38154 Major Geoffrey Harry PICKARD, MBE, RA: Service Records

Hello all,
I recently received the service records for Major Pickard, who eventually served as CO of the 54th Super Heavy Regiment (my grandfather's regiment) from December 1944. He also served as BC of 229th Battery of the 58th Medium Regiment within 1944.
If possible (as I don't have the time due to personal commitments) could someone 'transcribe his records (attached) for me, picking out the 'important' bits, or create a document with all the text within the records.
I am hoping to use this in my report on the 54th Super Heavy Regiment.

Please direct message me or reply with any questions - I am happy to compensate people for their time.

Many thanks,
Tom.

 

I am no Royal Artillery expert by any means, but here is my interpretation, others should feel free to correct me and chip in:-

Royal Artillery Attestation (from separate source)
7/3/1903 DOB Hornsey London
7/4/1927 Attested @ Bristol, service number 774438 for 4 years, Occupation Surveyor
5/7/1927 Commissioned

From Service record
19/1/1922 Trooper Inns of Court Squadron, London
7/4/1927 Gunner 66th Field Bde, Bristol
5/7/1927 2/Lt 66th Field Bde, Bristol
5/7/1930 Promoted to Lt 66th Field Bde, Bristol
30/6/1934 To Reserve of officers, Reading
1/11/1936 To Captain, Bristol
1/11/1936 Posted to 211th Medium Battery, London
1/4/1939 Posted to 209th Battery on reorganisation, London
23/5/1939 Posted to 2/53rd (London) Medium Regt RA (64th Medium Regt RA)
2/1/1940 Posted to 70th Medium Regt RA, Hemel Hempstead
2/1/1940 Appointed 2nd in Command 70th Medium Regt, Hemel Hempstead
15/4/1940 Attached GHQ (? 1st Corps) BEF, Genech France
1/5/1939 Substantive Major
14/10/1942 Appointed GSO2 (General Staff Officer Grade 2) CBO (Counter Battery Officer) No 2 Army Group, relinquished appointment of 2nd in Command 70th Medium Regt
Embarked UK
5/2/1943 Disembarked NA (North Africa)
5/3/1943 Relinquished appt as CBO HQ 2 Army Group, Posted to CBO RA 9 Corps
22/5/1943 Posted to No2 CBO staff, NA
26/7/1943 Posted to No 1 CBO staff, NA
22/9/1944 Posted to x(4) list CMF (Central Mediterranean Force)
26/10/1944 Posted to 58 Medium Regt & SO (Stuck off) x(4) list, CMF
17/12/1944 Posted to 54 Heavy Regt, CMF
17/12/1944 Appointed CO 54 Heavy Regt & granted Paid/Acting/Lt Col
21/12/1944 Entitled to command pay at 10/-
26/7/1943 Relinquished appt CBO CBOs staff 2 Corps & appt CBO CBOs staff 5 Corps, CMF
17/3/1945 To be Temp Lt Col, CMF
23/9/1944 ? appt CBO CBOs staff 5 Corps, CMF
23/7/1945 Posted to x8 (R) list, CMF
2/8/1945 Entrained for UK & SOS CMF

 

Excellent work thank you. I had a look at the service record just now and I still struggle to read some of the text, even with your transcription! I need to improve on my reading of old handwriting, seems it will be useful for most WW2 related research...

 

Tell me about it Tom, sometimes I have no idea what the (old) handwriting says. I have a wide range of military interest, and it's a nice change, sometimes, to read the more modern printed service records.

John.

 

London Gazette : 16 June 1939
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/34636/page/4044/data.pdf
Capt. G. H. Pickard, from R.A., to be Maj. 1st May 1939.

London Gazette : 21 December 1944
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/36850/supplement/5847/data.pdf
The KING has been graciously pleased to give orders for the following promotions in, and appoint- ments to, the Most Excellent Order of the British' Empire, in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in Italy:—
To be Additional Members of the Military Division nf the said Most Excellent Order:—
Major Geoffrey Harry Pickard (38154), Royal Regiment of Artillery (London, N.10).

London Gazette : 12 April 1945
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/37027/supplement/1947/data.pdf
The KING' has been graciously pleased to confer " The Efficiency Decoration " upon the following officers of the Territorial Army:—
Royal Artillery.
Major G. H. Pickard (38154)


Recommendation for Award for Pickard, Geoffrey Harry Rank: Major Service No:... | The National Archives
Reference: WO 373/72/304
Name Pickard, Geoffrey Harry
Rank: Major
Service No: 38154
Regiment: Royal Regiment of Artillery
Theatre of Combat or Operation: Italy
Award: Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
Date of announcement in London Gazette: 21 December 1944

 

I am seeing a lot of references to the London Gazette, is this a newspaper and why did it report so heavily on military affairs?

 

Best way to describe it :-
London Gazettes | The National Archives
The London Gazette - Wikipedia
The Gazette | Official Public Record

 

Following on from Tony's links, just to say that in general the LG is helpful for tracking some info about Officers esp in the absence of service records (date of commission/transfers between regiments or corps/promotion/appointments/retirement, confirmation of personal number), as well as for all awards or honours for personnel in forces.
TNA's WO 373 Series has recommendations archived under LG date/order and each individual catalogued result will give LG date, eg from my last post:

If you are interested in trying it out yourself for your research:
Searching LG, however you go about it, is a bit hit & miss, thanks mostly to the way the text has been digitised. (Many of us who routinely resort to searching LG will be familiar with extra spacing appearing between letters & numbers, non-existent punctuation being introduced because of marks on pages, poor recognition/transcription of characters, variations of unit abbreviations, etc., which will stymie any searches using quotes "".)
However, I often just google terms: London Gazette while quoting "" separately, any combo of number, surname, initials & surname, full name, surname with first relevant award (eg DSO) , with sometimes unit / unit abbreviations. So, the LG search results I've posted throughout the forum won't necessarily be the full picture.


Tagged threads: london gazette | WW2Talk