RAMC family member

[MEJames]

I've been working on the family tree for a while now, but one member has been presenting a problem. The only information I have is on a small silver shield that at one time was given to this person. It is about 1” by 1” in size. This seems to have been fixed to what I presume would have been a plaque or similar, lost long ago.

The inscription is brief and reads ‘Presented to Staff Sergeant James RAMC by 15TH Company RAMC on his leaving the service October 1904’.
Unfortunately I have no information on either a service number or Christian name.

I have a friend who has been to Kew, but the possible matches seem large.

Does anyone know how I can narrow the odds down on who this could be?

[Peter Goodey]

You need to get to the National Archives - or pay someone or persuade someone to do it for you - and look at the following series. As you will see they are filed alphabetically so it should be a reasonably easy job since you know what company he was in and his rank.

Soldiers discharged 1882-1900
For this period all discharge papers were filed alphabetically, for the whole army (WO 97/2172 to WO 97/4231 ). Some discharge papers may have been misfiled, and are now in a second alphabetic sequence in WO 97/6355 to WO 97/6383 . These documents are seen in the original, and are ordered on computer.

Soldiers discharged 1900-1913
For this period all discharge papers were filed alphabetically, for the whole army (WO 97/4232 to WO 97/6322 ). Some discharge papers may have been misfiled, and are now in a second alphabetic sequence in WO 97/6323 to WO 97/6354 . These documents are seen in the original, and are ordered on computer.

You may be able to order copies of the documents remotely - see the National Archives website.