Most men serving in the army got new numbers in 1920 and a great deal can be determined about their service from these numbers. This page should help you understand what it all means.
Tip: did your soldier have a seven-digit number? If your soldier has a seven-digit number (not including any prefixes) he was serving when these numbers were issued in 1920 or at a later date. There is a good chance that he continued to serve after the vital 1921 cut-off date for records and that his service record is still held by the Ministry of Defence.
Introduction
Numerous different numbering systems
Up to 1920 there was no such thing as an “army number”. men had numbers issued by their regiment or Corps. With each regiment having its own scheme, numbers were inevitably duplicated and in some cases dozens of men had the same number. In 1920, all that changed.
Changes are made
Army Order 338 of August 1920 stated that army numbers would now be issued from one continuous series, to all men then serving in regular or Territorial units (with the exception of the Labour Corps), to all men then on Army Reserve, to all recruits into the regular army, TF, Special Reserve and Militia; to all men who re-enlisted if they had not had one of the new numbers before, to all men transferred to the army from the Royal Marines, and to all deserters who subsequently rejoined, if they had not had one of tthe new numbers before.
Once issued, the man would retain the same number irrespective of his transfers and postings within the army. If a man (who had been given one of the new numbers) left and re-enlisted, he would retain his old number.
Further changes were introduced in 1929 including the addition at the end of the table below of the Royal Armoured Corps, but these are really outside the scope of the Long, Long Trail.
Prefixes
Generally the new numbers did not have prefixes but the Royal Army Service Corps was an exception. RASC numbers were prefixed S (Supplies), T (Transport), M (Mechanical Transport) or R (Remounts).
The details
The blocks of numbers allotted were as follows:
| From | to | … were allotted to |
| 1 | 294000 | Royal Army Service Corps |
| 294001 | 299000 | 1st Life Guards |
| 299001 | 204000 | 2nd Life Guards |
| 304001 | 309000 | Royal Horse Guards |
| 309001 | 386000 | Lancers |
| 386001 | 528000 | Dragoons |
| 528001 | 721000 | Hussars |
| 721001 | 1396000 | Royal Horse and Field Artillery |
| 1396001 | 1400000 | Honourable Artillery Company |
| 1400001 | 1842000 | Royal Garrison Artillery |
| 1842001 | 2303000 | Royal Engineers |
| 2303001 | 2604000 | Royal Engineers Signals |
| 2604001 | 2646000 | Grenadier Guards |
| 2646001 | 2688000 | Coldstream Guards |
| 2688001 | 2714000 | Scots Guards |
| 2714001 | 2730000 | Irish Guards |
| 2730001 | 2744000 | Welsh Guards |
| 2744001 | 2809000 | Royal Highlanders (Black Watch) |
| 2809001 | 2865000 | Seaforth Highlanders |
| 2865001 | 2921000 | Gordon Highlanders |
| 2921001 | 2966000 | Cameron Highlanders |
| 2966001 | 3044000 | Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders |
| 3044001 | 3122000 | Royal Scots |
| 3122001 | 3178000 | Royal Scots Fusiliers |
| 3178001 | 3233000 | King’s Own Scottish Borderers |
| 3233001 | 3299000 | Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) |
| 3299001 | 3377000 | Highland Light Infantry |
| 3377001 | 3433000 | East Lancashire Regiment |
| 3433001 | 3511000 | Lancashire Fusiliers |
| 3511001 | 3589000 | Manchester Regiment |
| 3589001 | 3644000 | Border Regiment |
| 3644001 | 3701000 | South Lancashire Regiment |
| 3701001 | 3757000 | Royal Lancaster Regiment |
