The Jersey Roll of
Service
|
Introduction
During 2007 it
is the Group's intention that the Roll of Service for Jersey is progressively
assembled on this website and will undertaken on an alphabetic basis. The method
will be similar to the approach adopted for the Jersey
Roll of Honour to be found on the site, in that the starting point will be
the States of Jersey Roll of Honour and Service produced in 1919, initially supplemented
by material from Victoria College's Book of Reference and from other sources such
as the Medal Roll Index cards to be found on the National Archive website.
At
a later stage, effort will be made to locate the records of those Frenchmen who
left Jersey to serve in the French Army and Navy, a number in excess of 2000.
Inclusion will be made in the revised Roll of Service using
the following criteria:
- Jersey born
- Jersey parents (one or both)
- Residents (English)
- Residents
(French and other nationalities)
- Service in the RMIJ including the Permanent
Staff
- Schooling in Jersey
- Service in Jersey while serving with
the
- RMIJ, RJGB or other Jersey based unit
|
About
an Individual's Entry
Wherever possible, the details listed
will be appropriate to an individual at the time of the Armistice in 1918, or
earlier if discharged as result of an injury, sickness or for other reasons. This
will, not infrequently be, at variance with the original Roll of Service, and
there are a number of good reasons for this.
The Army particularly,
went through numerous changes as the Great War progressed:
-
There
were a number of new Corps formed, e.g. the Machine Gun and the Tank Corps which
took men from other Regiments and Corps.
-
In
September 1916 the Training was reorganised such that Infantry Training Battalions
were subsumed into the Training Reserve with the regimental affiliations being
severed.
-
In March 1918, the Army's
Organisation for Battle (ORBAT) underwent a fundamental change to cope with manpower
shortages with each Brigade losing a Battalion and those men transferred to other
units.
For the individual, this would involve a
change of regimental number, since, in those days a central numbering system did
not exist. It was essential therefore that a man transferred to a new unit was
quickly given a new number so that he could continue enjoying his pay, and would
not be confused with another in the regiment with the same number as he had in
his former unit.
Such changes could be frequent and, often, they have
not been reflected in the MRI, nor were notified to the compiler(s) of the original
Roll of Service.
For a number of individuals, an entry "Further
investigation required" has been included, and this primarily for those
where there is insufficient detail to identify them more clearly by a unique service
number for example, or that there is evidence that they enlisted. It is not meant
to imply "non-existence", rather that the "paper trail" is
inadequate.
Alphabetic Index of Names
The database can be searched by surname
or awards
Spreadsheets are only available to Group members
Future
Developments
It is also intended that documents and photographs
that can "bring to life" those listed in the Roll of Service will be
incorporated. These will include, for example, Canadian Attestation and Australian
service records.
For this, the Group will welcome any additional
material in terms of personal papers and photographs.
©
2007 Barrie Bertram
Contact
Barrie
