From: G6JPG@255soft.uk   
      
   He's a friend's ancestor.   
      
   We have marriage certificate 2016-10-11 in Gateshead register office,   
   between Joseph McDonald 28 and Mary Flanigan (yes, spelt like that) 22.   
   (Yes, I know ages are often wrong on MCs, though I can't think of a   
   reason he/they should _deliberately_ lie about either. She was already   
   pregnant.) The MC is of course a copy of an entry in the register book   
   of marriages, but is actually made on the date of the marriage, by the   
   Gateshead registrar, i. e. locally.   
      
   It says about Joseph:   
   Bachelor;   
   Private Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (Machineman Engineering   
   Works);   
   residence: Gosforth Park;   
   father: John James McDonald, Labourer in Engineering Works.   
      
   (Mary was living in Gateshead. For those that don't know the area - it's   
   Newcastle upon Tyne: Gateshead is on the south side of the river,   
   Newcastle on the north, and Gosforth [then, anyway] a little north of   
   Newcastle; Gosforth Park is where the racecourse is. The river was the   
   county boundary - county Durham was south of the river [i. e. Gateshead   
   was in it], Northumberland north [Newcastle and Gosforth]. [It's all   
   "Tyne and Wear" now, since about 1971.])   
      
   I haven't been able to find his birth (or parents) with any   
   definiteness: ideas welcome!   
      
   His military records: The MC is the only mention of the KOYLI, but   
   apparently there is a KOYLI stamp on the back (maybe he was given a   
   day's leave to get married and that's their way of accepting it as proof   
   that he did when he got back to barracks?). The MC - see above - does   
   _not_ give his serial number.   
      
   We have a BC, 1918-8-28 in Gateshead, for a boy James, father Joseph   
   McDonald, mother Mary McDonald formerly Flanigan; with that combination   
   of names, especially the unusual spelling of Flanigan, and the place,   
   I'm pretty sure it's the same couple. But the father's occupation is   
   given as "No 10644 Rifleman Royal Irish Rifles (Stone Mason)".   
   Unusually, the birth was registered on the day of the birth (though by   
   someone "present at the Birth", not either parent).   
      
   We have a medal card and roll entry for the usual Victory and British   
   medals. The card says   
      
   MACDONALD       R. Ir. Rif      Pte     10644   
   Joseph.         Wilts R                 27805   
      
   and the roll says   
      
   27805   Pte     MACDONALD       1st R.Ir.Rif.           Class Z. 29.5.19   
                   Joseph          10644 Pte   
                                   6th Wilts R. 27805   
      
   (I know class Z was those who could be recalled at short notice if   
   Germany did not accept the surrender terms.)   
      
      
   So it looks as if he was in _three_ regiments: KOYLI, R.Ir.Rif, and   
   Wiltshire Regiment (Duke of Edinburgh´s), with the first serial number   
   (10644) being used for two of them. And also perhaps recalled to a   
   reserved occupation - though rather different ones!   
      
   I know various regiments were amalgamated into/absorbed by others, when   
   military action sadly reduced their numbers below viability. Was he just   
   unfortunate to have this happen twice (or, if in reserved work at home,   
   the regiments he was _nominally_ part of unfortunate in that way), or is   
   something else going on? (I can't find the oodles of pages of military   
   odds and ends I've found for some other soldiers; I presume his is one   
   of the "burnt records".)   
      
   And what's with the varying occupation - from same (-ish) as his dad, to   
   Stone Mason (which I'd have _thought_ takes more than two years)?   
   --   
   J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf   
      
   You can be tough without being rude - Nick Clegg, 2014 July   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)