War Diaries Talk

Medical officer described as Hon Lt and QW

  • deehar by deehar

    Can anyone tell me what QW stands for? What was the difference between Hon Lt and Lt ?

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  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist

    Could you give us a link to the page, @deehar?

    Not sure about QW, so would be useful to see the context. Hon (Honourable) Lt. just means he had a title. There's no difference in rank terms. He was still a Lieutenant. It's similar to coming across people in certain guards or cavalry regiments referred to as Captain the Viscount X.

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  • HeatherC by HeatherC moderator

    Try this thread from a year ago. I think it's going to be QM not QW 😉 http://talk.operationwardiary.org/#/boards/BWD000000p/discussions/DWD00003j9

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  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist

    Ah ha! So the rank really was honorary here? But then it's strange that he was an MO. I thought they were all commissioned.

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  • HeatherC by HeatherC moderator

    So did I, but without seeing the page that @deehar was talking about it's impossible to say what the specific context here was I guess.

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  • jpmoses66 by jpmoses66

    'Hon Lt' is not an Honorary rank. 'The Honourable' is given to someone of the peerage (e.g. an Earl's son) and was used normally for courtesy only. Example: The Honourable John Smith joined the Army and became The Hon. 2/Lt John Smith. Ignoring this courtesy title, he is a 2/Lt and should be tagged as such I believe.

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  • David_Underdown by David_Underdown moderator

    No jpmoses66, in that instance he would be 2Lt the Hon John Smith (as can be seen from the Army List and entries in the London Gazette). Completely different to the honorary rank given to those holding a quartermaster's commission (who were almost always commisioned from the ranks, having spent time as a warrant officer eg CQMS or RSM). Deehar, was this a Field Ambulance, CSS or similar? Although holding thier commission in the RAMC, such units did have one or more quartermasters who were not medically qualified, but responsible for stores etc see http://1914-1918.net/fieldambulances.htm

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  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist in response to jpmoses66's comment.

    That's what I initially thought too, but @David_Underdown's absolutely correct about the distinction between Hon. 2/Lt and 2/Lt the Hon ABC.

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  • deehar by deehar in response to HeatherC's comment.

    Alas the page has disappeared into the memory hole. All I can remember is that there was a clear distinction made between Hon Lt and Lt and that it was certainly QW and not QM. That's what threw me. I would have definitely recognised QM as quartermaster. I had the feeling that that section of the diary was written by someone who didn't usually do it.
    Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

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