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Remembered Today:

k.R.R.C Wiltshire Regiment


jewellr

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I was wondering if anyone could help in further research on the Wiltshire Regiment of the Kings Royal Rifle Corps. Although I have a regiment number etc for the family member I cannot seem to find any information about which battalion/division etc he was with and therefore am unable to research where he fought and which battles he took part in. I was therefore wondering if anyone had any information on where I could possibly obtain any such information. I have already obtained the medal service index card but am now stuck.

Name: Ernest Jewell

Rank: Private

Kings Royal Rifle Corps, Wiltshire Regiment

Later Queens own oxfordhire Hussars

Enlisted in 08/1915

Medals include SWB

Regimental number 0436

Service no. (?) R/14973

Any information welcomed!

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This would appear to be his Medal Index Card..

Medal card of Jewell, Ernest Robert

Corps Regiment No Rank

Wiltshire Regiment 0436 Private

Date 1914-1920

Catalogue reference WO 372/10

Link to it is Here

Downloading it costs £3.50 but it will help on the journey to discover more about his service, the link here http://www.1914-1918.net/grandad/grandad.htm will also help. From the online MIC it would appear that Ernest saw wartime 'overseas' service only with the Wiltshire Regiment.

Regards

Steve

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Looks like you will need to get the medal rolls from the MIC checked at the NA to hopefully find his battalion.

When you have that all the Wiltshire war diaries are available online

https://www.thewardrobe.org.uk/wardiary.php

Good luck

Glyn

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I was wondering if anyone could help in further research on the Wiltshire Regiment of the Kings Royal Rifle Corps.

Regimental number 0436

Service no. (?) R/14973

Welcome to the Forum jrs!

As you are probably by now aware, the Wiltshire Regiment is not part of the King's Royal Rifle Corps, which was not a "Corps" in the sense of the organisational unit between "Division" and "Army", but a large Regiment and completely separate to the Wiltshires.

It was based in Winchester at the Rifles Depot, which is not a million miles from Wiltshire, but, like the Guards and the Household Division, as well as its sister regiment, The Rifle Brigade (which wasn't a "Brigade" but another Regiment!), it recruited nationally.

The R/14973 Service Number you give is definitely a valid KRRC Service Number. It would have been allocated to a New Army man (i.e. a Kitchener volunteer) ... probably in the first half of 1915. The most likely battalion would be 13/KRRC. Later battalions switched to a different letter Prefix.

However I can find no MIC with that KRRC Service Number, nor the name Ernest Jewell also in the KRRC.

The only potential lead I could not eliminate immediately was Rfn Alfred E Jewell, R/19615, but that's only on the basis that the initial "E" could be Ernest. His Service Number is wrong for your Ernest of course!

Can you give us some idea why you think your relative has a connection with the KRRC before I dig any further? It looks from the research done by the other Pals, that Ernest was in the Wiltshires only - but you also say that you have the actual Medal Index Card image, so there may be more info on that than is showing up in the on-line MIC search tool ... which is not unusual - LOL!

As Steve says, it could be that Ernest transferred out of the KRRC to the Wiltshires before moving overseas, which would mean there would not be any reference to the KRRC on his MIC.

What is your source for the "R/14973" Service Number?

Finally, you mention that Ernest received the Silver War Badge. Do you have the badge number? One of the other KRRC specialists has the KRRC SWB Medal Roll and this could help speed up the research, though again, this would have been most likely awarded for injuries received in overseas service and therefore probably not with the KRRC.

Cheers,

Mark

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The reason for the reference to the K.R.R.C. is from his MIC. K.R.Rif C R/14793 Pte is actually written on the top of the MIC with a x relating it to his medals. His enlistment date is 10/8/15. Discharge date 27/2/1919. But we believe he was also with the Queens Own Oxfordshire Hussars towards this date, and in Ireland.

Welcome to the Forum jrs!

As you are probably by now aware, the Wiltshire Regiment is not part of the King's Royal Rifle Corps, which was not a "Corps" in the sense of the organisational unit between "Division" and "Army", but a large Regiment and completely separate to the Wiltshires.

It was based in Winchester at the Rifles Depot, which is not a million miles from Wiltshire, but, like the Guards and the Household Division, as well as its sister regiment, The Rifle Brigade (which wasn't a "Brigade" but another Regiment!), it recruited nationally.

The R/14973 Service Number you give is definitely a valid KRRC Service Number. It would have been allocated to a New Army man (i.e. a Kitchener volunteer) ... probably in the first half of 1915. The most likely battalion would be 13/KRRC. Later battalions switched to a different letter Prefix.

However I can find no MIC with that KRRC Service Number, nor the name Ernest Jewell also in the KRRC.

The only potential lead I could not eliminate immediately was Rfn Alfred E Jewell, R/19615, but that's only on the basis that the initial "E" could be Ernest. His Service Number is wrong for your Ernest of course!

Can you give us some idea why you think your relative has a connection with the KRRC before I dig any further? It looks from the research done by the other Pals, that Ernest was in the Wiltshires only - but you also say that you have the actual Medal Index Card image, so there may be more info on that than is showing up in the on-line MIC search tool ... which is not unusual - LOL!

As Steve says, it could be that Ernest transferred out of the KRRC to the Wiltshires before moving overseas, which would mean there would not be any reference to the KRRC on his MIC.

What is your source for the "R/14973" Service Number?

Finally, you mention that Ernest received the Silver War Badge. Do you have the badge number? One of the other KRRC specialists has the KRRC SWB Medal Roll and this could help speed up the research, though again, this would have been most likely awarded for injuries received in overseas service and therefore probably not with the KRRC.

Cheers,

Mark

The reason for the reference to the K.R.R.C. is from his MIC. K.R.Rif C R/14793 Pte is actually written on the top of the MIC with a x relating it to his medals. His enlistment date is 10/8/15. Discharge date 27/2/1919. But we believe he was also with the Queens Own Oxfordshire Hussars towards this date, and in Ireland. In addition, his SWB number is B prefixed 167535.
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