Labour Corps WW1

[reliantron]

             I have just discovered that an uncle of mine was in The Queens Regt. during WW1.
             How would he have finished in the Labour Corps?
             He was issued with a different service number. Was this normal?
             Lastly what was the Labour Corps?
             Any help appreciated.

                                            Ron

[old rowley]

Hi Ron,

The Labour Corps were formed in the feb' of 1917 and lasted til 1921. It was made up of men that had been in the front line and who had been either wounded or taken ill and could not be returned to the front or men who, on enlistment, were found to be too old or did not pass as  fit enough to be sent to the front. By the November of 1918 some 400,000 men were serving in the Labour Corps. Being in this body of men did not stop you being killed by enemy action as some 9,000 men were killed. Their duties would have been anything from helping in stores, taking equipment up to the front, repairing roads and such like, helping at rest areas by manning theaters and cinema's in fact anything that was need of them they would have done.

Ivor Lee has a very good site with regards to the Labour Corps at www.geocities.com/labour_corps and can be contacted on that site. As you have name and Labour Corps service number Ivor maybe able to tell you what company your rellie was in and even (at along shot) tell you where. If the link above does not get you to the site google Labour corps and Ivor's site will be one of the first that will appear.

I would suggest that your rellie was possibly wounded and after recouperation he would have been sent to the Labour Corps and given his "new" army service number which was a normal thing to have happened.


old rowley

[reliantron]

         Hi old rowley,

                              Thanks for your prompt and informative reply to my query.
          I will have go at Ivor Lee's site and see what comes up tomorrow.
                               Once again thanks

                                                  Ron

[philnash]

Just a note that Ivor's site has gone due to the closure of Geocities; however, it is still visible through the Wayback Machine here :

http://web.archive.org/web/20030617180048/http://www.geocities.com/labour_corps/ancestor.htm

I haven't tried to contact him so don't know if his email still works.

[mmm45]

http://www.labourcorps.co.uk/Index.html

You can get to it via the Royal Pioneer Corps website

Ady

[newburychap]

Before the Labour Corps was created in 1917 individual regiments had labour companies who performed the varied non-combat tasks involved in keeping the war running smoothly(ish).  All of these companies transferred to the Labour Corp when it appeared - your chap could easily have been in a Queen's' labour company pre-1917.

[philnash]

Thanks for that link, I note from the "Researching Men" linked page that

"Researching a man who served in the Labour Corps can be a difficult task."

Quite so. I have found a Leonard Stanley Nash, aged 38+280 days who might be a relative of mine and his signup papers in the "burnt records", and it's not clear if he signed up to the 133rd Labour Coy, but seems to have been assigned to the 28th, but not until 1917 when he was moved from the Reserve. I can't see the second page with details of next of kin at present, so can't verify if it's him.

If anyone's researched him already, I'd be glad to hear.

[newburychap]

I have found a Leonard Stanley Nash, aged 38+280 days who might be a relative of mine and his signup papers in the "burnt records", and it's not clear if he signed up to the 133rd Labour Coy, but seems to have been assigned to the 28th, but not until 1917 when he was moved from the Reserve. I can't see the second page with details of next of kin at present, so can't verify if it's him.

His NoK was his wife, Emily, nee Kimber,

He certainly didn't sign up with the Labour Corps as it didn't exist when he attested in Dec 1915.  This must have been under the Derby Scheme - he didn't actually get called up until 8 Mar 1917.

He started with the Queen's (Royal West Surrey) - 25th (28th?) Labour Company.  Transferred to Labour Corps in May.  It's all in his record - you need to take a look at more than the first page.

[philnash]

Much obliged for that; I'll check my subscription and see if it needs upgrading, because it is the correct NOK.