War Diaries Talk

servicenumber

  • erik.schaubroeckscarlet.be by erik.schaubroeckscarlet.be

    Why does the servicenumber of most of the soldiers of this company starts with 412...?

    Posted

  • marie.eklidvirginmedia.com by marie.eklidvirginmedia.com

    I am not sure if the service numbers of the men were allocated the number of the Division/Coy they would serve with when they joined.

    Posted

  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    All the Royal Engineers Territorial Force companies were renumbered in 1917: http://www.1914-1918.net/TF_renumbering_re.htm

    The 409th Field Company RE was originally the 1st Lowland Field Company. On the page I linked to you can see that the new numbers allotted to the 1st Lowland F.C. ran from 412001 to 414000.

    These men kept the same numbers, even if they were posted to a different field company, so it looks like L/Cpl. Kay with # 402047--about the middle of the page--must have transferred from the 2nd Highland Field Company.

    Posted

  • David_Underdown by David_Underdown moderator

    Strictly speaking they retained their number if they were posted to another TF RE unit, if posted to regular units they'd probably have got a new number

    Posted

  • cyngast by cyngast moderator in response to David_Underdown's comment.

    As always, David, thank you for your input on this and the 2nd corporal thread. It's always appreciated.

    Posted