Army Veterinary Corps

[roger_simpson]

I'm trying to find out more about my Grandfather Thomas Alfred Simpson (b1879). I've found his MIC and have one of his medals. His regiment number is given as SE 4592 on his medal which refers to the Army Vetinary Corps. however I don't know what the SE stands for. Does any one know?

The info on his MIC is:- Theatre of war (1) France and the qualifiying date is 21/05/15

He later was transferred to the West Riding Regiment no 26004. I don't have any other information. He survived the war and there was some family talk of him being affected by gassing although I wonder if this is possible if we was behind the lines working with the horses(?).

It would be great to find his army record but I doubt that it still exists now. I would like to learn more about where he served etc but I don't know where to start because I don't know how to find his section, batallion etc As you may have guessed by now I'm new to the forum and WW1 research. Is there anyone who can give me a few pointers?

Many thanks

[DavidMillichope]

Hi

Yes, this sort of thing can be really frustrating. I have a grandfather who likewise was in the Veterinary Corps. Each division had its own "mobile veterinary Unit" so there is no obvious local connection to tie in with place of birth/residence. This leaves you stumling around with very indirect clues to give a "best guess" solution which rely on tenuous assumptions.

Do you have any idea of when he might have been gassed ?

Do you know of the nearest regimental barracks to his place of residence ( where he might have enlisted )

Did his family ever mention any place names ?

I don't know how reliable this is but you could check which divisions contained West Riding Battalions. He may have transfered within a division in which case you could check which mobile Vet Unit was allocated to that division.

Have you tried Army pensions ?

Another approach is to go through the service numbers either side of your grandfather's ( say 30 either side) and check with any fatalities. There may be a pattern. Fatalities will be in the Commonwealth War Graves Commision database and might tell you what unit they were in. It's hard work, isn't an exact science and to be honest I've never found anything particularly helpful this way, but it's a possibility.

[roger_simpson]

Hi

Yes, this sort of thing can be really frustrating. I have a grandfather who likewise was in the Veterinary Corps. Each division had its own "mobile veterinary Unit" so there is no obvious local connection to tie in with place of birth/residence. This leaves you stumling around with very indirect clues to give a "best guess" solution which rely on tenuous assumptions.

Do you have any idea of when he might have been gassed ?

Do you know of the nearest regimental barracks to his place of residence ( where he might have enlisted )

Did his family ever mention any place names ?

I don't know how reliable this is but you could check which divisions contained West Riding Battalions. He may have transfered within a division in which case you could check which mobile Vet Unit was allocated to that division.

Have you tried Army pensions ?

Another approach is to go through the service numbers either side of your grandfather's ( say 30 either side) and check with any fatalities. There may be a pattern. Fatalities will be in the Commonwealth War Graves Commision database and might tell you what unit they were in. It's hard work, isn't an exact science and to be honest I've never found anything particularly helpful this way, but it's a possibility.

Hi

Yes, this sort of thing can be really frustrating. I have a grandfather who likewise was in the Veterinary Corps. Each division had its own "mobile veterinary Unit" so there is no obvious local connection to tie in with place of birth/residence. This leaves you stumling around with very indirect clues to give a "best guess" solution which rely on tenuous assumptions.

Do you have any idea of when he might have been gassed ?

Do you know of the nearest regimental barracks to his place of residence ( where he might have enlisted )

Did his family ever mention any place names ?

I don't know how reliable this is but you could check which divisions contained West Riding Battalions. He may have transfered within a division in which case you could check which mobile Vet Unit was allocated to that division.

Have you tried Army pensions ?

Another approach is to go through the service numbers either side of your grandfather's ( say 30 either side) and check with any fatalities. There may be a pattern. Fatalities will be in the Commonwealth War Graves Commision database and might tell you what unit they were in. It's hard work, isn't an exact science and to be honest I've never found anything particularly helpful this way, but it's a possibility.

Many thanks for your ideas. I think I'll have to do a bit more digging around. I've got a cousin who is trying to locate a picture of him on the battlefield that he says he's got somewhere!. Perhaps that might give me a clue!!