/mode/2up

That should keep you going until someone else with a better knowledge of your subject can give you a reply.

With my regards,

Bob.

 

[Jean Coombs]

RussT and Bob Davies many thanks for your replies and your help and thank you for recommending the book Bob. I have just read A Concise History of the Black Watch and it is so interesting. 

[Don Regiano]

2 hours ago, Jean Coombs said:

his whereabouts at the start of WW1

Jean.

The card posted above by Russ does not refer to a star (1914 or 1914-15) being awarded.  I'm no expert in this but, unless (unusually) there is another medal card relating to him (for example for any service with the Black Watch or with a different spelling of his surname), that suggests he did not serve overseas until on or after 1 January 1916.  Someone more expert than me might come up with something different.

Reg

[RussT]

Yes, that is the only MIC (and Medal Roll) - so as you suggest it seems he did not serve overseas before 1916.

But that leaves a bit of a conundrum. As I suggested in a previous post, his MGC number I believe was allotted upon the formation of the MGC in the autumn of 1915. That means he could not have served overseas with the Black Watch otherwise he would have earned a 1914/1915 Star. Given that, then why is his Black Watch details on his MIC/Medal Roll, which in turn means those details will be on his Medals?

I'm sort of wondering if that is the reason why his MIC is made out a bit oddly with MGC first, RH & then MGC last with the implication that placing the MGC first forces his medals to be correctly impressed with those MGC details and his Black Watch details are added just for information, so to speak. On his Medal Roll the Column heading ".... on entry into theatre of war" is crossed out perhaps also supporting this contention. I would be pleased to hear the views of others.

I'm just looking at when his Black Watch number might have been allotted - & hence his joining/enlisting date into that unit.

Russ

[RussT]

Just to help clarify/confirm if possible, I wonder if Jean can let us know if she has her Grandad's medals - and if so how many medals does she have and what are the unit details that are impressed on them.

@Jean Coombs

Regards

Russ

[Bob Davies]

Good points @Don Regiano and @RussT,

One point I would like to ask someone such as @FROGSMILE Can you help with your knowledge of uniforms please? I am seeing boots and spats not shoes and spats, so the picture I think will have been taken early 1915 or after. Also I see no shoulder titles.

One more that I overlooked,  if he was born in 1881, then there would have been no reason to lie about his age unless he joined well before 1914.

[RussT]

Just looking at some near MGC numbers, we have:

9268 WO II William Reynolds (ex 4322 Devonshire Regiment) - transferred 01/01/1916

9273 CSM Jackson (ex 6119 Northamptonshire Regiment) - transferred 01/01/1916

And the transfers occurred at Grantham

So a little later than I had first thought but nevertheless it still seems that he could not have served overseas with the Black Watch prior to 1916 and there is no valid reason for his Black Watch details to be on his VM/BWM Medal Roll (& MIC).

Russ

[RussT]

I'm not familiar with Black Watch Battalion numbering but I am fairly certain they just used a single number series, prefixed with an "S", for all their WW1 raised Service Battalions.

This means they would have had the following different number series all running in parallel:

The 1st/2nd Regular Battalions.

The number 7307 had already been allotted to Robert Coleman who had enlisted in July 1899 and was discharged 162 days later in November 1900

The regular number series had re-stated with the number 1 in 1904 and had reached the number 2652 by January 1914. It does not look likely that Biggins would have been allotted the number 7307 from this series - but a bit more work is needed to confirm.

The 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion.

These numbers had a 3/ prefix and had reached the number 3/3425 by September 1914.

It does not seem that Biggins was an SR man.

The 4th Battalion TF - reached the number 2036 by August 1914

The 5th Battalion TF - reached the number 1978 by August 1914

The 6th Battalion TF - reached the number 1827 by August 1914

The 7th Battalion TF - reached the number 2083 by August 1914

It does not seem credible that Biggins was a TF man

The Service Battalions (8th, 9th, 10th and 11th)

S/7303 was allotted 18/12/1914

S/7310 was allotted 21/12/1914

It's possible Biggins joined in December 1914 and was allotted the number S/7307 (no one else has that number) - which would mean the MGC Medal Roll compilers omitted the S/ prefix on his Medal Roll - not that unusual for the MGC to be a bit sloppy like that.

