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  1. #1

    Default Silver war badge

    Hi ,
    I was clearing out my mother's house and stumbled across a silver war badge that I believe was given out during WW1 it has a number on the reverse and I am curious who this belonged to , as a former soldier of 22 yrs I am hoping to trace this to a family member, but all I have is the badge and the number . I would be very grateful if someone could point me in the right direction .

    Thanks in advance

  2. #2

    Default

    Hello Tankie, and welcome to the British Genealogy Forum.
    The silver war badge list is online at the commercial Ancestry website. If you don’t have a subscription and want to look it up yourself, your local library might have one for the use of their readers.

    Of course, it’s much easier to help people if they provide the necessary available info!

  3. #3

    Default

    Thanks for the reply....the number inside the badge is 394566, hoping to find out more ,
    Cheers

  4. #4
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    Badge number 394566 was issued to 5974 Albert Ernest Houghton of the Lincolnshire Regiment, enlisted 24/8/01, discharged on 31/5/18 on account of wounds.

  5. #5

    Default

    Brilliant, thank you !

  6. #6
    Super Moderator - Completely bonkers and will never change.
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    Knowing how regiments and numbers changed, you can discount the Albert Ernest Houghton, number 14139 of the Army Service Corps. He died 18 June 1900 in South Africa.

    Pam
    Vulcan XH558 - “Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”

  7. #7
    Super Moderator - Completely bonkers and will never change.
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    Tankie, does Albert's name mean something to you? If so, we'll stop looking for clues as to when and where he was born and died.

    Pam
    Vulcan XH558 - “Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”

  8. #8

    Default

    Since I’m waiting for a (late) visitor, I had a quick look at his medal index card.
    It says that he joined up before 1914, was in the 1st Btn of the Lincolnshires, and disembarked (presumably in Europe) on 13 Aug 1914.

  9. #9

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    Military Numbers are NOT unique across forces. I found a Private George Lyle on livesofthefirstworldwar.org British Army, Labour Corps, Service #394566.. There is an image of his Military Medal card attached to this record but I dont have a subscription to view it....

    https://livesofthefirstworldwar.org/lifestory/2731918

  10. #10

    Default

    However, we started with a silver war badge number, not the service number. The badge number delivered a name, regiment and number. See posts 3 & 4.

    For the early part of the War, each regiment had its own numbering system. That's why some men who switched regiments had different numbers after each switch.

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