why enlist in another name ?

[mcfc1923]

I had a relative a Samuel Vagg who died aged 18 in Dec 1915 whilst serving with the 1st/7th Lan Fus,

but he enlisted as Bagg, is it more than likely he lied about his age and in turn gave a different name?

and if so what name would be on the medals?

regards

Jim

[delta]

In several cases, under age recruits gave a false name was given to prevent relatives getting the youngest relased from the service. Not all were successful

[mcfc1923]

Cheers Delta, think i need to find out his date of birth.

cheers mate

jim

[John_Hartley]

Jim

You sure he enlisted as Bagg? And it's not a scanning error somewhere?

Have you downloaded his MIC? The medals will be whatever's on that.

Could be reasons other than age. Done a runner from the missus? Thought that Vagg sounded a bit foreign?

John

[historydavid]

Another possibility is on the run from the law.

Best wishes

David

[mcfc1923]

Checked the cwgc and he is there as Vagg, but it does state that he enlisted as Bagg, buried at 12 tree copse cemetery, got some great pics of the headstone and cemetery from Tuna off the forum, but his name on the headstone is Bagg.

Not downloaded his MIC as yet, but found him ther at the Nat Archives, service num 2977, it has Lan Fus twice under his name.

As was suggested in another thread it mite be a good idea to get hold of drummy, and i wonder if the ''Hell Let Loose'' book would shed any light on the Vagg/Bagg enlistment?, was told that the name could be dutch

or swedish.

cheers pals, will get back to you

jim

[Melui]

Anomalies do crop up, as I have been looking at a man called 'Nevin' - for some reason, all his family were registered as Nevin except this one, and he was registered as Nevins at birth. His death whilst at training camp was also listed as Nevins, but it's Nevin on the CWGC and, interestingly, Mevin on his original headstone. I think that must have come about as a relative would have pointed out that there was a spelling mistake involved, meaning the added 's' on Nevin, but this was misunderstood and the relative's handwriting interpreted as Mevin.

Probably not relevant to your problem, but it shows how difficult it must have been to get things right.

Query - were men encouraged to produce a birth certificate on enlistment? If not, I cannot really understand why in the above case the army knew to register his death as Nevins. Curious.

[BeppoSapone]

Query - were men encouraged to produce a birth certificate on enlistment? If not, I cannot really understand why in the above case the army knew to register his death as Nevins. Curious.

I don't think they can have been. Forget the surname, the army would not have been too keen on the production of a birth certificate, because it would have been proof that a lot of people were actually underage.

As late as WW2 the forces were not too 'picky' about a persons real age. My uncle Billy, my mothers elder brother, had been in the army for two or three years when he landed in Normandy. He was born in 1927, but looked older than his age.

My mother was in the ATS at the age of fifteen. In her case a birth certificate was involved because she did not look eighteen. She told me that she obtained something called a "short form" birth certificate because it was easier to amend. If fifteen year old south London girls knew that by the 1940s a lot of underage enlistment must have been going on.

[Coldstreamer]

Hello

I have some medals to a chap who enlisted 4 times over a 30 year period - he altered his details every time only coming clean to get his pension

Can only think he did something he shouldnt and was trying to avoid punishment

Ian

[Cliff. Hobson]

Having seen this topic discussed before I think it is fair to say the authorities were not all that bothered whether people lied about their age or gave a false name. A man from my Village Thomas Bostock Fox enlisted under that name having been adopted by the Fox family he was given a medical discharge he re-enlisted under the name of Thomas Bostock and even went back to the same Battalion (8th Lincs.,) he had been discharged from. He was killed at the Battle of Loos.

Another man (sorted out by Bob Coulson/Paul Reed) won the V.C. as Simpson his name was Evans.

My Father enlisted under age his Mother wrote to the War Office and told them, evidently she never got a reply.

Cliff.