William Slade Vincent

10.1
The Saga of the Car Hire

Soon after arriving at Harwich, William and a Lieut. Gibson hired a car on Sat 16th March 1919, for 3 days, from a car hire company called A .C. Turner. William’s name was put on an invoice as Lieut. W.G. Vincent and they stated they were from the 2nd [Bn.] King’s Own Regiment. At the time, there was a 2nd Lieut. David Gibson serving with the K.O.R.L.R.

Car hire from A.C. Turner 3rd March 1916 [73]

At the end of the hire, both men paid by cheque on 18th March 1919, but William’s cheque was dishonoured by the bank. Solicitors for A.C. Turner (Mr. W. Emerdon of Plymouth) wrote to the Army on 6th August, over 4 months after the car hire, and the letter was addressed to the Chief Paymaster, Australian Imperial Forces (A.I.F.) , London.

William’s cheque for car hire is dishonoured [74]

The only reason that can be suggested for the letter being addressed to the A.I.F., was because of William’s Australian accent. It clearly states on the invoice that they were from the 2nd Bn. of the King’s Own Regt. Interestingly a second letter from the solicitor makes the claim “there is no doubt that the 2nd King’s Own Regt. is one of the Australian Regiments”, which it wasn’t.

After several letters between the A.I.F. and the solicitor and internal A.I.F. memos, the matter was referred to the British War Office. More letters and memos were sent by Western Command HQ trying to find William’s address and the Major Commanding the King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment (William’s Regt.) answers that he didn’t know his address!

The solicitor wrote another letter to the War Office enquiring as to what was happening and the word “Urgent” was placed on the top of correspondence. Finally, a memo was sent advising Lieut. Vincent had been located at the Officers’ Wing, Repatriation Camp, Pirbright, awaiting repatriation to Australia and he was to embark on 22nd November 1919.

The solicitor for Mr. A.C. Turner sent a letter to the War Office on 24th November 1919, saying that Mr. Turner had received a money order for the outstanding money on 10th November 1919.

There were several correspondences regarding ‘The Saga of the Car Hire’.

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[73] - [74] National Archive of UK – Service Record William Slade Vincent