Joseph Gallagher 2nd/3rd Air Mechanic service record No 89314

[GallagherAM]

I have Joseph Gallagher's service and pension records from Fold3 but am having difficulty interpreting so much of them!

So I'd appreciate any help in understanding what some abbreviations mean and where he would have been stationed.  I would also like to know what to look for in order to work out where he enrolled - if that is possible. 

We have no information about JG other than what is on these service records and his marriage certificate.  Married in Reading, Berks, England.  No one spoke about him because he left the family around the time his daughter was born 13 months later - never to be heard of again!

This is a chronology of his movements in the RFC and RAF:

28.07.1917  enlisted RFC - 65 sq (which I believe is in Wyton)

07.12.1917  -  22.04.1918  France  (I've read that the 65 squadron went to France around November 1917.)

22.04.1918  transfer to RD (Is this the Reserve Depot in Farnborough?  I have no idea about the function of the RD)

06.07.1918  25 TS  (Is this the No 25 Training School in Thetford?

01.09.1918   43 stn  (Is this 43 station - a "medical" facility?  I would like to know where this is.)

11.12.1918   Discharged from RAF.

There are so many abbreviations and combinations of letters and numbers that make no sense at all to me but must have been like shorthand at the time.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks for reading this.

 

 

 

[DavidOwen]

Welcome to the Forum

If you could ask any specific questions you have about the abbreviations, preferably with an image I am sure the members will do their best to assist.

[Matlock1418]

1 hour ago, GallagherAM said:

I have Joseph Gallagher's service and pension records from Fold3 but am having difficulty interpreting so much of them!

1 hour ago, GallagherAM said:

Married in Reading, Berks, England.  No one spoke about him because he left the family around the time his daughter was born 13 months later - never to be heard of again!

I am happy to try and explain as best I can his disability pension records at WFA/Fold3 [as for his service record I leave that to those who are better qualified in RAF matters than me!!]

Pension index card

Image thanks to WFA/Fold3

From day after his discharge to a Reading address [so no double-banking of pay and pension!] awarded a disability pension of 5/6 pw from 12.12.18 tro 16.12.19 [for a pension class serviceman/Air Mechanic = the 20% degree of disability under the 1918 Royal Warrant]

There are a couple of admin notes which are less than wholly clear to me but there is what looks like the claim being rec'd 15.1.19 and a possible early claim reference however there are later pension claim references including pension region references of 3/ [NW England] and 11/ [SW England incl. London]

It is also interesting to note what could perhaps be an additional / earlier service number of 10653, unit not specified, which is probably worth exploring [claims were predominently handled under last service number].

Pension ledger page(s)

Image thanks to WFA/Fold3/Fold3

This confirms 20% degree of disability and specifies his disability as Myalgia after trench fever, attrib[utable] to his service

A Manchester address - This accounts for the pension region 3/ claim reference [NW England] ... potentially worth looking there in the 1921 Census.

We can see a 1921 reference and transfer of claim to pension region 11/ [this may have been a centralising MoP admin change or an address move - hard to tell] - sadly the pension ledger pages for region 11 are lost [?? Luftwaffe or MoP ??] as is his pension award file not available , probably deliberately destroyed by MoP [It does not appear amongst the very few which have been deliberately retained]

The reverse of the PLP show the change to the 1919 RW - still at 20%, but now getting 8/- pw until at least 13/7/20.  Thereafter the trail goes cold from these records.

M 

Edited 17 hours ago by Matlock1418
typo

[GallagherAM]

Following on from my earlier post, I should be grateful for any help in understanding the 3 sets of numbers/letters which are included on the pension index card attached - starting 11AH, 3AF and 11/M.

Joseph seems to have been given another service number on this card - 10653 - but I think this must have been an error because there is nothing on his service record to show this.

I've also attached the 1st page of his service record document - just for reference in case I have made any errors in transcribing this information into my earlier post querying the locations he was stationed at.

Any help would be gratefully received.

Many thanks for reading this.

Gallagher, Joseph (89314, 10653) - Page 1-1.pdf 810 - Page 27-1.pdf

[Matlock1418]

17 minutes ago, GallagherAM said:

I should be grateful for any help in understanding the 3 sets of numbers/letters which are included on the pension index card attached - starting 11AH, 3AF and 11/M.

Mostly answered above = Claim references - the most important part being the first digit of each as the MoP regional reference / The MoP seemed quite flexible over time with the middle letters which could refer to the type of service served in [AF commonly being used for Air Force and M for Military, primarily meaning Army]/ the final digits specified claim number in that region

M

Edit: I am wondering if 10653 is an earlier RFC number and 89314 a RAF number as at 1 April 1918 - but RFC/RAF are not my main field = ???

Edited 17 hours ago by Matlock1418
edit

[GallagherAM]

Ah thank you Matlock1418 - that's really kind of you to take the time to provide so much information.  (My 2nd post here seems to have been sent at the same time as yours!)  I've been reading and re-reading your replies to take in all this info.

Are the 11/ and 11H/ claims both from South West England? 

I'm wondering if these are from his wife who continued to live in Reading.  

And am I right in thinking that the reference 11/M155877 (military?) does give some credence then to his having a second service number.  When he enlisted in 1917 no previous service was noted.   Curious.  And I thought you had one service number - for life.

I really do appreciate your help.

Many thanks

[Matlock1418]

56 minutes ago, GallagherAM said:

Are the 11/ and 11H/ claims both from South West England? 

I'd say both 11 = South East England office

11 = South East England - I'm just checking where Reading was/is and comparing it to my map of the MoP regions! [I know it is not NW Eng!] - visually from my rough map it looks Eastern Region/SE Eng region boundary area ... as I commented: 11 might have been a later MoP admin claim move rather than the man since they moved offices backwards and forward during the war and shortly after and centralised the earlier regionalised approachs into London I believe.

56 minutes ago, GallagherAM said:

I'm wondering if these are from his wife who continued to live in Reading.  

A separated wife of a living man would only have a claim through the man.  The Pension ledger page shows he claimed as a single man

There is no overt evidence of that his wife was ever involved - I would have expected such to have been noted [not least on the reverse of the pension ledger page under the 1919 RW - nothing available under the 1918 RW]. but we do not have the full file.  On balance I suspect she wasn't getting anything as nothing shown there for a child either [up to 13/7/20 when the annotated award ceased].
 

56 minutes ago, GallagherAM said:

And am I right in thinking that the reference 11/M155877 (military?) does give some credence then to his having a second service number.  When he enlisted in 1917 no previous service was noted.   Curious.  And I thought you had one service number - for life.

But his record shows he did come to the RAF from the RFC [and the RFC had Army origins]. However claims were made under the last number so getting an earlier number(s) noted was a bit hit & miss.

No unique service number back in 1917/18 ... that did not come until quite a few years later [1920s] and even that could change - even in the 1980s OR and officers' numbers came from different blocks and if an OR commissioned then they got a new number as an officer.  Moving between regiments would definitely result in change and moving between services would likely result in change too.  Only from more recently did/does a serviceman/woman/person currently get a truly unique service number for life.

M

Edited 15 hours ago by Matlock1418
add

[GallagherAM]

Thank you so very much again for taking the time to answer my queries in such detail.  I really do appreciate your help and support.

This background information really does help.

But as you say, these records are hardly complete - or intended anyway to tell a full story for descendents' benefit.

Much appreciated