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Company Sergeant Major
EDWARD ALBERT KING
Royal Engineers
(formerly 75809 Sapper, Royal Engineers and
1859465 Warrant Officer Class I)  

by

Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Edward De Santis, MSCE, PE, MInstRE
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Ó 2020.  All Rights Reserved.
(Revised, August 2020)  
(Second revision, May 2022, see Addendum No. 3) 

Figure 1.  Edward Albert King (as 1859465 Sergeant E.A. King), c. 1934.
(Photograph courtesy of Mr. Chris King)  

1.  INTRODUCTION  

            Research into the military service of Edward Albert King was made difficult by the fact that more than one man and possibly as many as three different men named E.A. King, served in the Royal Engineers during the period from 1915 until at least 1947.  Connecting these men to each other, or determining whether they were one in the same is an ongoing project for the author and one that will, no doubt, eventually bring about revisions to this narrative.

            The story began in 1977 when I acquired a group of medals, purportedly belonging to 75809 Sapper E.A. King, Royal Engineers.  The medals were mounted as worn and consisted of the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal, 1939-45 Star, Africa Star, France and Germany Star, Defence Medal and War Medal.  Note that there was no Long Service and Good Conduct Medal included with the group.  This fact will take on greater importance later in this research project.

            The medal group was purchased from a reputable dealer in England and since they were mounted as worn by the individual, the dealer and I assumed that they belonged to the same man.  The assumption was that Sapper King saw service in both World Wars, but since no named medal appears in the group after the Great War, his subsequent rank was unknown.   A Lieutenant E.A. King does appear in the Royal Engineers List during the Second World War and it is this information that led the dealer and myself to the conclusion that Lieutenant E.A. King and Sapper E.A. King were the same man.  It was not until recently that I discovered in issues of The Sapper[i] that another E.A. King (or maybe the same E.A. King) served in the Royal Engineers and having enlisted in about 1920, he served until 1947 rising to the rank of Warrant Officer Class 1.  But more later concerning the connection between the E.A. Kings.  For now let us return to what we do know about the main protagonist of this story, Sapper Edward Albert King.  

Since Sapper King’s papers from the Great War were not available until just recently, the group sat unresearched for 25 years.  It was not until recently that copies of his service papers were found in the “burnt papers” at the Public Record Office at Kew, Richmond, Surrey.  And were they burned!  What the fire did not get, water did. 

Unless otherwise noted, the details supplied in this narrative were extracted from the soldier’s service papers obtained from the Public Record Office.  The papers were very difficult to decipher.  I freely admit that some of the details contained in this narrative are based on conclusions about dates and places that were reached only after hours of staring at the same illegible words and then finally convincing myself that I knew what they meant.  I am certain that there are some inaccuracies in this narrative, but since there is no way to arrive at any better results, my analysis will have to suffice.     

2.  EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY INFORMATION  

            Edward Albert King was born in February 1892 in Lambeth, London, in the area of Waterloo Station and the Imperial War Museum.  His father was William Thomas King and although a search was made of the 1881 British Census, no reference could be found to William Thomas King that would indicate where he lived or what his trade might have been.

Figure 2.  7 Fenton’s Avenue, Plaistow, West Ham, London.
(Photograph courtesy of Google Earth)  

            Prior to enlisting in the Army for service in the Great War of 1914-1918, Edward Albert King lived at 7 Fenton’s Avenue, Plaistow, West Ham, London.  West Ham is located in the east of London and Fenton’s Avenue is a small street, only one block long, located to the east of the East London Cemetery and north of Royal Victoria Dock. 

King worked as a Telephone Lineman and was employed by the General Post Office.  He probably worked in London just prior to his enlistment, but it appears that he also worked at the General Post Officer in Cambridge before the war where he was employed as a Line Telegraphist.  King was not married when the war broke out in 1914.  Although he was 22 years old in 1914, he had no prior naval or military service.  As with other men during this period who had essential civilian jobs dealing with homeland communications and transport, Kings appears to have been exempted from military service, at least for a while. 

