Medal Rolls books.***SPECIAL OFFER***

[Owen D]

EDIT SEE POST #18 FOR UPDATED NEWS

Just to let you know The Wardrobe have produced these books.

Having already published, this year, the battalion war diary transcripts for both our regiments for World War 1 (14 books) and World War 2 (9 books), here are ten further volumes.

The museum purchased copies of the World War 1 medal rolls for the Royal Berkshire Regiment and the Wiltshire Regiment from the National Archives and volunteers have transcribed them, which we now present in a printed format.

We have tried to present the data in as useful a format as possible. For instance, the 1914 and 1914/15 Star rolls are in both name order and within date of disembarkation.

This latest series of books completes a major publishing tranche for us and we hope that they will be well received and used.

All the World War 1 medal rolls for the Royal Berkshire Regiment and the Wiltshire Regiment are now available.

There are five volumes for each regiment;

1914 Star

1914/15 Star

British War Medal part 1

British War Medal part 2

Silver War Badge

The Territorial Force War Medal has been included with the British War Medal, volume 4.

For the 'Star' rolls we have presented the information in name order and in disembarkation date order.

The Silver War Badge volumes have an additional part with the records listed in Silver War Badge number order.

This has been another major project for us and we hope you will find the results useful.

https://www.ds-secure.co.uk/thewardrobe/pro....php?sect_id=20

[chaz]

sure there must be an opportunity for a cd there??

[Owen D]

sure there must be an opportunity for a cd there??

They were worried it would be pirated and they'd lose potential income plus the cost of aking one.

I did start a thread awhile ago canvassing for opinions but only got a limited response.(one reply)

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/i...c=48659&hl=

[chaz]

in all honesty the price of books is off putting, and Ive got a cupboard (wardrobe) full of various books, nowadays I prefer the ease of cd's and the ability and quickness to do a quick search. take note of Bomber Command losses, it covers 5 years on one cd.

when you move house as often as I do it costs money to move stuff that you only ever read once...

regarding the loss of potential income, from books , I would probably wait a couple of years and find one at a car boot sale or at a militaria fair. So in effect its allready lost my income and if say a library had a copy I wouldnt buy anyway. Not being negative or anything but it would be cheaper for me to bring my Wilts regt bits in the car and come down anyway.

the trouble with threads on forums, is old members would only see the thread if they picked up a Wilts regt item and new members like myself would probably not pick up unless they do a search, then its just as lazy to start a new thread.

I am a member of 4 or 5 motorcycle forums and the ammount of times I see 'my bike wont start' is amazing but the newbies cant/wont search, wheras if they did they would get their questions answered and the senior members wouldnt get fed up reading/writing the same thing.

BTW , the cost of producing is negligable, 20p for a cd, 5p for a case. just needs someone's time to sit at a computer , which presumably is where the data is stored anyway, and transfer it. Surely there are retired members of the Wardrobe who could do this. This then would give a proportionally better profit margain.

[Owen D]

chaz

can you contact The Wardrobe with your thoughts?

as they really need the feedback.

I was up for a set pre-publication but then I saw the price.

A full set for Wilts Regt would cost £125 .

I've got all the War diaries WW1 & 2 but dunno if finaces will stretch to these.

Pity really.

[chaz]

Owen, Ive sent you a PM, Its long but , well see for yourself.

chaz

[mac]

