Originally Posted by
Tankertrashnav
In WW1 the army did not have a system of unique service numbers until some time in 1916. Prior to that they had regimental numbers which in fact started at 1 and were duplicated across the regimental system. Thus there could be a number 456 in the Suffolk Regiment and another in the Norfolk Regiment, and so on. The same applied to corps, although as these tended to be larger than line regiments their numbers often contained up to five digits. The unique service number came in to assist in admin when the army grew in size to several millions. The old gentleman at Catterick would have lost his original three digit number when the new system came in.
In the medal collecting world medals to individuals with low numbers are highly prized. I once had 1914-15 Star named to a number 10, an NCO in the Royal Warwicks, and a chum who specialises in this field has several "number 1s" in his collection. Although army and RAF officers have always had service numbers, these never appear on medals named to officers (check your own!)
Sorry to demur but:
Unique army service numbers were not issued until 1920 +/- a year. Regimental number series had [from memory] seven iterations, the first c. 1836. The Great War Series began in 1881 for all regiments and corps but was generally subject to upper limits 9999 after which a new series should have begun. Many regiments were allowed past 10,000 by 1914, and there was not a new topping after that. Again, many regiments had:
a single series shared by both regular battalions,[or all four, in a few cases]
a separate series for each of their SR/Extra SR battalions
a separate series for each of their TF battalions.
Wartime Kitchener men were deemed to be regulars and used that series. It was quite possible for a slack handful of soldiers, wearing the same cap badge, to have the same number.
I co-wrote the definitive article [so far] on numbering, and the above is from memory. I can, if asked nicely, email copies to interested parties. There is also an internet site which benefits fully from modern connectivities and I can dig that out also.