Anyone know why the Foot Guards Service Records are held at a different location from the rest of the British Army? No real reason for asking except curiousity that most are held in Glasgow and the Guards are at Wellington Barracks in London. Cheers Andy
The Wooden Tops (Guards) of the Household Brigade have slightly different organization, traditions and rules to the rest of the Army and the Guards 'Mafia' is still a power to be reckoned with.
My dear man, they are the Guards. This also includes WW1 service records etc Those WW1 records that survive for other regiments were passed over to National Archives... and are available to copy in the usual way by anyone who cares to visit ... some also up online through genealogy sites. Not the case with Guards WW1 records, which also cost £30 a pop. At least they should all be there though, not having suffered like others from damage/destruction during Blitz.
Address for applications: The Regimental Archivist, H.Q. *** Guards, Wellington Barracks, Birdcage Walk, London, SW1E 6HQ ***Insert relevant regiment - Grenadier/Coldstream/Scots/Irish/Welsh If Regimental number is unknown, an initial enquiry quoting Full name, DOB, Place of birth/residence, or rough dates for joining up/service would be advisable. (Especially in cases of the more common surname/first name combinations.) Guards follow same MOD procedures, so Next of Kin consent form is required if application is by any one else. £30 fee also applicable.
The short answer is that they must receive a budget for it which rather confirms Jedburgh's comment. Why have no Guards regiments been amalgamated ? How can they still afford bands ?
The Wooden Tops (Guards) of the Household Brigade have slightly different organization, traditions and rules to the rest of the Army and the Guards 'Mafia' is still a power to be reckoned with. Wooden tops I used to have a boss who was ex Grenadiers and we used to take great delight in winding him up, one day we cut out a newspaper pic from Trooping the colour, that showed a Guardsman who had feinted and put it on his desk.....waiting for the roar when he walked in his office, well he did react but only to point out that the Wooden top in question was a Colstreamer and obviously not up to the standards of the Grenadiers
I just spent a very enjoyable afteroon at Wellington Barracks yesterday. The regiments libraries are truly amazing... sad thing is that they are not an archives. So many people send in items for their 'collection'; which technically doesnt exist, that it just gets boxed and put into the cellars.... or else junked for lack of space. Musuems and propper archives are the way forward, but i shudder to think how much is lost in the way of photographs/memoirs. As to the grenadiers... i can only quote an officer of the 2nd bn. "the men seem to get on well with the [captured] enemy, exchanging cigarrets and the like. As for the Grenadiers... well no one likes the Grenadiers."
Actually I heard that Grenadier and Coldstream Guards could be billeted together with relative peace, even the Jocks and the Micks ... but no one wanted the Taffs
Actually I heard that Grenadier and Coldstream Guards could be billeted together with relative peace, even the Jocks and the Micks ... but no one wanted the Taffs :p
The short answer is that they must receive a budget for it which rather confirms Jedburgh's comment. Rich I know that the number of 'clerical' jobs at WB has been subject to cuts just as any other part of MOD. Less are expected to do more. Can't really see them having a separate budget for archiving their own service records, but they are expected to keep them properly, and might even be subject to outside inspection. The Regimental Archivists are volunteer helpers, usually ex-Guards, so gives you an idea of the basis upon which it's run.
The Guards have had some interesting characters including 'The Great Sloth' - David Stirling and his Brother Bill who were founders of 1 and 2 SAS, the late lamented Guards Independent Parachute Company which became the basis of G Sqn 22 SAS, also many Guardees went to the Commandos and the LRDG as well as SOE. I was very priveleged to attend the launch of the book about the Guards titled Excellence in Action - A Portrait of the Guards a couple of years ago. THIRD MILLENNIUM E-BOOKSTORE Each serving member of the Brigade was given a copy
My old boss who I mentioned in my earlier post was in the Guard independant Para as was one of the drivers at the depot I worked at............... both were Grens and we also had another ex Gren who was in the same time as my boss and they had seved in Cyprus together back in the late 50'S - 60's.
