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Archiver > GREATWAR > 2005-03 > 1111369403


From: Forrest Anderson <>
Subject: Re: [WW1] TA in Walthamstow, Essex
Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 01:43:23 +0000
References: <423CCC08.4000104@comcast.net>
In-Reply-To: <423CCC08.4000104@comcast.net>


On Sat, 19 Mar 2005 18:04:08 -0700, Martin Willcocks
<> wrote:

>Hi Iain and all:
>
>Searching the archives for Walthamstow Essex I came across your message
>from 2000 RE: [WWI]Balkans 1915.

I think you are probably referring to the following post:

To:
Subject: Re: [WW1] Balkans 18/7/1915
From: Iain Kerr <>
Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 14:49:58 +0100

Sadly, Iain Kerr died on 5 June 2002, and therefore isn't able to reply
to your question.

>I am looking for anything relevant to the Territorial Army at
>Walthamstow in WW I where my father served.

At that time the Territorial Army was called the Territorial Force.
Before the war, Walthamstow was the home to the HQ and several companies
of the 7th Battalion of the Essex Regiment, a TF battalion. It shared a
Drill Hall at Walthamstow Lodge, Church Hill, Walthamstow, with a TF unit
of the Royal Army Medical Corps.

>According to TNA, they have no records, as many were destroyed by a bomb
>in 1939.

No records for your father, or no records at all? Whilst many WW1 Other
Ranks' service records were destroyed, a large number survived and are
available to read today. In addition, most officers' service records have
survived.

>Any ideas about how to find out more would be helpful. For example, the
>officers stationed there during WW I. I have a photo from which one or
>more might be identifiable if anyone else has similar connections. The
>officer is seated, with three stars on the armband and has a sword. I
>would presume he was the C/O and the other three men in the photo
>(including my father) were also officers.

On Sun, 20 Mar 2005 14:40:03 -0700, you wrote:

> I have just uploaded a photo of my father and others in the
>Territorial Army to the photos section of the Greatwar Community group...

> In the photo, he is the man standing at the extreme right.

Seen. A larger version of the photo would be useful, as Yahoo Groups
reduces the size. Perhaps you could upload it to a website? If not, then
feel free to send me a high-resolution photo, as you offered later in
your letter.

>If the
>photo was taken in 1914 he would be 33-34. He appears to be in a posed
>photo with three officers. I would guess from this that he was also an
>officer.

Yes, the other three are all officers, and your father also appears to be
an officer, although no rank badges are visible.

>Two of the other three are wearing arm bands with one star and
>a stripe that appears to run around the arm with a single stripe, the
>third officer, seated at right, has three stars and two stripes on his
>arm band and carries a sword.

One star (commonly known as a pip) denotes a Second Lieutenant, and three
indicates a Captain.

> I am hoping that someone will recognize the uniform and tell me which
>regiment he would have been in, and if an officer, what his rank might
>be, as well as anything about the other three officers - e.g. their
>names if anyone recognizes them, and/or ranks. The likely location of
>this photo would be at the T.A. in Walthamstow, between Lea Bridge Road
>and Eatington Road, Walthamstow, next to the Whipps Cross roundabout.

The uniform has unusual features, and was of a type worn by officers of
the Volunteer Force. This was not the Volunteer Force that effectively
changed its name into the Territorial Force in 1908, but a new creation
which had been raised at the beginning of WW1 and initially called the
Volunteer Training Corps. It was a type of Home Guard - see
http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/lists/HomeGrd.htm

Initially it had special rank badges, but in 1916 the VTC was
re-organised as the Volunteer Force, and later that year its rank badges
came into line with the Regular Army. During the war a booklet called
"Rank at a Glance in the Army and Navy" was published, and someone has
scanned the 1915 edition and put the pages on-line at
http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-badges/rank-glance.htm

Page 24 shows the Regular Army style of rank badges shown in your photo,
whilst page 41 shows the earlier special VTC badges.

Officers of the VF in WW1 were listed in "The Volunteer Force List",
which was arranged like the "Army List". One of these very rare
publications, for October 1918, was re-printed in 1996, and you'll be
glad to know that E A Wilcocks is in the index, and shown as:

============
Essex Volunteer Regiment

3rd Volunteer Battalion, The Essex Regiment. HQ at Territorial Force
Headquarters, Church Hill, Walthamstow, E17.

Lieutenants

Wilcocks, E W. 4 Oct 1917
============

As with officers in the Regular Army and the Territorial Force, the
London Gazette also published appointments and promotions of Volunteer
Force officers. The London Gazette is on-line at
http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/archiveSearch.asp?WebType=0&Referer=WW1
and you can have a root around.

The following two announcements will start you off(!), but have a look at
the "London Gazette" link on my website for instructions on how to go to
a particular issue of the London Gazette, and for tips and tricks on how
to use the LG search engine yourself.

=============
Issue 30010, Page 15

SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 5 APRIL, 1917, PAGE 3319

VOLUNTEER FORCE.

Essex Volunteer Regt.

3rd Bn.—Edmund William Willcocks to be
temp. 2nd Lt., with precedence next above
Temp. 2nd Lt. Hermann Hale. 13th Feb.
1917.
=================


=================
Issue 30361, page 22

SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 1 NOVEMBER, 1917, PAGE 11296

VOLUNTEER FORCE.

Essex Volunteer Regt.

3rd Bn.—Temp. 2nd Lt. Charles William
Spicer to be temp. Lt. 1st Oct. 1917.
Temp. 2nd Lt. Edmund William Willcocks
to be temp. Lt. 4th Oct. 1917.
=================

The VTC/VF of WW1 is very much an under-researched subject, but a Google
search will gradually bring bits and pieces together for you.

The Essex Regiment museum may well be able to help - see
http://www.chelmsfordbc.gov.uk/museums/regi.htm

Forrest


--
Forrest Anderson - British Military Genealogical Researcher.
E-mail:
Website: www.military-researcher.com

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