143433 PTE T WILKINSON RAMC

143433 PTE T WILKINSON RAMC

name(s)Thomas

Last nameWilkinson

Year1914-20

Service number143433

RankPrivate

RegimentRoyal Army Medical Corps

Service record

Soldier Number: 143433, 

Rank: Private, 

Corps: Royal Army Medical Corps

Called up aged 20 years and 11 months, a Labourer (driller) from Openshaw in Manchester. 5' tall, 92lbs on enlistment; 33" chest with 3" expansion, physical condition described as "fair; likely to develop" at the Recruiting Medical Board, Manchester Town Hall.

Previously registered 30 December 1915. Deemed to have been enlisted 1 October 1916. Called up for service and appointed as 220665 to 5th Battalion Manchester Regiment at Manchester Town Hall on 20 October 1916.  5 August 1917 posted to C Company, 8th (Reserve) Battalion, The Manchesters. Recorded as attached to 3rd Training Battalion RAMC No.2 Camp, Blackpool 5 April 1918 but also recorded as permanently transferred, under Army Council Instruction 207 of April 1918, to the RAMC, with effect from 4 April 1918, having been transferred from the infantry as "physically unsuitable". Posted on 23 May 1918 to 6th Company, RAMC at Cosham, outside Portsmouth. There was clearly some confusion as there was an exchange between the Major commanding the 3rd Training Battalion and the Colonel commanding the 8th Reserve Battalion, The Manchester Regiment (based at Hunmanby,  York) and the Infantry Record Office No.1, Fulwood Barracks, Preston about his transfer in May 1918, with the suggestion that he had been medically rejected from the RAMC.  Presumably a bit of a rebel, one Conduct sheet has entries for 27 May 1918 for breaking out of barracks whilst a defaulter (location Cosham) and 6 October 1918 at Blackpool for "wilfully injuring his Service Dress jacket"; another has nine entries for a range of offences  including insolence to an NCO, failure to get out of bed when ordered, creating a disturbance in the dining Hall,  dirty equipment on CO's parade, idle on parade (and neglecting CO's orders), late on breakfast parade, failure to answer at evening roll-call, quitting parade without permission, together with a duplicate of the 6 October offence, and a third Conduct Sheet duplicating the 27 May incident. Interestingly eight of the nine offences recorded were committed with the RAMC which leads one to wonder if he resented being transferred out of the Manchesters. He returned from the Army Trade Test Centre on 21 August 1918, having taken a test as a driller (machine) and rated as "indifferent". He was granted 5th Class Corps Pay on 24 September 1918 and posted to Depot, RAMC, Blackpool on 26 September 1918, followed by a posting to 118th Reinforcements, for France on 5 November 1918, embarking Southampton on the same day.  He disembarked in France on 6 November 1918 and was posted to RAMC Base Depot, Etaples on 11 November 1918. He was then posted to 141 Field Ambulance in the field on 13 November 1918, joining the unit on the 16th. On 22 November 1918 he was admitted to 12 Casualty Clearing Station with Debility, being transferred to 7 Ambulance Train* the following day and to 11 Stationary Hospital, Rouen on 24 November. To 2 Convalescent Depot**, Rouen on 8 December 1918 from hospital. Then to 11 Convalescent Depot at Buchy (also near Rouen) on 13 December 1918. Joined RAMC Base Depot Etaples on 6 January 1919, then attached to No2 (718) Water Tank M.T. Company in the field on 24 January 1919.

Reckonable service given as from 30 October 1916 (possibly a mistaken reading of 20 October) to 5 November 1918 (2 years and 5 days) at home, 6 November 1918 to 12 November 1919 (1 year and 7 days) with the BEF in France (and subsequently possibly Germany?), and then 28 days in the UK prior to being demobilised to Army Z Reserve 10 December 1919 at Woking, giving a total of 3 years 42 days. His category on demobilisation was A1. When examined prior to demobilisation in Cologne on 6 November 1919 he was with No.2 Water Tank M.T. Company RASC, a bulk water tanker company serving Second Army. He would presumably have been on the staff of one of the RAMC chemists attached to operate the sterilizers and de-poisoners and analyse water in surrendered territory.

Entitled to British War Medal and Victory Medal.

*One of 42 serving on the Western Front during the war, which cumulatively carried 5 million casualties between the Casualty Clearing Stations and Base hospitals or ports.

**Designed to support the convalescence of soldiers suffering from wounds or sickness whilst still in theatres of war rather than having to be evacuated home.

The RAMC expanded rapidly during World War One; on mobilization the Corps consisted of approximately 9,000 other ranks, by 1918 there were 13,000 RAMC Officers and 154,000 other ranks. 

First World War British unit sign for 141st Field Ambulance who served in 1st Division on the Western Front throughout the period 1914-1918. A Field Ambulance comprised both Royal Army Medical Corps personnel and Army Service Corps men who manned a first aid post and drove horse and motor ambulances. The 1st Infantry Division sign comprised the marine signal flag for the numeral '1'. The 1st Division was selected to advance into Germany and form part of the Occupation Force at Bonn.