Help with an inscription

[Michael Pegum]

I need help with an inscription, please. The one below is on the WW I section of the war memorial in Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The name of Corporal E. K. Coulter, R.P.A. appears in the section “Other Units in British Expeditionary Force”. In this context, that means not a member of any Irish Regiment, and not Canadian, etc. Letters after a name on this memorial may indicate a decoration or a regiment/corps.

Problem 1. What does R.P.A. mean?

Problem 2. Who was Cpl. E. K. Coulter? I can’t find him on the C.W.G.C. website, even with everything “Unknown” except World War I.

Hope you can solve this. Michael

[chaz]

not on sdgw or mic either.

know a Irish Woolsley Coulter races bikes and Aussie Matt Coulter who stunt rides quads amongst others.

If its any use I also found a H J Dundas who was a Driver in the R P A.

the African Tutsi Rebel army or Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) seems to have been a 1970's force unless its anything to do with the Rationalist Press Association could have been a reporter.

[Michael Pegum]

If its any use I also found a H J Dundas who was a Driver in the R P A.

Thanks, chaz. Where did you find H. J. Dundas? The name isn't on C.W.G.C.

Michael

[drumberny]

I need help with an inscription, please. The one below is on the WW I section of the war memorial in Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The name of Corporal E. K. Coulter, R.P.A. appears in the section “Other Units in British Expeditionary Force”. In this context, that means not a member of any Irish Regiment, and not Canadian, etc. Letters after a name on this memorial may indicate a decoration or a regiment/corps.

Problem 1. What does R.P.A. mean?

Problem 2. Who was Cpl. E. K. Coulter? I can’t find him on the C.W.G.C. website, even with everything “Unknown” except World War I.

Hope you can solve this. Michael

[drumberny]

I've just bumped into your correspondence about Corporal EKCoulter RPA named on the Enniskillen War Memorial.

I am a volunteer in Inniskilling Regimental Museum in Enniskillen and I have recently started to research all the names on the war memorial. I have not yet reached Coulter's name and I imagine I am going to be in difficulties with "RPA". I wonder did you ever resolve the question and if so I would be delighted to hear from you. Would you have learned anything else about the man?

Regards, Clive.

[David B]

Michael,

Had a look through a militar acronym site and apart from many other reasons for RPA, one stuck out and it was

Reserve Personnel, Army.

Could have this been the meaning ?

David

[KevinBattle]

What about

Name: KANE

Initials: E

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Gunner

Regiment/Service: Royal Field Artillery

Unit Text: 24th Bty., 38th Bde.

Age: 28

Date of Death: 24/11/1917

Service No: 57996

Additional information: Son of Eliza Coulter, of Tatnafree, Brookeborough, Co. Fermanagh.

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: XII. B. 22.

Cemetery: TYNE COT CEMETERY

The EK could be the E Kane, and I assume Brookeborough is not too far from Enniskillen?

Could the RPA actually be a misread of RFA by the mason?

[janecavell]

Could the RPA actually be a misread of RFA by the mason?

I wondered that too, Kevin. A search of the online London Gazette for RPA yields several results, but all the ones I checked were in fact OCR errors for RFA.

Jane

P.S. and your E. Kane sounds like a good candidate for E.K. Coulter too. Good detective work!

[Michael Pegum]

Reserve Personnel, Army sounds reasonable, but why is it so rare? Large numbers of soldiers who had served their time were recalled.

As for an error by the mason, the only other similar designations on this section of the memorial ("Other units in the B.E.F." i.e. not Irish regiments) were in corps: R.A.M.C., R.A.O.C., R.E.). Of course, the R.F.A., R.G.A. and R.H.A. were corps, not regiments, so it might be right, though I doubt if an error would not have been repaired. The whole text of the inscription can be seen at Enniskillen Great War Memorial on the 'Text of the memorial and further information' .pdf document.

