24th Heavy Ack Ack regiment

[Poppymac]

Good morning
I have come across a postcard which shows my father with a group of people in 1938.
On the back it shows an address for a PTE Mc ... Which would be McDouall out family name
24th Heavy Ack Ack 229882
9 Block Training Reg
624 Batt
North Frith Barracks
Blackdown
Hants

It was not to my father, who joined the navy on or around 1940
Dad would have been 16 yrs old in the photo, so was possibly addressed to one of his older brothers or even a younger brother of his father, being that his grandparents (my father's) seemed to be having children at the same time as their eldest children.
Any help appreciated and thanks in advance

[rosie99]

WW2 services records are still with the MOD.  Have you checked the 1939 register for who was living at that address then.

[Poppymac]

No I haven't, didn't think about it as I thought it was a military establishment.
But thanks for the info and suggestion

[rosie99]

If it was a military establishment it would not be on the 1939, sorry I missed that bit I had read it as his rank etc

[MaxD]

William Charles or Leonard John McDouall???

MaxD

[Poppymac]

Thanks for the replies

No William or Leonard I'm afraid.

Was the number his service number do you think?

I'm not having much luck finding any information

[MaxD]

Those were the only two McDouall that showed up in the right time frame in the RA Attestations records. 

His number is a puzzle.  That number was issued to another man entirely in 1920 but changed, with all other numbers, to 7 digits in that same year so it may have a digit missing!

Also, the Royal Artillery didn't have Private as a rank although there would be men of other regiments attached to RA units like the forerunners of REME.

The 24 Heavy Ack Ack could only be 24 Heavy Anti Aircraft Battery (there was no 24 HAA Regiment).  This was a Northern Ireland unit - does that compute at all?

624 Batt doesn't ring any bells, there was a 624 Light AA Regiment but not until 1947.

MaxD

[Poppymac]

Hi MaxD
I am going to have another look at the family tree.  Granny's name was Davies before she was married, but she was Welsh not Irish.
The reason I think it was the 1938 time frame as this postcard was in my mum and dad's possession for as long as I can remember.
He left London about 1939, moving to Cheshire with the company he worked for. 
I assumed it was in his possession at that time, however, I could be wrong, perhaps it came into his possession later, perhaps in the war years when my mother visited his family, who knows.  Perhaps it was a convenient piece of paper on which to write the address, or the address was written on the back of the photo so my dad could keep in touch with a brother?
I am going to try and send a photo for you to look at the address to see if I have made an error.  Unfortunately, the last one I tried did not send.
But thanks for all the information

[Poppymac]

Trying to send the photo but it's too big