recruitment

[Guest bald]

My great uncle, Pte Alfred Baldwin, was killed at Loos 26/09/1915

He was a member of the Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment.

However he was from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, the next town being Accrington, I had assumed he would have been a member of the Pals .

Why would he join a Kent regiment, there are no family connections, nor had he been there?

[ypres]

Hi,

perhaps he joined before the Pals were established?

Mandy

ps if you post his number someone will be able to tell by that.

[crispy]

Hello and welcome to the forum, one of my grandfathers from Yorkshire, after initial training served all through WW1 in the Hampshire Regiment, one of my great uncles also from Yorkshire after being wounded was posted to the Royal West Kent`s, and stayed with them untill the end of the war.

Have you tried to obtain your great uncles service papers, as they might show that he had transferred to the RWK after service with another regiment, it would seem that on occasions men were moved to other regiments to replace casualties.

If your great uncles papers are amongst those lost you should at least be able to obtain his medal card & roll details, as in theory they should show his service with each regiment, including battalions with which he served, hope this is of help.

David.

[westkent78]

Hello,

Here is some information I've been able to glean from the web, just in case you haven't found it yet..

G/5294 (later GS/5294) Pte. Alfred Baldwin. 8th Bn R.W.K.

Medal Index Card at National Archives website. Image Ref 204752/24744. Cost 3.50 br pounds.

Son of John Thomas and Ellen Baldwin, of 158, Roegreave Rd., Oswaldtwistle, Lancs. Aged 18.

8th (Service) Battalion was formed at Maidstone on 12 September 1914. August 1914 : attached to 72nd Brigade, 24th Division. A Division of K3, the units were assembled around Shoreham during September 1914. The Division crossed to France 28th August - 4th September 1915. It served on the Western Front throughout the war.

The Division's first experience was truly appalling. Having been in France for only a few days, lengthy forced marches brought it into the reserve for the British assault at Loos. GHQ planning left it too far behind to be a useful reinforcement on the first day, but it was sent into action on 26th September, whereupon it suffered more than 3,900 casualties.

Source (The Long, Long Trail {Sister website})

With regard to why he went into the R.W.K. and not a 'local' unit, perhaps he indicated no preference when he volunteered and was sent to them. They may have had a recruiting party going through that area- but I'm not sure if this still went on. Volunteers usually had a considerable choice about which branch of the service they joined; many travelled considerable distances to attend a depot or recruiting office for a particular unit.

I think most of the Pals battalions were not formed until after your relative signed up, so he may not have had the option of going for a regional regiment.

Of course, there is always the possibility that he was in the southeast around Aug-Sep 1914 and signed up with the local regiment there immediately, rather than travelling 'home' to enlist.

Hope this has been of some help.

Matthew

[crispy]

Hello again.

If of interest to your query, one of the men which I have researched was kia 27 Jan 1917 serving in the Border Regt, he had enlisted in the Hussars on 4 September 1914, betwwen enlistment and his death he served in a total of four different regiments, as such it would seem quite feasible that your relative could have made similar moves.

David