James Francis Kerr had six living sons at the start of the
war. As a local cab proprietor operating a horse drawn and mechanical taxi
service the business employed men well
versed with horses and or mechanical forms of transport. When World War I
loomed, James found he had men with the skills needed by the war effort. One by
one 5 of his sons enlisted and more than likely other staff went as well.
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| Army Services Corp badge |
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| 1915 recruiting poster |
The
wartime enlistees had a choice over the regiment they joined. At least three sons chose to join the part of
the Army so vital to enabling the war effort - the ASC. The Army Service Corps or
as it later became known in 1918 the Royal Army Service Corps.
The Long,
Long Trail website describes the situation faced by the army...
“Soldiers
can not fight without food, equipment and ammunition. In the Great War, the
vast majority of this tonnage, supplying a vast army on many fronts, was
supplied from Britain. Using horsed and motor vehicles, railways and waterways,
the ASC performed prodigious feats of logistics and were one of the great
strengths of organisation by which the war was won.”
“At peak,
the ASC numbered an incredible 10,547 officers and 315,334 men. In addition
were tens of thousands of Indian, Egyptian, Chinese and other native labourers,
carriers and stores men, under orders of the ASC.”
The ASC
was organised into Companies, each fulfilling a specific role. Some were under
orders of or attached to the Divisions of the army; the rest were under direct
orders of the higher formations of Corps, Army or the GHQ of the army in each
theatre of war.
- Base Depots
- Horse Transport Companies
- Mechanical Traqnsport Companies
- The Army Remounts Service (Companies involved in the provision of horses)
- The ASC Labour Companies
Men of
the Army Service Corps are most difficult to research due to the structure of
the organisation and the location of assistance etc. Records contain minimal
information and I suspect the records of all these Kerr men (possibly stored
together) are in the “burnt collection” a victim of the London Blitz in WW2. Medal
records are slowly surfacing which contain the vital information that some were
indeed in the ASC. This is coupled by the fact that there is no memorial to the
Army Service Corps.
These are
the stories of 4 of James’ sons who joined Great Britain’s war effort.
James
Cross Kerr 1876-1937
Francis Robertson Kerr 1886 -1954
John Kerr
1889-
Thomas
Neilson Kerr 1895-1954
Andrew
Yuill Kerr’s story will be in a later blog and David Montgomery Kerr’s
contribution is listed at the end of this blog.
James Cross Kerr was my great grandfather. James
had a different mother to the other boys being the first born and son of James
Kerr and Jessie Cross who died when the children were young. He is 5’7 ½” with
dark brown hair, olive skinned and grey eyes.
Presuming he enlisted in 1915 he would have been around 39 years old
upon enlistment. At this stage he was married to Mary Ann and had three boys
James, Francis and Alfred. He had been part of his father’s business since he
was 11 years old.
No
enlistment records have been found but I
have this great photo of him in his uniform, one document that seems to give a
few more snippets of information plus a couple of notes written by my father.
The
receipt for Attestation below seems to show that James transferred from the 8th
Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders service number 202.595
to the Army Service Corps Park Royal Horse Transport Section and received a new number T/391942. His transfer came about in February 1918.
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| James transferred to the Park Royal Horse Transport in 1918 |
My Dad lived
with his Grandfather in Sydney until he was 5 and his memory of his
grandfather’s war service was that he “served in WW1 but may have put age back.
Worked with horses, served in Argyll and Southern (sic) Highlanders.” ” saw
service in Turkey and France- was discharged unfit perhaps malaria.” “Malaria
in WWI -pension for a while Dr said it played a part in his death.”
The service in Turkey might be incorrect if indeed
he was in the 8th. He could indeed have tried to reduce his age so
that he wouldn’t be turned down as a volunteer.
Dad’s preliminary research drew a blank on service
records and he concluded that the records must have been in the “burnt
collection” where records were destroyed during the Blitz in WW2. Few details can be accurately confirmed.
An inquiry about the uniform shown in the photo
below which was made at the Australian War Memorial replied that” the bandolier
and spurs suggest service in a mounted unit and the shape of the cap badge
suggest the Army Services Corps.”
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| James Cross Kerr and wife Mary Ann. The uniform seems to indicate the Army Services Corps |
So the attestation paper above seems to be relating
to our James Kerr as he was being transferred to Army Services Corp Park
Royal Horse Transport in England. In a medal record he is referred to as a driver. Perhaps the malaria caused him to return from
the Front in February 1918 and be put to effective use working with the horses.
