111 rwf

On a marriage cert. I have a 'Private 111 RWF'? what exactly does 111 mean?

Tony

Never seen that before, Tony. Could you perhaps post a scan?+

John

hi.
looking at stuff.could it be
1 St Division, 1 St Infantry Brigade, 1 St RWF. A long shot but who knows.

ivor

Maybe it's Roman numerals - (III and not 111) - 3 RWF?

Ivor and John:

I have never seen any official document (birth, marriage or death certificates) giving anything other than the Regiment. The Regt would always be the same for a regular soldier, while brigade and division could change at any time. Besides, infantry battalion were at home were often not brigaded. Roman numerals were never used for regiments, only for corps.

John

Not saying it should be which battalion etc - assuming this is under "Occupation" it could simply be ignorance on the part of the registrar. I've seen worse! It could even mean 'private class 3' and maybe all that was required was "HM Forces" no need for rank or regiment? Just a case of working out what they intended it to mean.

And so have I, John, true enough. But I've seen hundreds of official (civvy official, I mean) docs and never a Roman numeral. That's why I'd like to see this certificate.

John

morning all.

could it be 1/11 or 11/1.
or is there a possible chance it could be his service no. it is certainly odd.

ivor

hi again.
Digging further the following may be of interest.???

https://ia600408.us.archive.org/24/i...00greauoft.pdf

This is the Manual of Military Law, and Part 111 refers to Reserves, Militia, Volunteers, Yeomanry and Territorial. Is there a possibility that 111 was used to indicate that he was one of these.

ivor

Very improbable, Ivor. If the marriage certificate says "Private RWF", it means that he was a Regular. Militia and Territorial soldiers would have given their civvy occupation.

John