Hi I am a newbie on this site and have tried to find some leads on here to help in the location of a mystery Gt Uncle....
We are trying to find out what happened to him after September 1917 when our strongest lead came from a newspaper report (regarding another brother) which states that "Malcolm was a seaman and has been doing transport work since the war began".

Can anyone give me some insight in what "Transportation work" may mean.

Also any advice on perhaps locating seamans records before the war, possibility of being called up with the RNR and location of discharge books.

I have searched all the online records I can think of but no luck.

Any Help would be appreciated.

Possibly a seaman on cross channel troop transport ships.

Bob.

Thank you Bob, so if I use that as my starting point where am I most likely to make a hit.
As I said I have tried every online site I can imagine, all lead me back to the National Archieves. My Gt Uncle was Scottish born. I don't know if he was on fishing boats or Merchant Navy, just that he was a seaman. The only other information is family hearsay that he emigrated to Australia. Finding the news article is a good lead because I can place him still in the UK Circ 1917 but that is it.

I am planning a week visit to London, should I start at the NA in Kew or head for Southampton as I believe they may have more records regarding Merchant Navy or general seamen rather than Royal Navy.

Again Any advice would be appreciated.

Hi,

Welcome to the forum.

Not wanting to muddy the waters but the Royal Engineers had 25,000 men working on water transportation.

Regards Charles

Not at all, actually I have a couple of Malcolm Brown's as Royal Engineers in the medal records WW1 both as Sappers which I was a bit suspicious of but at 3.50 a pop I wanted a little more confirmation. It would make a little sense as the newspaper said he "was" a seaman but has been doing transport work since the war began.

Is this one of them;

Regards Charles


And the other,

Regards Charles

Yeap, I downloaded them both but doesn't give me much information.....where do I go from there?

The second Chap, 528503 was re-numbered into the East Anglian Divisional Signal Company and never entered a theatre of war.

143782 looks like a regular that was discharged with a Silver War Badge.

So you could put them well down the list.

Regards Charles

So in other words neither would have been in Transport work?....

If I wanted to extend my research to two areas:
1) He was a crew member on a troop transport ship: where is the best place to research records first Kew or Southampton? Looking for seamans records/discharge book prior, during and post war.
2) Royal Engineers: are their records for enlistment/discharge available and where is best place to start?

Any advice?

Malcolm Brown 143782 was from Stenhousmuir he married margaret Ward from Larbert on 31 Dec 1917 in Glasgow. His father was an Ironmonger his mother's maiden name was Leitch.

Unfortunately this is not my guy...right age but that's all...

He was a Grinder & Polisher and was discharged after suffering heart trembles in Nieuweport (Belgium I think), he spent some time in hospital in England but was eventually discharged as unfit to continue.

Maybe someday someone might need this info...

For me the search goes on!

Welcome to the forum
The other major possibility is that he served aboard one of His Majesty's Transports, these would carry stores and supplies as well as troops. From the wording he could have been in the Royal Navy (including reserves) as a seaman or Merchant service so you have a lot of trawling to do. I read it as he had been a general seaman and then was allocated to transport work, which could have been HMTs or inland (RE) water transport.
In addition to the online service registers for Royal Naval seamen (documents online) you can look at: the microfiche copies of the Mercantile Marine War Medal (BT 351)
Medal rolls ADM 171/120 Royal Naval Reserve: Ratings A-Cun
ADM 171/125 Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve: Ratings A-Dak
ADM 171/130 Mercantile Marine Reserve: Ratings A-Fou
You would then have to cross reference the names and service numbers you find with their service record for DoB, etc.

Kew is supposed to have microfilm/ microfiche copies of the documents held at Southampton, here's the UK National Arcives Research Guide Merchant Seamen: Sea Service Records 1913-1972
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalog...?sLeafletID=128