Hi and thanks for your reply. Charles was born 14 June 1893, Ashington, Northumberland. As I stated I have his Naval record complete from joining 24 July 1912 (when he signed up for 12 years) through to his "free discharge" 19 March 1920 and then his transfer to RFR where he spent 9 April 1921 till 9 June 1921 again on Victory II. That last point is the final entry on his service record ie 4ish years short of the term he signed up for.
Victory II is, as far as I understand it, a shore-based training establishment where, judging by the pattern, they spent episodes of about a month, obviously at the start and then periodically again throughout service. Charles did this 5 times throughout his years ending up there again when he transferred to RFR.
The vessels he served on were (in order, but missing out Victory II periods):
HMSs Renown, Ninerda II, Vindictive, Achilles (the longest single spell - 14 Sep 1914-1 Nov 1917), Hsela II, Dolphin, Ross (some of the spelling of these might not be right: everything is handwritten and at times a little difficult to read).
Checking the WW1 Forum there is some confusion about Victory II - whether it might have been Crystal Palace based and/or Portsmouth, and whether it was used as early as 1905 (some say 1910) or as late as 1920 (but some say they have records through to 1928 at least).
None of these points are THAT important because they do not change the facts of his known service record.
I only wanted to know what the expression "Free Discharge" meant and if anyone had any idea why he would be released 4 years earlier than the term he signed up for (and I suspect the word "free" has something to do with the latter point, linked to his transfer to RFR)
David
