Regimental numbering

[Muerrisch]

Raises its ugly head again!

Some regiments, RWF for example, blithely continued all their pre-war series, so that the regulars series quietly went on for the service battalions, and the SR and TF also continued their own. No prefixes were used, so we have a glorious b*****s muddle.

On the other hand, as the current thread: Enrolment as a Regular, Possible during the war, especially towards the end? demonstrates, Home Counties regiments started new series with various prefixes, decidedly helpful.

Others obeyed the instruction to use, for example 3/ for SR.

Question is, to you experts on individual regiments, who did what?

[Graham Stewart]

Northumberland Fusiliers and Durham Light Infantry from Northern Command. Also believe other Northern Command units followed suite. A way to help you out is use the on-line MIC's, type in the unit i.e. "Royal Scots" and then 3/, 4/ and so on so that all SR & TF units are included, plus in some cases Service Bn's. That way you should get some form of result.

Graham.

[Muerrisch]

thanks .... hadn't thought of that.

[Stebie9173]

Northamptonshires did same as RWF. Continuance of pre-war numbers. No. 12,000 approx at outbreak, 13 to 15000 in Aug-Sep 1914, 17000 by early 1915, 20000 by end of 1915, 25000 by mid 1916, 30000 by end of 1916. There also seems to have been a group of numbers used for men transferring into the battalion starting somewhere in the 40000s.

Pre-war SR men had 3/ (this petered out around 11000).

TF had one seperate series for 1 "battalion" (split into 1/ and 2/), so not such a muddle as other Regiments.

I would be interested to see how many "standard" county regiments (in this case, 2 Regular Batts, 1 SR, 3 Service Batts & 1 2nd Rsv) followed this pattern.

Steve.

[Muerrisch]

Thank you: come on you Pals, let us know about your lot!

[Guest mruk]

This numbering lark confuses the heck out of me, but the early indications for the 10th West Yorks suggest the following in terms of recruitment:

10001-10099 [Leeds]

11000-11999 [Mixed: Hull; York; Leeds; North East]

12000-12999 [Leeds]

13000-13999 [Mixed: Leeds; Harrogate; Bradford; Birmingham]

14000-14999 [Mixed]

15000-15999 [Mixed]

The range then moves from 16000-79999. This is also a mixed group, and there are also a few 4-digit and 6-digit numbers, the latter mostly drafts and casualties towards the end of the war, as well as a few 10th prefixes in the early days of recruitment. There are also a number of Bradford Pals [16th] who died serving with the 10th West Yorks. In all over one thousand men died, including fifty or so officers.

How do I go about filling in the gaps though, and making sense of the numbers. One method suggested, was a trawl through NA-MIC, and looking up numbers either side of the casualty, but all this throws up is men who may or may not have served with the 10th West Yorkshires. That's the problem. The 10th was such a disparate group in terms of recruiting, that it seems almost impossible to compile a list of those who served going down the NA-MIC route, and I'm not as fortunate as some in having a nominal roll at hand from which other names might be added, such as those printed for the locally-raised battalions in the early days of the war. The 9th, 10th and 11th battalions, for example, share similar numbers. Any tips would be gratefully appreciated.

Cheers,

Dave

[Muerrisch]

To get a firm stepping-off point, you need a feel for how far the regulars numbers had got by 4 August 1914, because it looks as if the W Yorks Service bns. carried on the regular series and allocated blocks to recruiting offices.

Early W Yorks casualties [via CWGC or Soldiers Died] should confirm this.

[John_Hartley]

Neither Cheshires nor Manchesters used a prefix and appear to have continued from the pre-war regular numbering, possibly with a smallish gap in the numbering block.

Cheshires allocation of numbers is chronological (and I can have a reasonable stab at recruitment periods up to about late 1915). Suggests that that blocks were not allocated to recruiting offices and there was some "sorting out" of a formal allocation afterwards.

Manchesters allocation is a mystery unto itself but I rather think that largish blocks of numbers were allocated to each service battalion, allowing later recruits (later = upto mid 1915) to be numbered in roughly the same block as their comrades.

John

[Muerrisch]

Thanks to all so far: seems a goodly number [!] carried on numbering.

[Chris]

Hi Grumpy

Jim Davies will be able to give you a better run down on the Lincolnshire's; but from memory (facts and figures not at hand), the regular (1st and 2nd) / new army battalions (6th, 7th, 8th) of the Lincolnshire's carried on the same numbering system. Mid to upper 9000's sees you at the outbreak of war, early 15000's takes you to Jan 1915. Interestingly the Grimsby Chums (10th and 11th Lincs) did start a new numbering system.

Hope of help, Jim is better at the numbering. Although like the Northants the 40000's seem to be used for transfers of various descriptions.

Chris

[jim_davies]

Chris has pretty much covered the Lincs numbering system as well as I ever could.

Appears to be some limited use of prefixs, mainly for the four digit numbers, presumably as some regular and special reserve men had the same number. Again some limited use of 6/, 7/ and 8/, but can't find any reason except to to show the battalion the man served with.

Problems start with the 20000 and 40000 ranges both of which appear to have been used out of order for men from the TF or other units.

[MelPack]

Hello Grumpy

I am not an expert on the numbering of the Royal Berks but I know a man who is:

http://www.purley.demon.co.uk/1-RBR/G1473numb.htm

Regards

Mel

[Graham Stewart]

On-line MIC pre-fix totals are;-

3/ = 39151

4/ = 16159

5/ = 13002

6/ = 7431

7/ = 6494

8/ = 6038

9/ = 5594

10/ = 6321

This is by no means accurate as it will pick up TR/10/***** etc., but it'd a starter.

While a further 21971 Northumberland Fusiliers have pre-fix numbers 16/ to 32/.

Graham.