Some Regiments in WW1

Immediately before WW1, there were three battalions of the Cheshire Regiment in the Regular Army and four battalions of Territorials.

Regular Army
The 1st Battalion was in Londonderry in August 1914. Early on the morning of 14 August 1914 the battalion travelled in two special trains to Belfast, and boarded the SS Massillia.The ship sailed under sealed orders which, when opened, revealed the destination to be France.
The 2nd Battalion was in Jubbulpore, India in August 1914. It returned to England, landing at Devonport on 24 December 1914 and went into camp near Winchester. It travelled by road to Southampton on 16 January 1915 and embarked on SS City of Chester, landing at Le Havre 17 January 1915.
The 3rd Battalion was a training unit and remained in UK throughout the war, providing drafts for other battalions, although it also took part in Mersey Defences at Birkenhead, for example.

Territoral Force
The 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Battalions formed the Cheshire Infantry Brigade, part of the Welsh Division.
The 4th Battalion was in Birkenhead in August 1914 and sailed in July 1915 from Devonport, going via Alexandria to Gallipoli where it landed on 9 August 1915.
The 5th (Earl of Chester’s) Battalion was in Chester in August 1914. In 15 February 1915 it landed at Le Havre.
The 6th Battalion was in Stockport in August 1914. It landed in France 10 November 1914.
The 7th Battalion was in Macclesfield in August 1914. The battalion sailed in July 1915 from Devonport, going via Alexandria to Gallipoli where it landed on 9 August 1915.

Following the declaration of war, a number of additional battalions were created. Some were part of the Regular army (Kitchener's New Army).
The 8th Bn sailed for Gallipoli in July 1915.
The 9th arrived at Boulogne 19 July 1915.
The 10th and 11th landed in France 26 September 1915.
The 12th landed at Boulogne 6 September 1915, but moved to Salonika by November 1915.
The 13th landed at France 25 September 1915.
All these were service battalions.
The 14th and 17th were training and reserve battalions.
The 15th and 16th were the "Birkenhead Bantams", men who did not come up to the required standard in height and would not, in peacetime, have been accepted. They landed at Le Havre in January 1916.
18th, 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd Battalions were formed as Labour Battalions in 1916, later becoming part of the Labour Corps.
23rd Battalion was originally a "Home Service" battalion but went to Calais in Spring 1918, initially as a Garrison Guard battalion.
24th (Home Service) Bn was formed on 27 April 1918 to replace the 23rd Bn.
1st Garrison Battalion was formed at Chester on 1 August 1915, then went to Gibraltar where it remained throughout the war.
2nd Garrison Battalion Cheshire Regiment was formed at Bebington in October 1915, then went to Egypt and Palestine where it worked on Lines of Communication.
3rd (Home Service) Garrison Battalion was formed November 1915 and moved to Ramsay, Isle of Man. Later it converted into 11th Bn, the Royal Defence Corps.
Additional Territorial Battalions were created for training and home service only; the original battalions being given the prefix "1/". The additional battalions were 2/4th, 2/4th, 2/5th, and so on.
51st, 52nd and 53rd Battalions were part of the Training Reserve.

A total of 38 battalions were raised, of which 15 served in engagements with the enemy.

When war was declared, all current Territorials were embodied into the Regular Army, along with reservists from the Regular Army. From then on, all new recruits joined the Territorials or other Training battalions, such as 3rd Cheshires. Once trained, they could be posted to service battalions as required. Men who had been sick or wounded might be posted to a reserve/training battalion until they were fit enough to return to service overseas.

Initially, new recruits usually had 4-digit regimental numbers, but in 1917 it became evident that larger regimental numbers would be needed and all currently serving soldiers in the Cheshires were allocated new 6-digit numbers. Soldiers who had died or been discharged or had been taken as prisoners of war did not get new numbers. 1/7th Battalion, being based at Macclesfield, was the unit of the Cheshires that many of our local soldiers joined. As there were so many local soldiers in this battalion, it is possible use their regimental numbers to estimate enlistment dates for soldiers whose records have not survived by comparison with other soldiers whose records have.

More Highlights:
1st Battalion took part in the Battle of Mons in August 1914, the First Battle of the Marne in September 1914, the First Battle of the Aisne also in September 1914, the Battle of La Bassée in October 1914, the Battle of Messines also in October 1914 and in the First Battle of Ypres also in October 1914. It also saw action at the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915 and the Battle of Hill 60 also in April 1915. In 1917 they fought at the Battle of Arras in April 1917 and the Battle of Passchendaele in July 1917. It then took part in the Battle of the Lys in April 1918 and the Battles of the Hindenburg Line and the Final Advance in Picardy later in the year.

2nd Battalion moved in October 1915 from the Western Front to Egypt and then on to Salonika, where it remained.

1/4th and 1/7th Battalions were withdrawn from Gallipoli in December 1915 and moved to Egypt. On 31 May 1918 they moved to France.

In November 1915, 1/5th Battalion was converted to a Pioneer Battalion. Adopting a badge of a cross rifle and pick, pioneer battalions dug trenches and constructed or repaired roads and tracks in all weathers and in all terrain. On many occasions they abandoned their working tools and fought alongside the infantry in repelling enemy attacks.

8th Battalion moved in January 1916 to Egypt and the following month to Mesopotamia where it then remained.

