Middlesex Reg. Territorial service numbers

[Ian Underwood]

I've been wondering about Territorial force men and their sevice numbers. The reason being, I've seen a number of 1914-15 stars on ebay recently to the Middlesex Regiment, highlighting the man's 4 digit service number. All have a prefix of "G".

In short, Is there a way of establishing a man's battalion by his number/prefix? And in regards to the Middx Reg, were prefix "G" men territorials or even Kitcheners'. Most Middx Territorals I've come across have no prefix, only the four digits (and later the new number).

bit baffled....Ian

[Chris_Baker]

G prefix = New Army recruit.

For TF soldiers it can be very difficult to identify a battalion from a numebr, as each battalion operated its own scheme until 1917, which meant that you could have a soldier 1234 in the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th TF battalions for example. There's an entire section about this on the Long, Long Trail (link top left of this page). Click on Territorial Force Study Group and you should be able to find it.