8 replies to this topic

[seany]

In putting together the 100 RGA men from the 1233-- service number group I find 18 missing MIC's. Is this usual? Where have they gone?

[Michelle Young]

Some of the MICs were damaged by mice and unscannable in my opinion, have you looked at the NA ones?
Michelle

[archangel9]

Are they missing or were the numbers either not issued or issued to men who didn't serve overseas?

John

[ccsk]

archangel9, on 17 March 2012 - 01:12 PM, said:

Are they missing or were the numbers either not issued or issued to men who didn't serve overseas?

John

This is a good point. One possibility is men who were passed fit at their initial medical then discharged within a short time of starting training as 'unlikely to become an efficient solider'. I have seen a few of these whilst researching service records. I have no idea however if they would re-use that mans number or not but, as the initial recruits records were kept I suspect not. Good luck with your search.

[ss002d6252]

In the 6th DLI the numbers were not re-used - I would guess that other battalions were the same in order that records could be kept otherwise admin would be a nightmare - and its very difficult to find those men who were discharged quite quickly.

At least some of the regular battalions recycled numbers but the period was that long between that it didn't make a difference (e.g they had a block of 5000 numbers, by the time they got back to number 1 the previous holder was long since gone).

[seany]

Thank you all for the good pointers - those pesky mice.

The number block is particularly affected by missing, probably burnt, records but some survive and some pension records survive. I'm not sure how one would know if the number was never issued or only used for a very short period,then not re-used as you suggest.

Michelle, I'll try the NA online and see what turns up.

[ccsk]

seany, on 18 March 2012 - 09:29 AM, said:

The number block is particularly affected by missing, probably burnt, records but some survive and some pension records survive. I'm not sure how one would know if the number was never issued or only used for a very short period,then not re-used as you suggest.

One possibility (although I cannot say how successful it may be) is to have a look at the actual medal roll books, I have seen a couple of these for different units and both were recorded in regimental number order. If you can get to the NA you can see them there, if not you can order digital copies online at the cost of £2.80 per page. There seem to be about 10 entries or so per page so it won’t be a cheap option. This way, if you find an entry on the roll but no MIC, you will know that the MIC has been lost or destroyed. If there is no entry on the roll it will also explain why there is no MIC.

As always a word of caution as I have heard that sometimes men were missed out of the correct place in the rolls and picked up later - but this seems to be an exception. You would be unlucky to find one of these who also had the misfortune to end up having their MIC turned into a mouse’s nest!

Another possibility is if you PM me the missing 18 numbers I can do a quick search on the SWB list. Nothing guaranteed but it may turn up some info on a couple of them.

[Tyneside Chinaman]

Hi

"As always a word of caution as I have heard that sometimes men were missed out of the correct place in the rolls and picked up later - but this seems to be an exception".

I think if you l;ook at a whole series of Medal Roll books for a regiment you will find that the last couple of books sweep up those men missed in the first pass.

Certainly in the DLI War and Victory rolls covered by WO320 1601 to WO329 1631 the last three WO329 1629, 1630 and 1631 cover the whole regimental sequence whilst the latter half of 1628 starts the sequence again.

I did hear a story years ago from a very reliable source that as the cards were being transported from Droitwich to Kew the doors on the van came open and a couple of bags of cards were lost onto the motorway.

I am not aware of any DLI or NF numbers being reissued during the great war.

regards

John

[seany]

Thanks to you all - I'm continuing to work through the number sequences that are most relevant to me, its about 600 numbers, and then looking up the associated service records (if any) whilst making a note of those that are missing for later more intensive searching.