WW1 estate workers in forces

[Tickettyboo]

A twiglet on my tree, Thomas Wallace (1880-1962), was a joiner on the Etal Estate. He had been born in Edinburgh  to parents both from Northumberland) and they returned to Northumberland sometime between 1881 and 1888 and he livedBy 1911 he and his wife, Ellen, were recorded at Etal and they were still there in 1939 when he was recorded as Joiner (Estate)

I have the Absent Voters Lists for Berwick upon Tweed Division which, in 1918 and 1919, have a Thomas Wallace, Etal, service no 184774 Pte., 353 Wks. Co. Lab. Corps.

Which looked all well and good to be him, till this week when a kind gentleman sent me photos of Thomas and his wife. One photo has Thomas in a uniform and the cap badge is that of the DLI.

I've tried service/pension records and haven't found a surviving record for him. Searching the medal index cards using the service number on the absent voters list draws a blank.

Would the estate have kept details about their workers who were in the forces ?
Boo

ADDED: Just noticed this annotation on the Absent Voters list - anyone got any ideas?

[c-side]

Hi Boo

I can't answer the estate question but it's perfectly possible that he ended up in DLI.  Men were moved around regiments in WW1 depending upon circumstances.  If he was wounded for example he would not necessarily go back to his original regiment.

When a man was moved he would be given a new service number in a sequence used by the regiment he had just joined.

Try looking for medal cards without the service number - there could be a few but one might stand out

Christine

[Tickettyboo]

Hi Christine, hope you are fully recovered now :-)

Thanks, I've tried looking at all the Thomas Wallace medal cards (which are numerous!) and there's just nothing that stands out , he could be any one of them - apart from a very few which have addresses etc and could be discounted.

The Estate records was a straw to clutch at, I have emailed the Estate office in the hope that someone may know of any information about employees who served - a very long shot but shy bairns get nowt.

If they don't know, or don't get involved in such queries (which would be understandable, they have work to do) then I am no worse off.

Boo

[barryd]

The most well known of all of the "Estate Batallions" or was it an Estate Batallion" ? The Sandringham Batallion may have better records. But probably their Army Records are just the same as any soldier.

http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/5th-Battalion-Norfolk-Regiment-The-True-Story/

[MaxD]

The more normal progression was for a man to be transferred to the Labour Corps from another regiment so I would suggest he started in the DLI and ended in the Labour Corps. Indeed 25 (Works) Battalion DLI was converted en masse to the Labour Corps in 1917 although I don't suggest this is his battalion. 

More significantly, the absence of any medal record usually indicates that the man did not serve overseas.  As his service record looks as if it has been lost in the second war, apart from the absent voters' list, there is thus no extant record of his service.  20 of the DLI's 42 battalions served at home as did units of the Labour Corps so my suggestion is, unless there is other evidence that he did serve at the front somewhere, that he served at home only.

MaxD

[Tickettyboo]

Thanks for the input, that sounds the most likely scenario.

Boo

The more normal progression was for a man to be transferred to the Labour Corps from another regiment so I would suggest he started in the DLI and ended in the Labour Corps. Indeed 25 (Works) Battalion DLI was converted en masse to the Labour Corps in 1917 although I don't suggest this is his battalion. 

More significantly, the absence of any medal record usually indicates that the man did not serve overseas.  As his service record looks as if it has been lost in the second war, apart from the absent voters' list, there is thus no extant record of his service.  20 of the DLI's 42 battalions served at home as did units of the Labour Corps so my suggestion is, unless there is other evidence that he did serve at the front somewhere, that he served at home only.

MaxD