Service Record on Cloth

[Malcolm Davey]

Hi Guys, came across this Service Record on Cloth was this normal for Naval personnel.
He served on some well known ships by the looks of things.

[soldier1]

Hi Malcolm;it seems to be. I have my fathers' RN records (39-53) and his RCN records (60-64) both on cloth.

Cheers Al

[Roy]

Hi Gents,

Very nice indeed. I didn't know such things were on cloth, so it's great to learn something new.

A bit of naval trivia for you; did you know the term 'don't cutting corners' is and old naval term from service records. Apparently if a captain was unhappy with your work he would cut one corner of your service documents, so when you presented these to your next prospective captain, it wouldn't look good. Not forgetting of course you only have four!

Cheerio,

Roy

[Alex Rice]

I think there was a thread about cloth records on the forum a few years ago, something about preserving the record if they got wet, which was always a possibility when shifting from ship to ship in little boats...
Cheers,
Alex

[leigh kitchen]

I have my grandfather's records, complete (or should that be incomplete?) with cut corner.

If you're puzzling over some of the entries on these records this is a useful & fascinating thread:

http://www.worldnavalships.com/forum...ead.php?t=7760

[Unknownsoldier]

I have a set on cloth too, I believes its treated to prevent it running if wet.

[soldier1]

Originally Posted by Roy

Hi Gents,

Very nice indeed. I didn't know such things were on cloth, so it's great to learn something new.

A bit of naval trivia for you; did you know the term 'don't cutting corners' is and old naval term from service records. Apparently if a captain was unhappy with your work he would cut one corner of your service documents, so when you presented these to your next prospective captain, it wouldn't look good. Not forgetting of course you only have four!

Cheerio,

Roy

Not quite true Roy. Both of my Fathers' certificates state that " The corner of this certificate is to be cut off where indicated if the man is discharged with a "Bad" character or with disgrace, or if specially directed by the Admiralty. If the corner is cut off, the fact is to be noted in the Ledger."The corner to be cut was the top right hand corner.

Cheers Al

[Roy]

Hi Al,

Thanks for that clarification. I was just going from memory of something I read years back. Still very interesting.

Cheerio,

Roy

[grenadierguardsman]

Very interesting thread, always good to learn something new.
Thanks.
Andy

[bobbluesboy]

If you look at the first page you can see on the top right hand corner the details to cut the corner if the man was discharged from the service with a bad character reference.

[leigh kitchen]

Originally Posted by leigh kitchen

I have my grandfather's records, complete (or should that be incomplete?) with cut corner.

If you're puzzling over some of the entries on these records this is a useful & fascinating thread:

http://www.worldnavalships.com/forum...ead.php?t=7760

And now I've checked I find the record hasn't been clipped.
l feel almost disappointed, I must be thinking of another set of paperwork somewhere.