Help: Court Martialled & Missing in UK, Capt: Albert Edward Harrison AIF

[Craven-Harrison]

Redroger,

You Said, Then it got interesting:

There is an A. Harrison 2nd Lt (29.8.17) the day following the GCM  shown in the Aug 1918 List in the East Kent Regiment "The Buffs"  Significantly I felt he is NOT mentioned in the list for either Aug or Sept 1917, so far as I could see this was his first appearance.

Yep! I think I have this bloke, I have thought him to be interesting also!!

London Gazette: 11642 10th November 1917

War Office: 10th November 1917: REGULAR FORCES INFANTRY N Lan E
Temp 2nd L/t A Harrison from (Gen list) to be temp 2nd L/t (attd) 29 Sept 1917 with seniority 17 Sept 1914

"From General list": does this mean that A Harrison was already an Officer and was drawn from a pool of men? and what does (attd) mean?

Here is another wild possibility, if you get down to the British Army quickly enough and join up, you're GCM outcome might not be known. Or, you might have pre-arranged your defection some time earlier, so the next day is just a formality

I might have 2nd Lt A Harrison's  MIC, I'll let you know, I'll go through what I've got.  I'll try and search for this fellow from here and if no good, I'll give Mick of the Buff's a call.  Is the unit "N Lan E", North Lancashire Engineers and if so, is this the Buffs?

Thanks

Ian

[Craven-Harrison]

And another contender for the 29 August 1917

11412 Suppliment to the London Gazette: 26 september 1918
the undermentioned Temp 2L/t's on appt as probrs to Indian Army
A Harrison from Ches R (attd) 14 Aug 1918
with seniority 29th Aug 1917

Or is it the same fellow that Roger found yesterday but in another unit ?

Ian

[jds1949]

Dear Ian,

To try and deal with your questions in order:

There should be a gradation List for 1919, I shall try and look at it when I next go to Kew [probably Tuesday of next week]

If AEH did enlist as a private soldier finding any record of it is going to be difficult- if he didn't go overseas as an enlisted man then there will be no MIC for him and the odds are that any records will have perished in the 1940 Blitz.

The number of years and days that each Harrison had served in the ranks is listed, the shortest time was over two years, the longest over twenty. For the men who were straight in as commissioned officers, the latest date for commission was June 1917, which pre-dates the court martial.

I agree it is strange that there is no A E Harrison in the 1920 list - I shall look again and recheck this just in case I missed it.

Thanks for the record you attached - that should come in very useful on my next visit to Kew.

Regards,

jds1949

[Redroger]

No Ian, The Buffs is the East Kent Regiment, would be interesting to see whether Units of the Buffs were at Tidworth at the time of the Court Martial. Probably it was pre arranged, and I do wonder whether the Australian Unit that Captain Harrison was apparently transferred to was a real unit, or whether it was a phantom unit existing only on paper to confuse the enemy as no doubt they avidly looked at the army list as soon as they could get their hands on it. Personally I think we are close to an answerre perhaps jds will find out next tuesday. I shall be going to Kew again soon, and will do some more research if the issue is not resolved by then.

[Craven-Harrison]

jds1949 and Redroger,

thanks for the update, feedback and the Buffs details, the kew finds etc.

As for the possibility that the joining of the British Army might be a phantom unit on paper only, to confuse the enemy, well its worked well for whoever created it, because its confused everybody for 90 odd years,  ..................   LOL

The explanation regarding the ranks Commissions etc, well this sort of knowledge explains why I haven't been able to progress all that well previously.

I should mention that there appears to be nearly a month between when AEH was GCM'd and then subsequently dismissed when his sentence was confirmed later the next month.  He would have known that his "brief was up" I'm guessing that he would have had the opportunity to make preparations for a new arrangement!!

Looks like the two LG extracts I sent really aren’t anything to do with your man, so I'll keep looking

I'm working feverishly in the background building firstly an MIC holding and explanation spreadsheet, and then I'll try and reconcile the LG extracts to the MIC list, I hope to have it too you ASAP but it's getting complicated

Cheers

Ian

[Redroger]

Remember Ian, he was on the Army List for two months afterwards as a captain in the AIF without a unit before he was transferred (allegedly) to this NSW unit, which I think you should confirm did exist.

[Craven-Harrison]

G'day Redroger,

You said:

"he was on the Army List for two months afterwards as a captain in the AIF without a unit before he was transferred (allegedly) to this NSW unit"

When you say the Army list, I gather you mean the British Army list and then the two months afterwards, do you mean two months after the GCM?

And if this is so?, then are you saying that two months after the GCM he was transferred form the Perham Down Hardening and Drafting unit back to his native unit, the 19th Battalion AIF raised in NSW 1915?

Sorry I'm not around much, I'm feverously building my list of holdings and names that I’ve already researched, I'll have some of it finished for broadcast very soon……I hope!

Cheers

Ian

[Craven-Harrison]

I've had an epiphany of sorts!!,

Although this lead isn't strictly in concert with the primary quest, which is to establish the movements and dynamics of AEH during the period between his GCM and his apparent establishment into the British Regular Forces, it is, I believe related in some way....... I hope.

While going through all my previously acquired MIC's and Service Records I remembered and identified several other Australians who also had British MIC's similar to AEH's.

I'm keen to understand why this is so?  maybe they were just attached or seconded to British Units and this may be why AEH had one.  If Perham Down was actually a British Establishment as it was on British soil and not an AIF establishment. However, I would expect to see all the other AIF Officers that were AEH's colleagues to have similar British MIC's and I believe this isn’t so,…….. at this stage!

I'm going to check all the Australian men who had British MIC’s from the Australian perspective (The National Archives of Australia) and then depending on this outcome, I'll then look at any possible British records that may have been created for these men

The upshot...... To establish why Australian Officers and men have British MIC's and to reconcile any possible generic links between these men and Ex Capt AEH

Perhaps, all were discharged in England and this was a way to keep track of them in England, possibly if they were to make some future call upon the British Government for Pensions, Medals, Honors or Awards.

So, when I’ve finished and published my previous research and holdings, I’ll likely be doing this AIF/B-MIC thing in tangent with the primary quest, being currently pursued at Kew

Cheers

Ian

[Redroger]

Ian, I looked at the British Army list for Aug, Sept and Oct 1917. The list includes a section for Officers of Units from the then Empire, Australia, Canada, New Zealand South Africa etc. Harrison appears on each of these lists under the Australian section and is shown without a unit until October 1917 when he is moved to the NSW unit previously mentioned. I haave nothing further to add at present, but wait until our friend returns from Kew after today's visit.On the subject of MICs I suspect that for this purpose the units of the BEF regardless of home or Empire origin were treated as a single entity.