Why did this man get discharged after such a short time in the Army?

[CarolB08]

Can any clever soul please tell me why my Husbands 1st cousin, 4 times removed's husband was discharged from the Army after just 39 days, I do not understand what it says on his enlistment forms.
He must have been in such trouble with his wife though, as he states he married on 10th February 1903 but actually it was 6 February 1904 and he got his witnesses names wrong to, silly man.

 

[Tony]

I don't think that the reason for discharge is given. The writing on the snip1 image says "Enlisted for promotion forthwith to the rank Sgt." [Sergeant], "I allot 1/- per day to my wife. / C. Cable". The 3rd & 4th columns on the main image say:
Attested Private
Promoted Sergt.
Appointed A/C.S.M. [Acting / Company Sergeant Major]
Reverted to ... (looks like an abbreviation, maybe 1...)
Discharged ditto

(Any corrections welcome!)

 

[Tony]

I've sneaked a look at those documents on FMP. The 2nd page of the attestation says "Discharged under W. O. [War Office] letter 27/GenNo/222(?)8 (A.G.1) para 8 d [dated?]/4.9.14 having resigned." Also "Character awarded on discharge: Good".
Ah, there's a duplicate of that document (still on FMP) in different handwriting. The incomplete line in the 3rd & 4th columns is Reverted to Pte [Private]. I also missed out Posted ditto [Private] - the perils of transcribing ! The duplicate has extra pages attached, including an army "death certificate of pensioner", and the earlier 1892 attestation (leading to 18 years' service).
Wow, more records in that duplicate. He re-enlisted on 9 April 1915 in the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, got kicked by a horse in July, but continued until demobilization in 1919.
Sometimes other researcher's relatives are even more interesting than your own

 

[Heather]

Can any clever soul please tell me why my Husbands 1st cousin, 4 times removed's husband was discharged from the Army after just 39 days, I do not understand what it says on his enlistment forms.

Hi Carol, I presume you have a FMP account, if you search for Charles Cable army number 3295 in WW1 records, the pages you have entered here are just the start of this man's records. You will find that there are many pages to see and the two results that are shown from the search have different records shown. From just a brief look it seems as though he served in the army before and was discharged in 1911, his army number being 3601. these records follow on from his 3295 records. I presume it is the same man, his wife being Emma Jane. I hope this helps.

 

[GrahamC]

Perhaps he was found to be ineligible to serve. i.e. to young or too old.

 

[CarolB08]

Thank you folks, I do indeed have a fmp account and seem to have missed these other pages entirely, I did find them on Ancestry, but assumed the vetinary enlistment was a different soldier. So back to the drawing board to have another look methinks.

 

[CarolB08]

I've sneaked a look at those documents on FMP. The 2nd page of the attestation says "Discharged under W. O. [War Office] letter 27/GenNo/222(?)8 (A.G.1) para 8 d [dated?]/4.9.14 having resigned." Also "Character awarded on discharge: Good".
Ah, there's a duplicate of that document (still on FMP) in different handwriting. The incomplete line in the 3rd & 4th columns is Reverted to Pte [Private]. I also missed out Posted ditto [Private] - the perils of transcribing ! The duplicate has extra pages attached, including an army "death certificate of pensioner", and the earlier 1892 attestation (leading to 18 years' service).
Wow, more records in that duplicate. He re-enlisted on 9 April 1915 in the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, got kicked by a horse in July, but continued until demobilization in 1919.
Sometimes other researcher's relatives are even more interesting than your own

Hi Tony, I just took another look and the Charles Cable who was in the vetinary corps was a different soldier entirely being born in Bethnall Green, my Man came from Burnham on Crouch.

 

[CarolB08]

Hi all, I seem to have answered my own question here, it seems he resigned, after 39 days, I did not think in times of war a soldier could resign, any thoughts people?

 

[GrahamC]

Could it be that he had to resign in order to join another branch of the army. I know that in Australia during WW2 my father was formally discharged from the Milita in order to join the AIF. A promotion was involved here too.

