The Kings Own Regiment

[Guest phil b]

I have a Alfred William Brown who was born in Grantham (14yrs. old on the 1901 census) went to Boston Lincolnshire on the 12th of November 1901 and joined the 1st Battallion The Kings Own Regiment aged 15.

Can anyone help me with the regiment, could it be the Yorks or Lancs.

It is known that Alfred was transfered to the army reserve at Dover on the 3rd. June 1913 and discharged with 12years service on the 11th November 1913, He would have been about 27years old when discharged. I think that he must have been called up again but he survived the war.

Any help would be most welcome.

Phil B

[Guest gen_wizard]

Hi Phil,

It could be the Kings Own Royal Lancaster Regiment. I think also that my great grandfather and your Alfred might even have been buddies. You can check out this site which has lots of imformation such as dates and places of postings for each Battalion. http://www.regiments.org/milhist/uk/inf/004KORR.htm . There is plenty of imformation also at the mother site, the long long trail, just type in the regiment in search. If i can be of further help please do not hesitate to contact me, there is another Kings buff here in the forum, Northern Soul (aka Andy) has a lot of imformation about the Kings Own. Hope this helps you out, good luck with your research.

Regards

Mike

[Guest phil b]

Thanks for the reply,

I have looked at the KORL the 1st Bn. were;

1900 England

1901 Malta

1903 India: Calcutta

1906 Burma: Shwebo

1908 India: Lebong

1910 Lucknow

1912 Dover

This may be the right regiment, Alfred served 11years and 204 days, of which 11 years and 53 days were served abroad.

Was it normal to be abroad for so long?

How can I get more Information on his war service, if he had one?

Phil B

[Guest phil b]

Just to add more detail about Alfred William Brown the 1901 census gives his father as;

Alfred Brown 40yrs. Sergeant Inst. Volunteers 2nd Lincolnshire Born in Leicester

I Know the 2nd Lincolnshire were formed from the 10th Regiment of foot, and I am researching their postings (census also shows 2 other children born Portsmouth (1881 ish) and Ireland (1890 ish) is there anyone else looking at this regiment?

Getting back to my question what is the abreviation "Inst." or is this a misprint from the census document.

Sorry if this is off topic.

Phil B

[kingsman64]

Hi I would have to go with Sergeant Instructor.

[Guest phil b]

Would this have been Drill instructor or somthing else?

He was based in 1886 at the Barracks Harrowby, which I think is near Grantham.

Thanks for your help.

Phil B

[kingsman64]

Hi Phil

The Volunteer battalion sergeants would have been fairly broadly skilled so as an NCO he would be reponsible for multi faceted aspects of training drill, fitness, first aid and musketry to name a few. It is not possible to say but he may have had a specialist skill in a particular field. For example if you had a picture of him in uniform showing crossed rifles on his sleeve, you could almost guarantee he was a marksman and therefore probably a musketry instructor, crossed sabres would indicate a physical training instructor and so on.

However as this was a census return note maybe we class this as a bit of "blowing his own trumpet"? Declaring yourself a sergeant instructor sounds a bit grander than just a sergeant!

Hope this helps.

[Guest phil b]

Yes it does help, thank you.

Regards

Phil B