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Julian whybra


Joined: 03 Sep 2005
Posts: 437
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David
Mabin was General Staff Corps.
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David Langley


Joined: 30 Nov 2012
Posts: 20
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Thank you. I find the Departmental Corps of the period baffling.

Is what you are describing officially called the "Commissariat and Transport Department, Staff and Corps" 1875 - 1888?

Compared with that area, Schoolmasters, Medical, Barrack staff and Schools of Instruction seem simple!

I think I'll stick to infantry!
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Martin Everett


Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 786
Location: Brecon
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He was actually a clerk - and was promoted to Superindenting Clerk following Rorke's Drift - I suppose in today's army he would be Adjutant General's Corps - the thread orginally suggested that he was the senior NCO at Rorke's Drift - which technically he was - but would unlikely to have been involved directly in the planning and execution of defence.

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Martin Everett
Brecon, Powys
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David Langley


Joined: 30 Nov 2012
Posts: 20
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Martin Everett wrote:
He was actually a clerk - and was promoted to Superindenting Clerk following Rorke's Drift - I suppose in today's army he would be Adjutant General's Corps - the thread orginally suggested that he was the senior NCO at Rorke's Drift - which technically he was - but would unlikely to have been involved directly in the planning and execution of defence.


Thank you: did his Corps [whatever it was called] have a C-Sgt rank, or merely a staff-sergeant equivalent ?
I am sniffing around this as I have a huge dossier on the C-Sgt rank and equivalents and sense yet another actual C-Sgt in the wings: this to add to the infantry, the RA [for a while] and the RE [yes, again for a while].

Should have stuck to infantry ...............
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Martin Everett


Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 786
Location: Brecon
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David

Sorry about the spelling (a slip) - should be 'Superintending or Superintendent Clerk'.

His documents show:

Transferred to General Staff of the Army 19/5/1872. Authority dated 23/9/1872.
Appointed Military Staff Clerk and Promoted to Sergeant 20/5/1872.
Awarded good conduct pay at 2d rate 1/6/1874.
Arrived in Dover 27/4/1875.
Appointed Colour/Sergeant 20/5/1875.
Re-engaged as a Colour/Sergeant to complete 21 years service 14/6/1876 at Dover.
Transferred to the District Office, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa dated 6/6/1878.
Served in South Africa 4/7/1878 � 2/2/1898 total 19 years 213 days.
Arrived on the Eastern Frontier, South Africa 28/7/1878.
Present during the defence of Rorke�s Drift Mission Station, Natal, South Africa 22-23/1/1879. [It is unknown why he was left at the drift when the General Lord Chelmsford crossed the river into Zululand].
Appointed Superintendent Clerk 19/2/1880.
Served in the first Boer War 1880-1 and was present at Laing�s Nek, Ingogo and Majuba Hill.
He was Chief Clerk to Sir George Colley.
He was stood by Sir George when Sir George was shot dead by the Boers�.
Awarded good conduct pay at 3d rate 1/6/1880 and Promoted to Sergeant/Major. etc, etc

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Martin Everett
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David Langley


Joined: 30 Nov 2012
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Martin that's brilliant! So another department had C-Sgts. A turn-up! Even Major Dawnay in his magisterial "Badges of WO and NCO ........etc" did not deal with that!

The Good Conduct pay is also of interest: the various Warrants and Orders do not spell out to the nth detail what to do once a man reached sergeant [corporal after rule change 1881] ....... the assumption was that, if he ceased to be "good" to the required degree, he ceased to be a sergeant! But the rules do provide [wording differs in different Warrants]

..... 997. A soldier reduced from a higher rank to one of the ranks eligible for a GC badge [and pay!] shall be at once awarded a number of badges less by one than he would have been entitled to .......

So this was a safety net for demoted NCOs.

Fascinating, and thank you again.
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Julian whybra


Joined: 03 Sep 2005
Posts: 437
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David
The General Staff Corps was nothing to do with the Army Commissariat and Transport Department. Two different animals.
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David Langley


Joined: 30 Nov 2012
Posts: 20
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Julian whybra wrote:
David
The General Staff Corps was nothing to do with the Army Commissariat and Transport Department. Two different animals.


Please where can I read to brush up on this alarming gap .......... in my admittedly too large library I have nothing at all that deals adequately with the small but vital cogs of the military wheel ...... or have I ........ perhaps glossed over as being not sufficiently warlike?
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John Young


Joined: 30 Aug 2005
Posts: 1020
Location: Lower Sheering, Essex
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David,

That's why my question on the VWF has gone unanswered then! You've never heard of the unit!

John
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David Langley


Joined: 30 Nov 2012
Posts: 20
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John Young wrote:
David,

That's why my question on the VWF has gone unanswered then! You've never heard of the unit!

John


Sorry if I have been rude, the pace and complexities of life sometimes reveal me for the slow old dodderer that I am but WHAT WHAT WHAT?
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The SNCO ?
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