Hello Ray, The rank of Corporal is on the medal card from WO 374/24 covering mentions in despatches, territorial force efficiency medals and meritorious service medals. These cards show the rank at the time of the award and as Forrest has pointed out a gazette date. You should therefore be able to pinpoint a date of when he held that rank. I reckon Albert E Hoskins SS/16140 (the SS stands for Supply Special) is a different man entirely. Given the size of the ASC (over 330,000 officers and men at its peak) I would think it entirely possible that there was more than one Albert E Hoskins. Usually each soldier has just one card for his campaign medals in WO 374/10 but occasionally it is split over two; presumably the result of the medal office not being able to locate the original and starting another card. As this card is in WO 374/10 they could be on the same page as the other (your) Albert E Hoskins. If the both have entries against the same medals they are different men; if the medal entries are mutually exclusive its a split Medal Index Card. However the different regimental numbers do suggest they are different men. Hope this makes sense Regards Mike S Friday, May 25, 2007, 10:09:38 AM, you wrote: > Very helpful response, Mike. Many thanks. Looks like I have to invest 3 > poonds fifty to see the card. Or do I need to see both cards? (sounds like > poker) > Now, Mike and Listers, some more queries if I can bother you further please: > Could it be that my information (from Port of London records) that AEH was > immediately made a serjeant was an error? That he was in fact made a > corporal on the strength of his TA time, and promoted to serjeant later? I > could throw in that there is a third entry in the medals index: Another > Albert E Hoskins, Private Royal (note) ASC, SS/16140. Is this someone else > altogether or is there some other explanation? There couldn't have been so > many by this name in the ASC, surely! > I'm encouraged by the likely connection with horses. Would that mean his > unit rode horses or simply supplied and maintained them? And was the latter > done from England or more likely over the Channel? > Cheers > Ray > -----Original Message----- > From: Mike Shingleton [mailto:shinglma_64@btopenworld.com] > Sent: Friday, 25 May 2007 6:38 PM > To: Ray Brindle > Cc: Great War list > Subject: Re: [GREATWAR] Albert E Hoskins ASC > Ray > They are the same man. The numbers T/231 and T4/211746 are his > regimental numbers. He has started out with the former and at some > point has been renumbered to the latter. The T and T4 prefixes denote > a Horse Transport man. > Army Service Corps units can be difficult to research unless the > sub-unit appears on the medal card/medal rolls or the soldiers service > record has survived. > Click this link to bring up the two entries: > <http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/search-results.asp?searc > htype=browserefine&query=last_name%3dhoskins%7cscope%3d231&catid=10&pagenumb > er=1&querytype=1&mediaarray=*> > The reason for there being two cards is that catalogue ref WO 372/10 > is for campaign medals whilst catalogue ref WO 372/24 covers Mentions > in Despatches, Meritorious Service Medals and Territorial Force > Efficiency Medals. If he received the TFEM in 1912 we might discount > the latter. The card will tell all and may give the sub-unit. > The campaign medal card should at least suggest whether he went > overseas before or after 01/01/1916, and if the former give a > disembarkation date. > Regards > Mike Shingleton > -----Original Message----- > From: Ray Brindle <ray@brindle.name> > Sent > Subject: [GREATWAR] Albert E Hoskins ASC >> Hello all. I am new among you, chasing a slippery grandfather and only >> recently discovered that he had a WW1 connection. >> Albert Edward Hoskins signed up with the Army Service Corps the day after >> war was declared in 1914 and was immediately made a serjeant, a rank he > held >> to the end of the war. We presume that means he had some sort of > previous >> service, and I have been told that an AE Hoskins was awarded the > Territorial >> Force Efficiency Medal in 1912, which apparently means that man had served >> in the TF for 12 years. My Albert was 34 in 1914 and had worked in some >> sort of admin capacity on the London Docks, both of which facts may have >> contributed to his rank. >> The National Archives medals index shows two different AE Hoskins, > although >> I suspect they are the same man. One is listed as a serjeant, the other > as >> a corporal. Both have "231" (or T/231) listed as their regiment. > Serjeant >> Hoskins (my man?) has a second line that has "T4/211746". >> My mother recalled being taken by her father to some sort of military >> stables in the Greenwich-Plumstead area where he seemed to know the men > and >> the horses. My main interest is in knowing where he was in mid-1916 >> (questions of paternity!) >> I need advice on two matters for starters, please: >> 1. I know I'll eventually need to see if his war records have > survived, but >> is there any way of telling from the readily-available information if > these >> two Hoskins men are one and the same? >> 2. Can anyone tell me more about what T/231 and T4/211746 were, and > point me >> in the right direction to find out the movements of these units (if that > is >> indeed what they were). >> Many thanks >> Ray >> in Victoria, Australia >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > GREATWAR-request@rootsweb.com >> with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body > of the message -- Best regards, Mike mailto:shinglma_64@btopenworld.com