3.  PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION  

The following is a description of Edward Albert King at the time he enlisted in the Army in 1915:

 4.  ENLISTMENT AND TRAINING  

            As the Great War neared the end of the first year, it appears that King contacted someone with a view to joining the Army in a position that would permit him to work at his civilian trade while on active service.  On the 28^th of May 1915, Colonel A.M. Ogilvie, Director of Army Signals, Home Defence wrote a letter to the Recruiting Officer for The  Essex Regiment, whose 6^th Battalion was located in West Ham.[ii]  In this letter Colonel Ogilvie wrote the following:

“I have been requested by the Officer in Charge, Royal Engineers Records, N.E.F. to send you Mr. E.A. King, a Post Office Servant, for enlistment under A.O. 296 and 341 of 1914 as a Line Telegraphist in the Royal Engineers (Regular Army) if he is eligible in all respects.

            Will you kindly send the recruit at once to the Commanding Officer, Fenny Stratford Signal Depôt, Bletchley, and forward his attestation to the same officer.

            The recruit should take this letter with him to Bletchley to show to the Commanding Officer there.”  

            King was subsequently recruited by Sergeant J.T. Healey, a Non-Commissioned Officer of the Essex Regiment who was probably serving with the 6^th Battalion.  He enlisted for General Service in the Royal Engineers on the 3^rd of June 1915 at Romford, Essex.  His enlistment was for the duration of the war.  King’s enlistment was witnessed by one Percy Weston and he attested before a Justice of the Peace for Essex.  His Attestation was certified by the Approving Officer at Fenny Stratford Signal Depot in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire.    

5.  ASSIGNMENTS AND CAMPAIGN SERVICE  

Fenny Stratford Signal Depot (1915)

            King reported for duty at Fenny Stratford Signal Depot on the 4^th of June 1915 and was given Regimental Number 75809 and the rank of Sapper in the Royal Engineers.  He was tested on the 8^th of June to determine his skills as a lineman and on that date he was issued a Certificate of Trade Proficiency at the Military Workshop under the supervision of Quartermaster Sergeant A.N. Peerless, R.E.  He was certified as a Proficient Telegraph Permanent Lineman.[iii]France (1915-1919)

            After a short period of training at Fenny Stratford Signal Depot, Sapper King was alerted for active service in France.  He proceeded to the port of embarkation[iv] on the 8^th of October 1915 and embarked for France on the following day.  King landed in France on the 10^th of October and reported to the Base Signal Depot there on the 13^th.

            Sapper King remained at the Base Signal Depot for 10 days and on the 23^rd of October 1915 he was posted to the 50^th Division Signal Company in XVII Corps, British Third Army.  Each infantry Division included a Signal Company.  The company consisted of a headquarters and four sections, numbered 1 through 4.  No. 1 section generally operated in support of the divisional headquarters while the remaining three sections supported the brigades within the division.  In 1915 the division signal company consisted of 6 Officers and 202 Non-Commissioned Officers and Other Ranks, none of whom were Telegraph Lineman.[v]  King remained with the 50^th Division Signal Company for less than a month and was posted back to the Base Signal Depot on the 19^th of November 1915.  It may be assumed that since his skills as a Telegraph Lineman could not be gainfully employed in a division signal company, it was decided to assign him to a unit where he could be more useful plying his trade.

            On the 22^nd of January 1916 Sapper King was again posted to a field unit from the Base Signal Depot.  This time he was sent to “S” Corps Signal Company in VIII Corps.  In 1916 a corps signal company consisted of only 4 Officers and 101 Non-Commissioned Officers and Other Ranks.[vi]  Once he had joined the company, Sapper King was further assigned to “SD” Cable Section where his skills as a Telegraph Lineman could be put to good use.  He assumed his new duties in the cable section on the 19^th of April 1916.

            Following a short period of leave at home near the end of 1916, during which time he got married in Essex, Sapper King returned to his duties at the front with “SD” Cable Section.  He was wounded or injured on duty on the 8^th of April 1917 and was admitted to the 2/1^st Highland Field Ambulance for treatment.  This field ambulance unit was part of the 51^st (Highland) Division[vii] which was involved in the 1^st Battle of Scarpe at the time of his injury.[viii]  His wound or injury could not have been serious, as he was returned to duty three days later while the Battle of the Scarpe was still raging.  The battle ended on the 14^th of April 1917, but there was to be virtually no rest for Sapper King and the other men in his company.  The VIII Corps was thrown immediately into the 2^nd Battle of Scarpe (23-24 April 1917), followed by the Battle of Arleux (28-29 April 1917) and the 3^rd Battle of Scarpe (3-4 May 1917).[ix] 

