Army Form B.133 - drivers

This attestation form for Army Service Corps drivers was first introduced in January 1903 in a print-run of 5000. Terms of service are clearly stated here as two years with the colours and ten years on the reserve.

The document was re-issued in various iterations over the coming years. The one above is the second version of this form which was printed in September 1903 in a print run of 5000 too.

This version of the form dates to May 1904 and was issued in a run of 15,000.

This version of Army Form B.133 dates to November 1905 and was printed in a run of 15,000. The obvious difference here is that this is now to be used for drivers enlisting with the Army Service Corps and the Royal Engineers. Month of printing, print-run quantity and version number appear on all of these documents in the top left hand-corner. HWV stands for Hazell Watson & Viney Ltd, the Aylesbury printers responsible for this rather nice contract with the British Army.

All images on this page are Crown Copyright, The National Archives.

Army Form B.110 - Attestation: Post Office Corps & Royal Engineers

You don't see this form every day, although judging by the date at the top, it had probably been in circulation for a while. This particular attestation paper dates to 1897 and a print-run of 1000 of which this particular form was the eighth version.

The man concerned was 4607 William Henry Butt, a 27-year-old telegraphist by trade who would go on to extend his service to 12 years and finally get discharged in 1912. Two years later he would be back in uniform, still with the Royal Engineers, and earning the 1914 Star, British War and Victory Medals and Medaille Militaire to add to his Boer War pair. I bought some of these medals at auction last week.