Fold3 - New UK Military Records (WW1)

[AdrianBruce]

Hmm. I don't see a reference to RIF for Royal Iniskilling Fusiliers on either of his two Medal Index Cards. I've seen the one for his 1914 Star and another for his BWM & VM pair. Nor do the two Medal Rolls mention the Royal Iniskilling Fusiliers.

So I'm not sure what's going on - am I missing something? Has someone seen "Sco Rif" and omitted the "Sco" to end up with "RIF" for Royal Iniskilling Fusiliers?

Everything looks to me like Kelley WE and Kelly William are the same person - the MIC for the Star is for Kelley WE but annotates it to mention the different spelling for the BWM & VM pair. Both MICs make the same reference to "Clasp & Roses". (Errors on Star Medal Rolls & Medal Index Cards are not unknown...)

So it all looks like what I think you've said - a Corporal in the 2nd battalion of the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) at the start of the war, a short-term transfer to the HLI with a new number (not mentioned in the BWM & VM stuff because it was in the UK I guess), then reversion to the ScoRif, taking up his old number and ending up as a sergeant.

Nothing about the "RIF" for Royal Iniskilling Fusiliers.

[AdrianBruce]

NB - for the above, I was looking at the images in Ancestry, so any transcription errors for there, or on other sites, I won't have registered.

[VALLMO9]

Hi Adrian - I don't have the image to hand, but the record which mentions the RIF is this one:

W E Kelley
1914
Corporal
2nd Battalion
Scottish Rifles, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
8819
1914 Star
WO 329

It confuses me why the name is listed as WE Kelley. I can accept the surname variation, my soldier didn't have a middle name.

[AdrianBruce]

I don't recognise those words as relating to anything I was looking at - except badly.

My guess would be that's a transcript somewhere that's gone pear-shaped with an over-enthusiastic translation of the Rif (from Sco Rif maybe?) to Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. It surely can't represent a correct original as there's only one regiment - two regiments would need two numbers. Both Ancestry and FMP can create errors when expanding Army abbreviations and the conjunction of "Sco Rif" and "RIF" may not be a coincidence.

As for the "WE Kelley", I think that's a genuine original error from the Army clerk when compiling the Star Medal Roll. Maybe the papers underneath were for a W E Kelley (who might not have merited a medal) and the clerk saw that name sticking out of the top of the pile having already decided your chap was entitled. Certainly, the Army thought the two were the same person and, as I said, errors on Medal Index Cards are not unknown. Clerks faced with massive piles of files that had to be gone through to assess each one for entitlement to a Star, didn't have an enviable job.

[VALLMO9]

Many thanks, Adrian! My curiosity about the two names and RIF stemmed from the fact my soldier is very elusive after 1923. I'm always looking for any crumb of information on him. It's interesting there's an Ancestry record for him in the WWI Pension Ledgers and Index Cards collection, which I'm unable to view as I don't have a current sub. Interestingly, my granny's cousin worked for the Ministry of Pensions after the war. I don't think they ever met, though.

[AdrianBruce]

... It's interesting there's an Ancestry record for him in the WWI Pension Ledgers and Index Cards collection, ...

I guess it's wait for 11 November and hope Fold3 (which is where the proper size image is) have a freeby.

[jonwarrn]

I guess it's wait for 11 November and hope Fold3 (which is where the proper size image is) have a freeby.

Ancestry are already into their annual period of free military records.
But no sign so far of anything similar on Fold3. Perhaps there is still time? They do offer a 7 day free trial.

I think ancestry have fairly new owners? They do seem to be noticeably less generous with freebies than of old.

[AdrianBruce]

...
Ancestry are already into their annual period of free military records.
But no sign so far of anything similar on Fold3. Perhaps there is still time? ...

Yeah - I'd already looked for the WW1 Pension Records from the WFA on Fold3 for my own purposes - but as you say - no sign of any freebie. I don't remember if Fold3 freebies previously synched to the 11 November - I have an idea not, (a) because it's such a small element of Fold3 at the moment and (b) because it's synched to the American equivalent - isn't it? So I'm not convinced that there's anything unusual there. But I'm still waiting and hoping...

[VALLMO9]

I think the last time Ancestry/Fold3 offered free access was Memorial Day weekend 2021. That was Ancestry.com (not Ancestry UK).

[meekhcs]

I have opened my emails this morning finding one from Ancestry offering free access to wartime records via Fold3 until 13th November