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Steve - Ref. 7301 Pte. John Davies.

Service papers were maintained for pension purposes after a man left the army. When the pensioner died his papers were stamped 'Deceased' and his file was closed and archived. I've come across many such cases but never one when a man died in service.

I can confirm that Davies was invalided to pension (most likely a medical case) and has an extensive file in the PIN 71 series at the NA. This series isn't available online so to dig it out you'd have to visit the NA or get a researcher to do it for you. I can confirm that he died in 1937.

David

Thank you David. This is all part of the learning curve.
I have seen a few attestation documents with 'DECEASED' stamped across them. I should think if they had died in service the paperwork would have been destroyed as with the majority of the soldiers who were KIA/DOW/DOD.

Yes Steve. Papers to deceased Royal Artillery men have a high rate of survival so they must have escaped the cull. Occasionally papers to deceased men from other units survive, sometimes in WO 97 but more often in the WW1 series including the burnt records, but it's very much hit and miss. I have some to various regiments.

The PIN 71 file is definitely worth getting hold of. In my experience they run from 40 to 300 pages but the average is around 120. These contain a lot of pension increase documents but typically also enlistment details, defaulter sheets, courts of enquiry details (when a man was injured in service), medical history, medical reports, correspondence and death certificate. They're especially valuable when the man's WO 97 papers haven't survived.

David