TOPIC:

Hello - I am new to the site and not sure where best to post this query so this seems like a good place to start.

I am researching my ancestor, Joseph Ellison, who fought in the Boer War. I have already found some useful information however there is one particular thing which puzzles me, his service number. This appears to have changed but I cannot find official proof of this change and I am not even sure why it did. Here is what I have so far:

Army Service Record - Private Joseph Ellison enlisted 3 November 1897 in West Yorkshire Regiment 3rd Battalion. Service Number 4334. The information on his service record ends 11 Dec 1897 with no mention of transferring battalion or involvement in Boer War.

Boer War Records - Private J Ellison, West Yorkshire Regiment 2nd Battalion. Service Number 5128. Wounded 22 November 1899 at Willow Grange.

He came home from the war having been wounded and survived. In the 1939 Register he mentions his service number 5128 and West Yorkshire Regiment so I know it is the same person.

Can anyone help with how/why his service number changed from 4334 to 5128 please? Surely transferring battalions within the same regiment would not cause this to occur?

Many Thanks

Hello

The 3rd bn was a militia battalion - a forerunner to the Army Reserve (aka the Territorials), very different to the Regular Army.

When he enlisted in the Regular Army he would have been assigned a new service number. Number 5128 was allocated late 1897/early 1898:

5000 joined on 16th July 1897
5241 joined on 12th July 1898

(from armyservicenumbers.blogspot.co.uk/2009/0...egiment-1st-2nd.html )

Regards
Meurig

Hello Meurig,

Thank you for your prompt and informative response!

This now makes sense. Presumably there would be a separate service record created when he enlisted in the Regulary Army which sadly must not have survived as is not online.

Thanks again for your help with this - mystery solved!

My pleasure.

I have a theory that the government have more service papers for Victorian and WW1 soldiers than are released to the public through the National Archives. These would be papers for pensions that were active well into the 20th Century - such as Joseph Ellison.

I could be wrong.

An interesting theory. I know for a fact that Joseph Ellison received an army pension (presumably as a result of being wounded in battle in 1899) and he lived until the 1950s which is still relatively recently.

It would be fascinating if indeed there were any further documents out there yet to be released. I had just presumed that any records not already online through FindMyPast and Ancestry had been destroyed in the WW2 bombings as they have a very comprehensive collection.