RootsChat.Com
General => Armed Forces => World War Two => Topic started by: BumbleB on Thursday 31 October 19 08:06 GMT (UK)
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Ancestry have just released this collection.
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Good news thanks for highlighting this!!
Bad news - small print - Please also be aware that not every member of the RA will have a corresponding Tracer Card but this collection will include all surviving cards.
MaxD
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Thank you. Already had a successful search and find for my father in this source.
His middle name is very badly garbled in the transctiption and index.
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Glad to hear it. It was my failure to find my father that lead me to read the small print. That said, I did find another chap whose record I already had. Win some lose some!
MaxD
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Well, in my case, the name was badly garbled in transcription. I'm guessing the transcriptions were done by people whose first language was not English. So you may want to search with some "inventive" spelling variations, or by service number etc....
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Not there by service number - I have got his records so this was purely for academic interest, proves the small print!
More small print - this is a first release with surnames A-P, remainder to be added later.
Max
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Could anyone help with finding when my relative, Robert Bird, enlisted please, service number 1114619?
He joined the 85th Anti Tank Regiment Royal Artillery. Does his service number indicate when he joined? He died in Singapore on the 15th February 1942.
Phil
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Hi Phil - His enlistment year may have been 1940. Find My Past have a 1940 record (with image) for your Robert Bird in the Royal Artillery Attestations 1883-1942 collection. These records often list the soldier's home address and occupation at time of enlistment.
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Hi Phil - His enlistment year may have been 1940. Find My Past have a 1940 record (with image) for your Robert Bird in the Royal Artillery Attestations 1883-1942 collection. These records often list the soldier's home address and occupation at time of enlistment.
Hi Hillhurst,
Thanks for the reply. Do you know what type of record this is on Find My Past? I'm signed up to 'Ancestry" website but not FindMyPast. It's gets expensive when you subscribe to more than one.
Cheers
Phil
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Hi Phil - I've seen quite few of these record images on FindMyPast for various soldiers. They usually include the enlistment date, home address, and occupation. It's not an individual soldier record, as such. But a page with several soldier names on it. Hence the minimal details. But given that the record date for your chap is 1940, that will most likely be when he enlisted. Depends on how badly you need the exact date.
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Hi Hillhurst,
I've just had quick look at FindMyPast and could see just two records for 1940 but I have no access. This date of 1940 makes sense because he joined the 85th Anti-Tank which was formed in Sep 1941. So, I think he must have enlisted in to a different unit prior to joining the 85th.
Thanks again
Phil
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Yes, he could've enlisted with a different unit in 1940. The FindMyPast record in question would certainly indicate it. You could always purchase pay-as-you-go FindMyPast credits, if they still offer them.
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There is nothing of any interest in that 1940 attestation record - just name, number, and date of death.
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That's a shame. Maybe it's the WW1 era records which hold more details. That would be the time frame of the RA soldier record images I saw this summer.
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There is nothing of any interest in that 1940 attestation record - just name, number, and date of death.
Thanks Shaun, you've saved me a couple of bob.
Phil