With our experts Graham Caldwell, Mary Evans & Emma Jolly
Was my grandfather in the Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment) IN WWI?
Q I’d like to know if the uniform worn by my maternal grandfather (George Murray seated at right in the family photo) is that of the Royal Scots, because a friend spoke anecdotally that “John was a Royal Scot like his father”, but George’s service record has not survived. John is the wee boy sat on the floor on the left, a Royal Scot sergeant major who received the Distinguished Conduct Medal in WWII. George Murray was born on 28 September 1873 and lived in Edinburgh all his life and in the 1921 Census the family were living at 42 Stewart Terrace Edinburgh.
Joe Docherty
A There are no badges on George’s uniform and no cap, which would have displayed a cap badge. Sadly over 4 million WWI soldier’s dossiers (about 65%) were destroyed during the 1940 London Blitz. However, George’s 1921 address was a vital clue, because he has a very common name. I found him in the WWI Pension Ledger Index Cards on www.fold.3.com. This has an index (and direct access to the images for those holding a Fold.3 subscription) on Ancestry (Go to ‘Card Catalogue’, keyword ‘Pension’). Over eight million pension ledger cards were saved from destruction by the Western Front Association in 2012, which include soldiers and sailors who were not only killed, but also those who survived with disabilities, many of whom are unlikely to be found in any other WWI surviving database.
The Labour Corps of WWI
George Murray’s Pension Index Card (illustrated – see document on page 55) tells us that his home address was 42 Stewart Terrace, Edinburgh and he was discharged on 3 May 1918, Private 5722, 10th Labour Company, Labour Corps. The Labour Corps was formed in 1917 for manual labour on the Western Front from soldiers judged to be unfit for front line duty.
In April-May 1917, a number of UK based infantry labour battalions were transferred to the Labour Corps in France. Soldiers with new Labour Corps numbers in the range 5401–6000 were all previous members of the Royal Scots Fusiliers 2nd Infantry Labour Company.
Note that George’s number 5722 is within this range (see illustrated table line 10). This table of data can be found on the wonderful (free) WWI research w
