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number
service numbers were allocated only to ncos and other ranks ("ratings\" in royal navy nomenclature). officers were not allocated service numbers in world war one, but any officer's previous service number/s are also shown in this field, if commissioned from the ranks. the navy employed a superior numbering system to the army. each enlisted man received a unique service number and from this alone one can deduce his enlistment date, regional origin (in many cases) and his term of service (12 years, 7 years, 3 years etc).rank
the royal naval division were also unique in their application of naval ranks within the army system. from july 1916, when the rnd came under war office control and became the 63rd (royal naval) division, the equivalent army chevron type rank was required to be displayed.able seaman, stokers or seamen were the equivalent of the army private soldier and required no such distinction. the ncos were those chiefly affected and were required to wear their naval badge of rank on one arm with the corresponding chevron army rank on the other.
however, they retained their naval rank titles within their credits and in administration. the ranks given in this column are therefore the naval version. the royal marines were exempt from all this, as they already employed the same rank structure as the army.
able seaman = private
able seaman higher grade = lance corporal
leading seaman = corporal
leading seaman higher grade = lance sergeant
petty officer = sergeant
chief petty officer = company sergeant major
sub lieutenant = 1st lieutenant
lieutenant = captain
lieutenant commander = major
commander = lieutenant colonel
one naval rank appears to have been unique to the rnd, that of "battalion sergeant major" (again this excludes the royal marines, who already employed the army equivalent "regimental sergeant major" along with "colour sergeant" and "quartermaster sergeant"). "battalion sergeant major" was a singular title/promotion unique to the naval battalions (not the rm battalions), although a royal marine serving with a naval battalion could also hold this particular rank.
a rank with a "brevet" prefix allowed an officer to hold a higher rank than that for which he was actually paid. a brevet rank was awarded for distinguished service and applies only to the royal marines in the rnd.
a "temporary" prefix to an officer's rank indicates that he was given a temporary commission, one which would usually be terminated at the end of the war. officers without this prefix are deemed "regular" officers from the pre-war establishment of the navy.
in many instances where an acting rank is shown, the man's substantive rank is given in brackets.
forenames
all forenames are given in full, with very few exceptions. many men preferred to drop (or adopt) their middle names, used an alias, used their diminutive (fred, jack, harry etc) or just made some small change of spelling on enlistment. all such cases are fully cross-referenced in the search fields to their true or full given names. this allows research based on their alias, used in contemporary diaries, official service records, and how they were known to their comrades, all of whom may have been unaware of their true/birth name.the commonwealth war graves commission (cwgc) often record extra middle names provided by their next-of-kin and many 'bronze memorial plaques' also carry names which differ both from their enlisted name and that recorded with the cwgc. this is thought to be the result of the next-of-kin forwarding the man's birth certificate to the plaque issuing authorities, as the name anomalies observed on royal naval division memorial plaques always concur with their birth certificate.
surname
as above for forenames.awards
all awards for gallantry, distinguished, or meritorious service are given in the standard abbreviated format.service branch
indicates the branch of the armed services to which they belonged.unit
for those who died on active service, the unit in which they were serving (or were last serving in the case of men who died of wounds) is shown. many errors in 'official' records have been corrected in this field, particularly the men 'on attachment' or 'detached' to the trench mortar batteries and machine gun companies, but numerous other unit attachments were also found.listed here, also for the first time, are the correct unit designations for the royal marine medical credits (1st, 2nd, 3rd, which later became the 148th, 149th or 150th rn field ambulances) and the royal marine divisional engineers (1st, 2nd or 3rd field companies).
for those who died after returning from active service, there are two categories: - those who died in service in the uk and those who died after their discharge from service.
those who died in home service are given the unit (usually a reserve designation) to which they belonged at the time of their death. however, if their subsequent death was considered attributable to active service, then they are recorded with their former active service unit.
many men died as a direct result of their active service and are therefore counted amongst their comrades who succumbed on the occasion of their wounding in any given battle or action.