The identification as E. Kane looks good, but his rank was gunner. Even if there is an error in the rank on the CWGC list, but he was in the artillery, wouldn't he have been called a bombardier on the memorial, not a corporal? The area would include Brookeborough, by the way; Coulter is (or was) quite a frequent name, as there are four others of that name on this memorial.

I don't think I am any wiser (or more knowledgeable).

Michael

[headgardener]

'Reserve personnel, Army' sounds very unlikely to me. Has anyone here ever heard of it before? Sounds like a much more recent abbreviation than WW1, too....

My suggestions;

Maybe it's someone who didn't serve abroad, and was with a quasi-military unit that was thought worthy of commemoration i.e. a cadet corps, some kind of local volunteer group, or a local volunteer police body.

Maybe it's a mis-spelling of RFA. You'd have thought someone would have sorted it out years ago, but that might be assuming too much.

Next step;

Check deaths in Ireland for the period 1914-1919 or 1920. Did anyone with this name die? If not, try deaths in the rest of the UK for the same period. Next, try to find a birth certificate for someone with this name, see what comes up and see if that takes you anywhere.

Does that name appear on another local memorial?

[David B]

Michael,

A bombardier is a Lance Corporal next step up Corporal, according to my g/fathers paybook.

David

[headgardener]

A bombardier is a Lance Corporal next step up Corporal, according to my g/fathers paybook.

Gunner, Lance-Bombadier, Bombadier, Sergeant, is how it goes......

[KevinBattle]

What about local newspaper archives for Casualty Lists, or Church baptism, marriage records etc?

The War Memorial must have had Names submitted to a committee, so are there any records with the Council?

[drumberny]

What about local newspaper archives for Casualty Lists, or Church baptism, marriage records etc?

The War Memorial must have had Names submitted to a committee, so are there any records with the Council?

I'm really glad I put the cat among the pigeons by re-opening the correspondence and I thank you all for you suggestions. I have already started trawling through the microfilms of our three local papers at the library and I will keep Kane/Coulter to the front of my mind as I continue. I have been discussing the RPA with local Legion men and museum volunteers including a former museum curator who was instrumental in adding the WW11 names to the memorial. No one ever noticed it before.

Clive Johnston

[David B]

Headgardener,

Slightly pre war but the pay book says Appointed A/Bombardier (a provisional rank), Promoted Bombardier, Promoted Corporal, Promoted Sergeant etc etc

David

[headgardener]

Headgardener,

Slightly pre war but the pay book says Appointed A/Bombardier (a provisional rank), Promoted Bombardier, Promoted Corporal, Promoted Sergeant etc etc

David

Actually, I've just realised that you're right. Though it's a bit of an odd situation; Bdr at that time was the equivalent to the RE rank of 2/Cpl, which is essentially a L/Cpl (they only have one stripe, just like a L/Cpl). It's unique to the artillery. So, at that time it went Gnr, L/Bdr, Bdr, Cpl, Sgt, just as it says in your paybook.

I believe that this rank structure changed after the end of WW1, so we're both right, but you were more right than me in this instance......!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm just off to enjoy a slice of humble pie.....

[drumberny]

I have finally reached this man in my research of the names on Enniskillen's War Memorial.

Here is my answer:

This was 57996 Gunner Edward Kane Royal Field Artillery (RFA) killed in action 24 Nov 1917. 1901 Irish Census records show Edward Coulter, 11 years, living at Tattinfree, Brookeborough. He was son of James and Eliza Coulter. His maternal grandmother Ellen Kane was living with the family. It is reasonable to assume he adopted her name when he enlisted.

My work has uncovered many, many other mistakes on the memorial and this has complicated my research a lot.

Clive

[KevinBattle]

Wow! Glad to hear that at least one of the unintended errors has been resolved!

Pleased that I was lucky enough to find what was the missing link.

I hope you have been able to track down the source records, and perhaps it was just down to florid style of handwriting?

Makes it all worthwhile <sigh>