Help!! Cpl. William John Bullock ASC BEF 1914

[Carol Bullock]

Hello!

I was wondering if someone could provide me with information about, my grandfather, Cpl. William John Bullock who served in the ASC with the BEF.

I have his 3 medals and Silver War Badge; the 1914 Star with 5th Aug. - 22nd Nov. 1914 Bar, 1914-18 medal and Victory Medal. There is a number on all 3; M-27009. On the 1914 Star, he is listed as a Cpl. However, on the other 2 medals he's an A-SJT.

He was invalided out of the Army after losing a leg within a few months of the hostilities beginning.

I don't know if it's possible, but I'd like to find out where, in the UK, he was treated for his injuries.

I've searched the online pages at the National Archives; there are 204 Bullocks!! However, none fully match with the info I have.

ANY help, advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

Cheers,

Carol

[John_Hartley]

Carol

Welcome to the Forum. I hope we can help you in the quest. As a starter, click here. I presume this is his Medal Index card at the National Archives.

Hopefully when you download it (it'll cost you £3.50), it should tell you which ASC Company he was attached to. Each unit maintained a war diary of its day to day activities and these are viewable at the National Archives (not on-line).

If you also have alook at the "research" section of the Long Long Trail (click the link, top left of this page), you'll find some good hints about what else it may be possible to discover. Primarily, this will be to see if William's service papers still exist at the Archives (again, not on-line). If so, they may indicate when he was wounded (which you can then cross-referecne to the War Diary, it may also indicate which hospitals treated him. However, don't hold out much hope - most records were destroyed in a fire during WW2 and only about 30% survive and many of these are no longer full records.

John

[Carol Bullock]

Carol

Click here. I presume this is his Medal Index card at the National Archives.

John

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

John.........that's brilliant!! Thank you so very, very much.

I'll, probably, be back asking for help deciphering it!!!

Once again, many thanks.

Carol

[Carol Bullock]

Hello again,

Well, I've paid my £3.50 and, successfully, downloaded my grandfather's card from the NA.

Is there a possibility someone out there could unravel the mysteries of it for me??

I'm not "blonde" (!!), a woman, yes!! I just don't understand the various codes.

Much appreciated.

Many thanks, once again.

Cheers,

Carol

having a "blonde" moment!!

[John_Hartley]

Carol

Index Cards aren't my "thing" so I'll leave to others to interpret some of the codes and wotnot. However, it does confirm the info you have on the actual medals that his final rank was "Acting Sergeant" (basically he was doing a Sgt's job and still being paid a Corporal).

It also does show his unit - 1st Division Pk. This is the Ammunition Park for the 1st Division - basically its ammunition stores. If you go the Long Long Trail and do a "search" on "Army Service Corps", you should be able to find some information on it.

John

[Stebie9173]

The 1914 Star would have his rank at the time of entry into France. In other words Corporal.

His Victory & British War Medals carry his highest rank and the "Regiment" (in this case a "Corps") in which he became entitled to the Campaign Medals i.e. ASC, the Corps he was in when he set foot in France.

The X with the dots told the man engrving the Medals what to put on the Medals.

Date of setting foot in France was the 13th August 1914, meaning he was one of the very first men to go to France with the British Expeditionary Force. This means he would already have been in the army before the war, or at least on Reserve.

The reference to SWB List is for the Silver War Badge, instituted later in the war for men who were invalided out of the army, unfit for further duty. For one thing, it showed the civilians at home that the man was not shirking his duty, though that was unfortunately not an issue for William.

Each of the references next to the Medals allow you to look up further details on the Medal Rolls held at the National Archives at Kew. In the case of the 1914 Star and VM & BWM these may not add much, but you never know.

The SWB Roll will also give you the date of his enlistment and date of discharge from the Army. Obviously, you need to visit the NA to check these or get someone to look for you.

His Service Records MAY also survive at the NA, but 70% of these were destroyed in WW2.

Finally, the M- part of his number usually denotes Motor Transport in connection with the ASC. In other words, he probably drove a lorry, or was connected with them in some way.

I hope this helps,

Steve.

P.S. Best bet for finding the hospital would be by looking at the local papers for were he lived at the time. Most large libraries have copies on Microfilm.