I don't have full access to NAA records (and am not willing to pay for it !
) or have a copy of Neil Smith's booklet but I have found some documents that 'may' help solve the mystery of why there are 2 different numbers.
At the moment I have checked about 12 records (Have only looked at the "A's" so far) and these show the "Application for Enrollment as Volunteer for Manufacture of Munitions in Great Britain". Some are also for "Navvy/War Workers" who were also employed under the scheme.
Quote:
|
Initially only skilled workers were sought , however at the request of the British Government later groups included large numbers of navvies for general labouring.
|
Each application has a number stamped/written on the top of the first page , in the majority of cases this corresponds to the badge number that was subsequently issued (and is recorded as such later in the documents). I found a couple of cases where the number did not match or had been scored out.
The last page of these documents was basically a "certificate of service" :
Quote:
|
A number was often stamped on the reverse and a certificate was provided as authentication.
|
These 'certificates' not only included the persons name ,
badge number and service record but also (on top left) a typed number which I assume was the
"Index-Record" number.
Conclusions
1. Each "volunteer" had 2 numbers recorded.
2. The first number was their badge number which was allocated when they were
enrolled/accepted.
3. The second number was their record number which could only have been allocated when their
service was complete.
4. Is it possible that when some badges were researched the numbers were accidently 'swapped' , this would account for the confusion.
5. Where the numbers on the initial form were wrong or crossed out they may have been mistaken recorded/reseached as being the correct number but had actually been assigned to someone else .
NB : This is just my theory based on some basic/quick research but could explain why the same number is recorded for two different people or why the same person appears to have two numbers.
Discuss !
.