Niall Cox Posted 28 September , 2003 Share Posted 28 September , 2003 I was at the PRO/NA recently looking at the WW1 Royal Navy medal rolls for a man who died in 1916, and in the column marked 'issued/disposed of' his had 'Ww'. Now there were lots of different abbreviations is this column, some indicating the name of the ship that the medals were sent to if the man was still serving, but most were a mystery to me. It seemed that 'Ww' was always against the name of men who died, but then again, some men who died had other things. I asked at the desk and was told that ''Ww probably meant Woolwich, but they had never been supplied with a key to these abbreviations' - a bit hard to believe I thought. So can anyone shed any light of these abbreviations - especially 'Ww' : 'Ww' 'S' 'WO' 'MR' 'F' 'FR' 'BR' 'By A.M.' [?by Air Mail], and just plain 'blank' Thanks Niall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jock Bruce Posted 28 September , 2003 Share Posted 28 September , 2003 Some guesses - Ww = Widow (i.e. sent to widow) Mr = Mother Fr = Father Br - Brother S = Sister By AM = issued by Air Ministry? (RNAS men who transfered to RAF ?) WO = issued by War Office ? Jock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niall Cox Posted 28 September , 2003 Author Share Posted 28 September , 2003 Thanks Jock The 'Woolwich' suggestion sent me off at a tangent and I was making heavy weather of what is much more obvious to a more logical brain! The man in question was indeed married, so 'widow' would have been appropriate. I'll go and sit in the corner for half an hour. All the best Niall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Underwood Posted 29 September , 2003 Share Posted 29 September , 2003 I asked at the desk and was told that ''Ww probably meant Woolwich, but they had never been supplied with a key to these abbreviations' - a bit hard to believe I thought. Given that the online brochure on Medal Rolls from the PRO's website on has this particular key...it's unlikely Cheers....Ian S. = Self FR. = Father MR. = Mother SR. = Sister W. = Wife WW. = Widow DR. = Daughter BR.= Brother GRDMR. = Grandmother GRDFR. = Grandfather GODFR. = Godfather GODMR. = Godmother ADMINR. = Administrator EXECR. = Executor ADMINX = Administratix EXECX. = Executrix C. of P. = Commissioner of Police A.M. = Issued to Air Ministry for disposal to man W.O. = Issued to War Office for disposal to man B.o.T. = Issued to Board of Trade for disposal to man By A.M.= Issued by Air Ministry (for service in RAF) By W.O. = Issued by War Office (for service in Army) By B.o.T. = Issued by Board of Trade (for service in the Merchant Service) F. = Forfeited (“R”(Run) or “D”(Discharged with Disgrace) normally a code or reason is given N.O....... = Navy Office Wellington etc. UNIV. LEG. = Universal Legatee D.N.D. Ottawa = Dept. Of National Defence Ottawa. RES.LEG. = Residual Legatee Nav.Rep. = Naval Representation, Commonwealth of Australia LEG.REP. = Legal Representative B.N.M. Athens = British Naval Mission to Greece D.R.I.M. = Director Royal Indian Marine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niall Cox Posted 29 September , 2003 Author Share Posted 29 September , 2003 Crikey Ian, I think that's just about as much as I could have ever expected. Actually I did try to have a look at the PRO leaflets, but couldn't access them over the weekend for some reason. Although why do I need the PRO website when I have you thanks Niall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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