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Grandads regiment

P

Pete The fireman

Brummie babby
On my grandfather’s marriage certificate, dated Dec 25 1916, his occupation is shown as soldier, his address is stated Sutton Coldfield Park. Also in the address box it states att 1Bat P.C.R.R. Does anyone know what this means ?
 

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Pete The fireman said:
On my grandfather’s marriage certificate, dated Dec 25 1916, his occupation is shown as soldier, his address is stated Sutton Coldfield Park. Also in the address box it states att 1Bat P.C.R.R. Does anyone know what this means ?
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This is a difficult one !
I can't find a British regiment with those initials. "att." of course, means attached and my first thought is that he was attached to some kind of Pioneer Corps unit. I'll also try and look up WW1 Canadian units and get back to you.
 
Nice to see that at least the handwriting is readable, so often it's not.

Sutton Park? wasn't that a prisoner of war camp during the war?
 
I think Sutton Park was used as a convalescent camp in WW1. Could the C.R.R. be Convalescent Rest and Rehabilitation? Not sure about the P. One question - was he English?
 
Well, I've had a good "dig around" in this one!
I went for Canadian units, hoping PCRR would be one of their provincial regiments, to no avail.
The fact that granddad was attached to a battalion indicates that the initials could be of a regiment but nothing comes up. Until I find an alternative I'll carry on looking for a Pioneer unit.
Pete, have you looked for granddad's medal card ? That should tell us what his parent regiment was, (a lot of men from the Labour Corps were attached to pioneer units).
Back to my spade !
 
maypolebaz said:
Well, I've had a good "dig around" in this one!
I went for Canadian units, hoping PCRR would be one of their provincial regiments, to no avail.
The fact that granddad was attached to a battalion indicates that the initials could be of a regiment but nothing comes up. Until I find an alternative I'll carry on looking for a Pioneer unit.
Pete, have you looked for granddad's medal card ? That should tell us what his parent regiment was, (a lot of men from the Labour Corps were attached to pioneer units).
Back to my spade !
Click to expand...
I don’t have any further info, as far as a medal card, I have no idea what that is, sorry.
 
If you give us his name and any other info then some of us could do some digging. See if we can find a medal card for instance.
 
The full text =
James Williams - 21 - Bachelor- Soldier - Sutton Park etc - James Williams - Sanitary Inspector.
Betsy May Butt - 20 - Spinster - 127 Watery? Lane - John Butt (deceased) Nail Carter.
Both signed. Witnesses: Harry King, Fanny Bradnock.
 
pjmburns said:
The Birmingham Pals regiments were based in sutton Pak for a while.
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in case its of interest here is the thread for the birmigham pals

lyn

The Birmingham Pals in the Great War

When the first World War broke out it was obvious to the Military chiefs that whilst Britain almost certainly had the best professional army in the world made up entirely of volunteers it was far to small to fight a European War with many nations involved. Many city's decided to raise a 1000...
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk
 
Pete The fireman said:
No, that was my ultimate goal.
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I didn't know which battalion of the Warwicks my granddad was in, untiI I found him on the Absent Voters List. (10th Bn.). You might have luck there.
This PCRR might simply be a mistake, made by the person who wrote the entry. Certainly, when looking for my great uncles war memorial, I was put way off course because someone had written his regiment incorrectly.
 
I did try the absent voters register but didn't come across anything definite. Difficult with no address as the name is quite common.
 
maypolebaz said:
This is a difficult one !
I can't find a British regiment with those initials. "att." of course, means attached and my first thought is that he was attached to some kind of Pioneer Corps unit. I'll also try and look up WW1 Canadian units and get back to you.
Click to expand...
maypolebaz said:
This is a difficult one !
I can't find a British regiment with those initials. "att." of course, means attached and my first thought is that he was attached to some kind of Pioneer Corps unit. I'll also try and look up WW1 Canadian units and get back to you.
Click to expand...
I’ve been thinking, what if the Registrar heard him wrong and he actually said BCRR. Birmingham City something Regiment. The ‘Birmingham Pals’ trained at Sutton Coldfield Park. What would the second R refer to ?
 
Pete The fireman said:
I’ve been thinking, what if the Registrar heard him wrong and he actually said BCRR. Birmingham City something Regiment. The ‘Birmingham Pals’ trained at Sutton Coldfield Park. What would the second R refer to ?
Click to expand...
No, the Birmingham Pals became battalions of the Warwicks.
If someone did enter your grandad's unit wrongly then you could be sent on a wild goose chase. My great uncle was in the DCLI, (Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry). Someone wrote DLI, which was the initials of the Durham Light Infantry. Only a slip of the pen but it made a hell of a difference.
 
Does he put a profession on the birth certificates of his children?

Also for the absent voters list are there addresses listed that be cross referenced with any James Williams.
 
also pete do you have him on the 1911 census?..i think it definately says PCRR on his marriage cert...if you look at the way the letter P is written in park and C in coldfield they look the same to me but as said there could be an error...very difficult one to solve

lyn
 
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pjmburns said:
I have been doing a bit if digging and theink the first bit is "att 1 batt" which is attached to 1st battalion. The I doscovered that in April 1916 some units were formed called "Protection Companies" see here https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-royal-defence-corps-of-1916-1918/ that might be the PC. RR often sreferred to Reserve Regiments.

Just an idea
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That's an excellent "bit of digging" Janice, I'd never heard of the Royal Defence Corps (and I can't find an actual picture of their cap badge either).
Sadly, on reading your attachment, I notice that the RDC consisted of a number of companys though, and grandad was attached to the "1st battalion" of whatever this mysterious unit was !
 
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