Records for Armistice

Jean, Agnes & John

Today is Armistice Day (the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month) and Ancestry.co.uk has given free access to its military records. I have been able to access the records of three men, first Pte. James McIlhagga's WW1 Medal Rolls Index Card. He has two Regimental numbers S/28088 and S/30566 respectively for the Seaforth Highlanders and the Royal Highlanders. I have written about him on 23rd January last. The second man was Dvr. John McIlhagga for whom I have two records, the Medal Card and the WW1 Pensions Record. His Regimental Number was 1602, 696562 in the Royal Field Artillery. The Pension Record is a document from 1915 and it is his Attestation for the Territorial Force. The interesting information it gives is his post-war civilian address, 97 George's Street, Whiturch, Glasgow. This is a mistranscription for Whiteinch. I gave my opinion on 9th February last that he became the husband of Jeannie Hay and emigrated to Australia. I have put an early photograph of John and Jean with their daughter Agnes at the head of this blog.

The third man whose documents I was able to access was my own father Lindsay, who was Number 357419 a Sergeant in the Liverpool (Scottish) Regiment. In addition to his Medal Card I have been able to see for the first time his 'Short Service' Attestation document. From this I have learned that he was 22 years 5 months when he joined up on 9th December 1915, and that at that time he was working as a Clerk at J. & T. Wrights at 2 Seel Street, Liverpool. To my surprise the Attestation Form was for the Royal Army Medical Corps. However, on 18th March 1916 he was appointed to serve in The King's (Liverpool) Regiment. For some reason there are two copies of the Attestation Form, one a copy of the other, though with extra information. I wrote about Lindsay's military service on 12th January last.