Service Numbers

[Guest Weimar]

My great-grandfather served in the 8th Yorkshire as part of the 23rd Division and was awarded the military medal in recogniton for taking and holding a German machine gun post.

The award of the medal was gazetted on 17 December 1917 and based on this the family had understood that action for which he was recognised occured during the 3rd Battle of Ypres.

However, recently the note to my great-grandfather signed by Maj.Gen Babbington telling my great-grandfather his bravery would be recognised has come to light. This note refers to my grat grandfather's bravery on 7th June 1917 which I think means that the action occured during the battle of Messines rather than Paschendale.

However the service numbers on the note and in the London Gazette are different. In the note his number is 15739 and in the Gazette it is 16739. It's possible he was promoted between the time of the note and the entry into the Gazette but can anyone tell me if it's usual for service numbers to change in this way.

[Michael]

I suspect it is an error rather than a number change.

If it is Thomas Young, the index cards for both his MM and service medals shows 16739

Mick

[HarryBettsMCDCM]

Especially if typewritten,5 & 6 are next to each other on the QWERTY keyboard,& that combined with a clerks pudgy digits,errors were often made.