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General => Armed Forces => World War One => Topic started by: Tinderry on Sunday 28 June 15 02:44 BST (UK)
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I gather that the BRC certificate numbers were issued sequentially as volunteers 'signed up'. Is there a guide to when these were issued? If not, would members who have corroborating evidence be able to help me narrow down the date of issue for certificate number 8383 please? I believe she was a nursing sister.
TIA :)
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All I can offer is that 2625 was issued in late 1914.
Imber
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Thanks for that Imber, that places mine after 1914 so far. Any other certificate numbers & dates out there?
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Hi and welcome to Rootschat...this might prove useful:
http://www.findmypast.co.uk/articles/world-records/full-list-of-united-kingdom-records/armed-forces-and-conflict/british-red-cross-register-of-overseas-volunteers-1914-1918
If you find anything and don't have a subscription...someone here will look it up for you.
Carol
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Thanks Treetotal,
I have FindMyPast access & am trying to establish the date of one of the records from that set.
Cheers :)
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I did the original database for FindMyPast so can manipulate the data to a degree from my own records. I would guess that your nurse is Emily Kate Spencer, and if so then it's just a matter of waiting for her to appear on the BRCS online records. However, a quick check through shows that certificate number 8375 (the closest I can find at present), Francis Burch, went overseas on or shortly after 11 March 1916.
Sue
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Thanks very much Sue :)
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Hi. I am trying to make sense of certificate numbers for George Francis Hardwick. His record on the Red Cross website gives his number as 2535 and then the number has an asterix and the asterix refers to number 3444B/AG(?)10.
Would he have had 2 numbers if he joined, left and then joined again?
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Penstemon 5
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Where are you seeing the number with the asterisk? His BRCS record (link below) just gives one number, 2535, as does the British Red Cross Register of Overseas Volunteers.
http://www.redcross.org.uk/About-us/Who-we-are/History-and-origin/First-World-War/Card?sname=hardwick&page=3&id=96431&forwards=true
The other number you quote almost sounds like a correspondence reference or a medal index card reference. It is possible to have two numbers indicating two separate periods of overseas service with different contracts, but it looks to me as though George Hardwick only had one number.
Sue
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Thanks Sue. That is very perspicacious of you! It was indeed on the Ancestry Medal Rolls Index Card that I saw the 2 numbers.
I first saw the 2535 number on the Red Cross site, I am not familiar with the BRC register of overseas volunteers.
There are 2 Medal Rolls Index Cards for George on Ancestry.
One shows him as a member of the ASC Reg No: M/339721
The other shows him as a driver for BRCS & O. StJJ, with Ditto marks underneath and the letters MAC Dvr (?) (driver?) and the number 2535 in blue ink, with the asterix and number below 344B/AG(?)10, also in blue ink.
Another anomaly is that on Piece 2314 BRCS & O StJ Roll of Individuals entitled to Victory and/or British War Medal, George is crossed off. His service 20-03-13 to 30-06-17, is amended to 6-11-15 and in "remarks" it says "RASC 20-6-17 See G22(SS?) roll".
In the transcription by Ancestry, it says that George forfeited his medals.
I don't know if this would be forfeiture due to some indiscretion or whether he was removed from the RCS medal roll because he had been put on the ASC medal roll?
Help I don't know where to start!
Thanks
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I think you need someone expert in medal rolls which is definitely not me! But it does look as though he went to France as a driver with the BRCS, then transferred to the ASC, which was not uncommon, and there was some confusion about which roll his medals were issued from. It sounds as though he qualified for the 1915 Star with the BRCS but the BWM/VM were issued from the ASC roll. But I'm pretty clueless about the ins and outs. But just the one number for his BRCS certificate.
Sue
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Thanks Sue.
One las thing...if you don't mind...
Is the BRC register the one I can see on the Red Cross site, which only has names transcribed from A-??? just past H!!!
Penstemon.
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The original book is called 'The British Red Cross Society Register of Overseas Volunteers, 1914-1918' and it's that book which I transcribed and can be searched on Find My Past. However, the new online BRCS records are certainly fuller, and of course cover all members whether they served overseas or not. So there won't be anything in the book that you can't find in the online.
They seem to have got up to the beginning of the letter 'M' at present with the online records, so more than half-way now.
Sue
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Thanks again Sue. I am glad I don't have to find another list!
So now it's over to the Medal Roll experts. Are there any out there?
Penstemon 5
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Might be worth trying here:
http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php
Imber
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Thanks Imber. I'll have a look there.