WWI (?) uniform help

[dsjturner]

On a side note I thought it was only one page and I’ve discovered more pages! I only had a quick glance but I saw the words cleopatra and India so that’s the link with the uniform!

[MaxD]

So presumably you now can see entries relating to his unit?

MaxD

[dsjturner]

Yes I can see more information now but the handwriting is very hard to read and the quality of the image isn’t great either. I did pick out the word signals quite a lot though!

[ShaunJ]

There are several public trees on Ancestry for this man with links to the service records. Here are a couple:

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/10126428/person/25119676032/facts

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/23257654/person/320182588129/facts

[dsjturner]

Thank you very much for that. At the moment I am using the library edition of ancestry online at home and I can only seem to find one tree. I’ll certainly make a note of the above, thank you!

[dsjturner]

I’ve had a long look at the service record and I’m a lot better off but I still can’t read or understand a lot of it, but this is what I did manage to decipher.

* Transferred from Haynes park signal depot to M.E.F (March 1916)
*Joined depot, cleopatra (March 1916)
*Transferred from (??) to Mesopotamia
*Disembarked Suez (April 1916)
*Disembarked Basrah (April 1916)
*Admitted to hospital (Aug 1917)
*Rejoined (coy?) (Aug 1917)
* Granted one months leave to India (Apr 1918)
* Embarked Basrah (Apr 1918)
* Struck off the strength of the company not having returned from leave within 3 months from date of embarkation (Aug 1918)
*It mentions a punishment but in the column it says certified. (Dec 1918).

I do have a few Questions about all that. Would it be common place for soldiers to take leave and visit other counties for instance India?
Also would it have been common place to not return in time from leave? I can’t imagine so, so I find it odd he was awol for over 2 months. (Although I don’t blame him wanting to get away from it all)
What does being struck off the strength of the company mean?
Many thanks in advance for any help!
Daniel

[MaxD]

Not sure whether you don't want us to know who he was but in deciphering a record, context is everything so a link to his on line record would be helpful.

Struck off Strength is when a man is taken "off the books" of a company.  The opposite of Taken on Strength

MaxD

[ShaunJ]

Here are links to the army record:

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/1219/images/miuk1914e_124675-00702

https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBM%2FWO363-4%2F007286463%2F00705&parentid=GBM%2FWO363-4%2F7286463%2F45%2F705

[dsjturner]

Not sure whether you don't want us to know who he was but in deciphering a record, context is everything so a link to his on line record would be helpful.

Struck off Strength is when a man is taken "off the books" of a company.  The opposite of Taken on Strength

MaxD

Apologies I hadn’t realised I hadn’t said his name, but yes the links above are him! I’m now 99.9% sure the man in the photos are Albert so I’m really thankful for all the help!