Name Barracks

[niall mallon]

Hi just going demented cannot seem to find person I am looking for anywhere, can you please tell me out of what Barracks in England did the Royal Garrison Artillary hail from.

[Chris_Baker]

There were units of the RGA all over the place. The prinicipal centre for the artillery was at Woolwich.

[PhilW]

Can only speak for my Grandfather, who joined up in Leyburn on 25th August 1914, was sent down to Newhaven and did his training at Clarence Barracks, Portsmouth before joining 13th SB RGA. Any help?

[Graham Stewart]

Niall,

An intersting one this one. As Chris points out the principal H.Q. of the artillery was Woolwich, but out of interest I checked an October 1914 & April 1915 Army List and found that the Records Office for the R.G.A. was located at Dover.

R.G.A. units are not easy to follow historically, despite the fact J.B.M. Frederick covers them in great detail in Volume II of his book "Lineage Book of British Land Forces 1660-1978". Their organisation is more complex than that of the infantry and they seem to go through many changes prior to WWI.

Sadly I can't offer any more than that.

Graham.

[niall mallon]

Thanks Graham If the person lived in Staffordshire would they have to go to Woolwich to join up. I also read that RGA records survived because they were stored at Dover, is that true?

[Chris_Baker]

Your man from Staffordshire could easily have enlisted into the RGA in his town town - at least up to 1916, when conscription came in. Up to then he had some choice; after that, he went where he was told!

As far as "surviving records" are concerned, RGA personnel records were held in the War Office archive in London.

[Graham Stewart]

Thanks Graham If the person lived in Staffordshire would they have to go to Woolwich to join up.  I also read that RGA records survived because they were stored at Dover, is that true?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Niall,

Have just seen Chris Bakers new reply to you, which is correct you could enlist into your prefered unit prior to 1916 at home and it wasn't uncommon for men to pick a unit that was miles from home. Prior to the war I believe rural recruits could even enlist through their local Post Office before being sent to their Regimental Depot.

As I have the Discharge Documents of two R.G.A. men in my collection, I had a look to see where they would have to report should they have been recalled as 'Z' Reservists. One would have had to report to Gosport and the other Catterick, which is really of no help to you at all.

The good news is that Dover was definately the location of the R.G.A. Records Office, as it appears on both Certificates. If the R.G.A. records were then relocated to the War Office, then it is possible all were handed over to the P.R.O. at Kew.

Again this lot probably isn't that much help, but all we can do is keep at it until we get a result.

Regards,

Graham.

[niall mallon]

Thanks Graham and Chris, all info wellcome. Is there anything else apart from "Records" dont have, " Medal Cards" do have, that will give me any information about this persons service?

[Graham Stewart]

Niall,

The MIC's are just that an Index Card which guide you to the individuals Medal Sheet in the relevant Medal Roll Book. Some MIC's have a little bit of extra information, others don't, it really depended on who did the compiling. What you need to be doing is chasing his Service Records burnt or unburnt, but even these will vary from individual to individual.

For those wounded and discharged the MIC would also guide you to the relevant Silver War Badge book.

The two sets of records that I have belonging to my great grandfather who served in the R.F.A.(T.F.) and my great unlce who served with the Australians and was killed are a researchers dream come true. On the other hand I've known others find only the Attestation Sheet and nothing else.

The sad thing about soldiers records and I'm not sure if many who read this Forum are aware of, but the soldier actually had two sets of documents. One set remained with the Officer i/c Records and the other set went with him.

We're actually very lucky to have any records at all, for there was a set procedure in Queens Regs and Kings Regs for the disposal of soldiers records, which accounts for why we don't find many prior to WWI. K.R.'s Para 1929 of 1912 runs to just over two pages on the subject.

Any the wiser or even more confused?

Regards,

Graham.

[niall mallon]

Thanks again Graham, I am amazed about two sets of records, I did not know he was given his when he left, ( long gone now anyway) there are no records at Kew been there, also paid my money for search, Burnt or Unburnt there were none.

so you see the only way I have of finding anything out about him is to find out about the company he served in and try to see where they were over the years it looks like being an impossible task but thanks for all your help.