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Army service records
Re: Army service records
TNA are following MOD's policy in closing files for 115 years from the person's date of birth but if you can provide a death certificate then most of the file should be released if you put a Freedom of Information request to TNA. If family members had requested the file earlier then that correspondence SHOULD be redacted under the Data Protection Act. TNA have a real backlog and seem not to have been prepared with enough staff. I have sympathy for you, my grandfather's file is still closed (he was born in 1893) and he died in 1969!.
Re: Army service records
According to the file at TNA (WO 423/134588: [1939-1963]: Name: W Coldman' Service number: 6078225. Date of birth: 5 July 1901, GRO index says birth was registered in the July-September quarter of 1902,
The file says his full name was William John Coldman, but there is no birth entry on the General Register Office birth indexes on ancestry in 1901 but in 1902. His file says that he was born on 5 July 1901in the parish of Westcott, near the town of Dorking, Surrey. He was from Guildford, Surrey. He enlisted on 12 April 1920 in the “Infantry of the Line”, The Queen’s R[oyal] W[est] S[urrey] Regiment, he was then re-engaged at Dover on 18 July 1929 to complete his twenty-one years’ service. He was also in the 22nd London Regiment (2 October 1929-29 December 1932) and then in The Queen’s Royal Regiment. He was Mentioned in Dispatches (2 January 1941) for his distinguished service in connection with operations in the Field (March-June 1940) see London Gazette 7173 dated 20 December 1940. He was released to the Class Z Reserve on 12 September 1940. The enlistment records held by the Surrey History Centre for The Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment say that when he enlisted on 12 April 1920 he was eighteen years and 281 days old, his baptism record says he was born on 1 July 1902 and the 1939 Register says he was born on 7 July 1904!. I am going to stick to the birth being on 1 July 1902, I trust his parents more than his service record or the 1939 Register.
The file says his full name was William John Coldman, but there is no birth entry on the General Register Office birth indexes on ancestry in 1901 but in 1902. His file says that he was born on 5 July 1901in the parish of Westcott, near the town of Dorking, Surrey. He was from Guildford, Surrey. He enlisted on 12 April 1920 in the “Infantry of the Line”, The Queen’s R[oyal] W[est] S[urrey] Regiment, he was then re-engaged at Dover on 18 July 1929 to complete his twenty-one years’ service. He was also in the 22nd London Regiment (2 October 1929-29 December 1932) and then in The Queen’s Royal Regiment. He was Mentioned in Dispatches (2 January 1941) for his distinguished service in connection with operations in the Field (March-June 1940) see London Gazette 7173 dated 20 December 1940. He was released to the Class Z Reserve on 12 September 1940. The enlistment records held by the Surrey History Centre for The Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment say that when he enlisted on 12 April 1920 he was eighteen years and 281 days old, his baptism record says he was born on 1 July 1902 and the 1939 Register says he was born on 7 July 1904!. I am going to stick to the birth being on 1 July 1902, I trust his parents more than his service record or the 1939 Register.