The Lincolnshire Regiment - Service Battalions

This post will look at numbering in the Lincolnshire Regiment service battalions in 1914 and 1915. The battalions in question then, are the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th (Service) Battalions and the information below comes from a study of Lincolnshire Regiment service records and pension records in the WO 363 and WO 364 series respectively, held at the National Archives in London.

As I mentioned in an earlier post on numbering in the regular battalions of the Lincolnshire Regiment it looks to me as though the regiment had reached around 9762 when Great Britain declared war on Germany. The 6th (Service) Battalion was the first New Army Lincolnshire Regiment battalion to be formed (in August 1914) and it was followed by the 7th and 8th (Service) Battalions in September 1914, and the 9th (Service) Battalion in November 1914.

Men joining the service battalions were given numbers from the same series that had been in use by the regular battalions.

c9763 to 107**
Issue of these numbers dates to August 1914 and therefore, by definition, mostly to men joining the 6th Battalion.
108** to 119**
A mixture of August and September 1914 joining dates, with 7th Battalion numbering commencing in the 109**s and 8th Battalion numbering commencing in the 118**s. Note however, that there do not appear to have been distinct blocks allocated for a particular battalion. Hypothetically therefore, 11801 could have been issued to an 8th Battalion man, 11802 to a 7th Battalion man, and 11803 to a 6th Battalion man.
120** to 133**
September and October 1914 joining dates with the vast majority of these issued in September. From my research, there appear to have been very few October 1914 enlistments, presumably because the 6th, 7th and 8th Battalions had reached establishment by then and the 9th Battalion had yet to be formed.
134** to 138**
November 1914.
139** to 142**
Back to September 1914. From my research, men with numbers in this range had previously served with the Leicestershire Regiment, attesting in late August or early September 1914. They were then transferred to the Lincolnshire Regiment in September 1914; most of the men on my database transferring on the 8th and 9th September. Interestingly, some of these transferees were initially transferred to the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion (which at that time was still using its own series of numbers) and so it is common to see men with three numbers on their attestation papers: their original Leicestershire Regiment number, their Lincolnshire Regiment special reserve number and their Lincolnshire Regiment service battalion number. Numbering in the Lincolnshire Special Reserve certainly leapt from 8435 on 4th September 1914 to 9124 on 7th September 1914 and these Leicestershire Regiment transferees must have accounted for a lot of these numbers.
143**
November and December 1914
144** to 146**
December 1914
147** to 151**
January 1915
152** to 155**
February 1915
156** to 161**
March 1915
162** to 164**
April 1915
165** to 168**
May 1915
I have a 169** appearing in April 1915 and then nothing currently for numbers in the range 170** to 179**.
180**
May and June 1915
181** to 182**
June 1915
183** to 185**
July 1915
186**
July and August 1915
187**
August 1915
188*
August and September 1915
189** to 190**
October 1915
191**
November 1915
192**
Nothing currently on my database for numbers in this range
193**
December 1915

I'll extend this series into 1916 and beyond when I have significant additional information to include.

Also see my other posts regarding the Lincolnshire Regiment:

The 1st & 2nd Battalions, The Lincolnshire Regiment
The 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion, The Lincolnshire Regiment
The 4th Battalion, The Lincolnshire Regiment
The 5th Battalion, The Lincolnshire Regiment
The Lincolnshire Regiment - 10th Battalion - Grimsby Chums

Donald Banks - A Lincolnshire Terrier

And also:

The Lincolnshire Yeomanry

View Lincolnshire Regiment service records, pension records and medal index cards on-line via the Ancestry.co.uk website



The Naval & Military Press has re-published the HISTORY OF THE LINCOLNSHIRE REGIMENT 1914-1918 and has this to say about the book:

"When war broke out in August 1914 the Lincolnshire Regiment consisted of two Regular, one Special Reserve and two Territorial battalions; during the course of the war a further 14 battalions were raised including a Labour Battalion (12th). Ten went on active service, all on the Western Front, one of them (6th) was also at Gallipoli. This volume gives an account of the doings of those ten battalions, concluding with the Roll of Honour of the officers, arranged in alphabetical order but without identifying battalion, and then the WOs, NCOs and Men, listed in alphabetical order but by battalions. A third appendix contains the list of Honours and Awards, also listed alphabetically but without dates or reference to battalion. This section of the book takes up 106 pages. There is a very short index which does at least feature each battalion, making up for the lack of such references in the contents, so you can find the battalion you are looking for. The total dead amounted to 8,800; three VCs were won and 58 Battle Honours awarded.

"This history has been compiled, principally, from War Diaries of battalions in the field, supplemented by the notes of officers who read the original draft, as well as by reference to despatches and to official and other records. The contents are arranged in chronological order in a series of nine parts, each covering a specific period in the war and describing the actions of the various battalions engaged. It reads easily, and when describing battles or engagements it mentions personalities and gives casualty figures incurred. Books like this are published primarily for those who served in the regiment, and so there should be plenty of names which not only served at the time to keep the memory fresh but also provide a bonus for those engaged in historical or genealogical research."

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