| Home > Army Organisation > The 1917 renumbering of soldiers of the Territorial Force |
| Especially useful for genealogists: if you have determined that your soldier served with a Territorial unit, you can tell much by examining his number. Look at his medal index card: if he seems to have served with the same regiment but has a three- or four- digit number followed by a six- digit one, he was almost certainly with his unit in early 1917. No six-digit? He had left by then? No shorter number? He had probably not yet arrived overseas. Read on ... |
| Article by Jock Bruce |
Introduction |
Many
people know that "in early 1917 all TF soldiers were
allocated new 6 digit numbers". As with anything involving
the administration of an organisation as complex and idiosyncratic
as the British Army, it isn't quite that simple. These pages
are an attempt to explain the system. |
| Background: prior to 1917 |
| Up
to the end of 1916 men in each TF unit (infantry battalion,
artillery brigade, field ambulance, etc) were numbered using
a system unique to that unit - often by allocating
the number 1 to the first man to join the unit on its formation
in 1908 and continuing from there. In some cases the system
was a continuation or variation of that used by the preceding
Volunteer unit.
When a man moved between TF units, even between battalions of the same regiment, he was renumbered. This was adequate for peacetime but not for the different circumstances of war. Renumbering resulted in inevitable errors and confusion, and an administrative burden. This became worse as the number of transfers between TF units (and between TF and non-TF units) increased after changes in regulations allowed the compulsory transfer of TF men to units other than the one in which they had enlisted. In late 1916 and early 1917 a new numbering system was promulgated in five Army Council Instructions (ACIs), each one covering a different arm of service and each with a date of implementation some weeks or months in the future. There were several further ACIs intended to clarify and refine the instructions for renumbering. The pages dealing with individual arms include all these amendments up to December 1918. The ACIs differed in detail but followed the same general pattern. They defined who was to be considered a regular or TF soldier for the purposes of renumbering, allocated blocks of numbers to TF units for renumbering their soldiers and set out the rules for future numbering changes. |
| Terminology |
| To
understand the system it is necessary to understand some of
the terminology used. The following are simplified definitions
-
"Corps" were effectively the different parts of the Army as defined in the "Corps Warrant". Pre-war a man enlisted in a particular corps and could not be compulsorily transferred to another. The RE and RAMC were single corps; the RA consisted of two corps, the RH&RFA and the RGA; 'corps of cavalry' and 'corps of infantry' were more complex. 'Transferred' meant a man was permanently moved to another corps. 'Posted' meant a man permanently moved to another unit of the same corps. 'Attached' meant exactly that - the man was attached to another unit or corps for a particular purpose, but he remained part of his original unit and corps e.g. the RAMC men attached to infantry battalions. |
| The Basics |
| The
definition of who was a TF man and who was a regular for the
purposes of the initial renumbering was standard for all arms.
It was based purely on the type of unit in which a man happened
to be serving at the time, rather than what form of attestation
he had signed at enlistment and it did not alter the terms
and conditions under which a man served. Confusingly, subsequent
changes of a man's number could be determined by his type
of attestation.
TF soldiers were All soldiers serving in TF units at the time of renumbering who had either
And
Regular soldiers were
|
| What happened in the renumbering |
Regular soldiers were not renumbered. By the date specified for his particular arm of service every TF soldier was renumbered, receiving a 6-digit number (5-digit in the case of some Yeomanry units) from the block allocated to his unit. The block of numbers allocated to a unit was used for all parts of the unit - 1st, 2nd and 3rd lines, the depot, men on TF Reserve, men temporarily disembodied and men temporarily attached to other units and corps. As far as I am aware, the distribution of numbers to the different elements of a unit followed no set pattern. A TF soldier now retained this number as long as he continued to serve in a particular corps, even if he was posted to another TF or regular unit in that corps. He would only be renumbered if he transferred to another corps. |
| The details |
Follow these links for the details of renumbering in each arm of service
|
| Notes |
The renumbering of TF men was a complex undertaking, necessary for administration but also part of the wider erosion of the TF's 'separateness'. The ACIs are sometimes contradictory, are susceptible to different interpretations and there were doubtless many errors made by the clerks responsible for actually executing the changes. Researchers should be cautious about drawing too many conclusions about an individual based solely on the TF number allocated to him - a close reading of the rules will show that a man could be allocated a TF number without serving in the unit concerned. It is fairly common to encounter cases where men killed some time before the number change have been renumbered. The usual explanation is that they were initially considered to be missing, were still 'on the books' when new numbers were issued and were only later confirmed as KIA (although I am aware of one man who died in UK in March 1916 and was allocated a 6-digit number). I would welcome details of any errors or omissions in these pages. |