radiology WW1 William H Harding

[Sandora]

I am trying to track down the army records and any other information regarding my Great Uncle - William Henry HARDING (b1894) (known as Harry). I know he served in France and had something to do with mobile x-rays. I am presuming that he was in the medical corps. Unfortunately, I do not know his rank (I imagine it was lowly due to his young age), nor his number. In later life he continued with developing mobile x-ray technology, and according to family lore, he even x-rayed the King!
Any help or information would be gratefully received.
Sandora

[liverpool annie]

Hi Sandora and welcome to RootsChat!

I found 2 William H Harding's in the medal cards - see what you think !

Harding, William H
Royal Army Medical Corps
132932
Private
Date
1914-1920

http://tinyurl.com/dauhy


Harding, William H
Royal Army Medical Corps
56137
Private
Royal Army Medical Corps
56137
Private
Date
1914-1920

http://tinyurl.com/af356

Annie 

[Sandora]

Annie
Thank you for that info.
Another couple of questions: Will I be able to tell from the medal cards which of the two boys (if either) was my Uncle? Do they contain date & place of birth etc? (Actually, what sort of information do they contain?) Also, are there any service records available? As you can tell, I am new to this!
Again, many thanks.
Sandora

[harribobs]

do medal index cards have date and place of birth- no, they are just index cards to the main medal rolls

they usually have:-
Surname
Rank
Forename
Regiment
(sometimes) Battalion
Medals entitlement
Qualification date ( date went abroad)
References to the pages of the actual roll where the battalions record is

(but not always all of that)

Only around 30% of WW1 service records survived the blitz of WW2

[Sandora]

Thanks.
My mother now tells me that she may have some of his medals, so I could presumably cross-reference.
Does anyone know where I might find information regarding the x-ray technology of the day? I know it was in its infancy and I think that the dangers of radiation had not yet been fully appreciated.

[harribobs]

if you have the medals, it certainly helps 

his service number and regiment/corps is on the edge of the medal (or the back if it's a Star)

xray technology..... sorry!

[Sandora]

thanks anyway!

[Swampy]

Hi Sandora,

I think you could do worse than get in touch with the medical corps museum.
Their address is:

Keogh Barracks
Ash Vale
Aldershot
GU12 5RQ

Tel: 01252 868612

E-mail: museum@keogh72.freeserve.co.uk

Hope that's useful.

Regards,
Swampy

[meles]

I googled "X ray history" and got a lot of useful info. Not least, it seems that the technology was no longer in its infancy by WWI.

meles