those who died after discharge from service are usually listed with their last active service unit. whilst many men died after discharge from causes attributable to active service, many did not, but it was felt to be incorrect to give the last 'home service' or reserve battalion, due to experience of the wishes of the next-of-kin in similar cases recorded by the cwgc.
date of death
many errors have been corrected in this field and the date given is that which the author considers to be the 'true' date.of particular note are the casualties of the plymouth battalion at 'y' beach 25-26/4/15, the portsmouth battalion at anzac beachhead 3/5/15 and the howe battalion at krithia 4/6/15.
post-war deaths that occurred after discharge and where no exact date is known follow the format of the 'month quarter and year' as given in the gro indexes for civil deaths (e.g. 00/03/1922).
it was not possible to purchase death certificates for all, but the full gro death certificate reference is given in most cases.
cause of death
shows all the known details of the man's death from original service records or the death certificate.service history
this field is intended to give a summary of the man's active service, but may also include enlistment date, home service and previous military/naval service.e.g. enlisted 12/8/15 ; draft for mef 5/12/15, joined nelson bn. 9/1/16-29/1/16 appendicitis, invalided to uk 21/2/16.
in the example given above, the man's enlistment date is given, followed by his "draft" date, this being the date he actually left the uk for overseas service and if destined for the mef or bef. next is the battalion/unit title and the date he first joined his unit, followed by a hyphen and the date his service terminated, along with the cause of termination.
when a man terminated his service on any given date with accompanying cause, the assumption should be made that the man passed into the medical chain and was absent from his unit until rejoining or invaliding back to the uk.
primarily, only active service with their battalion/unit is shown, but in many cases the man joined his unit in the uk before going overseas with the original strength/establishment of that unit. in these cases no "draft" date is given, only the battalion/unit title with the date he joined. e.g. nelson bn. d/698 15/9/14 ("d/698" is the man's pay number and indicates the company to which he belonged on that date, i.e. "d" company.)
burial
this column gives the burial (if known) and/or the relevant cwgc memorial for those with no known grave.the old cwgc cemetery register number is given in brackets. although these registers have now been discontinued in favour of the cwgc online search facility, they contain valuable information that is not made available in the online cwgc database. the next-of-kin supplied details such as cause of death, location of their wounding and mentions in despatches, whilst the cwgc added many historical descriptions of their deaths, such as "killed in action with turkish destroyer in the dardanelles". the original cwgc printed registers therefore remain a valuable source of information.
notes
this field contains by far the most information. the following details may be found:-occupation, next-of-kin and home address, birth date, medal entitlement and issue details, promotions, award citations/london gazette details, cwgc errors, omissions and distinctions, war diary transcripts, field general and district court martial summaries, witness statements (deaths, courts martial and courts of inquiry), summary punishments, newspaper extracts, company and platoon identification, gro death certificate references, service papers (if missing or misfiled), original burial location/map references, local war memorial details, true name/birth details, siblings also served in the rnd, and research notes.
national archives references to document classes "adm", "mh" and "wo"
"adm" (admiralty), "mh" (medical histories) and "wo" (war office) are the national archives document classes which contain royal naval division records.in the main, the "adm" class of documents were the most relevant, consisting of medals rolls, service records and the admiralty's register of naval deaths. the "wo" classes were used mainly in relation to army troops, consisting of medal index cards, medal rolls and some service papers. the "mh" class used in this database refers specifically to "mh/106":- the casualty admission books from one of the three rnd field ambulances (2nd/149th rn field ambulance).
the two other royal navy field ambulances (1st/148th and 3rd/150th) were destroyed after the national archives rejected them for preservation (only a representative 5 tons from 110 tons of hospital admission books were preserved).
readers will quickly encounter the use of '=' after a given source title.
e.g. adm/171 = medals not issued/claimed.
this is used to briefly convey the written term:- "reports as" or "records details as".
it should not be automatically assumed that the given source is in error (although this is true in the majority of cwgc references). it may be reporting genuinely useful information, or it may corroborate information in the case of a corrected royal naval division record.
view a glossary of the jack clegg memorial database of royal naval division casualties of the great war here