Attestation

[colin12]

Hi,

Can any of you pals tell me when Lance Sergeant Charles Wilkinson was attested his service number was 201190 he came from Hull.

Many thanks

Colin

[Steve Bramley]

Hi Colin,

As a rough guess about mid 1915 I would say, he would probably have had a 4 digit service number prior to this, again as a guess around the early 4000's.

Sorry i cannot be more specific.

Was he 1/4th E.Yorks?

Regards,

From South of the river

[colin12]

Hi Colin,

As a rough guess about mid 1915 I would say, he would probably have had a 4 digit service number prior to this, again as a guess around the early 4000's.

Sorry i cannot be more specific.

Was he 1/4th E.Yorks?

Regards,

From South of the river

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[colin12]

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi South of the River,

Thanks for that he was in the 4th Battalion, were they reserves?

Cheers

Colin

[Steve Bramley]

Hi Colin,

No, they were not reserves, they were Territorials.

The men of the 1/4th E.Yorks Battalion were along with all other (I can only speak for those outside London) Terriers not originally meant for overseas service. But as the 'Old Contemptibles' of Britains' regular Battalions suffered so much in the first months of the war the Territorials were asked to sign the Imperial Service Order, for overseas service.

Many did just that and went out to support the regulars in early 1915. Not all signed the order immediately and usually went on to form the 2nd line Battalion i.e 2/4th E.Yorks. The original signatorys were then made up to strength by early volunteers. I suspect that your man may have been one of these volunteers.

The next set of men to sign up were the respondees to Kitcheners appeal and these went on to form the 'pals' Battalions.

My local Terriers were the 1/5th Lincolnshires. The original Grimsby Chums (Kitchener Volunteers who went on to form the 10th Lincolns) offered two companies to the 1/5th, but they were already full! The 1/5th went overseas almost a year before the Chums.

I have (somewhere) a huge casualty list for the 1/4th E.Yorks from early 1915, which I got from a copy of the Hull times from the Library. This list is full of detail if you wish to start researching these guys.

Hope this is not too confusing, have a lok on the main site for more detailed info'

Regards,

Steve (S.O.T.R )