Who paid the £35 ? (Very easy)

[Karen McDonald]

Is there any more to the document? It would be good to be able to compare the capital letters.

And may I be so nosey as to enquire what the receipt is for? 

It might shed a little more light on things. Maybe... 

[kob3203]

Karen McDonald: It was a purchased discharge from the RAF. No idea of the reason. In today's money around £2,200*, so not something that would be done lightly.

*https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator

The service record seems to be filled in by different people, with only the bit about discharge being in this hand. Unfortunately no capital/uppercase/majescule Ms to compare

By the way - my written capital letters are identical to my written printed letters. I've always thought that there were just the two types: capital letters (uppercase/majescule); and not-capital letters (lowercase/miniscule). 

[kob3203]

But isn't the "m" in "airman" also in cursive ?
Although maybe the curlicue is a special flourish for an initial letter ? 

Yes, the M of Mr is a capital letter.
The m in airman is a small m.
That's why they look different.
It is the same with writing today - a capital letter, a small letter and a printed letter will all look slightly different.

My printed letters are identical to my capital letters (mentioned in the post above) - I thought everybody's were ?
Or perhaps my handwriting's just exceptionally neat... 

[kob3203]

It appears that Sister Patricia may have been born Frances Corbett, in Mitchelstown, Cork in 1853 -an aunt perhaps?

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/69408053/person/36201397231/facts?_phsrc=vul6766&_phstart=successSource

Not having a paid membership there I can't view other people's trees unless they specifically invite me.
Airman Joe's father was one of seven siblings born in the area just SW of Mitchelstown, and the two siblings we've traced didn't move further than a few miles. Apparently there was an area known locally as Corbetts' Corner. So she could well be a relative.

[Karen McDonald]

Karen McDonald: It was a purchased discharge from the RAF. No idea of the reason. In today's money around £2,200*, so not something that would be done lightly.

The service record seems to be filled in by different people, with only the bit about discharge being in this hand. Unfortunately no capital/uppercase/majescule Ms to compare

By the way - my written capital letters are identical to my written printed letters. I've always thought that there were just the two types: capital letters (uppercase/majescule); and not-capital letters (lowercase/miniscule). 

I was thinking that it would have been rather a lot of money back then.

Shame we don't have more examples to compare the handwriting with. The first letter of whatever it is before "P." is certainly interesting, to say the least.
I was wondering if the person started to write something else, then corrected themselves, but I can't see what it might have been.

I would like to be able to say that my upper-case letters are always the same and my lower-case letters are always the same, but I do vary a bit!  I blame it on having written in England for more than 20 years and then moving to Germany. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. 

My printed letters are identical to my capital letters (mentioned in the post above) - I thought everybody's were ?
Or perhaps my handwriting's just exceptionally neat... 

I must admit that we were only taught upper and lower-case letters in the 60s in Sarfend. Printed letters were the same as upper-case.

I consider my handwriting to be huge and messy (I can just about manage to sign a bank card  ) but other people find it attractive and full of character. Read into that what you will. But I suppose it's better that way round...

Best regards,
Karen

[Ruskie]

But isn't the "m" in "airman" also in cursive ?
Although maybe the curlicue is a special flourish for an initial letter ? 

Yes, the M of Mr is a capital letter.
The m in airman is a small m.
That's why they look different.
It is the same with writing today - a capital letter, a small letter and a printed letter will all look slightly different.

My printed letters are identical to my capital letters (mentioned in the post above) - I thought everybody's were ?
Or perhaps my handwriting's just exceptionally neat... 

My handwriting is exceptionally neat.

My running writing capital letters and small letters and my printed capital letters and small letters are (generally) different (there may be some exceptions such as O, I etc). I write in a (lazy adapted to suit) form of Copperplate.

We will stick with the "m" though as that is what is in question here.

Even if your cursive capital M and small m are written in the same style, the capital M is bigger and the small m is smaller size wise. In your example the (beginning of the) capital M of Mr is big (similar height to the P), and the small m in the word "airman" is ... small.

Anyway, none of that is relevant to your query, so I'll leave it there.

 

[kob3203]

Irrelevance is the spice of life ! 

[Crumblie]

£35 was a lot of money then but you have realise that the cost is supposed to repay the amount spent on training the person concerned. In 1948 it was about £60 and when I joined the RAF in 1970 it cost about £300 to buy yourself out. The person had no automatic right for their application to be approved and it would depend on things like how much training he/she had had, shortages in the trade concerned, manning levels etc. I served 24 years and I know of people who did buy themselves who looked on the money required to do it as a sort of fine for daring to leave.

[kob3203]

Something's been niggling me about this - why did I misread Mr as Rev ?

I was just looking through my notes and was reminded that at the 1911 census the four eldest children (William 12*, Patrick 14, Michael 16, and Margaret 17 - ages from birth records) weren't recorded at the house in Ballykearney ( http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Cork/Mitchelstown/Ballykearney/439527/ ).

We know that William died in 1908, and we have feasible (but by no means certain) matches with the correct ages for Michael and Margaret.

But the nearest 1911 match I could find for a 14 year old Patrick Corbett born in Co. Cork was at a Capuchin College (Franciscan Friary) in Cork City ( http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Cork/Douglas/Rochestown/403793/ )

I'm very dubious about this (e.g. the family don't speak 'Irish language' but this Patrick does), but I'm now almost certain that it's the reason for my subconcious misreading !