Overview

MGC Soldier

The Machine Gun Corps is probably one of the most difficult Great War units to research.

It was one of the few “war raised” units, having no existence prior to the conflict, and suffering the ignominy of being disbanded entirely in the years immediately following.

Researchers find it hard to understand why such a vast organisation (over 140,000 serving soldiers, plus officers, at its highest strength) should have left behind so few tangible records.

Suggestions have been made that the army “establishment” wanted to quickly forget that the Corps ever existed - it had after all taken away from the long established infantry regiments some of the very best and cleverest officers whose skill at arms, in mathematics, trigonometry and calculus would become such an asset in the operation of the Vickers machine guns.

It starved the line regiments of recruits, taking the fittest and the best to try and satisfy the demand for more, and yet more, intelligent young men to man the guns.

Succeeding beyond the wildest dreams of its conception, it became in two short years a model of ruthless efficiency and operational supremacy.

Little wonder that its demise was looked upon with satisfaction in some quarters. Conveniently, perhaps, all of its operational records, its establishments and regimental orders were totally destroyed in a mysterious fire which took place at the last Headquarters of the Corps at Shorncliffe, near Folkestone in 1920. Not a single sheet of paper survived and even the partly written history of the Corps was lost. No attempt has been made to put right this last omission until recent years.

This disaster, together with the loss of so many personal enlistment files in September 1940, during the blitz on London, has made the job of researching MGC soldiers an enigma for the average genealogist. Official figures suggest that about 35% of original soldier files still exist, but in depth research into those held by the National Archives (and available on-line via Ancestry) reveal that, in respect of the MGC, only about 20% can be found. Of these, a significant number are duplicated, leaving a net percentage nearer to 15%. The chances of finding a specific file is in the order of one in six.

The concept of the MGC Research Database was to bring together in one place, in one format, as many facts, however minute, in respect of any soldier who once wore the badge of the crossed-Vickers guns. In doing so, and by using a professional computer archiving system, a totally unique tool has slowly been built. Data from this archive can be merged and manipulated in a way which can provide answers to questions that no other storage medium can attempt.

Many thousands of hours have gone into building the database which currently contains some information on over 135,000 former MGC personnel. The project is live and ongoing - new records are being created daily and will continue far into the future. We welcome contributions (particularly photographs) submitted by the descendants of former soldiers, all of which are faithfully recorded for posterity.

HOW WE CAN HELP YOU:

The MGC Database will respond to any enquiry about a soldier - officer or other rank - and will provide whatever information is held within its files. Advice will be given about further avenues for research.

It is essential that you tell us all that you already know. Important details to assist in a search will be: full name, place/date of birth, any known service number and other information confirmed or believed to be true about the subject.

 

CONTACT US HERE:

Enquiries & requests should be sent by e-mail to: maguncor@btinternet.com


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Group Photo

Photo above © the daughters of 18097 Pte George Fieldhouse, MGC