KevinW Posted 5 December , 2005 Share Posted 5 December , 2005 I am new to this and this is my first post. Is it possible to find out which unit my grandfather served with. I know he was in the RGA. Sadly my own father is no longer with us to ask. Grandfathers details: Wheaton, Albert E Corps: Royal Garrison Artillery Regiment No: 70485 Rank: Gunner Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GJB Posted 5 December , 2005 Share Posted 5 December , 2005 Hi Kevin, Welcome to the forum. Your best option is to get a copy of his medal card from the NA and then try and get some kind person on the forum, if you can't go youself, to get copies of the medal roll. My own Grandfather was in the RGA and through the medal roll it showed his unit (14th siege Battery). Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KONDOA Posted 5 December , 2005 Share Posted 5 December , 2005 (edited) The number would seem to indicate a regular army unit which given the distibution of this number series may relate to a centralised recruitment centre such as a Derby scheme depot. As has been indicated the medal rolls may give some more information. Roop Edited 6 December , 2005 by KONDOA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinW Posted 6 December , 2005 Author Share Posted 6 December , 2005 Thanks for the replies. I do have a copy of my grandfathers Mic but i am having problems reading it. I have attached if anyone can help me on this one Thanks Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinW Posted 6 December , 2005 Author Share Posted 6 December , 2005 I am having trouble attaching an image!!! Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinW Posted 6 December , 2005 Author Share Posted 6 December , 2005 Think i have got it this time, however the image is rather small!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GJB Posted 6 December , 2005 Share Posted 6 December , 2005 Hi Kevin, Not a very clear image of the MIC but I can tell you whats what. He received the British and Victory medals and if you take the roll numbers to the NA you need to get the new roll location by getting info from the two books there. (Or give someone thats going to the NA this info to look up for you). Their is no first theatre so its very unlikely that he served before 1916. I also noticed a link on the forum today for NA look-ups for a donation of £10, this would be a good easy option for you. Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KONDOA Posted 6 December , 2005 Share Posted 6 December , 2005 (edited) "Their is no first theatre so its very unlikely that he served before 1916." Not quite , he may well have joined up 1914 but not gone overseas until 1916 like many thousand others did. Kevin, was your GF by any chance from the London or SE area?? Roop Edited 6 December , 2005 by KONDOA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kildaremark Posted 6 December , 2005 Share Posted 6 December , 2005 (edited) Here's my grandfather, James McLoughlin's medal roll entry for the British War & Victory Medals. His number is 64278 which is close to the number mentioned - 6,000 RGA men later - how long did it take to move through the numbers? I think this means he joined some time in 1915? Don't know if the men around him give any clue as to anything about him as I have no other information. Any help there would be appreciated also. Mark Edited 6 December , 2005 by kildaremark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KONDOA Posted 6 December , 2005 Share Posted 6 December , 2005 (edited) Hi Mark, It would seem plausible that your assumtion re 1915 is correct. You will notice that men with consequetive numbers have been allocated at some time to differing (former) batteries ie not the one they finished service with. This (without specific reference material) again suggests centralised recruiting and allocation to where most needed. Sorry i cannot be very specific but it is still a grey area. Roop Edited 6 December , 2005 by KONDOA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinW Posted 6 December , 2005 Author Share Posted 6 December , 2005 Hi My GF was from cambridge i know he was recruited localy near his village so i guess that is the SE Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KONDOA Posted 6 December , 2005 Share Posted 6 December , 2005 Ok Kevin, it was just a suggestion. The same number range also applies to the RFA . 70480 came from Cambridge but 70484 came from Lancashire Roop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinW Posted 7 December , 2005 Author Share Posted 7 December , 2005 Hi I do have a better image of the Mic if anyone wants to see if they can tell me anything about it Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kildaremark Posted 7 December , 2005 Share Posted 7 December , 2005 Roop, Do we assume then that when someone went to join at a particular recruiting office and because of horsemanship or something of that nature were deemed suitable for artillery. Were they then allocated a particular number or was there a number of depots throughout the country where say potential RGA recruits were sent. Each depot would then have an allocation of regimental numbers. I would assume that if there was say 5 different places in the country for RGA recruits then each depot would be allocated a batch of serial numbers. My grandfather was from Ireland, so if he joined in ireland, he was probably deemed suitable for the RGA in Ireland, presumably he was sent to Liverpool or Woolwich or wherever where he would be then allocated a serial number as oppossed to getting a number in Ireland before going to a RGA depot? What are your thought? Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KONDOA Posted 7 December , 2005 Share Posted 7 December , 2005 Hi Mark, Generally your assumtion is correct. The artillery were particularly keen to get good drivers which obviously the rural areas would provide. Depending when and where he joined up would depend upon his type of number.By what I understand, 1915 onwards men were sent to central camps for training and issued a number as part of a mass before being distributed where needed. If those numbers are exclusively artillery though it would indicate segregation of skills at the point of recruitment and nubering at the depot. Roop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kildaremark Posted 8 December , 2005 Share Posted 8 December , 2005 (edited) Roop, This from the history of the 76 Siege Bty formed in August 1915: "Half the personnel of Officers and men were drawn from this unit [Essex & Suffolf RGA], the battery was formed at Harwich.." and later "On the parade ground were lined up about three hundred men - regulars returned from France invalided but fit again, and recruits of the new army, and from these majors of newly formed batteries were selecting their men..." In the history of the 9th Heavy Bty, I found one of the men on my own grandfather's Medal Roll page - 64272 Bracey from Durham who in the Medal Roll in 1918 is with the 191 Heavy Bty. The history lists all the men who served in the unit and many of their numbers seem to be in forms of clusters: 43341, 43555, 43472, 43538, 43533, 43677, 43410, 43674, 43491, 43484, 43416, 43465, 78469,78363, 78485, 78530,78661, 78470, 78613, 78752, 78516, 78478, 78402, 78655, 78361, 78488, 78412, 78425. There are many names with 6 digits beginning 312***, 313***, 314***, 316***, ,318***, I am not familiar enogh with English Geography to find a pattern in the addresses of the numbers - maybe someone else has already done the work...? Mark Edited 8 December , 2005 by kildaremark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barrieduncan Posted 8 December , 2005 Share Posted 8 December , 2005 Gary, Can you remember where you saw that offer for NA look-ups for a £10 donation, i'v had a look but cant find it myself. I'd be more than willing to give a tenner if someone wouldnt mind doing a search for me, living in Scotland its not exactly handy for me Barrie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GJB Posted 8 December , 2005 Share Posted 8 December , 2005 Barrie, If you look under I'm going to the NA its listed as MIC Xmas Event 2005 by Aliecoco. It has a going to the NA date of the 10th so you better hurry to stand a chance. Good luck Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KONDOA Posted 8 December , 2005 Share Posted 8 December , 2005 "Bracey from Durham who in the Medal Roll in 1918 is with the 191 Heavy Bty" Hi Mark, If you look carefully at the column header it normally says Previous Unit or words to that effect. This means he moved to whatever battery the MR page covers from that previous unit. If it says Base Details it is a fair bet the man served throughout with the same unit or at least the same number group ie Battery, AMM Column or similar. Conversly he may have stayed at home which can be deduced from the MIC's. The 312 etc six figure numbers are all TF numbers and can be traced to particular brigades. If you search for ROYAL ARTILLERY UNITS in the title only you will find a list of the brigades involved. Roop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kildaremark Posted 8 December , 2005 Share Posted 8 December , 2005 If you look carefully at the column header it normally says Previous Unit or words to that effect. This means he moved to whatever battery the MR page covers from that previous unit. If it says Base Details it is a fair bet the man served throughout with the same unit or at least the same number group ie Battery, AMM Column or similar. Conversly he may have stayed at home which can be deduced from the MIC's. This Medal Roll appears to have the heading crossed out - at least that 's what I think it looks like?. Does that mean that this is the unit that these men were with on 11/11/1918 - i.e. J McLoughlin and the others with Base Details were back in the UK on 11/11/1918 after their unit was wound up or what do you make of it. Incidentally my grandfather claims to have served with Coastal Batteries, heavy and trench mortar batteries during the war - which from I think you are saying would have been with the same HAG or Division (without getting too much into the way the RGA were assigned throughout the war... Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KONDOA Posted 8 December , 2005 Share Posted 8 December , 2005 Mark, Base details is the unit of first engagement in most cases before being assigned to a battery. In you GFs case base details would infer to me that he continued with the same battery/unit . If he had changed units I would expect to see a previous unit listed infering a previous number. He may well have been in a HTM unit as part of the RGA. The RGA as a whole was considered one Corp so numbers stayed the same . Roop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
essdee Posted 8 December , 2005 Share Posted 8 December , 2005 Mark By the look of the Medal Roll you posted it looks like a copy from the Territorial Force War Medal Roll. If memory serves about 33,000 of these medals were issued, which means to qualify he would have had to enlist in the TF prior to Sep 1914. This is a different roll from the more common War Medal roll, on which I've not come across battery details. This only appears on the TFWM roll. The battery shown on this list is the last battery they were with when they qualified for the medal. He could have been in a coastal battery but this would have been a different battery to that sent to France. As for the TM battery, he could have been one of those from the RGA selected to operate the Heavy Trench Mortars. They may have operated alongside their origional battery, but it doesn't follow they would have. Stuart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KONDOA Posted 8 December , 2005 Share Posted 8 December , 2005 Hi Stuart I have not seen other types of roll other than the that shown by Mark . Do you have an example of a different type please?? Roop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kildaremark Posted 8 December , 2005 Share Posted 8 December , 2005 I know we are going off the topic of the original post and apologies. The full page has written on top Royal Garrison Artillery page 2979 in WO/329/269 which matches his MIC. His MIC also says RGA 130B. But on top of the Medal Roll page, it also has typed "266 & 301" - not sure what that refers to - not sure if this is a page reference, hardly something related to particular batteries... You will also note what looks like an "O" in the from-to columns for Theatre of War Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KONDOA Posted 8 December , 2005 Share Posted 8 December , 2005 (edited) 266 * 301 are the Army Orders refering to issuing of Medals, nearly all MR's have this on them. I cannot see any theatre entered which woould suggest going overseas post Jan 1916. BW & Victory though would suggest he did indeed go overseas as you belive. 130B is the original MR number. Roop Edited 8 December , 2005 by KONDOA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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