Regimental number

[MParnham]

My grandfather’s brother served in the H.L.I and was killed on the 25th Sept 1917 during the third battle of Ypres. He had two regimental numbers – the second I understand was given during the renumbering of the territorials in 1917. Does anyone know if his original number could tell us anything useful about when he enlisted (or anything else for that matter!)?

Many Thanks

Martin

Taylor, George P

Corps Regiment No Rank

Highland Light Infantry 6059 Private

Highland Light Infantry 332800 Private

[PPCLI]

Does anyone know if his original number could tell us anything useful about when he enlisted (or anything else for that matter!)?

Hi Martin,

Yes, his original number will, with a bit of research, narrow down his possible date of enlistment. I have info on a man, Cpl. Andrew Muir, 6230/332961, 1/9th HLI, who won the Military Medal at the Battle of the Lys in Apr 1918. I know that he enlisted into the 1/3rd Lanarkshire Yeomanry in April 1916 and was, some time later, transferred to the Glasgow Highlanders. This would suggest that your great uncle did not serve with the 1/9th HLI much before early summer, 1916. Pinning down his enlistment this way is not easy, unless you know that he enlisted into this battalion or, like the example above, was transferred there at a later date.

If you do not get a more definitive answer from forum members, then the direct way to find out is to search for his service file at Kew. In the likely event that it is not there, then the next best thing is to do an indirect search. This involves searching for men with very similar 4-digit numbers and finding a a few who were awarded the SWB on discharge. The SWB rolls give a date of enlistment for every man and so this should narrow down the range of his date of enlistment. This method would probably involve having to pay someone to do some searching at the National Archives - unless I can find some similar regt. numbers in the copies of the SWB rolls that I have in my files. I can have a search through my copies of the SWB rolls, but this will take me a good hour or two, so I will wait and see if anyone else can give you a quicker answer.

Also, there is a new book out on this battalion, written by Alec Weir, that has a full list of every man who served with the 1/9th HLI during WW1. I think it gives an approximate idea of when the men joined the battalion, but I'm not sure on that point because I haven't ordered (through the Long, Long Trail, of course) my copy yet. Some people on the forum do have a copy - look in the Book Review section under Glagow Territorials (or something of that ilk).

Stuart

[Graham Stewart]

George,

Soldiers of the Terrtorial Force Battalions were initially issued with a numbering series that ran from 1 - 9999 and once used up you were supposed to begin again at number 1. However in late 1916 it was decided to introduce a new six figure number series to replace all old T.F. numbers, these new numbers being issued in 1917 under Army Council Instructon 2414.

For the Territorial Battalions of the Highland Light Infantry their new 1917 numbering series was;-

5th Bn,H.L.I. - new numbers 200001 to 240000.

6th Bn,H.L.I. - new numbers 240001 to 280000.

7th Bn,H.L.I. - new numbers 280001 to 305000.

8th Bn,H.L.I. - new numbers 305001 to 330000.

9th Bn,H.L.I. - new numbers 330001 to 355000.

21st Bn,H.L.I. - new numbers 355001 - 380000.

Graham.

[MParnham]

Stuart - Your suggestion about an enlistment date is very interesting – and extremely useful, we had no idea at all. Thank you very much. You are quite right a visit to Kew must be on the agenda.

Martin

[MParnham]

Graham - thank you, the 9th battalion it is!

Martin

[PPCLI]

Hi Martin,

I have been through my files and have found a fairly close match to your great uncle:

Pte. George P. Taylor, 6059/332800, 1/9th HLI

Pte. Harry Hawkshaw, 6075/332816, 1/9th HLI

On the SWB roll, Pte. Harry Hawkshaw's enlistment date is given as 17th May 1916. This would infer that George Taylor enlisted around mid-May 1916 (almost certainly no later than mid-May 1916).

Hope this helps,

Stuart

[MParnham]

Hi Martin,

I have been through my files and have found a fairly close match to your great uncle:

Pte. George P. Taylor, 6059/332800, 1/9th HLI

Pte. Harry Hawkshaw, 6075/332816, 1/9th HLI

On the SWB roll, Pte. Harry Hawkshaw's enlistment date is given as 17th May 1916. This would infer that George Taylor enlisted around mid-May 1916 (almost certainly no later than mid-May 1916).

Hope this helps,

Stuart

It certainly does! Using the war diary I can now report to the family about the actions he was probably involved in. My mother is keen his memory and sacrifice should not be forgotten. His loss was keenly felt, the family could not understand why no body was found, his father in particular made huge efforts to find information – but to no avail. I don’t think they could have imagined the mayhem and destruction of this battle. I can clearly remember a large photo of him hanging in pride of place in his sister’s sitting room.

Many thanks Stuart

Martin