Confused about military records

[Timbottawa]

My great-uncle, Walter BALDWIN, was a driver in the Royal Field Artillery, killed in action at Passchendaele.

I'm pretty sure that I've found him on the CWGC site, shown as killed 20/10/1917.  His service number is 776263, he was in "B" Bty, 86th Bde.

Wanting to look at his medal record in the National Archives, I searched for Walter Baldwin.  There are three Walter Baldwins who were with the Royal Field Artillery.  They are distinguished in the National Archives records by their regiment numbers.  Service numbers do not seem to be recorded.

How do I find which of the three Walter Baldwins in the National Archives records is the right one?

Thanks for any advice.

Tim

[casalguidi]

The Regimental number and the service number are one and the same.  He is there - under that number - I have just had a look. 

Search for BALDWIN and put the service number in the "other" box.

Incidentally, WW1 service/regimental numbers were not always unique to just one man.  Often there was a batch of people allocated the same number - more than likely those that joined up together if anything.  Just thought you'd like to know.

Best wishes

Casalguidi

[Timbottawa]

Thanks, Casalguidi,  I've located the correct record with your help.  Actually, I'm still confused - on some of the cards the Service Number and Regiment Number are the same, but on my great-uncle's card it shows two numbers - the same number as on the CWGC site, and a second, "Regiment" number.  Other cards also have two numbers.

But I've long ago resigned myself to a perpetual state of confusion over military records, so that's fine!

Cheers

Tim

[casalguidi]

Hi Tim

No, it's not fine really because now you have the medal card you need to know what it's about

What I am going to suggest is that he was allocated or maybe already had the smaller number when war began.  Does it say when he enlisted?

His number would have changed if he changed regiment.  There was a lot of shifting about at times due to the huge losses. 

My own gt grandfather has 3 regimental numbers on his record card - one for the Royal Field Artillery (he was previously in the army) and then 2 different ones for the Royal Engineers.

If he was in the army before September 1915, he was either a regular army man, a reservist (ie previously in the army at some time) or he had volunteered. 

Perhaps there is somebody else watching who can give even a better insight than me

Casalguidi

[Timbottawa]

Good point, Casalguidi,

But I was waiting to try to figure out what it all means once I'm a bit more knowledgeable about all this military stuff - perhaps 20 years or so from now.

The medal card seemed to be pretty uninformative.  As far as I could decipher it, he won a Victory medal (posthumously, of course), and possibly the British medal (I think everyone got these, didn't they?).

The code for the Victory medal was RFA/1348(TF)6812.  The first 8, which could also be a capital B, seems to be slightly superscripted.  Does this mean anything to you?

My mother's earliest memory was of being carried through the snow in Leeds by Uncle Walter.  This must have been Jan or Feb 1917, when she was just 2 years old, as he was killed in October that year.  Apparently he was a "lead driver", meaning he rode the lead horse (drivers in those days still referring to real horse power, as often as not).  Passchendaele,  of course, was the infamous battle where soldiers and horses literally drowned in mud.

The story is also a good reminder (yet again) of the importance of getting elderly relatives to write down such stories.  Although my mother told me the story many times, I had totally forgotten it, until I discovered an old exercise book, just last week, in which she had recorded such memories.

Cheers

Tim

[M.T.H]

Hi Tim,

The set of numbers and letters next to the medal award are,I would think,the reference numbers for the medal rolls that are kept at the National Archives at Kew.

You might have seen this but in case you haven't,there is some info here on interpreting the medal cards,

http://www.documentsonline.nationalarchives.gov.uk/medals.asp

Hope this helps you out a bit,

Best wishes,Mick

[Timbottawa]

Thanks Mick,

I think I had read this guidance before, but it's always good to re-read this stuff!

Cheers

Tim