From: John Wilson [mailto:hugo@actrix.gen.nz] Wednesday, 14 June 2006 A great post John but the Great War list let you down with this comment. Australian and British Army officers in WWI did not have Regimental numbers, apparently because they were "officers and gentlemen". Soldiers of the British Army did not have service numbers until after the Napoleonic wars. When service numbers were introduced they were unique to the unit. So every unit had their own numbers starting with one. Australia adopted an identical system in 1914 with units issuing their own numbers. Since the numbering was unit based there was no real reason for officers to have numbers particularly since the names of officers were published in Army Lists. Anthony Staunton

Slightly more detail is at http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-help/faq2.htm#numbers Cheers, Ted Harris ----- Original Message ----- From: "Anthony Staunton" <anthony.staunton@pcug.org.au> To: <AUS-MILITARY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2006 7:45 PM Subject: RE: [AUS-MIL] Officers' Numbers > From: John Wilson [mailto:hugo@actrix.gen.nz] Wednesday, 14 June 2006 > > A great post John but the Great War list let you down with this comment. > > Australian and British Army officers in WWI did not have Regimental > numbers, apparently because they were "officers and gentlemen". > > Soldiers of the British Army did not have service numbers until after the > Napoleonic wars. When service numbers were introduced they were unique to > the unit. So every unit had their own numbers starting with one. Australia > adopted an identical system in 1914 with units issuing their own numbers. > Since the numbering was unit based there was no real reason for officers to > have numbers particularly since the names of officers were published in Army > Lists. > > Anthony Staunton > >