can you help me identify this uniform please?

[Peter Goodey]

The soldiers in the photo look to me like Artillery Gunners and Drivers.

Personally I wouldn't rely on a century old family legend. If he served abroad, where is his medal roll index card?

[christanel]

Hi Everyone!

Thanks so much for your reply's.

I know he did work for the railways but I'm 100% sure he was very active in WW1 and i know for a fact that he went abroad. I know this because he actually went missing for a bit and my nan was beside herself with worry because they were very close and he used to write her letters and she hadn't received any for months, then all of a sudden she had a dream about him woke up, went running downstairs and all his letters had been delivered, they were all tied up in a little pile on the doorstep mat. Very touching story that my mum has always referred to.

If what I am about to say sounds brutal it is not meant to be. We all want our ancestors' stories to reflect their 'best' sides but sometimes we have to accept that, as Peter has indicated, family stories can be unreliable. Sometimes because they become embellished as they travel down the generations, sometimes they are not wholly truthful from the start. (I know this from my own grandfather's WW1 service records (which thankfully survived). He went AWOL three times and claimed to be unmarried when he had three children.)

So what we have as fact is that your great uncle worked as a telegraphist for the Great Western Railway in 1911 as per the original census image.
The postcard is an original source sent by your great uncle. Definitely him in the photo?

Added:- Keep reading - the good part is at the end.

Following the link that Robert gave Wikipedia says "The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises thirteen Regular Army regiments, King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery and five Army Reserve regiments."

Wikipedia explanation of the Army Reserve regiments https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_R...United_Kingdom) where it says
"The use of the word territorial signified that the volunteers who served with the force were under no obligation to serve overseas—in 1910, when asked to nominate for Imperial Service overseas in the event of mobilisation, less than 10% of the Force chose to do so. In August 1914, after the outbreak of the First World War, territorial units were given the option of serving in France and, by 25 August, in excess of seventy battalions had volunteered. This question over the availability of territorial divisions for overseas service was one of Lord Kitchener's motivations for raising the New Army separately."

As Peter has also said, if your great uncle served overseas there would be a Medal Roll Index card. These did survive as they were stored separately to the service records.
Going missing for a while doesn't necessarily mean he went missing overseas. My grandfather went missing in England when he was AWOL. Could it be that your grandfather went missing because his volunteer battalion made themselves available for overseas service I wonder and he didn't want to leave his family.
All of this is speculation of course and you may never find out what really did happen regarding your great uncle's service because of the missing service record and lack of medal roll index card and Medal and Award records for him.

Having said all of the above I have just found a Medal Roll Index card for

C R Webb,
Regiment - Royal Garrison Artillery
Regimental Number - 202359
This man received the Victory and British medals. The card is very sparse on information. Quite often when a card starts out with initials the full name is added later but not in this case. No theatre of war recorded either.

And this
UK, WWI Service Medal and Award Rolls, 1914-1920
C Reginald Webb
Military Year 1914-1920
Rank Gunner
Medal Awarded - British War Medal and Victory Medal
Regiment or Corps - Royal Garrison Artillery
Regimental Number 202359
Previous Units =Base Details RGA 202359 Gnr



Christina

[Peter Goodey]

Further to Christina's search, here's a list from FreeBMD of some people who might be this C Reginald Webb

Births Mar 1883
Webb Charles Reginald Stafford 6b 11

Births Mar 1886
WEBB Charles Reginald Wycombe 3a 701

Births Mar 1893
Webb Claude Reginald V Paddington 1a 63

Births Jun 1896
Webb Cyril Reginald Chelmsford 4a 528

Births Mar 1897
Webb Charles Reginald Portsea 2b 447

Births Jun 1897
Webb Charles Reginald Barton R. 6a 61

Perhaps the questioner might like to work through the list and perhaps eliminate some of them.

[John Ottery]

The soldiers with bandoliers were probably in the Royal Artillery - likely the Royal Horse Artillery since bandoliers were used only by mounted troops.