Confused about death certificate

[Dave K]

Can someone help me? I recently came back from Belgium and after finding the grave of my great grandmother's first husband, I want to find out more about where he served and what he exactly did. His name is Frederick Darley and he died on 17th April 1917. His service number is 112213. Under the heading of rank, I am confused what the abbreviations say. The certificate states that he was a driver and then '(R.F.A) 3/D.A.C'. I want to find the war diaries of his unit but do not know what to exactly search for.
Thanks in anticipation.
Dave

[Clarinetguy]

RFA is Royal Field Artillery I believe
DAC is Divisional Ammunition Column (part of Royal Field Artillery)

As for where to look, I'll leave that to the experts!

[christanel]

Hi
Frederick's Medal Roll Index card is on ancestry and will also be on The National Archives site. Both require payment to view although ancestry does have a free library version which you local library may have.

He received the British and Victory medals but not the 15 star.
For general information about the RFA just put it in to a search engine and sites such as The Long Long Trail will come up.
The National Archives has a research guide mentioning war diaries and where to find them Here

Others will be along to assist with the detail I am sure.

Christina

ps: his service record does not appear to have survived the bombing of WW11

[gortonboy]

3rd Divisional Ammunition Column, Royal Field Artillery served with 3rd Division. 3rd Divsion proceeded to France in August 1914. They saw action in The Battle of Mons and the rearguard action at Solesmes, The Battle of Le Cateau, The Battle of the Marne, The Battle of the Aisne, at La Bassee, Messines and the First Battle of Ypres. They took part in the Winter Operations of 1914-15, The First Attack on Bellewaarde and the Actions at Hooge. In 1916 they took part in The Actions of the Bluff and St Eloi Craters then moved to The Somme for The Battle of Albert, The Battle of Bazentin helping to capture Longueval, The Battle of Delville Wood and The Battle of the Ancre. In 1917 They were at Arras, seeing action at Battles of the Scarpe and The Battle of Arleux. They moved north to the Flanders and were in action during The Battle of the Menin Road and Battle of Polygon Wood during the Third Battle of Ypres. Then moved south and were in action at The Battle of Cambrai. In 1918 They were in action on The Somme, in the Battles of the Lys, the Battles of the Hindenburg Line and the Battle of the Selle. After the Armistice 3rd Division advanced into Germany as part of the Occupation Force.

[thewideeyedowl]

Hi Dave, and a very warm welcome to Brit Gen...

As Christina says, The Long Long Trail is the place to go for info, and this is the page that explains how brigades were organised: https://www.1914-1918.net/whatartbrig.htm.

The National Archives (TNA) has an ongoing project to digitise Unit war diaries - run a search for (Operation War Diary). Diaries that have been digitised can then be downloaded for a small fee from TNA.

The Imperial War Museum holds personal memorabilia, so take a look there just in case there is anything that relates to Frederick Darley.

I noted from his entry on www.cwgc.org, that he came from Liverpool. Have you tried to find him in the 1911 and 1901 censuses?

Keep us posted.

Owl

[gortonboy]

the dates and his place of burial coincide with the

https://ww1centenary.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ba...s-an-overview/

[Peter Goodey]

Did you spot how the CWGC site has "3/DAC" written out in (almost) plain language?

You may want to peruse the war diaries. This looks to be the right one -

https://discovery.nationalarchives.go...ils/r/C7352041

[Dave K]

Hi Owl. I have found him and his family on both of them. He didn't married my great grandmother until 1915 so he was still living at home. Lots of information to read. Thanks again!

[Dave K]

It's sad to hear about his service record.

[Dave K]

Hi Peter
I downloaded the diaries but all the page for April 1917 says is:
9th: ARP commenced to move from WARLUS Lo Qual des CASERNES
11th: H2 and Lo3 moved up to RACE COURSE ARRAS
13th: Commenced dumping at ALDERNEY CAVE
27th: Formed new A.R.P at Tilloy M6 B.5.6 (Sheet 51B) for 42 Brgd +ALDERNEY CAVE being reserved for 40th Brgd (or Bac?)
Do you know where i can find more out about the places in capital letters?
Dave