The Royal Regiment of Artillery at the time of the Great War comprised three elements:
The Royal Horse Artillery: armed with light, mobile, horse-drawn guns that in theory provided firepower in support of the cavalry and in practice supplemented the Royal Field Artillery.
The Royal Field Artillery: the most numerous arm of the artillery, the horse-drawn RFA was responsible for the medium calibre guns and howitzers deployed close to the front line and was reasonably mobile. It was organised into brigades.
The Royal Garrison Artillery: developed from fortress-based artillery located on British coasts. From 1914 when the army possessed very little heavy artillery it grew into a very large component of the British forces. It was armed with heavy, large calibre guns and howitzers that were positioned some way behind the front line and had immense destructive power.

The Royal Marine Artillery was part of the Royal Marines, and therefore under naval command. There was some joint working with the Army, however.

Most of the artillerymen from from our area served with the RFA. Most of these served overseas.

Anti-aircraft units were part of RGA. Many of these were based in the UK. Coastal defences in the UK were also manned by RGA, although some defences were run by the Admiralty in the early part of WW1. It should be remembered that soldiers who did not leave the shores of the UK did not qualify for WW1 Campaign medals (British War Medal, Victory Medal, Star Medal) even though they may have engaged with the enemy.

RGA also defended garrisons overseas. A number of these were not in theatres of war. Soldiers who served in such garrisons would qualify for the British War Medal, but not the Victory Medal unless they served within a theatre of war at some other time during WW1.

A number of local artillerymen were affected by the above restrictions on qualification for campaign medals.

Thousands of horses were used for pulling field guns (light artillery), six to twelve horses were required to pull each gun.

The use of horses required recruitment of some specialists. A shoeing smith was qualified to fit horseshoes to horses' hooves. Spare ready-made horseshoes were carried with each unit for this purpose (the higher rank of farrier was qualified to manufacture horseshoes - ie was a blacksmith.)

Although the army in France and Flanders was able to use some railways, steam engines and tracked vehicles for haulage, the immense effort of building and maintaining the huge network of roads, railways, canals, buildings, camps, stores, dumps, telegraph and telephone systems, etc, and also for moving stores, relied on horse, mule and human. In the Middle Eastern theatres, camels were also also used.

In August 1914 there was no formed body of troops specifically designed for these tasks. In the infantry, manual work near the front lines was carried out by the Pioneer Battalions which were added to each Division. Some infantry regiments formed labour companies and works battalions for work on the lines of communication and at home, but the organisation of manpower was haphazard until the formation of the Labour Corps in 1917.

The Army Service Corps formed some of the earliest Labour Companies to provide manpower to unload British ships and operate the docks in France. Two railway labour companies were also formed.

The Royal Engineers raised 11 Battalions for labouring work.

An early solution to the vast demand for labour was to create in each infantry Division a battalion that would be trained and capable of fighting as infantry, but that would normally be engaged on labouring work. They were given the name of Pioneers. They differed from normal infantry in that they would be composed of a mixture of men who were experienced with picks and shovels (i.e. miners, road men, etc) and some who had skilled trades (smiths, carpenters, joiners, bricklayers, masons, tinsmiths, engine drivers and fitters). A Pioneer battalion would also carry a range of technical stores that infantry would not. This type of battalion came into being with an Army Order in December 1914. In early 1916, a number of infantry battalions composed of men who were medically graded unfit for the fighting were formed for labouring work. They had only 2 officers per battalion. Twelve such battalions existed in June 1916.

After the passing of the Military Service Act in early 1916 it was decided to form a Non-Combatant Corps of conscientious objectors for work on roads, hutments, timber work, quarrying, sanitary duties and handling supplies. Eight NCC Companies existed by the middle of June 1916.

The Labour Corps was formed in January 1917 and grew to some 389,900 men (more than 10% of the total size of the Army) by the Armistice. Of this total, around 175,000 were working in the United Kingdom and the rest in the theatres of war. The Corps was manned by officers and other ranks who had been medically rated below the “A1” condition needed for front line service. Many were returned wounded. Labour Corps units were often deployed for work within range of the enemy guns, sometimes for lengthy periods. In April 1917, a number of infantry battalions were transferred to the Corps. The Labour Corps absorbed the 28 ASC Labour Companies between February and June 1917. Labour Corps Area Employment Companies were formed in 1917 for salvage work, absorbing the Divisional Salvage Companies. In the crises of March and April 1918 on the Western Front, Labour Corps units were used as emergency infantry. The Corps always suffered from its treatment as something of a second class organisation: for example, the men who died are commemorated under their original regiment, with Labour Corps being secondary. Researching men of the Corps is made extra difficult by this, as is the fact that few records remain of the daily activities and locations of Corps units.

Until mid 1916, German prisoners of war were sent to England. From this time onward, prisoners were initially sent to Abbeville. Men with useful skills, notably forestry and engineering, were drafted into companies of about 100 men each, for use in POW Forestry Companies and ASC and RE workshops, respectively. 47 such POW labour companies were attached to the Labour Corps when it was formed.

1900-1914 was a period of change and uncertainty in Bollington. There were strikes at the mills for better wages. The hot summer of 1911 caused a shortage of water that the mills relied on to keep the steam operated equipment running. There was a coal strike in 1912. Some of mills closed for a time because of bankruptcies.

At the same time there were opportunities for people to start a new life in Canada, USA and Australia.

About 1.5 million people emigrated from Britain to Canada in the years 1903-1913. This represented nearly 50% of all emigration during this period.

A significant number of Bollingtonians took the decision to emigrate.

And then came WW1. Young men who had emigrated found themselves back in Europe as soldiers a few short years later.

In the days when travel between continents required long sea journeys, these men could not return home on leave, but they were allowed furloughs to Britain, where many still had family members.

And some of these men died of sickness or wounds in UK and were buried at Bollington.