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“S” Company, 11th Gloster (City of Bristol) Battalion Home Guard marching past College Green, Bristol on parade. Date unknown, though there is a good possibility it is the “Warship Week” parade of 3rd December 1941 as mentioned in the JHB History (See JHB History 6.).

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“S” Company, 11th Gloster (City of Bristol) Battalion Home Guard on parade marching along Westbury Road towards Durdham Down; the entrance to Badminton School can be seen in the background.

A map showing Cribbs Causeway and surrounding areas circa 1941.

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I have detailed Haw Wood, North Hill Cottage, Norton Farm, Brent Knoll House, Lamb & Flag and Cribb Farm as places of interest that are mentioned in the history memoir - Particularly the “Fighting patrol” demonstration given by No.16 Platoon under Lt. Jackson on Sunday 5th October 1941. (See JHB History 5.).

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APPENDIX 1

I obtained a copy of John Francis Smith’s enrolment form used upon joining the LDV in 1940 (see References 6) . This is shown below. It also details some history of his time with the Bristol and Stafford Home Guard units.

This is my interpretation of what this form tells us.

We can see on the first page of the form, above, which would have been filled in by John Francis’s hand, he states the date when he joined the Armed Forces of the Crown. This would have been the month in which he joined the 2/6th North Staffordshire Regiment. This was exciting to discover – I did not know this date from my other WW1 research as this information was lost in the War Office archive fire in September 1940.

The reference “OASD 142/1”, just below his Christian name, was his National Identity Number. A unique and key identifier for anyone looking to apply for Home Guard service records. (see References 7).

We can see he enrolled or completed the form on 2nd of August 1940, we have his signature to the right of this date, and it is undersigned by the enrolling authority, S. H. Piper, (Company Commander). He was accepted for service on 3rd August 1940.

There is some confusion about the writing at the top of the form, which states, “Original form lost”.  What form would this have been? Possibly he completed one enrolment form before this date, and it was lost so he had to complete a new form? It also mentions “Trans. from A Bn” (Battalion) - I am not sure about the reference to A Bn? These two entries are written by the same hand.

At the top, we also have the entry, “8th Battalion 'C' Coy." (Company), detailing which Company he was assigned to after transferring to the  8th North Staffordshire Battalion(Burton) Home Guard.

The large official stamp reads:
"Royal Fort House, The University of Bristol, Headquarters 3rd Battalion Bristol County Home Guard."
According to my research, this Local Defence Volunteers (LDV) unit was originally known as "C" Division. It was later renamed "C" Battalion, then the 3rd Battalion, and finally the 11th Battalion (Bristol) Home Guard in January 1941.

Below is Page 2 of this document.

At the top of page two, above, we find, “C1511”, along with John Francis initials and surname. I am assuming this could mean “C” Division and his number assigned to him within what was to later become the 11th Gloucestershire Battalion (Bristol) Home Guard. At the top on page one, we can see a similar code though the “C” preceding the number 1511 is somewhat fancier with two vertical lines. Are these two vertical lines in reference to the 11th?

We can see in the table on page two that there are several entries, deciphering and understanding them is difficult as some are very vague and appear incomplete – which is a shame.

The first entry, “Appointment”, dated 1st April 1941, initialled by J.J. Whyte (see References 8), sadly, does not provide any information as to what he was appointed to?

To the left is the “Service towards engagement reckons from” date - 3 Aug 1940. This would have been used to calculate the “Total service towards engagement in the LDV”. This is stated on page 2. as 5 years and 41 days. Whilst the Home Guard was Stood Down at the beginning of December 1944, it officially continued in existence until the end of December 1945, hence the date of service is from enrolment until his death on 12th September 1945. He may have continued serving with the HG in some capacity during 1945.

Below “Appointment” we see the entry “To be Sgt”, and to the left of this is the Authority reference number “AC1 288/41” and the Unit “11 Glosters”.

