Military Chat

Arthur Bernard Taylor was born Plumstead Kent in 1898. During WW1 his parents Joel & Eliza lived in Northumberland Heath Kent.

Apparently Arthur enlisted while under age with the RFA in Woolwich.
Arthur wore a steel corset for much of his life, supposedly due to a war injury - although it could have been due to a later occupational injury.

His descendent remembers playing with 3 medals.

Can anyone work out if the following record card might be relevant, or at least dismiss it please? Yes - I know over 60% of records were burnt ;-)

British Army WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920 about Arthur B Taylor
Name: Arthur B Taylor
Regiment or Corps: Royal Field Artillery
Regimental Number: 95569

Thank You

Det, Although most army service record were distroyed in WW2 the medal cards were stored in a separate location so in the main they did survive

You need a look-up on Ancestry, on ancestry you can look at the medal card image to see what medal he was awarded, You can also see from the medal card what qualified him for those medals, It's very long winded but if the image is clear? you can check other sources on the National archives or go to the 1914-1918 forum where they will be able to decipher that info, The abbreviations used need to be looked up in the Kings regulations in order to work them out

If he had 3 medals then it's a good chance they were the stanard medals issued to all service men who served from 1914/15 upto the end of the war

Roy

They are

1914/15 Star

British War Medal

Victory Medal

Other possible medals are

Territorial Force Medal

Silver War Badge

If he was awarded any Gallantry medal then look for him in the London Gazzette,

Gallantry awarded medal were announced in the London Gazzette, although not all? I have come acoss some for sale down the local market and on researching one or two i found they never appeared in the Gazzette or at least i could not find the entries

Roy

also see
http://www.greatwar.co.uk/medals/ww1-campaign-medals.htm#alliedvictorymedal

The image says -

Driver Arthur B Taylor awarded the Victory, British and 1915 Star having entered the theatre of war in (1) France on 21 Sep 1915. A note in the Remarks sections reads ‘Dis’.

Against Victory and British is Roll RFA/233B page 26572
Against 15 Star RFA/10A&B page 6899

An additional entry to wards the bottom of the card reads
SWB list/RA/3974.

Any ideas??

The SWB list/RA/3974. is probably the Silver War Badge, plus why he was awared it.

Not up on the medal card codes abbreviations

I would say that the RFA was his regiment, the 233B page 26572 not sure but i would say its refering to an army form?

Roy

Have a look on this site

http://www.1914-1918.net/soldiers/interpretmic.html

Roy

Thanks for the suggestions - probably the next step is to explore the 1914-1918 forum, and to research about the Silver War Badge which is a new one to me!

Thank you for your advice.
DET

Det here is an extract from that site about the info written next to the medal entry on a medal card

There are references alongside them: CC/103/B3 page 117 and CC/7 page 13. These are references to the places where Jesse is entered in the rolls. The Victory Medal and the British War Medal are on one roll, and the Star on another. Note that the “do…do” against the British War Medal means “ditto…ditto”. The rolls are not available on line. They are held in original form at the National Archives in Kew. For thorough research it is essential that they are examined, for they often include more information about the soldier – this is certainly the case for men of the infantry, cavalry or yeomanry. Sadly, for men in the larger corps like the Royal Engineers, Royal Artillery, Machine Gun Corps, Army Service Corps, Army Veterinary Corps, Army Ordnance Corps and Labour Corps there is usually no information about the man’s unit unless he went overseas very early.

I did say in my earlier post,

"You can also see from the medal card what qualified him for those medals, It's very long winded but if the image is clear? you can check other sources on the National archives " or go to the 1914-1918 forum where they will be able to decipher that info,

Roy

"The Silver War Badge was issued in the United Kingdom to service personnel who had been honourably discharged due to wounds or sickness during World War I. The badge, sometimes known as the Discharge Badge, Wound Badge or Services Rendered Badge, was first issued in September 1916, along with an official certificate of entitlement.

The sterling silver lapel badge was intended to be worn in civilian clothes. It had been the practice of some women to present white feathers to apparently able-bodied young men who were not wearing the King's uniform. The badge was to be worn on the right breast while in civilian dress, it was forbidden to wear on a military uniform

The badge bears the royal cipher of GRI (for Georgius Rex Imperator; George, King and Emperor) and around the rim "For King and Empire; Services Rendered". Each badge was uniquely numbered on the reverse. The War Office made it known that they would not replace Silver War Badges if they went missing, however if one was handed into a police station then it would be returned to the War Office. If the original recipient could be traced at his or her discharge address then the badge would be returned.."

UK, Silver War Badge Records, 1914-1920
Name: Arthur Bernard Taylor
Discharge Unit: 5 Res Bde R.F.A.
Regiment Number: 95569
Rank: Dr.
Badge Number: B314477
Unit: Royal Horse; Field Artillery (Charlton; Woolwich)
Piece: 2979
List Number: RA 3901-4200
Record Group: WO
Record Class: 329

This record doesn't specify whether discharged through wounds or sickness, all entries are just lumped under

discharged under para 392 (xvia) K R

Army order 29 of 1919.


The card says 'yes' to 'served overseas'

Discharge under Kings regulations para 192 (xvia) = discharged due to Surplus to requirements having suffered an impairment since entry into service during a period of war

See http://www.forrestdale.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/KingsRegs1912/Para392Introduction.html

Roy

Wow!!! Thank you both very much - his son (aged 89) will be extremely interested :-D

Thank you - have fleshed out the bones of a story which we were beginning to consider a partial face-saving myth

The refs on the Medal card relate to the actual Medal Rolls. In many cases the Medal Rolls would give the unit of a Regiment the man served with. Unfortunately in the case of the RFA this is unlikely to be given

Never mind - although we can't expect miracles, Team GR have certainly come up with the goods tonight :-D

????

Not sure if this is the same as the 5 Res Bde R F A on the silver badge record

EDIT: Wondered if the 'Res' = 'Reserve'

"V Brigade

This was a unit of Britain's pre-war regular army. It is also sometimes shown as 5 Brigade RFA.

History
Comprising numbers 64, 73 and 81 Batteries, this brigade came under command of the 7th (Meerut) Division of the Indian Army. It moved to the 3rd (Lahore) Division on 22 November 1914.

When the Division left France, the brigade remained and eventually came under command of the 3rd Canadian Division (between 20 March and 13 July 1916) before going to the 4th Canadian Division in September 1916, with which it served until July 1917

At that point it became an Army Brigade and served with the following: Second Army in October 1917, Third Army in December 1917, First Army in February 1918, Fifth Army in July 1918 and finally returned to Fourth Army in October 1918"

Interesting reading Kucinta. Thank you - TBH even when full service records have survived I find it difficult to work out exactly what battles they were involved in. :-(

5 Res Bde was the Unit he was discharged from, not necessarily the only unit he was with. The SWB Roll gives his dates of service as 13/4/15-26/4/19. His age is difficult to read on the Roll but looks like 23

We agree on the age at Discharge - that means that his declared age on Enlistment was 18, not the 16 he really was. If he knew then what he was letting himself in for, he would probably not have volunteered.

The War Diaries of the Lahore artillery are available 1915 thru July 1917 via:
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/archivianet/02015202_e.html
Just search for Lahore

The aged relative has eventually been able to print-off (don't ask!!!) the SWB record and is thrilled to say the least.

So from him as well as me - thank you <3