Hello, I'm new on this forum. I'm doing research on one crew member of section 9, 21st company, 1st brigade who was active on 31st July 1917.
Can somebody interpret the data in his service book. You have a date and then 'In the field'. Does that mean that this crew member was operating in a tank, only on that day ? The crew member involved here was active on 31st July 1917 (that is sure) , but that date doesn't show up in these papers? Why not. So how do I have to interpret this?
I think you may be looking at two administrative actions: the amount paid which seems to be approximately weekly and the status of the payee. My guess is that "In the field" refers to the status of the payee and there probably was a pay supplement attached to the status. Both administrative actions required a validating officer's signature.
The Internet doesn't seem to have much on how pay administration worked.
Have you checked the unit diary? I don't know if the IWM has digitised the tank battalion unit diaries and put them online.
