London Regiment

[Tom Tulloch-Marshall]

Can anybody suggest why men shown as 3/7th Bn London Regiment are appearing in a BW&V medal roll

regards - Tom

[Jock Bruce]

I know this spounds daft but could it be some sort of duty that involved 'day trips' to France e.g. escorting/guarding something/one on a ferry ?? Would this actually qualify them for medals?

Or are they shown as spending a period of time overseas?

Jock

[Tom Tulloch-Marshall]

I know this spounds daft but could it be some sort of duty that involved 'day trips' to France e.g. escorting/guarding something/one on a ferry ?? Would this actually qualify them for medals?

Jock - I suppose it would because they would have "entered a theatre of war on duty" - but somehow it doesnt feel right.

There's a string of them all showing 3/7th Londons, then 20th Bn Middx Regt, then on to some other Bn in the Middx. Nobody in the Middx service number sequence appears in SDITGW so I assume that these men went overseas very late in the war, probably after 20th Bn was reconstituted and returned to France in July 1918.

It may quite simply be that they were still 3/7th men when they went to France - their transfer didnt occur till sometime after their arrival, and therefore the records office noted the 3/7th Bn service as medal qualifying. "Technically" that might mean that references to 3/7th Londons being a home service reserve battalion throughout the war arent correct, - but ignoring that, I just wondered if anybody with knowledge of the 3/7th knew of a "proper" explanation.

regards - Tom

[Paul Reed]

Your assumption is correct. When they arrived at the Base, they were still 3/7th Londons. That only changed when they moved regiment as reinforcements. As the 3/7th was the unit they were with when they originally qualified for medals, that is why it is recorded.

[Charles Fair]

There's a string of them all showing 3/7th Londons, then 20th Bn Middx Regt, then on to some other Bn in the Middx.

.....

It may quite simply be that they were still 3/7th men when they went to France - their transfer didnt occur till sometime after their arrival, and therefore the records office noted the 3/7th Bn service as medal qualifying.

Tom - I recently went through the whole of the Middlesex Regt Rolls looking for 19th London Regt men and found exactly the same thing i.e. men shown as 3/19th.

I made exactly the same assumption, i.e. that they had reached the Infantry Base Depot (at Le Havre for 47 Div?) before being posted on to the Middx bn. Thanks for confirming my suspicions Paul.

I have been through the rolls of all the other bns of the London Regt and found many men whose service in France started with a few days with the 19th, before ending up with another bn (typically 1st, 3rd, 4th, 17th, 22nd, 24th Londons).

In most cases their overseas service with the 19th was from 3 days to 2 weeks, with some showing as little as 1 day - presumably the time they spent hanging around the IBD before being posted out of the 19th and onto a unit that needed them.

[Tom Tulloch-Marshall]

There's a string of them all showing 3/7th Londons, then 20th Bn Middx Regt, then on to some other Bn in the Middx.

.....

It may quite simply be that they were still 3/7th men when they went to France - their transfer didnt occur till sometime after their arrival, and therefore the records office noted the 3/7th Bn service as medal qualifying.

Tom - I recently went through the whole of the Middlesex Regt Rolls looking for 19th London Regt men and found exactly the same thing i.e. men shown as 3/19th.

Charles - yes, the obvious answer is ..................... the obvious answer.

(No conspiracy theories here then )

regards - Tom