Chaps

I am one of the volunteers at the Wardrobe in Salisbury, although I must say I am not one of those who have spent the best part of several years putting this stuff together under the ‘lash’ of the curator. The amount of work that has gone into this project goes of the scale I can tell you. I agree with the comments above about the cost, but having seen the product I think they are worth their weight in gold in terms of research. As for putting them on CD, the pirating issue looms large. The Museum in this day and age has to be run in a business like way; they have to pay their way with limited resources, so they have to come up with ever innovative ways of raising revenue. A similar amount of work went into getting the war diaries transcribed and put onto the Museum Website. I can tell you that a fair number of people have taken advantage of this ‘Free’ service to enhance the values of medal collections. I don’t have a problem with that, you get what information you can from wherever you can, but from a business/revenue point of view it was not a very sensible thing to do. This is all slowly being rectified, not to make the curator a millionaire, but for the museum to simply stay alive. All this is positive stuff because as far as I am aware this museum under the leadership of David Chilton is the only one carrying out these type of projects, and I know others are in the pipeline. I have been carrying out a photographic project for the museum (Nearly finished, thank god) which will end up with 2 photographic books on the R/Berks, 2 on the Wilts Regt, and 1 on the Duke of Edinburgh’s (The modern regiment). None of this would happen without the total support of the curator and other volunteers who double check and proof read (Which I can assure you I need). If anyone one out there has the answer to stuff being pirated from CDs I am certain David Chilton will be all ears, this type of material lends itself to that format, and I suspect would be easier to produce. Despite this I think the curator should be given a pat on the back for these initiatives which more than help to enhance the knowledge of two superb county regiments.

Cheers

MAC

[chaz]

Mac, will pm with letter I sent to Owen

[Owen D]

Mac

I will get them one-day it's just so far this year I've bought ALL the Wilts WW1 Diaries, ALL the Wilts WW2 Diaries, YOUR book, the 1st Wilts book by Edwin Astill, the two books by the WW2 veterans.

As well as moved house, and have 3 small children.

I just can't stretch to another £125 just yet.

[Graham Stewart]

Mac,

General query really as I just noted this post and had a look at what has been produced. Cost apart, which considering the size and content of a Medal Roll Book isn't that bad, I noted that it has been done in what I presume is alphabetical order. As a Medal Roll Book reader this isn't the original format of a M.R.B., and although it's obvious why you did it alphabetically, what you have done is eliminate the ability of researchers to determine a possible date of enlistment, which would be beyond your normal purchaser.

For instance you probably have this arrangement;-

Alpha, A. - 12345

Bravo, B. - 2468

Charlie, C. - 35791

Delta, D. - 56789.

Which although brilliant for Joe Soap, doesn't work for the likes of me as the numbers can determine an enlistment date. Plus in regimental numerical order they are often found in Battalion groups, again which can be a great help to a researcher. Was it ever considered that by doing it alphabetically it would create a problem in the research field?

Graham.

[chaz]

one of my original points regarding cd, they are easily accessed any way you want alphabetically, numerically at the press of two keys and you can take it to work or to the grave side if you want

[Owen D]

From The Wardrobe.

For instance, the 1914 and 1914/15 Star rolls are in both name order and within date of disembarkation.

in name order and in Silver War Badge order,

At least this information is now available.

Maybe not perfect but better than nothing.

[6th Shropshires]

£125 is very cheap when you think about how much it would cost to get them records your self, I know as I am in the process of getting the K.S.L.I. rolls, I could have gone on a nice holiday somewhere hot with nice beachs, a clear sea................, several times over with the money I have spent on medal rolls

Annette

[mac]

Gents/Ladies

Some excellent points raised, which I cannot answer at this point, but next time I go to the museum I will speak to the curator and try to get some answers and report back. An example is the Royal Berkshire Regiment 1914 Star (Officers and soldiers) book Volume one. It is in Alphabetical order. Firstly all the officers, followed by the other ranks. In each case it is followed up with an appendix with the same men listed on the day they landed in France. (Similar for Wilts Regt)

Graham, you are quite right it does cause a problem for those searching by regimental numbers. Having said that the Data has now been captured so I suspect it could be put together in the way you describe. (I must be careful here, as I am a Volunteer observer, not a decision maker)

Volume two repeats the above this time with the 1914-15 Star (Officers and Soldiers)

Volume Three (Part 1) Covers the British War Medal (Officers and soldiers A to I)

Volume Four (Part 2) covers the British War Medal J to Z, plus the Territorial Force War Medal.

Volume five is the Silver War Badge list in Alphabetical order with the 2nd Section showing the same men but in Silver War Badge numbered order.

I am sure now this massive amount of work has been done, it will be developed in such a way as to enable the information to go to those that want their little bit of the jig saw puzzle, such as ‘What did uncle Fred get’.

