Military Chat

My G G grandfather a one Joseph Edward Rice 1872 born Carlow in Ireland did 3 bouts of service. First bout from 10/01/1894 to army reserved in 08/01/1903 to be reenlisted again as a 2nd corporal on 10/01/1906 and discharged again 09/01/1910. with these two bouts under royal engineer number 27924 (slater and plasterer) under distinctive marks it states no marks but also the word special. He was in Egypt from 30/10/1896 to 27 /10/1902 just under 6 years but got no medals for it . What would he have been doing for those 5 years ?

He was then called up prior to enlistment date of 25/08/1914 (the beginning of WW1 ) why would they have called a nearly 42 year old man right at the start of the conflict ? he served under 2 numbers for ww1 422904 and 40899.

Can somebody please send me in the right direction to maybe answer my questions above.Would i find much out about him as in ww1 he made the rank of sergant before demob.

in between his service he was a warden at Mountjoy prison Dublin too.

any help gratefully appreciated.

A lot of WW1 records were destroyed in a fire so his records may not survive.

You could contact the Royal Engineers Museum and see if they could give you any help:-

Royal Engineers Museum
Prince Arthur Road,
Gillingham, Kent, ME4 4UG
Tel: +44 (0)1634 822839

Kath. x

Kathy


Thank you for the reply . I have been fortunate to have 2 lots of records for Joseph Rice . I think my queries are mainly why he didn't get any medals for being in Egypt for 5 years in mid 1890s and why they called a 42 year old man up at the start of Ww1 . Did he have some special skill as he was only a plasterer and slater before enlistment .

Regards
Lizz

Did they call him up, or did he volunteer?

Presumably it would be useful, and save time, to have men who were already trained in the ways of the army.

Edit: would he have still been 'on Reserve' in 1914'?

This link explains it better than I can.

http://www.1914-1918.net/reserve.htm

Re not having any medals for serving in Egypt 1896-1902, if he wasn't involved in any military campaigns during that time, then presumably there wouldn't be any medals to be had?

My knowledge of military history is somewhat shaky, but he seems to have been too late for the Egypt medal.

"The Egypt Medal (1882-1889), also called the Egyptian Medal, was awarded for the military actions involving the British Army during the 1882 Anglo-Egyptian War"

Kucinta

He was called up for WW1 . If he was too late for Egypt campaign , what could he have been doing out there?

Hopefully i can get to the bottom of it one day.

thanks for explaining things for me.

regards
Lizz

I can only suggest you google re the British army in Egypt to find out more, as I don't know enough about the subject.

It may well be that the army stayed on after the actual end of the Anglo-Egyptian war as it was in British interests to help maintain political stability in the area - we were probably quite keen to ensure the Suez Canal stayed open for example.

However the British army is/was often stationed in various places abroad without there actually being a war going on at the time, India during the C19th century for instance. You don't get a medal just for serving in a foreign country.

There is the wikipedia entry for campaign medals, which was the quickest to find; but obviously there needed to be a military campaign in order for a medal to be awarded for it....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_campaign_medals

I'm sure someone else could give a better explanation that me.

Description:Medal card of Rice, Joseph
Corps Regiment No Rank
Royal Engineers 40899 Corporal
Royal Engineers 40899 Serjeant
Labour Corps 422904 Serjeant

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/medal-index-cards-ww1.htm

(do you have above, £3.30 to download)

(Collection also on Ancestry, not seeing him?)

Chris :)

My grandfather was 50 when he was called up in 1914. As he had previously served in the Army he would have been in the Reserve and, I would guess, that Reservists were called up almost immediately as they had already been trained and could be deployed sooner than "raw" recruits.

My father was called up at the beginning of WW2 as he was on the Reserve.

Chris Ho

What information would the medal card have on it. The same information as on ancestry ?

Thank you all for your help too .Have starting researching books on the regiments so hopefully find out some fascinating facts.

lizz

It is the same collection as on Ancestry, just can't find your one!.

Always worth a google search for Regiments, or anything Military, lots of bits and pieces available online now.

Chris :)