Lost army war records

[Alby]

Hi everyone
I recently obtained my Grandfathers (Arthur John Berryman born Torquay 1885)  Naval records and  found that he served in the first world war in France with the Royal Naval division 4th reserve battalion, after joining up on 17 October 1917.
As I read the report I found the rather interesting fact that he had also served in the Army before the Navy, but unfortunately after applying for his Army record found they had been destroyed during the bombing of London during WW2.
 I wondered if any of you guys know how I can trace what regiment he served in with no information at all, and also under what circumstances he would leave the Army during War time and join the Navy.
Cheers
Alby

[harribobs]

have you been able to identify his medal index card?

click this link to go to the search page

http://www.rootschat.com/links/03g/

[Alby]

Thanks for the suggestion, I have checked and It came up with eight records, three which could not be him due to wrong second initial and five that could be but with no second initial, I tried using his second initial of J to search but had no results.
To find out which one may be him I would have to buy all five records and at £3.50 each would be quite expensive and none of them may be him,So for now I will have to wait a while, he probally signed up in Devon or cornwall where he lived at the time, was it normal to be allocated to a local regiment or could he have been sent to any unit in the country I'm afraid I'm not very knowledgable on how selection worked but if I knew it may help me narrow it down a bit
Thanks
Alby

[harribobs]

well when you buy one, you get the another five around it  They were photographed in blocks of six ...so you might get lucky!!

if he signed up in 1914, there's a good chance it will be a local regiment

[casalguidi]

Hi Alby

I can see two "Naval"  records for Arthur John BERRYMAN b 31 Mar 1885:

Royal Navy Register of Seaman's Services
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0mx/

Royal Naval Division
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0my/

Have you seen both of them

Casalguidi

[Alby]

Thanks casalguidi
These records are both indeed my grandfather's,  I have his Royal naval division service record but not the other record, have you any idea what sort of information the register of seaman's service contains ? as I am not familiar with it .
Thanks Alan

[casalguidi]

Hi Alan

The information contained within the Royal Navy service record would be

The whole collection, from 1873 to 1923, includes:

Year of birth (you might also find the day and month)
Town and country of birth
Ship: often more than one ship is recorded
Period of time actually served
Any engagements not completed and the reason for this

From 1892 you can find greater detail in the records:

Occupation
Any badges
"Character" and "ability"
Physical appearance, such as hair and eye colour, height and tattoos
Any wounds received

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/royal-navy-service.asp

You wouldn't expect to find so much personal detail as in the RND records ie.  home address and next of kin.

Casalguidi