            During the summer of 1917 Sapper King was transferred to “TT” Cable Section in “R” Corps Signal Company, the signal company of the British XVII Corps.  By 1917 the establishment of the corps signal company had changed to 7 Officers and 170 Non-Commissioned Officers and Other Ranks, including eight Permanent Linemen.[x]

            Sapper King was injured again on the 3^rd of August 1917 while in the field.  This time his record clearly shows that he received a puncture wound to the knee from a strand of barbed wire.  He was admitted for treatment to the 52^nd Field Ambulance, a unit of the 17^th Division.[xi]  His Report on Wound (Army Form B.117) was signed by a Lieutenant, U.S.M.R.C.  According to the United States Army Register of the period, this abbreviation stands for United States Medical Reserve Corps.  It would appear that a U.S. Army doctor was working with the 52^nd Field Ambulance at the time that King received his injury.  King rejoined his unit in the field on the 9^th of August 1917.

            Sapper King remained with “TT” Cable Section of “R” Corps Signal Company until the end of the war.  In the spring of 1918 he saw action at the Battle of Bapaume (24-25 March 1918) and the Battle of Arras (28 March 1918).[xii]  The summer and autumn of 1918 brought no relief for Sapper King and his mates.  They took part in the 4^th Battle of Scarpe (26-30 August 1918), the Battle of Drocourt-Queant (2-3 September 1918) and the Battle of Canal Du Nord (27 September to 1 October 1918).  The pursuit of the retreating German Army to Mons had begun on the 28^th of September, so the men of “R” Corps Signal Company were constantly on the move.  In quick succession the company saw action at Cambrai (8-9 October 1918), the Selle (17-25 October 1918), Valenciennes (1-2 November 1918) and finally on the Sambre (4 November 1918).  The pursuit to Mons ended with the armistice on the 11^th of November 1918.[xiii]

            Sapper King was granted 14 days of leave on the 3^rd of December 1918 and he went home to the U.K.  He returned to his company in France on the 17^th of December 1918 and had to remain there until the spring of 1919 before he began processing for demobilization.  He received a medical examination in France on the 25^th of April 1919 and on the 29^th of April he was despatched to the U.K. for demobilization.  He arrived at No. 1 Dispersal Unit at Purfleet, Essex on the following day and there he was issued his Protection Certificate and Certificate of Identification.  This certificate indicated that his Pay Office was located at Chatham and that in the event of a military emergency he was to report to Chatham if and when he was called up for active service.  King’s Medical Category was listed as “A” and his Special Military Qualification was listed as Lineman.  Sapper King was transferred to the Class “Z” Army Reserve at Chatham on the 28^th of May 1919.

            For his service during the Great War, Sapper Edward Albert King received the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.[xiv]  He was issued these three medals on the following dates:[xv]

Figure 3.  The Medal Index Card of Sapper Edward Albert King, R.E.
(Image courtesy of Ancestry.com)  

Between the Wars (1920-1939)              

It appears that Edward Albert King reenlisted in the Royal Engineers in 1920 and was issued Army Number 1859465.[xvi]  There is little information available regarding King during the years from 1920 to 1929.  He advanced in rank through Lance Corporal, Corporal and Lance Sergeant until he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant on the 13^th of March 1929 on the accelerated promotion roster.[xvii]  At this point in his career he would have had a total of almost 13 years of service, including his war service.  In fact, his war service may account for his promotion on the accelerated roster.  By 1933 Sergeant King would have completed 18 years of service including his service during the Great War and would have been eligible for the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.[xviii]

Sergeant King was posted to the 24^th (Fortress) Company, Royal Engineers on the island of Malta in about 1931.  The 24^th Company was stationed at St. Francis Barracks in Floriana on the “Island of Bells, Yells and Smells” as it was referred to by the British soldier at that time.[xix]  The officer commanding the company when Sergeant King arrived on Malta was Major H.G. Mac George, R.E.  Major Mac George was promoted and transferred out of the company late in 1932.  The O.C.’s position remained vacant until April of 1933 when Major H.T. Genet, M.C., R.E. assumed command.[xx]  

Figure 4.  Sergeant E.A. King (seated, second right).
(Photograph courtesy of Mr. Chris King)  

Sergeant King was promoted to the rank of Company Quartermaster Sergeant on the 2^nd of January 1935 while serving with the 24^th Company.[xxi]  This promotion was very quickly followed by another to Warrant Officer Class II (Company Sergeant Major) on the 22^nd of February 1935.[xxii]  At this point in his career, King had over 20 years of service.

