Where to go from here ?

[frances]

Afternoon,

A friend has successfully researched and obtained a considerable amount of information on her late father's time in the services. His Attestation papers from the TA, service records from the regular army and his release papers etc.

He served as a gunner in the RA, on the margin of one of the papers is the wording PT 110 28/51 Hill Coat Regiment TA, on another Heavy Regiment TA . It looks like he also served in The Royal Scots as a boy (1926). What the family would like to now find is more about the campaigns he fought in etc. Can anybody point them in the direction of where would be the best place to start this search. ?

Any help appreciated.

Thanks

Frances

[Currie]

Hello Frances,

I probably won't be much help with this. If you don't have any luck here you may have to consult a more specialised forum.

The trouble with the Royal Artillery is that it contained hundreds of thousands of soldiers and they were everywhere. The motto on their cap badge said just that, “Ubique.”

Heavy batteries can be associated with fixed installations such as coastal forts. The east coast of the UK was protected by heavy guns during WW2.

“Hill Coat Regiment” looks a bit odd to me. Any chance this could be Hull Coast Regiment, or something like that? Did he live anywhere near there before the War? http://www.rodcollins.com/wordpress/the ... of-defence

Maybe 110 refers to the Regiment and 28/51 to the Battery, but trying to figure it out from this page I'm just getting befuddled. There's a 51 (Lowland) Heavy Regiment TA mentioned and also that pre-war batteries were numbered between 1 and 28. http://nigelef.tripod.com/regtsumm.htm

See also http://www.ra39-45.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/index.html

To find day-to-day activities of his unit, once you figure out which it was, you would probably need to consult their War Diary. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help ... ar-diaries

Not much help,
Alan

[frances]

Thanks for the information Alan , I will have a look at the sites suggested.

Yes, Hill did look a bit strange to me , think your suggestion of Hull could be correct.

War diaries may be the way to go , will see what I can find there first.

Many thanks and kind regards

Frances