Such a rank as Post Sergeant in 1873 Ashantee War

[talysh]

Hi,
I have a family letter which records that a Royal Marine ancestor who saw action in the 2nd Ashantee War held the rank of "Post Sergeant". Was there such a rank? If not, could they have meant Police Sergeant ( and be a transcription or hearing error) - and was this a rank?

Many thanks,

Maggie

[zerostate]

AFAIK no such rank existed.

Could 'post' possibly be referring to a locale? Any chance of posting a scan of the letter - especially the phrase in question?

Chris

[grumpy]

Sergeants could have/ can have lots of different APPOINTMENTS:

master tailor, shoemaker, provost/police, orderly-room etc etc.

A battalaion frequently appointed a corporal to be i/c post .......correspondence in and out of the unit, and also the sorter and distributor of soldiers' letters.

Sergeant is a bit senior for this, perhaps he was a lance-sergeant?

[DavidB]

As with Chris, I'm not aware of such a rank.
Find his service papers and it should clear things up.

[grumpy]

read my lips: there were only a handful of RANKS:

private, trooper, gunner RA, driver RA, sapper RE, pioneer RE at the bottom

bombardier RA and second corporal RE

corporal

sergeant

colour sergeant infantry and staff sergeant otherwise

quartermaster sergeant

warrant officer

just about everything else was an APPOINTMENT for a man holding one of the above RANKS. Household cavalry excepted.

[DavidB]

read my lips: there were only a handful of RANKS:

Not disagreeing with you in the slightest.

[grumpy]

As with Chris, I'm not aware of such a rank.
Find his service papers and it should clear things up.

With respect, that looks very much like disagreement to me!

[DavidB]

With respect, that looks very much like disagreement to me!

Well, with respect then, I've no idea how you come to that conclusion if you take what I said at face value.
Only thing we're disagreeing about is whether we agree!

I still say to Maggie, download this chap's service papers from TNA if they can be found and that will tell you precisely what his rank was.

[grumpy]

With respect, that looks very much like disagreement to me!

Well, with respect then, I've no idea how you come to that conclusion if you take what I said at face value.
Only thing we're disagreeing about is whether we agree!

I still say to Maggie, download this chap's service papers from TNA if they can be found and that will tell you precisely what his rank was.

I tried hard to explain that "rank" was the wrong word.

For "rank" read "appointment".

sergeant = rank

post sergeant [if that is what it says on the tine] = appointment