soldiers effects

[jim1]

This certainly raises a question about the amount of gratuity his widow
received.
Gratuity was calculated from enlistment providing the man served overseas at some point
which obviously he did.
There were disqualifying periods as listed below courtesy of the LLT:

Service previous to date of conviction for desertion, unless that service had been restored under King’s Regulations;
Any period of penal servitude, imprisonment or detention exceeding 28 days;
Any continuous period of absence without leave exceeding 28 days;
Any period of service in which the man had been in receipt of civilian wages (for example, as a member of Class W Army Reserve).
From this it's quite possibly he went into Reserve ( & back to his day job) as his Btn.
were still UK based & recalled just prior to embarkation.
This was quite a common occurrence.
Academic really as AllanUK has given the probable attestation date.
As an aside he was at Berneville France W. of Arras on the day he died.
This was at the beginning of the German Spring Offensive.

[Skaife]

Thankyou AllanUK - using the records of the Silver War Badge service numbers listed near to this man's number is an excellent bit of deduction.
Also I note that Jim1 has usually given the criteria when credit towards a pension would not be counted and one of these is if the man went back into the reserves for a time. I know that WH Gardiner's wife  did have the birth of a child born in Sept 1/4 1916 so that could be a possibility.
Can I ask Jim how did you find the information that he was at Berneville on the day he died?

[jim1]

From the Btn. war diary.

[Skaife]

Jim1- your knowledge and help with this query is much appreciated Thank you

[jim1]

A bit more knowledge but not particularly germane to this.
He went overseas June 21st. 1915 & she registered a birth in Sept. 1916.
Even if with a late registration the numbers don't add up.
To give her the benefit of the doubt he may have been granted
compassionate leave at the end of 1915.

[Skaife]

Oh! I completely missed that detail around dates.
I will need to look again at what I’ve collected along the way. William H Gardiner did have a brother who died in 1915 so maybe the idea of compassionate leave might tie in. I’m not at home at the moment to find my various scribbles about this marriage. Jim1 you have made me think again - my original query around pensions was because I was just wondering what happened to a widow. I’ll come back once I’ve checked.

[Skaife]

I have now checked the details I had previously found. The birth of the child is August 6th (reg Sept 1/4) 1916 so not a late registration. With Jim1’s possible suggestion that maybe the father has been given compassionate leave in 1915 I had wondered if that was indeed the case as I know a brother had died in 1915. However he died in April 1915 so I do not think any compassionate leave would  have extended towards the last few months of the year.
One of those things we’ll probably never know. Thankyou Jim1 though for pointing that it out as I had not noticed the discrepancy in dates.