Which regiment?

[kathy-9]

Andy, you have cracked it, this is my grandfather Robert Eglington, just a few little variances on the family stories of Robert joining the army in Stirling. It makes much more sense for him to have joined up in Norfolk, his birthplace.
I still don’t know how he came to Stirling.
Interesting Robert and. Martha .. counting on my fingers my Uncle Emerson just made his birth into wedlock!!

Thank you all for your invaluable help, I have learned so much about Robert Eglington, and still more to go, an evening looking up his journey, and his medals.
Even tracking the badge on his hat, amazing!
Thank you all once again!

[Ronda231]

As a post script:

Best regards

[alan o]

Andy, you have cracked it, this is my grandfather Robert Eglington, just a few little variances on the family stories of Robert joining the army in Stirling. It makes much more sense for him to have joined up in Norfolk, his birthplace.
I still don’t know how he came to Stirling.
Interesting Robert and. Martha .. counting on my fingers my Uncle Emerson just made his birth into wedlock!!

Thank you all for your invaluable help, I have learned so much about Robert Eglington, and still more to go, an evening looking up his journey, and his medals.
Even tracking the badge on his hat, amazing!
Thank you all once again!

I think you can assume that when he tranferred in to the MPSC he was posted to Stirling by the Army as that was the only Military Prison in Scotland.  He may have served in Malta and other stations prior to that.  He original joined the local Norfolk militia which was part time and after being sent to South Africa decided to make a full time career of the Army.

He had at least 4 medals including the MSM as mentioned but also the 1914 Star so was in France or another active theatre of was before 1 January 1915.

Your original photo may well be pre war when he was a Sargeant in Stirling Military Prison.

[tonepad]

The Tam o' Shanter replaced the Glengarry in 1915.

https://theblackwatch.co.uk/blog/black-watch-history/this-story-of-the-t-o-s/

So the original photo was probably taken between 1915 and 1918 when he received the MSM.


Tony

[alan o]

I am afraid to say that is true and shows that you Sgt is not Robert.

His medal card says he was in France in 1914 as a Staff Sgt.

If it was taken in 1918 he would have the 1914 ribbon on his tunic.

If you have matched Robert to the MPSC soldier by his marriage and child then that is a great result but that is not him in the photo.

I showed it to some more knowledgeable about the MPSC than me and they pointed out that the minimum rank for the MPSC was LCpl so those are not MPSC.

I am once again back to a photo taken in Scotland 1916-18 of a Volunteer Force group of soldiers who were exempt fro front line service.  It is not Robert or his family in Norfolk so could it be an Anderson = the wife's father ot brother?  What is the provenence of the photo?

[kathy-9]

Can anyone explain ‘Military Provost’, what department would this be? And the other refs in the card? Is he indeed a Sergeant?Does Military Provost mean he would be a prison warden (still trying to find that link to Stirling Jail).
I imagine As Robert was born in 1872 he would be too old to serve in WW1?

[kathy-9]

Alan O … awww I thought this was certainly my grandfather, certainly resembles him, tall blonde, moustache. The photo came from a great group on FB, Old Stirling, which has a tremendous amount of interesting photos posted.

There has been a great amount of information posted for me and so enjoyable to read
I wonder if he was working in Prison Service, would that have been his step from England to Stirling?and please, what is an MSPC?

Is there any way to access records of Stirling Prison?

[Andy J2022]

Kathy,

First of all here's an article on the National Army Museum website which explains what the MPSC is: https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/military-provost-staff-corps

And secondly I assume that you don't have a subscription to FindMyPast, as Robert's complete service record is available there. It consists of 13 pages. He did indeed serve in France, with the MPSC, from 9 October 1914 to 10 May 1919.

In case you do have a subscription, this link will take you straight to his record, once you have logged in: Robert Eglington

[alan o]

I suspect he Army sent him to Stirling as part of his role in the MPSC to help run the Army's gaol there.  His service record will tell you when.