Those that are carrying out similar tasks know only to well the amount of work and effort that goes into this type of project. (This one covered 13 battalions). Unless I’m mistaken I am not aware of any regimental museum in the country having carried out a similar exercise. As a consequence the learning curve for the Museum is very, very steep, so the comments that are being raised are very valid and the museum would be most unwise not to take on board what’s being said. As I said above I have not been directly involved as I have the attention span of a rather drunk hamster. These lists require people who have the ability to trawl through list after list, and then do something with it.

The Curator is out of play this week as he is playing at the Old Sarum, 90 Anniversary events. So I will report back when he lands back into the mothership at the Wardrobe, from Mars!!!

Cheers

MAC

[MelPack]

Hello Mac

I would like to congratulate the Wardrobe and all the volunteers for the superb work that they have done.

I have bought various publications and CDs from the museum to help with my research on my grandfather's service with the regiment in WW1 and have never been disappointed.

I can fully appreciate that the Medal Rolls are a good investment at a reasonable price (especially given the amount of work that the project required) for the committed researcher with a specialist interest in the Berkshires.

It does strike me, however, that given that one of the objectives of the project is to generate income for the museum then why not offer a bespoken service for the individual seeking information about a relative or a medal collector (as you say seeking to enhance the value of their collection) and charge a flat rate of £2-3.00?

If the approximate dates of service can be deduced from the Medal Rolls (leaving aside the SWBs) then that could be used to point the enquirer to the printed Battalion diaries and possibly generate further sales.

Just a few thoughts. In any event, congratulations again.

Regards

Mel

[Owen D]

Mel,

Archive enquiries to The Wardrobe are here on their website.

http://www.thewardrobe.org.uk/archive.php3

[chaz]

Message to all, strike early in the morning and catch the enemy off guard....

well not really..

We had to take the eldest to Salisbury hospital for an operation today, on the way back saw the signs for the 90th Somme 'do' at Old Sarum. Unfortunately too early to catch the re-enactments apart from a handful of soldiers practising drill.

But, we did manage to catch David 'the curator' and had a long chat.

there was a set of roll books to browse through so he can answer questions without being totally confined to the laptop.

Few points raised and David put his points.

As a result it seems that these are generally for the collector or serious historian, someone like myself, only wanting to check up on one relative or the odd medal acquisition might as well carry on asking at the Wardrobe and passing over a donation.

The piracy of cd's is the main stumbling block but as David says if you are that desperate or sad then buy the books and photograph them yourself.

The records (diary) will probably be going 'pay per view' in the near future as I can understand that it costs money to get put on the web so along with the NA and other online records its the way to go.

That said, Ive ordered the first set from him !! there is no fixed price yet and there may be an incentive to buy 'the set' rather than the odd one. P&P would be around £10+ so will be hopefully picking mine up next week when we are back down the hospital.

they do look useful and in various order of reference.

One relation found so far!!

[Owen D]

From The Wardrobe.

http://www.thewardrobe.org.uk/news.php?id=77

Full sets of Regimental medal rolls are now available at a reduced rate.

They WILL NOT be brought out on CD-ROM.

Approx 20000 men per Regiment listed.

As The Curator said, try buying that many index cards from the NA. See how much that costs.

[mac]

Chaps

As promised I am reporting back, although Owen and Chaz have given all the answers. The Curator has been 'Trench raided' by Owen, Chaz and others and I can reaassure you that David Chilton has taken all the comments on board. Cost is a major factor, but the real point is the information is now assessable and the work will continue to get it into a format so people can get the information they require without taking out a morgage. The one thing that is certian is the information will not be placed on a CD for the reasons as outlined above. On the plus side there are a number of other priojects lined up within the Museum so the story is not yet complete.

OWEN...Saw the DERR picture, excellent stuff I must say, I'm afraid it dosn't fit what I am doing for the DERR book, but I did see a copy in the Museum on Friday (I assume you sent them a copy), I was going to ask for one for the Regimental Archives.

Keep up the good work

Cheers

MAC