Page 92 - MERCIAN Eagle 2019

90
The Mercian Regiment (Worcestershire) Museum
WW2 and the Digitisation and Transcription Project
Dr John Paddock, Curator
Some 15 years ago a number of packages were delivered to the archives at Norton Barracks, Worcester, from the MOD. These contained a series of well-worn ledgers detailing the service of the ‘other ranks’ who served with the Worcestershire Regiment from 1919 up to the end of World War 2: they form one of the most significant and unique additions to the archives.
Prior to 1919 the enlistment of other ranks in the British
Army was handled at a
Regimental level. This
Regiment was: 5239001 – 5328000. Although the early ledgers are full of
information, the later ones contain little other than name, number and reason for leaving the Regiment. The ledgers are in two series; those for men who originally enlisted in the Worcestershire Regiment and those for men who transferred into the Regiment having originally enlisted in another Regiment (i.e. they have numbers outside of the above
determination to deliver a searchable and sortable database of the men in the ledgers. It is estimated that there are over 30,000 names in these and that the project will
take over a year. To date all of the WW2 Worcestershire Regiment casualties have been added to the database. The first transcription tranche of 8,000 names from the ledgers is almost complete.
Populating the database with the names and details from the ledgers is only phase 1. There are many other sources of WW2 information in the archive, including named photographs, award citations and individual pen pictures provided by relatives. In addition, the National Archives house the original war diaries and information about POWs. But that is a story for another day.
A page from the ledgers
meant that there could
be more than one man,
with the same number
in each Regiment to say
nothing of the Army as
a whole. If a man was
transferred from one Regiment to another, he was given a fresh number by his new Regiment. The large number of casualties in WW1 highlighted one of the problems
of this system and is centred, although
not exclusively, on the Welsh Territorial Battalions which prior to 1917 used a 4-figure numbering system. Take the name Jones for example – there are stories of parents being told of the death of their son only for this to be subsequently withdrawn as the wrong Jones (right number and right Regiment) had been identified as a fatality. This was partly corrected in 1917 when the four-figure system was replaced with a six- figure Territorial numbering system.
It was decided in 1919 to transfer to
an Army numbering system, with each Regiment/Corps being allocated a unique 7-figure numbering block. Once a number had been allocated it remained with the soldier throughout the whole of his service, regardless of any transfers. The number block allocated to the Worcestershire
number block).
As the number of
people still alive who served (or lived) through WW2 dwindle, this period has faded into history. Indeed, schools have it included in their history lessons and
increasingly people are asking ‘I wonder what (insert relative) did in WW2?’ To find out they turn to us. We, in turn, look to our enlistment registers – there were men who were serving in 1919 who served during WW2 and were even killed. Although there is some indexing the whole series of ledgers is not cross-indexed.
The ledgers themselves have seen
better days and after 100 years of
use, further handling is to be avoided if possible. We have considered how best to preserve these unique documents whilst paradoxically making them more accessible. Digitisation and embracing the latest in technology provide the best option – the use of digital photography, voice recognition software and cutting-edge technology is critical to delivering this vision.
To this end a specific volunteer team has been formed. They, Jo, Janet, Hugh, Kerry and Joe, who come from varied backgrounds and bring their own skills, have one thing in common; the
...increasingly people are asking ‘I wonder what (insert relative) did in WW2?’
The Enlistment Ledgers
THE MERCIAN EAGLE