TOPIC:

Before 1920 a particular individual soldiers number was given to him by his regiment/corps upon enlistment, the War Office subsequently changed this with Army Order 388 which issued numbers within "blocks" to each regiment/corps across the Army as a whole, a soldier then kept this particular number until his discharge, notwithstanding whatsoever his regiment/corps after any transfer that might have taken place during his service.

Western wrote: I understand how the numbers work now and thank you for your help.

Thanks anyway. There is a G Olive that comes up on a name search minus a reg. No. That might be a likely avenue of enquiry. Otherwise I'm stuck now. A pro researcher 10 years ago said the papers were destroyed in the Blitz 1940 so No hope there. Western. Ps very glad I came across your Group

I would tend to be a little circumspect until all avenues have been entered, at the end of the day Olive was a Lance Sergeant actually serving in the Militia, during the Anglo Boer War, you may well be right, notwithstanding, the Militia was not the Army, if he had been seconded on the Battalions permanent staff or had subsequently gone on to serve in the Army, his papers may well have succumbed to the attentions of the wretched Luftwaffe, otherwise a manual search in WO96 would be needed.

Western wrote: Thanks anyway. There is a G Olive that comes up on a name search minus a reg. No. That might be a likely avenue of enquiry. Otherwise I'm stuck now. A pro researcher 10 years ago said the papers were destroyed in the Blitz 1940 so No hope there. Western. Ps very glad I came across your Group

Western - try FindmyPast to search for military papers, they have the best set on-line and all existing service papers prior to 1922.

Searches are free.

Hello Meurig,
Are all extant papers now available to actually view on line, if so, when did they make up their shortfall, I assume it can only have been quite recently?
Regards Frank

SWB wrote: Western - try FindmyPast to search for military papers, they have the best set on-line and all existing service papers prior to 1922.

Searches are free.