A complication - there is a certain Pte Charles Morris who had the number 7307 - he DoW on 01/10/1915 with the 1st Battalion. His £5 War Gratuity indicates he was a pre-war enlisted man. So from which number series did he get his number 7307?

Work in Progress !

Russ

 

 

[Jean Coombs]

Good morning and thank you for your comments which I shall read carefully later. The information I have already on my Granda was put together by a cousin of mine and is as follows

13th July 1899 - Enlisted in Black Watch aged 16 1/2. May have served in Boer War.

1903-aged about 21 Barry Camp(BuddenNess) company 3rd (Reserve Battilion)-Corperal

20th Sept 1914-  Sergt C Coy-3rd Bn Black Watch (Res Bat aged 31 years- details from son’s birth certificate 

1916- Aged about 34 Harrowby Camp, Grantham Lincolnshire as Sergt Major Instructor, Machine Gun Corp. This is where I get his registration number of 9274 from

4th May 1917- aged about 34 QSM Instructor Machine Gun Cadet Bn - details taken from son’s birth certificate .

? 1917 Serg Major No 3 Coy Pirbright Officers Cadet Training Camp No 11 Bn and No 19 Bn

I have joined Ancestry and will research on there but I have no idea other than that we’re to look for army records.

many thanks 

Jean

 

 

[RussT]

Hi Jean - thank you for posting those details.

Did you see my earlier question posted above? I was asking whether you have his Medals (or if you know who does) so you can tell us which/how many medals he has and what Regimental details (i.e. Regiment, number, rank) are impressed upon those medals? Depending on the medal, the impressed details will be either on the back-side or around the rim.

May I please ask where your cousin found those enlistment and service details for James Biggins? Does he/she have some records which can be shared with us to help our assessment?

Further research on Black Watch numbering shows that the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion carried on using the number series that was being used when it was the old Militia. Furthermore, Militia numbers in the range 730x were being allotted in July 1899 - incredibly at the same time as similar numbers also in the range 730x were being allotted in the Regular number series (see my earlier post). The 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion numbering stopped at 3/4323 during the war, so there was only ever one 7307 number allotted from the Militia/3rd (Special Reserve) Bn combined number series.

We already know that the Regular number 7307 was allotted to Robert Coleman on 17th July 1899 from the Regular series of numbers (see earlier post). The Militia did not (I think) prefix their numbers with a "3/" unlike when it became a Special Reserve Battalion. This means we can end up with two men having the same number - one from the old Militia number series and one from the Regular number series. There could also be a third duplicate, but that number would ordinarily have been written with an S/ prefix to identify it as having been allotted from the Regular series during the war.

So we have 3 possible 7307 numbers that could be in use at the same time during WW1:

(1) 7307 allotted from the Regular series - this number went to Robert Coleman allotted in July 1899 (but who didn't serve in WW1).

(2) 7307 allotted from the Militia series - also allotted in July 1899 to man who could still be serving during WW1.

(3) 7307 allotted from the Regular series in continuation of the series in (1) above (having started from the number 1 again in 1904) but ordinarily prefixed with an "S/" to denote a WW1 enlistment and allotted in December 1914.

By elimination, James Biggins would have been allotted the number 7307 either from the number series (2) or from the number series (3).

Your information appears to be decisive in that it reveals he was allotted his number of 7307 when he evidently joined the Militia in July 1899 - i.e. from series (2) above. If, as you say, he was born in 1881, then that would make him 18 years old on enlistment, not 16. Can you please check his date of birth?

This assessment would, by elimination, then appear to make 7307 Charles Morris, who died on 01/10/1915 whilst serving with the 1st/Bn, the missing S/7307 man and who is, therefore, commemorated without the S/ prefix on his number. His Medal Roll also omits the S/ prefix - this seems quite surprising given the evident diligence observed by the Black Watch Medal Roll compilers. Before your post, I was beginning to conclude that Morris was in fact the Militia man with number 7307 but your post contradicts that. For that reason, I was keen to know if your cousin has documentary evidence for the enlistment of James Biggins in 1899?

