Major Lewis Forsyth Allan R.G.A

[TWSRGA]

Major L.F.Allan commanded 117 Heavy Battery R.G.A. when they were posted to F & F in April 1916. He was still in command on 31/1/1917. Does anyone have any further info regarding his service both before and after the dates given.

I will welcome any scrap of info.

Stan

[rflory]

Major L F Allan, RGA

Lieutenant, Donegal, Artillery (Militia) RGA on 1 Dec 97

Served in the South African War from 1900 to 1902

Commandant, Modder River from 4 Apr 01 to 30 May 01

Took part in operations in Cape Colony and the Transvaal from 9 Mar 02 to 30 May 02

Awarded the QSA with 3 clasps and the KSA with 2 clasps

Captain, Doengal Arty (Militia) 6 Jun 00

From 21 July 02 to sometime in 1908 he served as Assistant Resident Magistrate, Transvaal

In 1908 he transferred as a Captain to the Donegal Royal Field Reserve Artillery with a date of rank of 7 Nov 00

During the Great War he served as OC, 117 Heavy Battery, RGA from 1916-1917 and from 1917 to 1918 was OC of a POW camp.

MiD, LG 18 May 17 and O St. Stanislas, 3rd Class with Swords (Russia)

Promoted to Major, Reserve of Officers on 24 May 16

Regards. Gunner 1

[sotonmate]

Stan

I looked in WO374 at the NA and there are no Major L F ALLANs listed,here it is possible to find a service record,and in WO339 there are only two unspecified officers,with no matching initials, under the name of L.ALLAN, No 51058 and No 111505. These are the file numbers not the officer's number.

You may like to make your own search in these sections of the KEW records.

Best wishes

Sotonmate

[TWSRGA]

Major L F Allan, RGA

Lieutenant, Donegal, Artillery (Militia) RGA on 1 Dec 97

Served in the South African War from 1900 to 1902

Commandant, Modder River from 4 Apr 01 to 30 May 01

Took part in operations in Cape Colony and the Transvaal from 9 Mar 02 to 30 May 02

Awarded the QSA with 3 clasps and the KSA with 2 clasps

Captain, Doengal Arty (Militia) 6 Jun 00

From 21 July 02 to sometime in 1908 he served as Assistant Resident Magistrate, Transvaal

In 1908 he transferred as a Captain to the Donegal Royal Field Reserve Artillery with a date of rank of 7 Nov 00

During the Great War he served as OC, 117 Heavy Battery, RGA from 1916-1917 and from 1917 to 1918 was OC of a POW camp.

MiD, LG 18 May 17 and O St. Stanislas, 3rd Class with Swords (Russia)

Promoted to Major, Reserve of Officers on 24 May 16

Regards. Gunner 1

Thank you for the background info.

I am particularly interested in the period when 117HB RGA was in training and posted to Upper Sheringham. This would cover the period in late 1914 to April 1916 when they went to F & F. Was he the CO during this period? Again thanks

Stan

[TWSRGA]

Stan

I looked in WO374 at the NA and there are no Major L F ALLANs listed,here it is possible to find a service record,and in WO339 there are only two unspecified officers,with no matching initials, under the name of L.ALLAN, No 51058 and No 111505. These are the file numbers not the officer's number.

You may like to make your own search in these sections of the KEW records.

Best wishes

Sotonmate

Thanks for the info. I will keep this for future ref

Stan

[Guest]

I'm sorry that a decade has elapse until GOOGLE led me to this thread.  I'm able to supply wider (if perhaps not deeper?) information about Major Lewis Forsyth Allan, as he was my great-grand-uncle.  The information that RFlory posted is correct.  L F Allan (29 November 1865-6 April 1947) stayed in South Africa after the SAf War for the rest of his life, save for his service in the RGA in the Great War.  All 3 of his sons served also as officers in the RGA; one, George Awburn Allan (one of 3 grandsons named for their grandfather) was KIA as a forward observer in Jan. 1916.  His brothers stayed in the Army after the war.   One was in the Indian Army until Independence; the other was formally in the Royal Artillery, but in actuality was a Russian language officer in MI-6 (and who was the father-in-law of George Blake, the Soviet 'mole.')  L F Allan was a barrister, and was Mayor of Johannesburg in 1922.  He was from a 'service' family:  his father, G.A.A., was a plant manager in, and ultimately mayor of, Wallsend-upon-Tyne, Northumberland.  He was the son of Thomas A., who moved to Newcastle from Morebattle, just barely over the border.  G.A.A. and the owner of the works he managed, Ashton Potter, founded the first artillery Volunteer Corps in Newcastle when the Volunteers were authorized.  L F Allan served in the Artillery Volunteers before transferring, as noted above, to the Donegal Artillery.  His brothers Robert Edward Allan (my great-grandfather) and Thomas Allan served in the 1st Newcastle and Durham Engineer Volunteer Corps.  A 3rd brother, Geo. Awburn A. jr., also served in the Volunteers.  And their sister Alice Helena A., ws awarded the Royal Red Cross, First Class, for service in the Great War in the Territorial Forces Nursing Service, including on the torpedoed Hospital Ship ASTURIAS.  "Lena" Allan stayed in the TFNS until the late 30's, retiring with rank equivalent to Major, tho' before that was spelled out officially.  L F Allan died in S Africa; his sons upon leaving the Army lived in the UK.   I found it interesting that one of his sons was in Signals Intelligence, since my late father Capt. Joseph Finnegan USN was a Japanese language officer who spent WW II in cryptanalysis at Pearl Harbor and while seconded to the new Central Intelligence Agency 1947-50 was involved in negotiating the US-UK agreement on sharing signals intelligence.  So far as I knew they never met.  The Allans not only served, they emigrated far:  Besides L F Allan in South Africa, my great-grandfather served in the Northwest Mounted Police in what later became Saskatchewan, before moving to San Francisco, where his brother Thomas (a naval architect) already lived.  My remark about wider vs. deeper is because I don't think I have any additional details of his Great War service.  The Russian decoration mentioned above (and a ribbon for which I inherited, he having sent it to his brother in SF) apparently had nothing to do with Russian service;  I'm told that the Russians would given their Allies a quota of decorations to award to deserving officers, to be selected by the Allied command.

[Guest]

Gregory, I was very interested to read your notes on Lewis Forsyth Allan and family. LFA was my grandfather, and my father was Arthur John Williams Allan, his second son. In 1919 my father served in the Knox Expedition in Siberia, which involved transporting  a large number of horses  3,000+ miles by rail, from Vladladivostok to the town of Omsk. 6 members of the Northwest Mounted Police accompanied the horses which were delivered to the Cossack troops in the White Russian army.

Since you and I are obviously related and  could well have a common interest in sharing notes, I will be happy to hear from you, as soon as possible became I am over 85!