Why join the Indian Cavalry?

[Sylviaann]

Not sure what MICs are but this is what I have.

Before the was he was a Steamship Labourer, Dock Labourer and Stevedore if that helps.

Medal Card

[Sylviaann]

Medal Roll 1 & 2

Numbers missing from 2 Roll number looks like 301&286 of 1919
Think this is page number 10632

Sylviaann

[Sylviaann]

Woops sorry it's so big.  Haven't mastered that art yet.
I was told he built roads and bridges but was also told he was a corporal which was not true according to these records.

Sylviaann

[old rowley]

Hi Sylviaann,

The building of roads and bridges would certainly have come into the remit of the Labour Corps. To find out more about these men I would suggest that you take alook at
www.geocities.com/labourcorps/ancestors
it is a site run by Ivor Lee and having used this site myself I know that it is helpful. Ivor Lee also helps with tracking down people that had served in this unit of the British army from his own records.

old rowley

[harribobs]

Hi Sylviaann

If you look on the Victory Medal roll, he is down there as a corporal on the 11/11/18  and a private with the ASC when he entered column 4,

he was originally in an ASC unit that was in the 1st Indian Cavalry Supply Column, The 1st Indian Cavalry Division   was a division of the Indian Army, which arrived in France on 7 November 1914. which agrees with the MIC (medal index card, the small card you first posted)

The divisional Supply Column was made up of the 82nd and the 89th Company, Army Service Corps. This formed part of the complete division which included  Artillery (with units of the Royal Horse Artillery)  Cavalry ( including 8th Hussars) field ambulance units etc etc  (http://www.1914-1918.net/CAVALRY/1cavdiv_indian.htm

The prefix to his service number SS meant Supply Special, so the road building/repair idea seems perfectly reasonable.

The labour corp was not created until 1917, and i suspect that was when he was transferred in to the LC then (or after) and given a new service number.

hope this makes it somewhat clearer

[Sylviaann]

Thank you all so much.  It is a fascinating but sad time in our history.

Henry's eldest son Henry Charles was fatally wounded at Arras.  He was in the Hampshire regiment and the Regimental museum sent me photocopies of their book about the action.  I have put everything in a small book about the family for descendants to read some time in the future.  I am just updating everything, hence the interest.

Thank you all again.

Sylviaann

[BruceBlair]

My grandfather Robert Blair was also from the East End of London and served with the A.S.C in the 89th Company First Indian Cavalry Supply Column from the same dates. He was also transferred to the R A S C Labour Corps at the same date. My grandfather served in France from November 1914 until early 1919. He was a stevedore and I assume he was involved in landing supplies and munitions needed in France. It is possible that the correspondents grandfather did the same.

[km1971]

Hi Bruce

His ASC company were Motorised Transport so they probably taught him to drive and then he could drive supplies from the ports to the front - http://www.1914-1918.net/asc.htm - and search for 89.

The Labour Corps was a separate corps from the ASC/RASC. This comes from the same site:

The Labour Corps is formed

Formed in January 1917, the Corps grew to some 389,900 men (more than 10% of the total size of the Army) by the Armistice. Of this total, around 175,000 were working in the United Kingdom and the rest in the theatres of war. The Corps was manned by officers and other ranks who had been medically rated below the "A1" condition needed for front line service. Many were returned wounded. Labour Corps units were often deployed for work within range of the enemy guns, sometimes for lengthy periods. In April 1917, a number of infantry battalions were transferred to the Corps. The Labour Corps absorbed the 28 ASC Labour Companies between February and June 1917. Labour Corps Area Employment Companies were formed in 1917 for salvage work, absorbing the Divisional Salvage Companies. In the crises of March and April 1918 on the Western Front, Labour Corps units were used as emergency infantry. The Corps always suffered from its treatment as something of a second class organisation: for example, the men who died are commemorated under their original regiment, with Labour Corps being secondary. Researching men of the Corps is made extra difficult by this, as is the fact that few records remain of the daily activities and locations of Corps units.

He may have gone straight from his MT company into the LC or via an ASC Labour Company. If you do not know when he joined the Labour Corps someone on the Great War Forum should be able to tell you from his number.

Ken

[BruceBlair]

Many thanks for your very interesting information Ken. Much appreciated.