28 April 2010

8th (Lanark) Battalion, Highland Light Infantry

The 8th Battalion, Highland Light Infantry, was another of those Territorial Force which did not start numbering from 1 in 1908. Formerly the 9th Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteer Corps, it later became the 4th Volunteer Batttalion, HLI and continued with the 4th VB number series when the 8th HLI was born in April 1908. It was the only HLI Territorial Force battalion to adopt this practice.

5053 Pte James Dudgeon joined the 8th HLI on the 28th April 1908. His number though, dates way back to the 5th February 1902. By March 1908 the 4th VB was numbering at 5683 and I'll pick up the tale at this point.

This post will look at numbering in the 8th HLI between 1908 and December 1914. As usual, all of the information recorded below is taken from surviving service records in the WO 363 and WO 364 series at the National Archives. These records can also be accessed via Ancestry.co.uk.

5683 joined the 4th VB HLI on the 20th March 1908
6060 joined the 8th HLI on 18th June 1908
6147 joined on 19th January 1908
6605 joined on 10th February 1908
6853 joined on 6th February 1911
7083 joined on 14th April 1912
7196 joined on 30th January 1913
7554 joined on 19th February 1914
7628 joined on 6th August 1914
7844 joined on 28th September 1914
7860 joined on 2nd October 1914
7893 joined on 2nd Novembber 1914
8016 joined on 23rd December 1914

When the Territorial Force was re-numbered in 1917, the 8th HLI was allocated numbers within the range 305001 to 330000. 305005, for instance, was issued to William Speirs whose original TF number, recorded on his attestation papers when he joined the TF on 28th April 1908, was 5229. This number, in turn, had originally been issued to William when he joined the Volunteer Force in 1903 or Pre-April 1904.

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi
I am trying to trace when my relative John Robert Stappard enlisted in the 9th Battalion HLI. All I know is he enlisted in Newcastle upon Tyne, his regimental number is 333248 and he was killed in September 1917.
I would be grateful for any help.

Paul Nixon said...

I'm really not sure; I'm sorry. I have nothing for this series of numbers, although it does belong to the series issued to the 9th Battalion (330001 - 355000) rather than the 8th (305001 - 330000).

Paul

Anonymous said...

Hi,
My relative's medal index card indicates HLI without a battalion listing. Service number is 5153. Interestingly it notes that he switched to the RFC in 1917 and the new service number of 88200 was assigned. Finding a date of enlistment or battalion number would be really interesting.
Thanks for any help you can offer.
Paul

Paul Nixon said...

Re 5153 HLI and 88200 RFC

I could find no mention of this man in the Highland Light Infantry Chronicle which is quite scrupulous regarding regular and service battalions but less so when it comes to the TF. So my guess based on this alone would be that the number relalates to one of the TF battalions. RFC and RAF records are available at The National Archives and will be oublished online by findmypast in 2014 so you may well find out more information then.

Paul

Paul Nixon said...

Re 5153 HLI and 88200 RFC

I could find no mention of this man in the Highland Light Infantry Chronicle which is quite scrupulous regarding regular and service battalions but less so when it comes to the TF. So my guess based on this alone would be that the number relalates to one of the TF battalions. RFC and RAF records are available at The National Archives and will be oublished online by findmypast in 2014 so you may well find out more information then.

Paul

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