Sue - in "The Five Years" John Brophy gives a table of comparative strengths & percentages in France (which will include Belgian Flanders) for various branches throughout the war - for example the AVC in March 1918 shows > # total strength 13,379 # which was 0.95% of the total Army strength in F&F during that month # and 2.93% of the total non-combatant strength By way of comparison, the highest % of the N-C strength in March 1918 was the Labour Corps with 42.66%, followed by the Army Service Corps with 27.94%. The AVC total and %'s hardly alter through till Nov 1918. regards - Tom Tulloch-Marshall WW1 Military Research website - http://www.btinternet.com/~prosearch/index.html

My grandfather Sydney Armitage was in the Leeds Pals and may previously have been in the Territorials. On one occasion he gave his address as 146th Brigade Machine Gun Company. His brother Laurie Ritchie Armitage enlisted at a meeting in Ilkley. He was awarded the MC in October 1916. He was wounded and transferred to a hospital in England but died of gunshot wounds in November 1916. I have seen medal cards and some entries in the London Gazette. Another relative H O (Harrison Overend) Farrar claimed his medals from hospital in Leeds and at his marriage is described as an army pensioner but I was unable to find any record of him on Ancestry.co.uk. May there still be some records available that are not online? I will be visiting the National Archives and would like to make best use of my time there in finding any relevant military records or war diaries. I would be grateful for any guidance from members of the list. Thank you. Gillian