His last promotion brought with it reassignment and he and his family returned to England where he was assigned as the Company Sergeant Major of the 38^th Field Company.  The 38^th Field Company was part of the Aldershot Command.  Specifically, it was part of the 2^nd Division in the Northern Aldershot District and was stationed at Marlborough Lines.  The Officer Commanding the company at the time was Major C.C.S. White, M.B.E., R.E.[xxiii]

It appears that Company Sergeant Major King may have been discharged from the Army prior to the Second World War or he may have been granted permission to serve beyond 21 years.  No data has been uncovered to determine how his career progressed between 1935 and 1939.

World War II (1939-1945)

The Royal Engineers List for 1943 lists a 2^nd Lieutenant E.A. King receiving a Regular Army Emergency Commission (General List) on the 24^th of December 1942.  If this is the same Edward Albert King who served in the Great War as a Sapper, he would have been 50 years old when commissioned and would have been serving for 27 years.  He would have been too old to serve in a front line unit, so he was probably a Quartermaster in a rear echelon outfit.  King was promoted to Lieutenant on the 24^th of June 1943 and apparently served for the duration of the war.  For his service during the Second World War, E.A. King was awarded the 1939-45 Star, Africa Star, France and Germany Star, Defence Medal and War Medal.[xxiv]

Figure 5.  The Medals of Lieutenant Edward Albert King, R.E.
(Photograph from the authors collection)  

Post War Service (1945-1947)
            The Sapper magazine for July 1947 lists a Warrant Officer Class I (Regimental Sergeant Major) E.A. King as serving on the Permanent Staff of 126 Army Engineer Regiment, R.E. (T.A.).  This regiment had its drill hall on Strathmore Avenue in Dundee, Scotland at that time.  The question now is whether this is the same E.A. King who served in the Great War as a Sapper and in World War 2 as a Lieutenant.  If it is, then he would have been 55 years of age in 1947 and would have been serving continuously (or almost continuously) for 32 years.  It would also mean that after the war he relinquished his Regular Army Emergency Commission and reverted to the rank of Warrant Officer Class I.[xxv]  He then continued to serve with the Territorial Army until his discharge at some date not discovered during the course of this research.

6.  PROMOTIONS AND CONDUCT  

a.      Promotions:  Edward Albert King received the promotions shown in the table below during his time in service.  This table provides data that assumes that the E.A. Kings uncovered in the Public Record Office, in issues of The Sapper, and in the Royal Engineers List of 1943 are the same individual.

 b.  Conduct:  Edward Albert King did not receive any Good Conduct Badges during his time in service during the Great War.  As a Sapper during the Great War his name appeared only once in the company defaulters’ book.  Sapper King was absent from his billet on the 7^th of July 1918 and was reported to his company commander by a Lance Corporal Fielder of the Military Field Police and a Gunner Desbrow of the Royal Garrison Artillery.[xxvi]  He was punished for this offence on the 10^th of July 1918, but his punishment consisted only of an admonishment.  If he continued on in service after the Great War, as has been assumed, he would certainly have been eligible for the award of Good Conduct Badges.  He would also have been entitled to the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal after 18 years of service.

7.      EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS  

a.  Education:  No evidence has been uncovered to indicate that Edward Albert King earned any Certificates of Education during his time in service.  If he served to be a senior Non-Commissioned Officer, it is almost certain that he did earn Certificates of Education, although no direct evidence has been found to prove this assumption.

b.   Qualifications: Sapper King earned the following qualifications during his time in service between 1915 and 1919. 

No information has been uncovered regarding other qualification he may have earned during subsequent periods of service.

8.  MEDICAL INFORMATION  

The following medical information was taken from Edward Albert King’s service records during his time in service between 1915 and 1919:

No medical information is available during subsequent periods of service.  

