In the army

[marymog]

Good day,

I have a question. if a man was in the first world war in the Royal Horse Artillery and he was a sergeant, with three stripes on his arm, would he have been a recruit or would he have been already in the army. How long would one need to be in the army to have become a sergeant??

I am trying to pin him down on censuses, but he dosent seem to be on any!!! could he have been abroad with the army and not listed in 1901.

Id appreciate any opinions

mm

[Wendi]

Hi mm

It's really impossible to say.  In the field of battle they could have been promoted day by day as more senior men died.

However if you can't find him on the 1901 Census it is possible that he may have been serving in the Boer War. 

Do you have his medal card and service number from WW1? 

Wendi

[marymog]

Hi Wendy
Thanks for your quick reply.
I know very little about him, I think maybe he was canadian. their uniforms were pretty similar I have heard. Name Jones!!! say no more!!! medal card!!!!? too many to chose from.

thanks anyway

mm

[casalguidi]

Hi MM

Could you not scan and post the picture on here - some of the guys are pretty good at identifying uniforms etc.

Otherwise, do post all you know and somebody may be able to come up with a suggestion or two to help try and identify him

Casalguidi

[manmack]

you didnt have to have been in the army a long time to become a serjeant.heres a story of how one lad got promoted,when the manchester regt went into their training camp,they were all allocated 10 to each tent,the sgt major stuck his head in and asked if anyone had any previous military experience,one lad stuck his hand up and said YES,i was in the territorials,he was immediately promoted to corporal,the other 9 men in his tent had all been his superiors at the firm he worked for,many of them had given him an hard time,NOW he was in charge of them,ya can guess who was gonna get an hard time now,mack

[manmack]

here ya go mary,all the serjeants called jones who served in the RHA.
john 606037
frank 51349
james 30320
percy 61493
william,r 604515
george 604442
frederick,william 25840 became an officer
evan 504
edwin 604009
bertram 618003
mack

[marymog]

manmack,

now how did you do that, when I did it I got 4000 odd john joneses, so i gave up.

thanks mate

mm

[Wendi]

Sorry Mack nothing better to do !

Hi mm 

all the serjeants called jones who served in the RHA.
mack

He narrowed it down with his wealth of info.

Does that John fit in with what you have already?

Wendi

[marymog]

Yep,

Ive just got off the phone with my sister, Told her she has to go the NA and hope that our John isnt in the ones that got ruined!!!

I live in the Netherlands so I can pop up there. She can she lives in London. Lets just hope it is him!!

thanks for all the help

mm