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8th Royal Warwickshire

A

anne bernadette

proper brummie kid
My grandmother's brother Joseph Patrick Flanagan served in 8th Royal Warwickshire Regiment- 305326. I know the battalion served in Italy and France but is it possible to tell from his service number when he enlisted or was called up? Thanks for any help.
 
Can only find his medal card, which does not mention him getting the 1914 or 1915 Star, so he must have enlisted 1916 or later.
His rank was Acting Sergeant, by the look of it.
 
It definitely does not mean he enlisted in 1916 or later.

The rank tells us he was an Acting Sergeant at war's end.

The number is important. It was issued in March 1917; all men serving in TF infantry units were renumbered at this time.

In fact, go and have a look at the card under Private 2693 J. Flanagan. I am willing to bet that it is him.
 
Thanks Chris
That makes a lot more sense. I have the war diaries for the 8th in Italy for 1917/8 and under the MM's awarded in June 1918 they listed several privates and one sergeant who had numbers very similar to Joseph's (I thought if I could find their service records it might give me an idea of when they enlisted which would be around the same time as my great uncle) but I couldn't find any of these soldiers listed with those numbers under the medal cards, even though some of them had unusual surnames.
That would also tally with the family's knowledge that he served throughout the war although they had no idea where he went. With your help I will now be able to trace the route he took which is what we all wanted to know.
Finally on the medal card you mentioned above there is a word on the right in 'Comments' which I can't read. Do you know what it means? and does TF stand for Territorial Force? Was he a soldier before WW1?
With many thanks once again Chris.
Anne
 
Yes, TF = Territorial Force. 8th Battalion was a Territorial unit, based in Aston.

The remark is "disemb", for "disembodied", meaning stood down from full time service. Embodiment and disembodiment were terms used by the TF, which in peace time was a part-time form of soldiering. The remark almost certainly applies to war's end rather than earlier, although without a service record we can not be certain of that.

It's not easy to tell whether 2693 is a pre-war number, without doing a deeper study of the way the battalion issued its numbers. My guess is that it is.
 
Thank you Chris and Alan

That all helps with tracing my gt uncle's military service. I now have a detailed list of where the 1/8 served from 1915 in France, so now need to locate the Regiment's war diaries for that period (never easy on the National Archives website!).

Many thanks once again
Anne
 
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