Muster rolls? 7th Batallion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

Discussion in 'British Army Units - Others' started by Incredibledisc, Apr 5, 2016.

  1. Incredibledisc

    Incredibledisc Well-Known Member

    Is it possible to obtain muster rolls for army units? I'm trying to piece together my great grandfather's time with the BEF in France. He was in the 7th Batallion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.

    Thanks to Drew I have the war diary covering 1940 but this only lists officers. According to his service records he was in 'A' Company, no. 6 Platoon but I don't know if this would still be the case after they embarked for France. I think it also says he was in "adm pl" (admin platoon?). He was a pre-war territorial (joined in 1936) so I'm not sure if this record refers to his assignment prior to going overseas. Pinning down what company he was in would help a lot in tracing his movements. His POW diary says he was captured at Franleu which is where 'A' Company was June 5th but the mention of "adm pl" makes me wonder if he was in the HQ Company which was also based at Franleu (with 'A' Company being sent to reinforce the area).

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    I believe there is another war diary for the unit at Kew ( WO 166/4118) which covers Sept - Dec 1939 and part of 1940. Is it possible more detailed records might be contained within it? I know the 1940 diary was compiled under more difficult circumstances and at least parts of it were destroyed and rewritten later.

    Cheers.
     
  2. Incredibledisc

    Incredibledisc Well-Known Member

    Just found this on another forum:

    "Early war 1-6 platoons, in order, were; signals, AA, mortar, carrier, pioneer and admin. 7-18 were the 4 rifle companies, same as late war." so that would support what his service record lists.
     
  3. Incredibledisc

    Incredibledisc Well-Known Member

    Is it nominal rolls rather than muster rolls that I'm looking for? Surely there must be an archive somewhere with this material?
     
  4. redtop

    redtop Well-Known Member

    At Company level nominal rolls would be forever changing virtually by the day with postings in/out sickness, leave ,promotions and at worst KIA.
    Coy clerks would work with these for rations, stores etc. And after info passed up line they would most likely be disposed of .
    The most comprehensive roll kept by Battalions might be the Paymasters/Quartermasters this might be an area to explore but how and where I have no idea.
     
  5. Incredibledisc

    Incredibledisc Well-Known Member

    Thanks Redtop. I think there's an irony here that if the old fella was in the admin platoon he might well have been responsible for some of that! I noticed that pay records were being used as a starting point in some of the "missing men" files which I got hold of recently. Wonder where such info is today?
     

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