WW1 Medal Card - What's it all mean?!

[harribobs]

KR 392 is King's Regulation 392

ie a soldier being discharged

paragrapgh xvi  (16) means he was discharged as he was no longer physically fit for duty

the refence next to the medal entitlement is the full medal roll

[trachelospermum]

After speaking to my dad, it seems that we have a photo (one of those with 100s of people in!) with my g grandfather in. Underneath it says "Army Pay Office, Blackheath, July 12 1917. R,H and R,F,A." Can anyone shed any light on this? Did regiments congregate at the Pay office for these photos to be taken? Hopefully I'll be able to scan the pic and post it for some clever person to identify the uniform soon! Jo

[Hackstaple]

R.F.A. is Royal Field Artillery. R.H. has no real meaning, perhaps it is R.A. or Royal Artillery. The Artillery have their HQ at Woolwich, directly opposite Blackheath Common. I suppose that during a war they may have overlapped into a nearby area.

Normally units were and are paid wherever they are - soldiers did not travel to be paid.  Pay parades were weekly, at their own units. An Army Pay Office would be a Command Pay office - responsible for a large number of units. It is possible that the troop concentration in the Woolwich area in 1917 was large enough for that.

[trachelospermum]

Thanks, I couldn't find a meaning for RH either, but it's definitely an H. Perhaps he wa sin the RFA then, not the Buffs as my nanna thinks...

[tisgrannie]

hi there I just wondered if you had checked on the National Archives or Ancestry to see if he recieved a pension. Just a thought.
regards
tisgrannie

[archer2]

R.H. has no real meaning, perhaps it is R.A. or Royal Artillery

No, no !!

It certainly has a meaning - it means 'Royal Horse' - the full phrase is 'Royal Horse and Royal Field Artillery' which is used to differentiate the unit from the 'Royal Garrison Artillery.'

Hope this helps
William

[trachelospermum]

Aha! That sounds right (which I'm sure it is!!). That would be the Reg he was in then in 1917? I've checked the pension records and no luck so far. I couldn't find him at Kew either.

[Hackstaple]

R.H. has no real meaning, perhaps it is R.A. or Royal Artillery

No, no !!

It certainly has a meaning - it means 'Royal Horse' - the full phrase is 'Royal Horse and Royal Field Artillery' which is used to differentiate the unit from the 'Royal Garrison Artillery.'

Hope this helps

William

Sorry to be argumentative but there was never any such regiment.
At about 1897 to 1900 the Royal Artillery was reorganised into the Royal Field Artillery. who wore boots and breeches and the Royal Garrison Artillery who wore trousers and were, in effect, a Territorial Army with 104 batteries in 3 divisions, but they did have overseas batteries detached. Their shoulder titles denote the Division E [East], [South] and W [West] plus the battery number.

The Royal Field Artillery was further subdivided into Horse Batteries [an unspecfied number], Field Batteries 1-103 and 10 Mountain Batteries.

The Royal Horse Guards and its batteries are another story altogether. They were part of the cavalry and not of the RA. They still exist today and it is they who fire the salutes to the monarch on special occasions. The Royal Horse would never be referred to as such but by the title of their Guard Regiment - Coldstreams etc. Their guns would be the guns of the Coldstreams and their band the band of the Coldstreams.

[archer2]

Er.

Perhaps you should check this out.

http://www.1914-1918.net/rha.htm