In respect to the rubber stamp of “7 Apr 1941” on the right. Is this rubber stamp with reference to and confirming the “Appointment” entry above - considering it was just six days later, or does it relate to the reference number “AC1 288/41”? Both these entries appear to be written by a similar hand.

My view is that I do not believe the date of 7th Apr 1941 has any reference to the “To be Sgt” entry, even though it is adjacent. It appears that “To be Sgt” may have been written at the same time as the “Service towards engagement reckons from” date in 1940 - as they appear to be of a similar hand and using the same pen.

If we examine the numbers “4” in each of the written entries “3 Aug 40”; “1 Apr 41” and “AC1 288/41”, along with the “A” in “AC1” and “Appointment” they appear to be of a similar hand - that is of J.J. Whyte, who we know initialled the first entry, and who was involved in the enrolment process. I also believe J.J. Whyte wrote the entry “C1511 J.F. Smith” at the top of page two.

From this, I conclude that when John Francis enrolled on the 3rd August 1940, he was earmarked to be a Sergeant. The AC1 288/41 is I think in reference to the “Appointment” entry, dated 1 Apr 41.

Following on we have the cryptic entry “reverts to rank” dated 27th August 1941, initialled by JHB (J.H. Bromhead). What rank he reverted to and from is sadly not clarified on the form. We know that the family moved to Staffs and this may have been around this time as my father, Peter Smith, attended Burton Grammar School from 1941 onwards, one would assume he started Burton Grammar School at the start of term in September 1941. One scenario could be he reverted from the appointed rank - awarded on 1st April 1941, back to Sergeant due to his impending transfer to Staffs. However, this would mean the earlier appointment would have been to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. Would this step up and down between commissioned to non-commissioned ranks be too large a step? Another scenario would take into consideration that he reverted to Corporal from Sergeant, but why would this be the case if he had earned the stripes and served as a Sergeant for some time with the Company? A third scenario we can consider is that he reverted to basic rank and file, i.e. a civilian, prior to his transfer from Glosters to the North Staffs? Without access to further evidence, it is all open to speculation. It is interesting to note that J.H. Bromhead mentions in his history of “R” Company, that around 16th of April 1941 several appointments appeared in battalion orders, and he lists several from 2nd Lt through to Majors. John Francis Smith is not one of them that is listed, but the term appointment is, I believe, significant here as it is being used in respect of the award of commissioned ranks.

What we can positively determine, is that John Francis officially transferred to the 8th North Staffs on 2nd February 1942, and only 10 days later is recorded as 2nd Lieutenant. It is unclear if the initial of S.N. Piper is in relation to the transfer to 8th North Staffs, however I believe this to be most likely, the thickness of the pen line being similar to the thickness of lines in the date “2/2/42”, and that the transfer would need to be signed off by the Commanding Officer of the Bristol Battalion.

What transpired between 27th August 1941 and 2nd February 1942 is anyone’s guess, maybe John Francis had a foot in both camps during this time?

We then have entries that state:

• Part II O/S. No.13. dated 8.4.42 Auth WC/HG Under 550 Serial 50 at 1.4.42

• Part II O/S. No.33. 8.9.43, Lieutenant: Authority W.C.H.G.O. 1165/43. Dated 1.9.43. Serial No. 124. 7.8.43.

        (O/S = Orders and W.C.H.G.O. is Western Command Home Guard Order).

I consider the first Part II orders, dated 8th April and 1st April 1942, to be the official confirmation of his appointment to 2nd Lieutenant on 12th February 1942.

On 7th August 1943 John Francis was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, this was confirmed in the Part II orders dated 8th September 1943. The entries on the form were penned and initialled by E.M.W.

Underneath these entries, we can see that John Francis was granted the Honorary rank of Lieutenant, (unreadable squiggle), Authority: Western Command Order Sections 240146, dated 1st March 1946. This was granted posthumously as he had passed away in September 1945.

The final entry records his date of death and the Pt II orders in reference to this dated 30th November 1945.