So perhaps a little further work is required to help clarify the service of James Biggins - it's an interesting case study.

Regards

Russ

[FROGSMILE]

15 hours ago, Bob Davies said:

Good points @Don Regiano and @RussT,

One point I would like to ask someone such as @FROGSMILE Can you help with your knowledge of uniforms please? I am seeing boots and spats not shoes and spats, so the picture I think will have been taken early 1915 or after. Also I see no shoulder titles.

One more that I overlooked,  if he was born in 1881, then there would have been no reason to lie about his age unless he joined well before 1914.

Yes I agree that it’s an early photo Bob, as evidenced by the spats and the glengarry and badge.  Together that suggests 1915, and he’s already a sergeant, it suggests service prewar (regular, or reserve), and that he was probably the machine gun sergeant for his battalion (under a subaltern), if he was then absorbed during the initial formation of the Machine Gun Corps.  By the end of 1916 his Black Watch battalion would very likely have had their glengarries replaced by the drab khaki Tam-o-Shanter. 

Edited 27 April by FROGSMILE

[RussT]

I've now done a little more work on the "7307" Charles Morris as part of the study in trying to reconcile from which number series each man was allotted the Black Watch number 7307.

Charles Morris (DoW on 01/10/1915 with the 1st Battalion Black Watch): The available diverse records for him show that:

His MIC

His 1914/1915 Medal Roll

His VM/BWM Medal Roll

His CWGC Commemoration

His SDGW Record

His Soldier's Effects Record

.................. all have his service number recorded as plain 7307.

However, he appears in a Died of Wounds War Office Casualty List (daily list date of 28/10/1915 & report received date of 15/10/1915) with his number having an S/ prefix i.e. S/7307- see image below. I appreciate it's "just" a transcript of the original (The Times) newspaper listing - so it would be good to see the original if anyone has access and can confirm the number as transcribed. Whilst it is reasonable to accept that records might inadvertently omit a letter prefix on a service number (as is very oft observed), it does not seem credible that an "S/" letter prefix would be inadvertently added to a service number - that would just not make any sense at all.

He also has a Medical Admission Record in the MH-106 record series as being admitted to No 4 Stationary Hospital in August 1915 (being discharged on 11/08/1915) - see image below. This record also has his number written as plain 7307. However, it has 3 pieces of critical information. His age is given as 24, his total service is given as 10 months and his time in the field is given as 4 months. These types of service entries are rarely precise but they should be reasonably approximate. We know from his MIC and his 1914/1915 Medal Roll that he entered France on 03/05/1915 which is 3 to 4 months earlier than his hospital admission date (August 1915), so his MH-106 record entry for that (written as 4/12) is reconcilable with the known facts. If we subtract 10 months from the August 1915 hospital admission date in order to estimate his enlistment date, then this gives October/November 1914. Previous work in an earlier post on this thread had ascertained that numbers in the range S/730x were being allotted in December 1914, so this is also reasonably reconcilable.

It appears therefore to be reasonably conclusive that, despite most of his records just having his number recorded as plain 7307, Charles Morris actually had the service number S/7307, and hence he was a war-time enlistment. His age of 24 also means he could not have been the Militia candidate because he would have been only circa 8 years old at the time when the Militia were allotting numbers in the 730x range (i.e. in 1899).

In conclusion, we now finally arrive at:

7307 Robert Coleman - enlisted as a Regular into the Black Watch in July 1899 but was discharged in November 1900 and never got close to serving in WW1.

7307 James Biggins - enlisted into the Black Watch Militia in July 1899, transferred to the MGC in 1916 (with number 9274) and discharged WO II on 10/04/1919.

S/7307 Charles Morris - enlisted in the autumn/winter of 1914 and Died Of Wounds on 01/10/1915 with the 1st Battalion Black Watch.

Jean's post describing some of the enlistment and service details of James Biggins is therefore corroborated.

Regards

Russ

PS: I'm still very interested to learn what is impressed on the Medals of James Biggins, so hopefully Jean will come back with some further help.