9.  MARRIAGE AND PERSONAL INFORMATION  

            Sapper King’s service papers contain an entry pertaining to his marriage, but this entry is in a section of the documents that is very badly faded.  He married Emma Kellsall at St. Barnabas Church in Woodford, Essex, apparently while he was home on leave from France.  The date of their marriage appears to be the 12^th of October 1916, although this date is uncertain due to the difficulty involved in reading the entry.

Figure  6.  St. Barnabas Church, Woodford, Essex.
(Photograph courtesy of Googe Earth).  

            Sergeant King was stationed on Malta with the 24^th (Fortress) Company, R.E. after the Great War.  His wife accompanied him on this tour of duty.  “Station News” in the February 1931 issue of The Sapper announced that the company had held a fancy dress ball on New Year’s Eve of 1930.  Mrs. King is noted as winning 3^rd Prize for her costume as a “Radio Fan.”[xxviii]  It is left up to the reader’s imagination to visualize what the costume of a “Radio Fan” might have looked like.  One would have had to have been there in that place and that time to know what her costume was supposed to depict.

            Mrs. King is mentioned again in the March 1933 issue of The Sapper.  “Station News announced that a child was born to Sergeant and Mrs. King on Malta.  Since the magazines were published from two to three months after the events mentioned in “Station New,” it is probable that the baby was born in December of 1932 or in January of 1933.  Sergeant King would have been 41 years old at the time.  His wife may have been in her mid- to late thirties.[xxix] 

10.  DISCHARGE  

            Sapper Edward Albert King was transferred to the Class “Z” Army Reserve at Chatham on the 28^th of May 1919 on demobilization following the Great War of 1914-1918.  His total service during the Great War was reckoned as shown in the tables below:

         If he reenlisted in 1920, as is assumed, then his subsequent service took him until at least 1947 based on entries found in The Sapper.  The following table would summarize this subsequent service as best as can be determined from available information.

         From these tables we see that King served approximately 17 years at home and 15 years abroad.

11.  POST SERVICE LIFE  

            No information has been uncovered regarding the life of Edward Albert King after leaving the Army.

12. EPILOGUE

            No next of kin for Edward Albert King has been located; therefore, the service records of the E.A. King who was the Warrant Officer Class I and the E.A. King who was the Lieutenant during World War 2 are still unavailable to the author.  An inquiry has been made to the Ministry of Defence requesting only the given names of the WOI and the Lieutenant.[xxx]  It is hoped that if the Ministry will provide this information, some of the mystery as to the identity of the man or men will be solved.

ADDENDUM NO. 1  

            In 1915 the Signal Service Training Centre (SSTC) was created in Bedfordshire as the result of an amalgamation of the Signal Depot at Aldershot and the Reserve Signal Companies.  The Signal Service Training Centre was originally headquartered in Ridgemont, but later it was moved to Bedford.  The Centre had a number of Depots commanded by Lieutenant Colonels in the Territorial Force.  These Depots were located at Houghton Regis (near Dunstable), Fenny Stratford,(*) Haynes Park, Stevenage and Baldock.  The purpose of the Centre was to provide technical training for officers and to recruit and train other ranks.  It also had the mission of forming and training non-divisional signal units.  Divisional signal companies carried out all their training with their respective divisions.  The London District Signal Companies were absorbed into the Signal Service Training Centre and its members were then drafted overseas as required.

(*) The Depot to which Sapper King was assigned.

ADDENDUM NO. 2

            Eighteen years have gone by since this story of Edward Albert King’s life and military service was first written.  Very little, if any, progress has been made to determine definitively whether the Sapper King who served in the Great War of 1914 to 1918 is in fact the same Lieutenant King who served in World War 2; hence, the validity of the medal group shown in Figure 5 is still questionable.  There were a number of men by the name of Edward Albert King who served in the Royal Engineers between 1915 and 1947.  The following are known to me:

• 75809 Sapper Edward Albert King whose Great War medals are in my collection.  His regimental number and full name have been verified by his service records and Medal Index Card.  He was demobilized after the war.

• 1859465 Warrant Officer Class 2 Edward Albert King.  Here is where my first set of assumption comes in.  Editions of The Sapper magazine from the 1920s and 1930s mention frequently by name and number.  His Army Number is in the series of numbers issued to men of the Royal Engineers who enlisted in 1920.  His name is always published as E.A. King, never giving his full name.  When writing the narrative about E.A. King I have made two assumptions: 1) that 75809 Sapper Edward Albert King reenlisted after being demobilized following the Great War and 2) 1859465 W.O.2 is the same Edward Albert King who served in the Great War.

