Enlistment New Armies

[Brianaw]

Hello
My Grandfather enlisted in Sept 1914, he lived in Rotherhithe. He served for most of the war in the 2nd Btn Queen's. Is it possible he enlisted at the 1/22nd County of London Rgt (Queen's) drill hall in Bermondsey into one of the Queen's Service Btns and was then drafted to 2nd Btn on completion of training?
Thanks
Brian

[Lesley Robertson]

Hello Brian, welcome in.
It would be easier to check if you tell us his name, and his number if you have it.

[Brianaw]

Thanks Lesley
Private 295 John Williams

[christanel]

Looks like he had two service numbers one for each of the regiments he served with, which happened back then. His service record doesn't appear to have survived the bombing/fire of WW11
John Williams
Year 1914-20
Service number 295
Rank Private,
Regiment - The Queen's Regiment

Second service record
Second service number 3640132
Second rank, Private
Corps: Labour Corps

Christina

[Lesley Robertson]

A move to the Labour Corps tended to mean that the soldier was unfit for fighting for some reason, maybe through injury or through illness. Many of the Labour Corps served at the Front in non-combat roles, others were in the UK.
In addition to the Victory and British medals, he had the 15 Star, having arrived in France on 15 June 1915.

The location of his enlistment would have been in his record...
Changes in Btn and even Regt were common. The men were moved around as needed.

[Brianaw]

Hello again
Thanks Lesley and Christina
No Service Record so location of enlistment is speculation.
His Rgt No is very low so I think he was one of the early Kitchener recruits into 6th Service Battalion the Queen's, from the Medal Rolls there are other men in 6th Btn with Rgt No's 184, 357 and 824. I am assuming he was drafted from 6th to 2nd in June 1915 before the 6th landed in France because the 6th are not recorded on his Medal Index Card.
Regards Brian

[Lesley Robertson]

You have to see the medal card as a bit of a snapshot, they are only as good as the information the clerk had when the card in was filled in.
In the early stages of WW1, there was no universal numbering system - the regiments did their own thing, so you need to have a look at numbering within his specific regiment before drawing conclusions.
There’s a good series of posts about the mid-war renumbering on a forum called The Long Long Trail, but the url is On my pc and I’m not...

[elsinore]

There is a record on Findmypast which carries a bit of additional information, i.e.

J WILLIAMS, service number 295, attested on 31st August 1914, age 35 years 333days.

This has been transcribed from “Queens Royal West Surrey Regiment Rough Register Of Recruits 1914-1917” a series held by Surrey History Centre, which is the repository for the Queens Royal West Surrey Regimental Archive.

Perhaps the original documents contain additional information. There may also be other records, as yet untranscribed.

If you can't make it to SHC, they do offer a research service which looks a bit expensive; although they will help you with an enquiry free of charge.

https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/culture-...royal-regiment

Peter