 

[Bob Spiers]

seems he resigned, after 39 days, I did not think in times of war a soldier could resign, any thoughts people?

In my recent intense WW1 researches (posted previously) I ended with many unanswered questions until, someone pointed out to me -as they did you - there were more pages to view. Thus I came across quite a few young recruits whose names were the same (or similar) to the one I was researching whose total service lasted little more than a week or two. It turned out they were discharged as 'proven under-age'. (The fact that other enlistees falsified their age and got away with it was pointed out, but I found proof that some at least did not). One or two received wounds quite early on (non critical) that resulted in their medical discharge after completing relatively short war service.

The person you seek clearly resigned, but do not forget he had previously been an enlisted soldier, and his re-enlistment would almost certainly have been voluntarily offered. He was not a 'draftee' (if that is the right word) and probably would not have been called on to serve again most likely because of age and taking into account he had already served 'King & Country'.

Was there a clue in the 'death certificate of a pensioner', perhaps his father/grandfather? But he could just as easily have had another reason for resigning which as a volunteer enlistee (and a veteran soldier) he did not necessarily have to give.

I also found examples of people enlisting in one Regiment and then within a few weeks, being transferred to another (and I don't mean transfer to different Battalions within the same Regiment which were 'ten-a-penny'). I assumed changing Regiments was normal 'wartime' practice, but perhaps it came about because of resignation and re-enlistment? Who knows but just a thought anyway!

 

[CarolB08]

Thank you for the interesting answer to my post Bob, the death certificate included in his Army papers is clearly for him, he appears to have been a Chelsea Pensioner, I am not sure whether as an in patient or out patient, I thought at first that maybe as he had a young family he might have been needed to care for them, (but he and his wife are listed in the 1939 Register ) so she had not died at that point. He was 43 at the time of his resignation so maybe he was simply considered to old to serve. So many questions to answer.

 

[Bob Spiers]

Thank you for the interesting answer to my post Bob, the death certificate included in his Army papers is clearly for him, he appears to have been a Chelsea Pensioner, I am not sure whether as an in patient or out patient, I thought at first that maybe as he had a young family he might have been needed to care for them, (but he and his wife are listed in the 1939 Register ) so she had not died at that point. He was 43 at the time of his resignation so maybe he was simply considered to old to serve. So many questions to answer.

Thanks Carol, and I can add that during my own research I found people enlisting who were older than your relative, but over the general age of 40 recruitment was left for later recruitment drives. Usually from 1916 onwards and providing his civilian occupation was not considered critical to the war effort. However there's a chance he may have been contacted earlier because of his service experience which would have been invaluable especially in training raw recruits, and promotion inducements offered as a carrot! (He may have resigned from one Regiment to join a Training one?)

Other than that the reason for his resignation may never be known. For that you really need to sound out family members, children or grandchildren who may have had the information passed down to them. Mind, that is a luxury few of us have but I was successful in one WW1 research matter where a 'removed' cousin recalled her Grandfather had fathered a child before going off to war, and having, survived had a 4/5 year old child to come home to and a marriage to be arranged. None of that could be found from Army paperwork, but I was so grateful for the information as it answered so many questions for which I had no answer.

 

[Bob Spiers]

Discharged under W. O. [War Office] letter 27/GenNo/222(?)8 (A.G.1) para 8 d [dated?]/4.9.14 having resigned."

I had a few days left on my subscription to 'Forces War Records' and as they have been very helpful in answering my many questions, I asked them if they could tell me about that specific War Office letter. A Military Records Specialist responded and, apart from telling me that AGI stood for 'Army General Instruction', regretted that WO letters were not part of their reference materials. They said very few survive but those that do may be held within the UK National Archives.

 

[CarolB08]

Many thanks for this information Bob and for taking the time to ask the question on my behalf.

 

[Bob Spiers]

Many thanks for this information Bob and for taking the time to ask the question on my behalf.

Your most welcome Carol.