| 3757001 | 3846000 | Liverpool Regiment |
| 3846001 | 3902000 | Loyal North Lancashire Regiment |
| 3902001 | 3947000 | South Wales Borderers |
| 3947001 | 4025000 | Welch Regiment (note that spelling had changed since the war) |
| 4025001 | 4070000 | Shropshire Light Infantry |
| 4070001 | 4103000 | Monmouthsire Regiment |
| 4103001 | 4114000 | Herefordshire Regiment |
| 4114001 | 4178000 | Cheshire Regiment |
| 4178001 | 4256000 | Royal Welch Fusiliers (note that spelling had changed since the war) |
| 4256001 | 4334000 | Northumberland Fusiliers |
| 4334001 | 4379000 | East Yorkshire Regiment |
| 4379001 | 4435000 | Yorkshire Regiment |
| 4435001 | 4523000 | Durham Light Infantry |
| 4523001 | 4601000 | West Yorkshire Regiment |
| 4601001 | 4680000 | West Riding Regiment |
| 468001 | 4736000 | Yorkshire Light Infantry |
| 4736001 | 4792000 | York & Lancaster Regiment |
| 4792001 | 4848000 | Lincolnshire Regiment |
| 4848001 | 4904000 | Leicestershire Regiment |
| 4904001 | 4960000 | South Staffordshire Regiment |
| 4960001 | 5038000 | Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Regiment |
| 5038001 | 5094000 | North Staffordshire Regiment |
| 5094001 | 5172000 | Royal Warwickshire Regiment |
| 5172001 | 5239000 | Gloucestershire Regiment |
| 5239001 | 5328000 | Worcestershire Regiment |
| 5328001 | 5373000 | Royal Berkshire Regiment |
| 5373001 | 5429000 | Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry |
| 5429001 | 5485000 | Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry |
| 5485001 | 5562000 | Hampshire Regiment |
| 5562001 | 5608000 | Wiltshire Regiment |
| 5608001 | 5662000 | Devonshire Regiment |
| 5662001 | 5718000 | Somerset Light Infantry |
| 5718001 | 5763000 | Dorsetshire Regiment |
| 5763001 | 5819000 | Norfolk Regiment |
| 5819001 | 5875000 | Suffolk Regiment |
| 5875001 | 5931000 | Northamptonshire Regiment |
| 5931001 | 5942000 | Cambridegshire Regiment |
| 5942001 | 5998000 | Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Regiment (they had merged since the war) |
| 5998001 | 6076000 | Essex Regiment |
| 6076001 | 6132000 | Royal West Surrey Regiment |
| 6132001 | 6188000 | East Surrey Regiment |
| 6188001 | 6278000 | Middlesex Regiment |
| 6278001 | 6334000 | East Kent Regiment |
| 6334001 | 6390000 | Royal West Kent Regiment |
| 6390001 | 6446000 | Royal Sussex Regiment |
| 6446001 | 6515000 | Royal Fusiliers |
| 6515001 | 6825000 | London Regiment |
| 6825001 | 6837000 | Honourable Artillery Company |
| 6837001 | 6905000 | King’s Royal Rifle Corps |
| 6905001 | 6972000 | Rifle Brigade |
| 6972001 | 7006000 | Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers |
| 7006001 | 7040000 | Royal Irish Rifles |
| 7040001 | 7075000 | Royal Irish Fusiliers |
| 7075001 | 7109000 | Royal Dublin Fusiliers |
| 7109001 | 7143000 | Royal Irish Regiment |
| 7143001 | 7177000 | Connaught Rangers |
| 7177001 | 7211000 | Leinster Regiment |
| 7211001 | 7245000 | Royal Munster Fusiliers |
| 7245001 | 7539000 | Royal Army Medical Corps |
| 7539001 | 7574000 | Channel Islands Militia |
| 7574001 | 7657000 | Royal Army Ordnance Corps |
| 7657001 | 7681000 | Royal Army Pay Corps |
| 7681001 | 7717000 | Corps of Military Police |
| 7717001 | 7718800 | Military Provost Staff Corps |
| 7718801 | 7720400 | Small Arms School |
| 7720401 | 7732400 | Army Educational Corps |
| 7732401 | 7733000 | Band of the Royal Military College |
| 7733001 | 7757000 | Corps of Military Accountants |
| 7757001 | 7807000 | Royal Army Veterinary Corps |
| 7807001 | 7868000 | Machine Gun Corps |
| 7868001 | 8109000 | Tank Corps |