indecipherable army records

[whitehound]

I've been trying to work out my father's army records over on ww2talk, but we've drawn a blank on a bit of code which is perfectly clear, sharp and unrecognisable as any known character, although it looks very very vaguely like 2no.  It's *not* 2no, because we have examples of this person's 2 and it doesn't look like that, but that's the only thing it looks even slightly like.

It's the bit of code towards the bottom right of both these examples, that starts with an "R," and ends with "W/611" - but what's the squiggly bit in between?

[franh1946]

So, vide (see or refer to) R. (Reg) ITSO? I haven't read your other thread, could the Army Records Office or equivalent help?

[Alexander.]

Is it R.I.No. W/611 - Registration Identity Number W/611 as it says above?

Alexander

[whitehound]

Army Records are very, very busy - when you apply for a set of records it takes a full year to get them 

"I No" seems a reasonable suggestion - thanks.  I'll run it past the army types on ww2talk and see if that would make sense in that position.

[trish18]

I agree with Freckneale, definitely 'Registration Identiny Number W/611'.

'At the outbreak of the war, National Identity Cards were issued to everyone resident in the United Kingdom and the information recorded has been retained, so in a limited way we do have a 1939 mini census, which partially makes up for the lack of a 1941 census for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland'.

Regards

Trish

[whitehound]

Thanks.  Unfortunately it's almost certainly not that - we were poring over it last night on ww2talk. 

The National Registration Identity Number is the bit above which starts DUNB.  The instructions for this form E531 say that it should "State [] authority under which enlisted".  This mystery code follows the words "Enlisted under ..." and we found someone else who had a similar extra code beginning RI (but not RI No) on their E531 preceded by the word "Authority ..."

So it seems that this bit of code is the "authority under which enlisted", so the R almost certainly isn't Registration, and we're back with that squiggle *possibly* being "I No" but there's no clear reason why it should be, other than that it looks slightly as if it might be.

Both the people with these extra codes that we found had enlisted in Yorkshire, albeit 50 miles apart, so I wonder if the R - or the RI, if indeed they both start with RI - stands for "Ridings".  RI No w/611 could be No w/611 enlisted in Yorkshire, or enlisted in Yorkshire under the aegis of unit n° w/611.

[whitehound]

Somebody on ww2talk has sorted it out.  Youse were right, the squiggly bit *is* "I No" - and we might never have managed to read it without the help here - but what it stands for is "Recruit Intake Number".

[Colin Cruddace]

Alexander has already given the answer 

The clue is in the image you posted 

[whitehound]

No, that's completely wrong - the National Registration Idenity Number is the number which is written *above* the printed line which says "Natl. Registration Identity No.", i.e. D.U.N.B 122/204.  There's no doubt about that. 

I was toying with the idea that it might be possible to have two National Registration Idenity Numbers, but it seems that it isn't, and in any case in the other example of an E531 which has a similar extra number on it, it's not written anywhere near the printed words "Natl. Registration Identity No." and is clearly nothing to do with them.

It has to be what the army people on ww2talk said - Recruit Intake Number.  So Freckneale was right about the squiggle being I No.