•  As indicated in the narrative, The Royal Engineers List for 1943 lists a 2^nd Lieutenant E.A. King receiving a Regular Army Emergency Commission on the 24^th of December 1942.  It was not unusual for Warrant Officers to receive such a commission to serve in World War 2.  Again, I have assumed that Lieutenant E.A. King is Edward Albert King.  This assumption may have been prompted by my desire to explain the group of World War 2 medals mounted “as worn” on the same bar as the Great War trio of 75809 Sapper Edward Albert King.

• Lastly I have received information pertaining to 1445269 Warrant Officer Class 1 Edward Albert King (1906-1991) who also served in the Royal Engineers.  This information was provided to me by Mr. Fred Evans, the grandson of WO1 King.  Fred also supplied a copy of a photograph of his grandfather, which is shown below.  The photograph clearly shows medals earned during World War 2 but none showing service in the Great War.  Obviously, being born in 1901 he would have been too young to have been sent to France in 1915.  Therefore, Fred’s grandfather can be eliminated as being one of the Edward Albert Kings in question.

Figure 7.  1445269 Warrant Officer Class 1 Edward Albert King, R.E.
(Photograph courtesy of Mr. Fred Evans)  

            The photograph above also gives rise to another question.  WO1 King’s medal group contains a Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.  The medal group of my Edward Albert King does not contain that medal.  If the E.A. King who served in the Great War was the same E.A. King (1859465) who served for many years after the war, then he would have earned a Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.  So why is that medal not in the medal group in Figure 5?  In July of 2019 I learned from a Mr. Chris King that his cousin was in possession of a Long Service and Good Conduct Medal awarded to 1859465 SJT. E.KING. R.E.  The man who has the medal believes it to have been issued to his grandfather, Edward Tournay King (1898-1965) who also served in the Royal Engineers.  Because the British government was so lax in naming medals, especially those issued to men who were not officers, one usually has only the first initial to help identify the individual.  In this case Chris King’s cousin has assumed that 1859465 Sergeant E. King is Edward Tournay King and that he is the same Sergeant shown in Figure 1 and Figure 4.  Without the middle initial of the man it is a simple matter to make this assumption.  In addition, King is a fairly common British surname, thus making the problem more difficult.   However, the numerous mentions in The Sapper magazine of the Non-Commissioned Officer with that number being E.A. King are indisputable.  The question is: how did a medal awarded to Edward Albert King get mixed into a group of medals awarded to Edward Tournay King?  That is a question that probably never will be answered definitively.  Some medal collectors and dealers are notorious for splitting up groups of medals.  Family members are often guilty of doing the same thing.  The fact that only a first initial and surname are included on most “Other Ranks” medals makes it very easy to swap medals around or make erroneous assumptions as to whom the medal actually was issued.  I may be guilty of making such an erroneous assumption in this case. 

            If my Edward Albert King had reenlisted in the Royal Engineers in 1920 he would have been eligible to receive the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (George VI) in 1938 and would have actually received the medal shortly thereafter.  Unless he never received the medal or unless it had been lost, it should have been mounted on his medal bar as the last medal in the group just as it is shown in the photograph of 1445269 Warrant Officer Class 1 Edward Albert King.  Why it is missing or why it got mixed in with the group of another man will never be known.  Perhaps Lieutenant King received it long after he had his medals mounted and simply decided not to mount the LS&GC Medal as well.

            My conclusion is that the medal group shown in Figure 5 did belong to one man.  The first three certainly belonged to a Sapper named Edward Albert King.  The remaining five also were his for service in World War 2.  Was he ever commissioned a 2^nd Lieutenant?  I don’t know and I don’t know why his LS&GC medal is not mounted with the group. 

