WW1 trio info need

[Adam C]

Hello everyone

I have a question about a first world war trio. I got the man's medal card from online and a few things seem a little strange. The man who won the medals, Z - 2391 PTE. R. Robinson, Rif. Brig. seems to have changed units a few times. On his 1914 to 1915 star his rank is Pte. on the other 2 medals it is cpl. On his medal card from the national archieve it says he ended the war as a lance sgt in a machine gun unit. It also indicates a change in serial number from Z - 2391 to ( as far as I can make out) 72794. Was this common when moving from a rifle unit to machine gun unit?

As far as I can make out the machine gun units he served with were MGC/101 B. 50 and MGC/10. C2.

I don't know anything about where he served, but maybe his rifle unit suffered very bad losses so he was transfered to a machine gun company.

Is the anything that stands out about this group or is it just all pretty bog standard.

[leigh kitchen]

The Star has his original rank & unit during the war, this is always the case with men who transferred into the MGC (if they were entitled to the War & Victory Medals & not a Star, then their unit was marked on the medals as MGC) the War & Victory Medals his final rank.

His substantive rank was Corporal, Lance Sergeant perhaps being an appointment within his unit? (Graham?)

There's nothing unusual in transfering units a numer of times, either transferred as a replacement for casualties or otherwise - the MGC was a wartime raised unit, so was initially composed of men from existing units.

According to Howard Williamson the "Z" prefix when used by The Rifle Brigade indicated men who enlisted for 1 year as Special Reservists, or for 3 years short service enlistment Z1 - Z2997+ (looks like your mans number extends the range to Z2391).

The entries that you have read as MGC units are in fact Medal Roll references rather than titles of MGC units.

Perhaps his date of entry to service in France & Flanders (18/5/15) may give a clue as to his unit withn The MGC.

Edited January 16, 2010 by leigh kitchen

[Adam C]

The Star has his original rank during the war, the War & Vctory Medals his final rank.

His substantive rank was Corporal, Lance Sergeant perhaps being an appointment within his unit? (Graham?)

There's nothing unusual in transfering units a numer of times, either transferred as a replacement for casualties or otherwise - the MGC was a wartime raised unit, so was initially composed of men from existing units.

The entries that you have read as MGC units are in fact Medal Roll references rather than titles of MGC units.

Hello thanks a lot for the response

thats has cleared everything up regards

Adam

[Brian Wolfe]

Hello Adam,

Welcome to the forum.

Thanks for posting your question. It cleared up something I have often wondered about myself.

Hope to hear more from you in future.

Regards

Brian