James returned from the war and to his three
growing boys. After the war they prepared to immigrate to Australia. Mary Ann
his wife returned to Scotland with her son Francis but James Cross, James and
Alfred remained living and working in North Sydney. James Snr and his son developed a delivery
business which involved a horse and cart delivering fruit and vegetables. Never
far from his beloved horse past.
Francis Robertson Kerr was to become a 5’5” 27
year old motor lorry driver when he enlisted at Grove Park in January 1915. He
was in the Motor Transport part of the vital Army Services Corp. Probably due to his age he
was appointed as a L/Corporal three days later. He reverted to Private of his
own request in May 1915 which was the time he heading for France as part of Britain’s
Expeditionary Force.
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| Frank's papers might be victims of the "burnt collection" |
Some
details of his 1917 service remain. From January 1917 he was in hospital for
three months. From late April he was engaged as No 1 Lorry Driver on an
Ammunition Column and transferred to troop supply. By July 1917 he was back in
hospital until October 1917. On 18/11/1917 he was returned to England and
hospitalised.
His total service was 3 years and 15 days when he
was discharged after being in Birmingham War Hospital.-no longer physically
able for war service 27/11/1918. His
Commanding Officer described him as sober, very reliable and intelligent and
suitable to car driving in his discharge papers. Frank returned to Glasgow held
the no 2 taxi licence and remained driving until his death. Somehow he acquired
the nickname ”Raving” I’d like to know more about that!
John Kerr Service number 12602 was a 25
year old carriage driver when he enlisted. Married in 1906 to Annie Mc Phee, he had three children Peter, Margaret,
and John and another on the way when he signed up on 19/8/14 with the Highland Light Infantry.
He joined the 3rd Battalion at Hamilton and after remaining in a home depot (probably in
England) until October 1915 moved with
the British Expeditionary Force to France.
His
papers describe him as 5’3 ½ “ fresh faced man with brown eyes and black hair. He was considered fit for the army on
enlistment but a 16 year old injury where he fractured his left thigh ended his
time in France. Since joining, a slight limp coupled with army conditions meant
his thigh pain became much worse. The Medical Board of the army service deemed
that to have aggravated the old injury.
He was discharged due to lameness on 13/4/1916 after service of 1 year
255 days. The Army paid him a pension
but felt that the condition would improve. Sadly during his time away his son
Francis was born and died.
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| John's medical discharge papers |
Thomas Neilson Kerr
No
records can be found for Tommy as he was known. The only hint of information is
Dad’s reference to him serving in the Dardanelles, Turkey. There are many
Thomas Kerrs from Scotland, a couple of
whom had M/ service numbers indicating service in the Army Services Corp.
Really we
have no conclusive evidence that he followed any of the paths of his brothers. Thomas
returned from the war and several years later immigrated to Sydney with his
mother Agnes Kerr and war widowed sister Agnes Park. He returned to Glasgow
with his mother, married and worked as a labourer. He and Isabella remained
childless.
Andrew’s
story of his time in the ASC will be related in the next blog.
David Kerr, the second son, did not go to
war. As a 30 year old with 4 children he
still did his bit. His daughter, Mary Brian recalls her memories of Glasgow
during the war.
“August
4, 1914 the beginning of the Great War I saw sailors going on ships, Greenoak
and Gourock were where they set off from. The war lasted four years and it was
a very different time. There were food shortages and blackouts and in Glasgow. There were lots of refugees from countries
overtaken by the Germans. My brothers and I had to go and wait in the various
queues for meat, margarine etc, before we went to school. Mother would come
later and take the place so that we could go to school.
My father
had the first Fiat car which came to Glasgow and he used to go to various
convalescent hospital to take soldiers for a trip. There were so many New
Zealand and Australian lads and they usually came to our house for tea.”
The patriarch, James Francis Kerr
died during the war in May 1917. He had gone through some tough times with
financial trouble and bankruptcy proceedings in 1913. The advent of the
motorised travel in the early 1900s had decreased the business for horse-drawn
carriages and perhaps diminished the need for his beloved horses... By all
accounts he retired to become a racehorse breeder/trainer.
With the outbreak of war his sons -his workers- had signed up to serve
from mid 1914.They took with them the skills they had learnt in the family
business. Some were drivers and others worked with horses which were still a
very much-needed commodity in the Western Front. He would have been one very
proud man even though he didn't live to see the end of the war and their safe
return. Perhaps he evened training horses for the War effort before his death.
