Private William Storm

[Guest]

I am trying to find out some details of a great uncle William Storm, who is buried at Boulogne eastern cemetery. I have his info. from CWGC and also from the 'Soldiers died in the Great War' CD. On the CD, at the bottom it gives extra information which says -

'formerly TR/1/14073, TR'

Can anyone tell me what this means as he was only 18 and I thought a bit young to be 'formerly' anything!

Thanks

Suzanne.

[brownag]

TR stands for Training Reserve.

[Guest]

Thankyou for the reply. But what exactly was a training reserve? Was it a national thing, or perhaps just the regiment. He was in the 7th Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders and his number (S/25113) is very different from the TR... one. Does the 'S' stand for Seaforth, and when would the number have changed? Sorry for so many questions.

Suzanne.

[Yorts]

Thankyou for the reply. But what exactly was a training reserve? Was it a national thing, or perhaps just the regiment. He was in the 7th Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders and his number (S/25113) is very different from the TR... one. Does the 'S' stand for Seaforth, and when would the number have changed? Sorry for so many questions.

Hi,

I've posted on prefixes before, a list can be found at:

http://1914-1918.org/forum/index.php?showt...181&hl=prefixes

In this case the S indicates an enlistment into a highland battalion. A training reserve battalion was exactly what it sounds like, a reserve battalion used for training men before they are posted to a front line unit. The number would have changed when he was posted to the 7/Seaforths.

Hope this helps,

Alex.

[Jock Bruce]

In this context an 'S' prefix indicates a soldier serving in one of the infantry regiments administered by the Perth Records Office (Seaforth, Camerons, Black Watch, Gordons and A&SH) who enlisted during the war for '3 years or duration'. I've always mentally equated 'S' with 'Service' - as in 7th (Service) Bn, Seaforth Highlanders, but have absolutely no evidence for this.

TR/1 numbers were for men serving in TR units in Scotland.

Check out the mother site at

http://www.1914-1918.net/

for information about the Seaforth and the TR.

Jock Bruce

[Guest]

Many thanks to Alex and Jock; sound like the right names to know about men in kilts

Suzanne