WW1 British Army Military Records, Service Numbers (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Thursday, August 11, 2011, 00:12 (4925 days ago) @ Jefff

Just to confirm that during WW1 a soldier's number was not unique to him, and that number could change if he changed unit. The number was not unique.

see excellent WW1 site The Long Long Trail
http://www.1914-1918.net/prefixes.html

"Regimental numbers: letter prefixes
In 1920, the army introduced a new system of issuing numbers to its men and women. Each soldier would have a unique number, an army number. Before that, each regiment (and in some cases, the units in a regiment) issued its own numbers. This meant that when a man changed regiments, he usually had to change number. Some of those regimental numbering schemes included letter prefixes. These can offer useful clues."

And from NorthEast Medals site
http://www.northeastmedals.co.uk/mm/army_service_numbers.htm

"Army Numbers 1920 - 1942

In 1920 the old method of allocating a 'Regimental Number' was scrapped for new recruits and the following numbering system of 'Army Number' was adopted as per Army Order 338. In 1942 the 'General Service Corps' were formed for the initial training of all new recruits. From then on the new recruits were allocated a number in a series beginning 14,000,000. In 1950 this system changed again to a series beginning 2,200,000.

The 1920 -1942 series below can be most useful for identifying previous service with another unit, since a number block was allocated for each Regiment / Corps. (i.e. if you have a medal named with a number and regiment that do not match as per the list below.)

Army Order 338 (1920)

ARMY NUMBERS ALLOTTED TO Regiments, CORPS ETC.

Royal Army Service Corps 1 - 294,000

The Life Guards 294,001 - 304,000
Royal Horse Guards 304,001 - 309,000
Cavalry of the Line 309,001 - 721,000

Royal Artillery(Field Branch, Coast Defence and Anti-Aircraft Branch) 721,001 - 1,842,000

Royal Engineers 1,842,001 - 2,303,000

and so on ...."

This suggests E.R.Hone 1863254 was a Royal Engineer, what finer branch could there be ?