Inaccurate MICs

[Guest]

Hi all,

I was wondering would anyone have an idea as to why my granduncles ranking on his MIC card does not match the ranking given by the war graves commission database. The war grave commission indicates a rank of Lance Corporal although on his MIC he is given a rank of Pte. He served with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers and died on March 21st 1918. A previous post by HarryBettsMCDCM said that the ranking on the cards indicates rank as of 11\11\1918. I have looked for a second card under the same regiment number but he doesn't seem to have two as I've heard is sometimes the case.

I'd be grateful of any help.

thanks in advance,

Damien.

[HarryBettsMCDCM]

The Rank on his Card is that he actually held,ie Private,however it appears that he died whilst holding the appointment{it is not a rank} of Lance Corporal,which was usually unpaid,hence his being recorded by the CWGC as L/Cpl,it is nothing to concern yourself with as this appointment was fluid & men were Acting L/Cpl; or L/Cpl;as need dictated.

It is probable that records on many documents,were they to survive,would be different,depending on the clerks responsible for updating the files @ the time.

[Guest]

Thanks for your reply. I'm afraid I'm going to need your patience on this one (sorry) but I don't really understand when you say {it is not a rank}. Is it that the appointment was not made official or that Lance Corporal is not a rank? I have a certificate belonging to my granduncle which reads somewhere along the lines of "This is to certify that....on active service to defend the liberty of his country on April 20th 1915......Private-Royal Dublin Fusiliers. Promoted Lance Corporal". If he entered service as Lance Corporal in April 1915 and remained Lance Corporal until he died in March 1918 should his MIC not indicate so. This is still new to me please excuse me if I'm showing blatant ignorance.

thanks,

Damien

[ChrisC]

Thanks for your reply. I'm afraid I'm going to need your patience on this one (sorry) but I don't really understand when you say {it is not a rank}. Is it that the appointment was not made official or that Lance Corporal is not a rank? I have a certificate belonging to my granduncle which reads somewhere along the lines of "This is to certify that....on active service to defend the liberty of his country on April 20th 1915......Private-Royal Dublin Fusiliers. Promoted Lance Corporal". If he entered service as Lance Corporal in April 1915 and remained Lance Corporal until he died in March 1918 should his MIC not indicate so. This is still new to me please excuse me if I'm showing blatant ignorance.

thanks,

Damien

As a sometime Acting, unpaid, unwanted, Lance Corporal. I'll try to explain.

The Army has several types of "rank".

If you have a rank and are paid for it and it can only be taken from you by some kind of disciplinary process, this is called SUBSTANSIVE RANK.

However, there are occasions when for operational or administrative reasons one is awarded ACTING rank. This can be PAID or UNPAID and has to do with the headcount of the battalion or company or the need to put someone in charge of something. Much like in civvy street, you can do "higher grade" work and may or may not be paid for it.

It could be that the promotion was to ACTING rank and at the end of the particular responsiblity, he reverted to Private. This information would probably - I stand to be corrected - on the Service Record, the majority of which are lost.

As HarryBettsDCM said, it's no big deal. I know LCpls who went up and down like yoyos!

Hope this helps

Chris C

[Guest]

That's cleared things up for me thanks Chris. I know it's no big deal and can imagine that LCpls went up and down like yoyos. I just thought it was interesting (and possibly unusual?) for a soldier to hold what I now know is called an acting rank for so long. I thought an acting rank would have been a more temporary appointment. I guess it's that he moved between private and acting LCpl on/off over the 3 years as needed and then died while he held the acting rank of LCpl.

thanks for all the help,

Damien.

[ChrisC]

Glad to have been of help. It can be complicated. I think I heard of an officer in WW1 who was substansive Lieutenant, Acting Major, Local Lt. Colonel!!

Not sure if that's true though.