William Smith b1891/92

[MaxD]

OK I have reviewed what went before and the responses to your earlier thread.  Summary:

The address does appear to show the same William Smith.
The 1916 cert he is a Bombardier in the Royal Horse Artillery
In the absent voters' list in 1918 he is in 112 Anti Aircraft Section Royal Garrison Artillery.  The number given does not belong to him.
There is no medal card apparent for a William Smith who served first in the RHA and later in the RGA (I've skimmed through all 240 plus William Smiths). 
The medal card you have is for a man who served in the Royal Field Artillery first and in the Royal Garrison Artillery later.
The medal card man was in the RFA overseas in July 1915 and later (we don't know when) was in the RGA.

In January 1916 your William Smith married as a Bombardier in the Royal Horse Artillery. While it not unusual for a man to have served in two of the branches of the Royal Artillery it just doesn't add up for him to have served in all three branches of the Royal Artillery, I've not come across it before.  If he had, there would be three regiments and three numbers on his medal card (unless he didn't serve overseas with the RHA).

As has been said before, without his service record or other evidence, I do not believe the card you have is your William Smith and because the number on the AVL does not agree with the unit, we don't know what your William's number was.


MaxD

[Susan Smith]

Thx Max for all your time and effort,  the Marriage Cert definitely says R H A and he must have changed if the voters role is to go by and I would agree a third unit would be strange.  Thank you once again Max it is appreciated.

[Lyndale]

Hello Susan, I came across your post about Wm Smith's WWI lost service record and you suspecting that his RGA number 191647 in incorrect by helping a friend in the UK who is connected to his family and was asking me the same question. Whilst I live in Australia (I was born in Birmingham UK) I am on the panel of so called 'experts' for the UK 'Family Tree magazine, when questions about WWI ancestors are sent into the 'Your Questions Answered' pages. You will find my profile in the YQA segment of the FT April issue responding to FT reader John Clear. Turning to William, you are correct, the number in his AVL 191647 belongs to fellow RGA A.A.S. Gunner Alan James Packham, who may, or may not, have been in the same 112th Anti-Aircraft Section, because his service record has not survived to check. I've spent the last two days looking into this mystery and have concluded, from strong circumstantial evidence, that Gnr William Smith RGA 191626 (previously RFA #101784) who you suspected originally, is indeed your William Smith. This is notwithstanding that his record shows he was transferred from the RFA and not the RHA, which we know William was in previously from his 1916 marriage certificate. I can explain this anomaly. When researching the new A.A. branch formed in 1915, I found that men were chosen from both the RHA and the RFA, but not one man in the medal rolls, or the medal index cards (MIC) shows him coming from the RHA, they all say RFA, yet I've found RHA men, whose record has survived, with numbers in the RGA 191000 series (which is the RGA series used for the AA men) transferring to the RGA AA Branch from the RHA, yet their medal roll/MIC states they came from the "RFA". This is because in most official documentation the RHA and RFA were often stated together thus "Royal Horse and Field Artillery", but the Army clerks abbreviate this to just "RFA" in all the medal roll/MIC pages, irrespective if they came from the RHA or the RFA. 112th A.A. Section was in 'W Battery' and served in France on the Lines of Communication for air defence and came directly under HQ British Second Army. My research into your William being Gnr 101784/191626 (whose record has also not survived) is available with documentary support to send you via email attachment, if you care to send me your email address. Regards Graham Caldwell, Melbourne Australia.
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[Susan Smith]

Hello Susan, I came across your post about Wm Smith's WWI lost service record and you suspecting that his RGA number 191647 in incorrect by helping a friend in the UK who is connected to his family and was asking me the same question. Whilst I live in Australia (I was born in Birmingham UK) I am on the panel of so called 'experts' for the UK 'Family Tree magazine, when questions about WWI ancestors are sent into the 'Your Questions Answered' pages. You will find my profile in the YQA segment of the FT April issue responding to FT reader John Clear. Turning to William, you are correct, the number in his AVL 191647 belongs to fellow RGA A.A.S. Gunner Alan James Packham, who may, or may not, have been in the same 112th Anti-Aircraft Section, because his service record has not survived to check. I've spent the last two days looking into this mystery and have concluded, from strong circumstantial evidence, that Gnr William Smith RGA 191626 (previously RFA #101784) who you suspected originally, is indeed your William Smith. This is notwithstanding that his record shows he was transferred from the RFA and not the RHA, which we know William was in previously from his 1916 marriage certificate. I can explain this anomaly. When researching the new A.A. branch formed in 1915, I found that men were chosen from both the RHA and the RFA, but not one man in the medal rolls, or the medal index cards (MIC) shows him coming from the RHA, they all say RFA, yet I've found RHA men, whose record has survived, with numbers in the RGA 191000 series (which is the RGA series used for the AA men) transferring to the RGA AA Branch from the RHA, yet their medal roll/MIC states they came from the "RFA". This is because in most official documentation the RHA and RFA were often stated together thus "Royal Horse and Field Artillery", but the Army clerks abbreviate this to just "RFA" in all the medal roll/MIC pages, irrespective if they came from the RHA or the RFA. 112th A.A. Section was in 'W Battery' and served in France on the Lines of Communication for air defence and came directly under HQ British Second Army. My research into your William being Gnr 101784/191626 (whose record has also not survived) is available with documentary support to send you via email attachment, if you care to send me your email address. Regards Graham Caldwell, Melbourne Australia. GLJCALDWELL[AT]OZEMAIL.COM.AU all lower case.     

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