Guest Ska Wars Posted 12 December , 2004 Share Posted 12 December , 2004 How do, I recently found my Great Grand Dad's medals and have decided to try and found out about him as few of my family know more than his name. From what I've found so far he was a gunner with the Royal Artillery and I came across these two bits of info when browsing the national archives webpage: Royal Field Artillery 76953 Royal Garrison Artillery 200938 From this I'm assuming he transfered from one to the other and that the serial numbers are the regiments number. Anyone know what regiments these numbers are referring to? I'm not sure where he signed up but he was Irish so I assume it would of been in Ireland but as I say I don't know which city. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALANJONES Posted 12 December , 2004 Share Posted 12 December , 2004 I guess he may have left the army and then re-enlisted? What was his name? Was he killed in the war? Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ska Wars Posted 12 December , 2004 Share Posted 12 December , 2004 Andrew McClurg and no we wasn't killed. This is the page I found on the national archives site Andrew McClurg. The regiments numbers given there match the medals I have although there is no mention on either of them of '200938'. On the medals it reads: 76963 GNR. A MCCLURG. R. A. On that page it also mentions the dates 1914-1920. Is this jus the time period in which this medals were issued or would that be the actual length of his time in the service? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rflory Posted 12 December , 2004 Share Posted 12 December , 2004 Because both cards refer to the same man then he must have joined the RFA with the regimental number of 76963 and then later transferred to the RGA with the regimental number of 200938. Your initial message appears to infer that the numbers refer to regiments but that is not the case, they are McClurg's service numbers. Neither number gives any clue as to which unit he belonged to in the RFA or RGA. Regards, Dick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ska Wars Posted 12 December , 2004 Share Posted 12 December , 2004 Hmm, you sure? They're marked as 'Regiment No' on the National Archives page I linked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leigh Posted 12 December , 2004 Share Posted 12 December , 2004 Ska, The numbers under Regiment are his service number in his 'regiment' (unit) not the number of his regiment. L. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ska Wars Posted 12 December , 2004 Share Posted 12 December , 2004 Aaaah right lol Cheers. I assumed your service number would remian the same no matter what regiment you were assigned to, must of been what threw me. Thanks for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KONDOA Posted 12 December , 2004 Share Posted 12 December , 2004 Your man most definitely held one continuous service, most probably transferring from RFA to RGA in the Autumn of 1916 when the RFA was reorganised. As Dick Flory says the numbers are individual and although called Reg no's are specific only to him. In this particular case no inference of Battery can be made. Roop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leigh Posted 12 December , 2004 Share Posted 12 December , 2004 There were so many men in the army that your number was only unique in your particular branch of the army. If you got reassigned/deployed into another branch of the army, ie from the RFA to the Labour corps you would get a new number. L. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ska Wars Posted 12 December , 2004 Share Posted 12 December , 2004 Ah right, cheers for the info. By the way, alot of people/sites keep telling me how around 60% of the WW1 enlisted men's records were destroyed during 1940, but no one seems to menion the 40% that survived. Are these available to the public in any form? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 12 December , 2004 Share Posted 12 December , 2004 Ska, These are available at the National Archives at Kew. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ska Wars Posted 12 December , 2004 Share Posted 12 December , 2004 Kew? Is that an abreviation of something? Sorry if I'm asking stupid questions but I only jus got in from work and my brain is running slower than my PC at the moment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 12 December , 2004 Share Posted 12 December , 2004 The National Archives Ruskin Avenue Kew Richmond London Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ska Wars Posted 12 December , 2004 Share Posted 12 December , 2004 Great stuff, cheers fella. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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