John William Spencer -- London Regiment.

[Allan1892]

I'm currently looking at the above man (a relative of my wife) -- as you can see from the attached MIC (courtesy of Ancestry) he was with the 14th Battalion of the London Regiment, Private 2241 (enlisted between 4/8/14 and 1/9/14 according to Paul Nixon's site). He was awarded the MM as a Sergeant in 1916 (LG 2 June 1916). He was then commissioned and placed with the 6th Battalion LR as a 2nd Lt being awarded the Military Cross in 1917. He ended up a full Lt with the 2nd Battalion, Gordon Highlanders.

I have his LG entry for his MM and also his citation for his MC -- what I am struggling with is my LG search for his date of commission as a 2nd Lt and then as a full Lt. Can anyone assist me please?

[Matlock1418]

Commission https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29811/supplement/10630

Promotion would be 18 months later - I would typically expect as J W SPENCER

M

Edit: Promotion https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/30677/supplement/5588

Edited 2 May by Matlock1418
edit

[Allan1892]

Many thanks Mr M -- I always have mixed results when trying to search the LG

[Allan1892]

@Matlock1418 -- just out of curiosity, I went back to his entry in the Medal Rolls as the page was endorsed '14 London Regiment Subsequently Commissioned' and in total there were over 70 pages of ORs that were 'subsequently commissioned' from the 14th Btn -- mainly in 1915 and 1916. Any thoughts on the large number (large at least to me) of ORs being commissioned from the same battalion?

[Matlock1418]

10 minutes ago, Allan1892 said:

just out of curiosity, I went back to his entry in the Medal Rolls as the page was endorsed '14 London Regiment Subsequently Commissioned' and in total there were over 70 pages of ORs that were 'subsequently commissioned' from the 14th Btn -- mainly in 1915 and 1916. Any thoughts on the large number (large at least to me) of ORs being commissioned from the same battalion?

Not my field really ... but my first thought is that it might have been an adminstrative posting whilst OR or new Officer Cadets were undertaking Officer training

???

M

[Allan1892]

A bit of a puzzler

[Bordercollie]

On 02/05/2024 at 13:42, Allan1892 said:

@Matlock1418 -- just out of curiosity, I went back to his entry in the Medal Rolls as the page was endorsed '14 London Regiment Subsequently Commissioned' and in total there were over 70 pages of ORs that were 'subsequently commissioned' from the 14th Btn -- mainly in 1915 and 1916. Any thoughts on the large number (large at least to me) of ORs being commissioned from the same battalion?

Is it not just the case that 14/London Regiment was one of TF battalions, mainly in London, that drew its recruits from men in middle class professions and occupations?  Another such unit was 5/London Regiment. A similar proportion of men commissioned can be seen in their 1914 Star Medal Roll.  In his book Gentlemen and Officers about that unit K W Mitchinson notes that of the men who landed in France in November 1914 with 5/London Regiment 400 went on to be commissioned.  He adds that the unit suffered 505 fatal casualties between November 1914 and July 1916 and concludes that "In view of the educational and social background of the majority of these men, it could be assumed that, had they survived Ypres and Gommecourt, perhaps most of them would have been considered suitable for commission."

Edited 3 May by Bordercollie

[Allan1892]

Thank you for your reply -- I like the quote from 'Gentlemen and Officers'