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  • Royal Marine Service Record

    Hello! - I've been lurking on here for a while now and I must say what a fantastic site it is!

    I've downloaded a Royal Marine Service Record but I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by it! (I'm also a bit disappointed as it has no next of kin or marriage info which would have confirmed it's my man. I'm pretty sure it is though)

    Are there any experts on here that enjoys looking at these records and understands them? I'm a complete idiot when it comes to this and I'm scared of missing something of significance.

    If anyone can help, please let me know. I can either email the record or post a link to it on here.

    Many Thanks
    Helen x

  • #2
    Hello Helen. I've got my great uncles RM record from 1910-1932, If you send me a link I'll have a look at yours and see what I can find. Kevin.

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    • #3
      3 of my great uncles were in the RM, so have quite a bit of experience now with their records. Happy to help if I can.

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      • #4
        Kevin and Richard,

        Thanks so much for you offer to help. I really appreciate it.
        Hope I've attached the file correctly!
        Attached Files

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        • #5
          Okay Helen, it's a bit earlier than the ones I've been working with, which were first world war period, and havn't been able to make it all out but here's what I have:

          Thomas Beardmore reg no.3033 Portsmouth Division (RMLI)

          D.O.B: 4 November 1861
          Born:Cheadle, Cheadle, Staffordshire
          Trade: Farmer
          Religion: C of E
          Enlisted: 4 July 1884, Macclesfield, (by Major Fuller)

          Description on joining: 5ft7 fresh complexioned, brown haired, hazel eyes. No Scars or marks.

          Description on leaving: same but half inch taller!

          I cant read the bit written by 'former service allowed', but I'm wondering whether that is actually next of kin details pencilled in later, as the first part looks like' father' to me and the last bit has 'hill' and 'cheadle, staffords', so seems to be an address.

          On joining he was assigned rank of private, and completed the standard 6 months training , charchter very good. He took second and third class education certs during that time, which I'd think shows he was thinking of promotion even then, you would not be promoted without these basic education certs.

          After training he was assigned to his division (Portsmouth), where he was part of 38 Company. He spent 6 months there before being attached to his first ship HMS Hercules (number in ship log book 11/412), which embarked 8 Aug 1885.

          He returned to his divisional base just over a year later 1 October 1886, and spent a further year there until he embarked on his next ship HMS Boscawen (ship log 11/90) on 1 October 1887. He served atattched to this vessel for exactly two years, before returning again to division base on 1 October 1889. He spent another year there, (being promoted to Corporal during that time on 1 Jan 1890), before embarking, once again attached to HMS Boscawen (no.11/167) on 1 0ct 1890.

          During his second term on the ship he was promoted again to Sergeant (1 Jan 1892). He returned to base shortly after promotion on 17 Feb 1892 and there is some writing under this which I can't make out that may be related to this. In any case he did not embark again until October of that year this time on HMS Amphion. (log no 11/46) he served aboard that ship until being transferred to HMS Hibernia on 14 March 1894 (log no 15a/34). He was only on that ship 9 days before transferring to HMS Tyne, which again he was on only just over a week, before disembarking back at base, so perhaps his time on those two ships was just a way for him to get back to base from HMS Amphion which clearly wasn't at base or headed there either.

          He is back at base roughly 3 months before embarking on his next ship HMS St George , (log no 11/2), but he is only on this ship just over a month before returning again to base. He then remains at base for the rest of his service, just under two years, before being discharged having completed his 12 year term on 6 July 1896.

          The boxes below this show the various certificates he earned while training and dates he was passed for promotion. It also reveals he must have been put on some sort of punishment in January 1894, as both his good conduct badges earned to that point, were taken away, and he had to start re-earning them from scratch. This matches the charachter column on his service record above, as that period he only achieved 'Good' charchter rather than 'Very Good' his usual, which was a sure sign he'd blotted his copy book. 'Very Good' in fact was the minimum standard of charachter marines were expected to achieve, when they did better it was marked as 'Superlative', when they did worse, just 'Good', so somewhat deceptively that is usually a sign there'd been some trouble!


          In the case of my great uncles this is just the service sheet. There were full service records, some at Fleet Air Arm Musueum, some at Kew. No obvious reason why the files were split either, so not always immediately obvious which of the two places the file will be at. This is presuming that the full service records have survived for earlier marines, as I say my own experiences concern a slightly later period. You would though I imagine be able to at least find the log books of the ships he served on at Kew, and since his log numbers are on this service sheet, you may be able to trace him, or at least find out where he was and what he was likely to be doing during his time on each ship.



          Richard
          Last edited by Richard; 03-03-09, 14:40.

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          • #6
            There is some info on the four major ships he served on, and basic info on what they were doing at time, on wikipedia:




            (*Note: HMS Trafalgar was HMS Boscawen from 1873 to 1906)



            Last edited by Richard; 03-03-09, 14:42.

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            • #7
              Oh my gosh Richard! You have bought tears to my eyes! Thank you so much for taking time to do this for me. You're fantastic!

              You've kindly done just what I was looking for. I am now able to make a much better sense of things and your findings bring it all to life!

              I certainly didn't pick up that he'd been in trouble - interesting! I will look into this when I make a visit to Kew.

              I think you are correct about his next of kin. I agree that the writing is hard to read. Thomas' father was Samuel - I think the first two words say 'Father Samuel' but maybe I'm just seeing what I want to see!

              I think I have a photo of Thomas (he was my x2 gt grandfather) - it was probably after he left the Marines - the reason I say this is because he's on a horse! He has 3 stripes on his arm (does that indicate rank of sergeant?) but I can't seem to be able to get a clear view of his cap badge.

              Thanks so much for all your time on this. You've made my day!

              Helen x

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              • #8
                Could it be that Samuel also served with the Royal Marines?



                Researching Irish families: FARMER, McBRIDE McQUADE, McQUAID, KIRK, SANDS/SANAHAN (Cork), BARR,

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                • #9
                  No problem Helen happy to help. I'm pretty sure 3 stripes was sergeant. My great grandad was a sergeant in the Royal Engineers, and the pictures of him from that time show three stripes, I wouldn't have thought it would be different in the Royal Marines. The Royal Marines were of course meant to be jacks of all trades, and did land and sea service, so the photo on horseback may have been taken during his time there. A lot of his time was spent at base, on land.

                  Edit: Looking at it I think your right does say Father (Samuel).....Hill, Nr Cheadle, Staffords.
                  Last edited by Richard; 03-03-09, 15:11.

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                  • #10
                    Looking at his gunnery drills at the bottom he was doing Land service rather than Sea, between June and July 1894 at least, and was a sergeant at that time wasn't he. It says 'Field' something, can't make out what, but fair chance the photo may have been taken then if it is him.

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