Wrong service number on pension book

[Guest susanna coe]

First of all an apology, I'm new and the ancestor I'm currently researching must have retired from the Navy at least 4 years before the war.Let me know if I am out of line asking here.

The problem is I have Grandads military pension book on which his service number is very clearly typed.

The story is he ran away and joined the navy in the 1880s, become a naval musician and was transfered to the Royal Marine band when it was set up.

But when we asked Kew for a copy of his service records- they said record number 18299 was not W.Clark

Is a mix up of service numbers a common problem? What should I do now?

If he ran away could he have joined under an assumed name- with the name later being corrected on his pension book- but not his service record?

[per ardua per mare per terram]

Hi Susanna,

Welcome to the forum.

Can you put up a scan of the pension book in general and the number in particular?

There should be 2 service records for him: Navy and Marines. Can you give more details about him? When born, where and full name would help.

Fred