(Images courtesy of The Genealogist and FindMyPast)

 

[RussT]

Re: Charles Morris - I've now found an original example of his reported Died of Wounds newspaper record entry confirming his number as S/7307.

The Courier dated 28/10/1915 (courtesy FMP).

 

[FROGSMILE]

Brilliant work RussT, your expertise in making sense of the regimental numbers and bringing an individual’s story to life is always deeply impressive and illuminating in equal measure.

Edited 27 April by FROGSMILE

[Tom Lang]

A search of Births on ScotlandsPeople for the period 1878-1886 shows 1 birth in Dundee in 1884.

Attached is courtesy of ScotlandsPeople.

Tom.

[RussT]

8 hours ago, Jean Coombs said:

3th July 1899 - Enlisted in Black Watch aged 16 1/2. May have served in Boer War.

I have had a look to see if I can find him in the Boer War Medal Rolls - but there is no sign of him under that name, Regiment or the number 7307.

As per previous query, it would be interesting to learn if you know of any Boer War medals in addition to his WW1 Medals.

Regards

Russ

[Jean Coombs]

Good Evening RussT and tanks you for all of the work that you have put in on this. In answer to your questions

1 I have not been told of any medals but there must have been some at one time. 
2. My cousin in New Zealand found out the information that I have. I knew nothing about my Granda being in the Black Watch until I recently made a visit to New Zealand. I am one of those people born south of the border but my father and Granda came from Dundee. I only visited there every summer and when you are young you do not think to ask these questions.

3 James was born in 1882, that was my typing error 

4 my cousin found out the detail for 20th September 1914 and the 4th May 1917 detail from birth certificates of 2 of James sons.

5 The details for James serving in The Boer War were written on the reverse of a photo that my cousin has which was taken at Pirbright Camp. Below is a copy of a screenshot of my Granda from that photo.

I think the reason that I am so interested is that my Granda was born in the Dundee Poor House, father unknown. He grew to be suck an intelligent man loved by all who knew him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tom Lang]

On 26/04/2024 at 14:45, Jean Coombs said:

RussT many thanks for your reply and the document you posted is my Granda as his Army Registration number was 9274. The surname of Biggan is a not an easy one as it as been recorded over the years as Beagin, Biggan and then. We think that Granda ended up in 1916 as a Serg. Major Instructor at Harrowby Camp, Grantham, Lincolnshire but I am interested to find his whereabouts at the start of WW1 .

There's a James BEAGIN born Dundee, 1882. Courtesy of ScotlandsPeople.

Tom

[FROGSMILE]

21 hours ago, Jean Coombs said:

Good Evening RussT and tanks you for all of the work that you have put in on this. In answer to your questions

1 I have not been told of any medals but there must have been some at one time. 
2. My cousin in New Zealand found out the information that I have. I knew nothing about my Granda being in the Black Watch until I recently made a visit to New Zealand. I am one of those people born south of the border but my father and Granda came from Dundee. I only visited there every summer and when you are young you do not think to ask these questions.

3 James was born in 1882, that was my typing error 

4 my cousin found out the detail for 20th September 1914 and the 4th May 1917 detail from birth certificates of 2 of James sons.

5 The details for James serving in The Boer War were written on the reverse of a photo that my cousin has which was taken at Pirbright Camp. Below is a copy of a screenshot of my Granda from that photo.

I think the reason that I am so interested is that my Granda was born in the Dundee Poor House, father unknown. He grew to be suck an intelligent man loved by all who knew him.

I have tried to research why he might have been at Pirbright and when.  The 3rd (Militia) Battalion of the Black Watch is not listed as having been embodied en masse (as a formed body) for the 2nd Boer War, but as it was awarded an honour for service there it must presumably have contributed to a deployed Service Company that most likely bolstered one or other of its regular army counterparts.

The 1st Battalion Black Watch was in South Africa for just a year between February 1901 and February 1902 when it returned to Edinburgh.  It did not move to England from Scotland until 1912, when it was based in Aldershot.  The 2nd Battalion Black Watch was in South Africa from 1899 to 1902, whence to India, where it remained until 1914.

It’s difficult to identify then why and how he was in Pirbright.

Edited 28 April by FROGSMILE