If you go to the National Archives documents online http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/power-search.asp?searchTy pe=powersearch you will come up with one record as follows: Description Name Bartram, Samuel James Service Number(s): R/4825 Rank or Rating: Ordinary Seaman, Able Seaman Date of Birth: 29 December 1875 Date 29 December 1875 Catalogue reference ADM 339/1 Dept Records of the Admiralty, Naval Forces, Royal Marines, Coastguard, and related bodies Series Admiralty and War Office: Royal Naval Division: Records of Service (Microfiche Copies) Piece Ratings/other ranks Image contains 1 document of many for this catalogue reference Number of image files: 1 Image Reference Format and Version Part Number Size (KB) Number of Pages Price (?) 2165 / 38176 PDF 1.2 1 242 3 3.50 Total Price (?) 3.50 Which you can either buy online, or go to the National Archives to view for free (the Society of Genealogists library also gives free access). (Various of the National Archives documents online are also available via Ancestry but I don't think ADM339 is. I believe this should look something like the standard register of seamans service which should describe all the postings and their dates. The Royal Naval Division was a Division serving essentially as Army in Flanders consisting of surplus men from the RNR, RNVR and RFR. regards Keith Swindon UK > -----Original Message----- > From: norfolk-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:norfolk-bounces@rootsweb.com]On Behalf Of richard > Sent: 23 September 2011 16:45 > To: norfolk@rootsweb.com > Subject: [NFK] BARTRAM.SAMUEL JAMES, TIVETSHALL ST.MARY. > > > I have two WW!. medals,the Victory Medal and the the British War > Medal that were awarded to my 2 x gt.grandmothers brother Samuel > James Bartram. > Each medal is inscribed around the rim with R4825. S J BARTRAM. > AB.RNVR. which i take to mean able seaman Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. > So i would assume that to be a reserve in the Royal Navy he would > have had to have previous experience in the Royal Navy. > He was born December 29 1875 and in the 1901 census is an > agricultural labourer in Tivetshall,so he did not seem to have > too much time to fit in a naval career before the war started. > I am hoping that someone on the list is able to tell me more > about his military history in the war as he must have served > somewhere to be awarded these medals, and how he came to be a > naval volunteer. > Richard. > Richard Myhill > > richardmyhill43@btinternet.com > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NORFOLK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

As an afterthought, there is a significant amount of material on the Royal Naval Division on the world wide web. Just type that into any search engine. Some of the sites are better than others, and obviously none of these sites are original documents and therefore will all contain their own set of errors. When you have his service record you should know which battalion (you will be looking for names of Admirals rather than numbers) he was in at various dates, and that should allow you to tie up which theatres of war he was in and what he was likely to be doing. regards Keith Swindon UK > -----Original Message----- > From: norfolk-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:norfolk-bounces@rootsweb.com]On Behalf Of Keith Drage > Sent: 23 September 2011 17:31 > To: norfolk@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [NFK] BARTRAM.SAMUEL JAMES, TIVETSHALL ST.MARY. > > > If you go to the National Archives documents online > > http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/power-search.as > p?searchTy > pe=powersearch > > you will come up with one record as follows: > > Description Name Bartram, Samuel James > Service Number(s): R/4825 > Rank or Rating: Ordinary Seaman, Able Seaman > Date of Birth: 29 December 1875 > > Date 29 December 1875 > Catalogue reference ADM 339/1 > Dept Records of the Admiralty, Naval Forces, Royal Marines, > Coastguard, and > related bodies > Series Admiralty and War Office: Royal Naval Division: Records of Service > (Microfiche Copies) > Piece Ratings/other ranks > Image contains 1 document of many for this catalogue reference > > > Number of image files: 1 > > > Image Reference Format and Version Part Number Size (KB) Number of Pages > Price (?) > 2165 / 38176 PDF 1.2 1 242 3 3.50 > Total Price (?) 3.50 > > Which you can either buy online, or go to the National Archives > to view for > free (the Society of Genealogists library also gives free > access). (Various > of the National Archives documents online are also available via Ancestry > but I don't think ADM339 is. > > I believe this should look something like the standard register of seamans > service which should describe all the postings and their dates. The Royal > Naval Division was a Division serving essentially as Army in Flanders > consisting of surplus men from the RNR, RNVR and RFR. > > regards > > Keith > Swindon UK > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: norfolk-bounces@rootsweb.com > > [mailto:norfolk-bounces@rootsweb.com]On Behalf Of richard > > Sent: 23 September 2011 16:45 > > To: norfolk@rootsweb.com > > Subject: [NFK] BARTRAM.SAMUEL JAMES, TIVETSHALL ST.MARY. > > > > > > I have two WW!. medals,the Victory Medal and the the British War > > Medal that were awarded to my 2 x gt.grandmothers brother Samuel > > James Bartram. > > Each medal is inscribed around the rim with R4825. S J BARTRAM. > > AB.RNVR. which i take to mean able seaman Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. > > So i would assume that to be a reserve in the Royal Navy he would > > have had to have previous experience in the Royal Navy. > > He was born December 29 1875 and in the 1901 census is an > > agricultural labourer in Tivetshall,so he did not seem to have > > too much time to fit in a naval career before the war started. > > I am hoping that someone on the list is able to tell me more > > about his military history in the war as he must have served > > somewhere to be awarded these medals, and how he came to be a > > naval volunteer. > > Richard. > > Richard Myhill > > > > richardmyhill43@btinternet.com > > > > ------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > > NORFOLK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NORFOLK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message