Personnel > Royal Navy

Service Record - Edwin Rupert John Shipman

(1/2) > >>

SaltireGold:
I am new to this forum so please bear with me.

I am trying to write up my uncle Edwin Rupert John Shipman’s naval service for our family history. His eldest daughter who does not have a computer or access to the internet has provided me with a copy of her fathers Certificate of the Service where it lists his Official Number as JX.247404 Port Division - Portsmouth.

There are quite a few things I am struggling with and wondered if anyone can help me please.

1. I have tried to find my uncle’s service record on various sites but  not been able to find an online copy of it, is there some restriction on dates or am I looking in wrong place?
2. Is there anyway I can get more information on what my uncle was doing when in Egypt at these various shore bases and on the LCI HMS Glengyle?
3. There are some abbreviations which I do not understand under Swimming qualifications (NRIC YRJM 132836)???
4. Under medals and clasps “S1073 Serial No 311875 issued” does that mean he received a medal or clasp?
5. Next to the last date 24 Jan 1946 in the column Cause of Discharge….is stamped [Released in Class “A”], what does this mean?
6.  Under “Wounds received section is WS1 3 and WS1 4, what does this mean?

What I have been able to ascertain so far is as follows:

He was posted at a number of shore bases, I have listed them in the spreadsheet below/attached:
Starting at HMS Ganges training and by the dates I would assume that he was one of the first waves of "Hostilities Only New Entry Training”.
Then after a few weeks posting at HMS Victory, Portsmouth he was posted to HMS Stag (Division K) Egypt and various other posting between Mar 1941- Jul 1943.
Then he was posted to HMS Claverhouse (BV42), Inchkeith, Firth of Forth, Scotland, one of three boom defence vessels safeguarding the Firth of Forth. On 22 Dec 1943, BV.42 was lost to an internal explosion at Leith, the following day my uncle was posted to HMS Claverhouse (BV.18) until Jul 1945 before returning to HMS Victory and then spending two months at HMS Northney III on Hayling Island(I believe this was used by the Combined Operations Pilotage Parties (COPP) before returning to HMS Victory to be discharged.

Any help with above questions and any detail particularly around the time he spent in Egypt and Northney III is welcome.

PhiloNauticus:

In response to your first point - service records are not on line, so searching will not find them.   They have to be requested from MoD, as detailed elsewhere on this site, by a relative.   This has evidently been done by his daughter.

PhiloNauticus:
Question – although you give his rating, what was his trade or specialisation?  It would be indicated on his service record – that will help with what he was doing

Q2 – difficult to say without knowing what he was trained for !

Glengyle, for example, was a landing ship, and her wartime career is well documented on the internet, but he was only onboard for a very brief period, when she was at Suez
HMS Stag (Division K) – Stag was the name of the shore establishment in Egypt, with various outposts – I believe the K indicated Kabrit.  This became HMS Saunders.   See: 

https://www.combinedops.com/Training%20Signals%20HMS%20Saunders.htm

https://www.combinedops.com/Training%20CTC%20Middle%20East.htm

Q4 – I think it is S1075 ?  I think that was the medal form, listing the medals he was entitled to.  He would probably have received the campaign medals – 1939-45 Star ; Africa Star; 1939 – 45 War Medal.

Q5 - Class A release meant that he was discharged, but was still subject to recall in an emergency

Q6 – WSI – not a wound, but in this case pay.  It will be WSI = War Service Increment – not WS1.  From 1945 naval personnel were entitled to extra pay for having served for 3 years or more during the conflict.    In this case, I would suggest that WSI 3 it indicated he was shown getting extra for 3 years, and then WSI 4 for 4 years. 

SaltireGold:
Many thanks for your very informative feedback. To assist I have uploaded my uncle's Service Record to help unpin and clarify some of my questions and your response to some of those.

My uncle was a plasterer by trade before he signed on, I am hoping that some of the abreviations in the SR will assist someone in providing a little more colour around what his role was in the navy and especially when he was in Egypt.

SaltireGold:
My previous reply had four attachments but I could only see the last one when my reply was posted on the message board, this post contains the other three pages of my uncle's service record.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page