Can you provide the rest of the page or the persons name and details that this belongs to so that members can obtain a sense of abbreviation, at the moment it may be something to do with the Pioneer's It could also relate to Romanian Peoples Republic, or the Railway Pioneer Regiment etc etc - expanding on the persons details would help TD
Hello Santafranca, I think this may be referring to the Royal Pioneer Corps. Hopefully other forum members will be able to provide a more certain/definite answer for you. Kind regards, always, Jim. P.S. EDIT: TD types (and thinks!) much faster than me.
It was a member of my family who lived in London. I believe he joined the territorial army but have no date for that. In 1940 he joined the Welsh Guards - 2nd Battalion. In 1943 he was transferred to the 3rd Battalion where he served as a carrier driver in Tunisia and Italy
The National Archives give no warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or fitness for the purpose of the information provided. Images may be used only for purposes of research, private study or education. Applications for any other use should be made to The National Archives Image Library, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU, Tel: 020 8392 5225. Fax: 020 8392 5266. I guess one option may be to contact Kew and ask if there is a list of abbreviations used, perhaps at the front or rear of any of the files that might help explain. TD
Just a few thoughts, as the "Corp" is not Corps, may that refer to a rank, Corporal? The possibilities for the abbreviated letters are numerous 1. Regional, Royal, River or any district of London beginning with "R". 2. P or D? Patrol, Pioneer, District, Divisonal, Director, Docks. 3. Regiment, Region, Rescue, Raid. It maybe a Civil Defence voluntary unit local to London. I'm passing the buck, again, but try the Imperial War Museum or the Civil Defence Association – UK Civil Defence – Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. A link to the register page will help forum members with some context, his age, occupation and address and looking for others in the same unit locally might help and may not be abbreviated.
I was wondering if Civil Defence, they had RP/R which is repair part roads - this is just another random thought to throw in with the others so far
Many of the entries in this column refer to AFS (Auxiliary Fire Service) or ARP (Air Raid Precautions) followed by the name of a local authority. Part of the ARP organisation was the Repair Party/Road (see Blog Archives. So possibly this entry refers to “Repair Party/Road, Corporation of London”. This picture from the Imperial War Museum shows men wearing RP/R helmets. p.s Too slow! AB64 beat me.
Just searching a little deeper and to broaden our knowledge from a link above WW2 Civil Defence Repair Services Helmet Markings Generally all the following helmets were black with lettering in white. The white RP with black band was a Repair Party Leader. Repair Party / Roads - RP/R Repair Party / Water - RP/W Repair Party / Electricity - RP/E Repair Party / Gas - RP/G Repair Party / Telephones - RP/T Repair Party / Sewage - RP / S Repair Party - RP (often a white helmet with a black band) TD
Yes indeed - thankyou all so much - I think you do have it - His occupation before the War - and after the War was an asphalter - so road repair would have been right up his street