Identification of Censor: Type 5 - Passed Field Censor No.1213

[Peter Sexton]

I'm a new member located in Melbourne, Australia and am hoping someone could provide some assistance on this query please.

I've been researching my grandfather's time in WW1 for a few years trying to identify just which unit he was with as unfortunately his service record was destroyed in WW2.

He is Roderick McNeil, Reg No. 39960, Gnr Royal Field Artillery and went to France with the 37th Divn on 30 July 1915. I have presumed he was with 126 How Bgde in that Divn. as he was a gunner with 126 How. Btry, 30 Bgde in his 3 year stint with the Regular Army from 1905 to 1908.

Recently some postcards came to light from one of my cousins of Roderick's correspondence with my grandmother.

This one dated 19 September 1917 has the postmark 'Army Post Office T.W.4'. From my limited research this appears to have been allocated for the AIF 4th Division and was established at Reninghelst, a town that was established as a railhead for that Division when they were in the area at the time.

From the information on this site, I think the Censor stamp is called a 'Type 5, Oval, Passed By Censor' with the Censor number being 1213. I'm pretty certain it's that number although it does look like 1218 at times when I look at it but I think that is just where there was more ink on the pad where the three is located when the censor stamped it.

I haven't got any books of reference re Proud etc and was wondering if anyone could advise which RFA Brigade or Division this censor stamp 1213 might have been allocated to at that time.

Any assistance or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in anticipation
Peter Sexton

[Chris Grimshaw]

Hello Peter,

Welcome to the Forum,  Hopefully the first of many posts.

The Postmark is Field Post Office T.W. 4 which was allocated to 4th Australian Division Train who used this date stamp until 30.9.1916

There was a system of Security swaps introduced on the Western Front, commencing 18.06.1916 

5 or 6 units would be grouped together and swap all the Divisional cancels among themselves.

The period this card falls into (21 Sept 17) is phase iv 01.07.17 to 31.01.18

4th Australian Division Train was using FPO TB in this phase.

Currently I cannot trace FPO T W 4 in this period in both Proud and Kennedy & Crabb.  There are Divisional Trains with no allocation in this phase.

T. W 3 for example was used by 1 Canadian Division Train , T. W 5 was used by the New Zealand Division Train. Both in phase iv

The Censor is as you say Type 5,  Very little research has been undertaken on this series of Censors, The issue of which I liken to a 'scatter gun' approach.  Alan Baker may be able to add more from the records he holds.

Chris

[Peter Sexton]

Thanks Chris for the welcome and the information you provided.

I thought some information on the censor number might be able to in pin down just what unit or Division my grandfather might have been in at that time. But never mind I'll keep researching that and, hopefully, Alan might be able to shed a little extra light on it.

Thanks again for your assistance.

Regards
Peter

[Chris Grimshaw]

Hello Peter

You mention that there are a number of postcards,If you can post some or all of the others if military related they may give us further clues.

Chris

[Alan Baker]

Peter - welcome to the Forum

I have checked both FWR and Ancestry but have not managed to find Roderick McNeil in the military records on either. They are of course not comprehensive and always being updated

I have checked AK's ledger and index cards, but there is no record of CM5/1213 at all, although there are other records of CM5 censors with FPO TW4 around this time, which he records as relating to the Guards Division. 

According to Proud (2nd Edition), FPO TW4 was in use by the Guards Divisional Train in Phase IV. I have also checked the website The Long Long Trail, which says 126 Brigade (Howitzer) was split up in January 1917, all units being sent to join other divisions. There was a Howitzer Brigade (61) attached to the Guards Division in 1915

I have also found on Ancestry a family tree, which records the marriage of Roderick William McNeil to Mary Donnelly in Glasgow on 14th July 1918. I assume these were your grandparents. Do you have a record of when they left for Australia?

[Peter Sexton]

Thanks Chris and Alan for that information.

Re any other military cards - unfortunately, I have only this one for him whilst he was in a war zone. He was wounded in Mar/April 1918 (he appears on the WO Cas List of 21 May 18) and there are cards from him from a couple of hospitals in England to Mary (who was living in Glasgow) dated late April and early May that shed no light on the unit he was with. He was obviously not well enough to go back to the battlefield and the next cards we have are ones dated late September 1918 with PM S.70 (Faenza, Italy) (Censor type 8 - no. 334 (I think) and S.100 (Taranto) (Censor Type 8 - no. 882 or 382 (these are hard to decipher) and then one with PM Base Office Aden - IEF dated 7 October with what look likes a big 'P' censor stamp.

Apart from the pcards dated 20 September and 21 September from Taranto whose censor name appears to be J L Jones or J C Jones, the censor names on the others are indecipherable.

It appears likely he was on the Overland Route to the East from Cherbourg and then went to Alexandria by boat and then I'm pretty sure to Bombay on HMS Trent via Aden. He ended up in Jubbulpore, India with E Section, No. 2 Depot RFA, Hugh Rose Barracks, presumably on garrison duties. He was there until December 1919 when he returned to the UK. I would presume from this that he did not go back to his unit/s that he was with in the field prior to him being wounded.

I'm happy to enclose those if you wish Chris but I don't think they were ones that you might be looking for to assist you with honing in on what unit he was with in the field. But just let me know and I will post these up in the next message.

Alan - sorry about the surname. I should have advised that his name is registered as McNeill for his service, even though he writes McNeil. Like many of that era, I think he just didn't worry about correcting it with the authorities because it meant too much trouble. It is also spelt MacNeil and MacNeill on some of their other non-war service documents.

Unfortunately, there are no army service records for him as these were destroyed in WW2 in London. And the Artillery had that many changes throughout the war of batteries and brigades being broken up and sent to other Divisions that it's made it quite hard to reconstruct his most likely unit.

Yes that would be them on the family tree on Ancestry, but I am not sure who the person is who has created it. My father, who has just turned 100, maintains a family tree on Ancestry for his side of the family and it has information on the McNeil side as well. Roderick and Mary and their son, Donald John, left London on 6 March 1920 on the Orvieto and arrived in Melbourne on 15 April 1920. Roderick had already come to Melbourne in May 1914, presumably to have a look around and see if he wanted to settle here. He then, as an Imperial Reservist, had to return to serve and arrived back in the UK in February 1915.

I'll dig a bit deeper on the Guards Division aspect that you've raised and hopefully we'll find something tangible. Another few months or so in finishing my story on them is not much seeing as I started it about five years ago!

Thanks again for any assistance.
Peter