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Our resident military expert Paul Nixon, pictured below, answers your queries.
From Ian McIntosh in Cambridgeshire:
‘Please can you help? My grandfather was in the Liverpool Regiment in WW1. I have his medals which are inscribed on the edge. What I am looking for is which Battalion he was in and where he went during his service period.
His name was Otto Dorer McIntosh. From the information I have on the paperwork that accompanied the medal he was a Sergeant. The number on the medal is 57981.
I believe he was injured and in hospital at one point in Arras, France. I look forward to hearing from you and hope you can guide me to the correct information.’
Paul says:
‘Determining a battalion from numbers can sometimes be done but I’m afraid not in this case. The number does, however, indicate that it was given to him in late 1916; probably November or December of that year. He may have attested earlier, however, and been called up at this time. I see that he married in early 1916 and this would have placed him in a lower call-up category than he would have been in had he been single.
If he had attested under the Derby Scheme, he would have been placed into one of 46 groups. Group 1 was for single 18-year-olds, Group 2 for single 19-year-olds right up to Group 23 for single 40-year-olds. Group 24 was for married 18-year-olds, Group 25 for married 19-year-olds and so on. In early 1916, Otto would have been married and 23-years old so he could have been in Group 29. Alternatively, had he been conscripted he would have fallen into Class 6, which was for those men born in 1892. Without seeing a service record, it’s difficult to know whether he was a Derby Scheme man or a conscript.
Your best bet in trying to track down a battalion would be to have somebody check the medal rolls at The National Archives. As you know, he was entitled to the British War and Victory Medals and at some point transferred to the RAF. Details of his medals are in the RAF rolls: RAF/101 B16 Page 314. It may also be worth contacting the RAF museum at Hendon to see if they hold any additional information about your grandfather.’
If you’d like to send your question to our experts, please register or opt to receive newsletters in My Account. Unfortunately our experts only have time to answer a few queries each month. If yours wasn’t answered this time, you could be lucky next month!
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From Ian McIntosh in Cambridgeshire:
‘Please can you help? My grandfather was in the Liverpool Regiment in WW1. I have his medals which are inscribed on the edge. What I am looking for is which Battalion he was in and where he went during his service period.
His name was Otto Dorer McIntosh. From the information I have on the paperwork that accompanied the medal he was a Sergeant. The number on the medal is 57981.
I believe he was injured and in hospital at one point in Arras, France. I look forward to hearing from you and hope you can guide me to the correct information.’
Paul says:
‘Determining a battalion from numbers can sometimes be done but I’m afraid not in this case. The number does, however, indicate that it was given to him in late 1916; probably November or December of that year. He may have attested earlier, however, and been called up at this time. I see that he married in early 1916 and this would have placed him in a lower call-up category than he would have been in had he been single.
If he had attested under the Derby Scheme, he would have been placed into one of 46 groups. Group 1 was for single 18-year-olds, Group 2 for single 19-year-olds right up to Group 23 for single 40-year-olds. Group 24 was for married 18-year-olds, Group 25 for married 19-year-olds and so on. In early 1916, Otto would have been married and 23-years old so he could have been in Group 29. Alternatively, had he been conscripted he would have fallen into Class 6, which was for those men born in 1892. Without seeing a service record, it’s difficult to know whether he was a Derby Scheme man or a conscript.
Your best bet in trying to track down a battalion would be to have somebody check the medal rolls at The National Archives. As you know, he was entitled to the British War and Victory Medals and at some point transferred to the RAF. Details of his medals are in the RAF rolls: RAF/101 B16 Page 314. It may also be worth contacting the RAF museum at Hendon to see if they hold any additional information about your grandfather.’
If you’d like to send your question to our experts, please register or opt to receive newsletters in My Account. Unfortunately our experts only have time to answer a few queries each month. If yours wasn’t answered this time, you could be lucky next month!
More...