ADDENDUM NO. 3

            In 2022 I obtained the Royal Engineers Tracer Cards for 1859465 Company Sergeant Major E. King, Royal Engineers.  Based on the information contained on the cards it appears that my assumption above that 75809 Sapper Edward Albert King reenlisted after being demobilized following the Great War, and that 1859465 W.O.2 is the same Edward Albert King who served in the Great War, is in error.  The tracer cards show that 1859465 W.O. 2 E. King had served in The Buffs (East Kent Regiment) during the Great War and that he enlisted in the Royal Engineers in 1919 and served until 1939.  The following information was obtained from the tracer cards:

ENLISTMENT AND DISCHARGE

Enlistment:     31 December 1919.  Formerly Buffs (E.K. Regt., Demob. 13 December 1919)

Period of Engagement:  12 years with the Colours

Corps Trade:  Sapper (Electrician, Proficient)

Registration Office:  Hants

Parliamentary Constituency:  Fareham Division

Discharge: 10 October 1939 in accordance with Para. 383 (XVII) King’ Regulations 1935

PROMOTIONS

            The table below modifies and adds to the table previously shown in Section 6 of the narrative, based on the information obtained from the Royal Engineers Tracer Cards

NOTE:  King was not commissioned a Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers.

POSTINGS

Unit                                                                             Date of Posting

“A” Company, 1^st Reserve Battalion, R.E.:                27 March 1920

“G” Company, 1^st Reserve Battalion, R.E.:                11 August 1920

General Headquarters Dublin:                                    22 December 1920

38^th Field Company, Kilworth, Ireland:                     2 June 1920

33^rd (Fortress) Company, Cork, Ireland:                     11 August 1922

4^th (Fortress) Company, Gosport:                               26 January 1923

“L” Depot Company, R.E. (Chatham):                      13 November 1925

24^th (Fortress) Company, Malta:                                 11 April 1930

38^th Field Company, Aldershot:                                 17 March 1935

Antrim (Fortress) Engineers, T.A.:                             1 April 1937

Discharged:                                                               10 October 1939

            The tracer cards point out some valuable pieces of information and these are:

1. 75809 Sapper Edward A. King whose Great War medals I have, verified by his Medal Index Card, is not 1859465 Company Sergeant Major E. King who enlisted in the Royal Engineers following the Great War.
2. Although 75809 Sapper E.A. King’s Great War medals were purchased “as worn” with World War 2 medals on the bar, the World War 2 medals have not been verified as belonging to him.  The R.E. Tracer Cards indicate that the WW2 medals could not have been awarded to 1859465 CSM E. King as he was discharged in October of 1939 shortly after the war started.

REFERENCES

Books

1. MINISTRY OF PENSIONS.  Location of Hospitals and Casualty Clearing Stations, British Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919.  Imperial War Museum, London, undated.  Original document dated Westminster, London, 13 July 1923.  

2. PRIESTLEY, R.E.  The Signal Service in the European War of 1914 to 1918 (France).  The Institution of Royal Engineers and the Signals Association, Chatham, 1921.  

Documents  

The service papers of 75809 Sapper Edward Albert King, R.E., consisting of the following documents:  

a.       Short Service Attestation (Army Form B.2505).

b.      Descriptive Report on Enlistment.

c.       Medical History.

d.      Letter from Director of Army Signals, Home Defence to Recruiting Officer, Essex, dated 28 May 1915.

e.       Statement of Services.

f.       Casualty Form – Active Service (Army Form B.103).

g.      Statement as to Disability (Army Form Z.22).

h.      Company Conduct Sheet.

i.        Certificate of Qualification as a Skilled Telegraphist (Permanent Lineman).

j.        Certificate of Trade Proficiency.

k.      Report on Wounds (Army Form B.117).

l.        Trade and Special Qualifications.

m.    Protection Certificate and Certificate of Identity.

n.      Medal Index Card.

o.      Issue Receipt for 1914-15 Star.

p.      Issue Receipt for British War Medal.

q.      Issue Receipt for Victory Medal.  

Internet Web Sites  

1. BAKER, c.  The British Army in the Great War.  Leamington Spa, 2002.

www.1914-1918.net  

2. COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION.  Debt of Honour Register.

www.cwgc.org.uk

Periodicals  

1. Monthly Army List, February 1915.  

2. The Royal Engineers Journal. Battle Honours of the Royal Engineers The Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, Kent, 1925-1932.  

3. The Royal Engineers List, April 1933.  

4. The Royal Engineers List, April 1935.  

5. The Royal Engineers List, 1943.  

6. The Sapper, May 1929.  

7. The Sapper, April 1935.  

8. The Sapper, May 1935.  

9. The Sapper, July 1947.  

ENDNOTES