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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Lt. Austin James Arthur CRAVEN


Sue Light

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At present I'm researching some QAIMNS and TFNS Sisters, and one of them Charlotte Craven, was [very unusually] married. According to her service record her husband died 'very suddenly,' in August 1918. His details on the CWGC site give his 'Regiment' as 'Special List,' with 'Secondary Regiment' as 'Royal Artillery.' Can anyone tell me what 'Special List' was please?

They had both served in South Africa, and after his death Mrs. Craven sorted out his affairs and kept working!

Regards - Sue

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Presumeably we are talking about:

Name: CRAVEN, AUSTIN JAMES ARTHUR

Initials: A J A

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Lieutenant

Regiment: Special List

Secondary Regiment: Royal Artillery

Age: 48

Date of Death: 27/08/1918

Additional information: Son of James Keven Craven; husband of Charlotte Popham Craven. Served in the South African Campaign. Born in India.

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: Cardinals Plot. 2835.

Cemetery: KENSAL GREEN (ST. MARY'S) ROMAN CATHOLIC CEMETERY

I can't claim to provide a definitive answer to this question, but hopefully a clue can be gleaned from the following. The Army List gives the rank, date of seniority, honours and awards, regiment and occssionally a few other details for every officer in the British army. In most cases an officer was commissioned into a given regiment and posted to a unit within that regiment. An example would be:

2nd Lieutenant A. N. Other, commissioned into the Gordon Highlanders on the 1/1/16, and posted on the same day to the 1st Battalion. If he existed he would appear in the Army list under the entry for 2nd Lieutenants, 1st Bn. Gordon High. in the January 1916 army list.

However, in some cases an officer would be commissioned into a regiment but not posted to a unit. In one case I came across a gentleman was commissioned into the Army Ordnance Corps but was not posted to a unit. Instead his job was to inspect Ordnance factorys throughout the UK. He was listed in the Army List under the Special List.

It may not be definitive but I hope it helps,

Rgds,

AJ. :D

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Thankyou for the information and ideas. The Army List is the obvious way to go, although perhaps I really ought to avoid getting sidetracked and concentrate on Mrs. Craven instead :)

Sue

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