3rd & 4th Londons

I've updated the posts for the 3rd City of London & 4th City of London with some sample army service numbers and corresponding dates within their respective six digit ranges.

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The London Regiment - City of London battalions

Before I move on to the County of London battalions I just thought I 'd pause for a minute to look at the recruiting patterns in the City battalions. They all follow a similar pattern but I think it's worth noting.

In the early days of the battalions' existence, that's to say 1908, you see large numbers of men who'd served with the Volunteers, re-enlisting in the newly formed battalions. Even so, many Volunteers chose not to re-enlist. I'll publish a more detailed article about Volunteers and the Territorial battalions at a later date.

By 1910 though, recruitment into the City of London battalions had slowed dramatically. Looking across the eight battalions, the Post Office Rifles (8th London Regiment) seems to have been most popular with 765 Riflemen having enlisted since 1st April 1908, whereas the 5th City of London Regiment seems to have struggled more than the others.

From 1910 until August 1914, most of the battalions were recruiting at the rate of only one or two hundred a year - if that. Taking the 3rd (City of London) Bn as an example of low recruitment, number 900 was signed up on 2nd June 1910. Number 942 joined on 11th October that year, and number 959 by January 1911. By 26th September 1911 the battalion recruited its 1043rd rifleman. So that's just 143 enlistments for that battalion in 16 months, less than nine recruits a month.

Now look at the picture for August to December 1914. Looking at my army service numbers database, I'm going to take the first date that I have for an enlistment in August 1914 and then the last date I have in December. Here's the picture:

1st Londons
1231 enlistments between 12th August and 8th December 1914
2nd Londons
1457 enlistments between 10th August and 29th December 1914
3rd Londons
1392 enlistments between 3rd May 1914 (I have no data for August currently) and 26th December 1914
4th Londons
1349 enlistments between 10th August and 14th December 1914
5th Londons
1534 enlistments between 4th August and 10th December 1914
6th Londons
I have no figures for this battalion for the months October 1914 to February 1915 inclusive. However, by September 8th the battalion was numbering at 3091 and by 9th March 1915 it had reached 3289. From 7th August 1914 until 8th September 1914, the battalion appears - unless there was a large block of numbers which was not used, to have recruited 1215 men.
7th Londons
1536 enlistments between 4th August and 7th December 1914
8th Londons
I have no figures for this battalion for the months October 1914 to January 1915 inclusive. By September 28th the battalion was numbering at 2994 and by 15th February 1915 it had reached 3132. From 15th August 1914 until 28th September 1914, the battalion appears - unless there was a large block of numbers which was not used, to have recruited 1015 men.

Adding up the totals above, we arrive at 10729 men or the equivalent of close to eleven battalions of men enlisting with Territorial Force City of London Regiments in the space of five months (with the exceptions to the 3rd, 6th and 8th battalions mentioned above). These patterns would be repeated in virtually every other battalion and army unit throughout Britain in 1914, but the numbers would dip dramatically in 1915, leading to the creation of the Derby Scheme (and another peak in attestations in November and December 1915) and ultimately the introduction of conscription in 1916.

Finally, I should not leave the City of London Regiments without mentioning my great uncle, S/18321 Rifleman John Frederick Nixon, known to his family as Jack. Jack attested with the London Rifle Brigade under the Derby Scheme in 1915 but it was whilst he was attached to the 8th London Regiment (Post Office Rifles), that he was killed in action on 3rd October 1918. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Vis En Artois memorial in France.

3rd (City of London) Bn, The London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers)

This battalion had its origins in the 3rd Volunteer Battalion Royal Fusiliers.

Army Service Numbers and enlistment dates for the 3rd London Regiment as follows:

162 joined on 26th May 1908
639 joined on 18th May 1909
900 joined on 2nd June 1910
959 joined on 12th January 1911
1079 joined on 9th January 1912
1446 joined on 4th February 1913
1947 joined on 3rd May 1914
2114 joined on 4th September 1914
3058 joined on 28th October 1914
3097 joined on 30th November 1914
3148 joined on 18th December 1914
3408 joined on 18th January 1915
3669 joined on 10th February 1915
3883 joined on 9th March 1915
4104 joined on 29th April 1915
4229 joined on 27th May 1915
4350 joined on 2nd June 1915
4781 joined on 7th July 1915
4917 joined on 2nd August 1915
5008 joined on 30th September 1915
5047 joined on 20th October 1915
5107 joined on 10th November 1915
5174 joined on 15th December 1915
5339 joined on 25th January 1916
5628 joined on 25th February 1916
5697 joined on 22nd March 1916
6235 joined on 1st April 1916
6656 joined on 10th May 1916
6725 joined on 16th August 1916
8030 joined 2nd November 1916
8185 joined 10th January 1917

When the battalion re-numbered in 1917, it did so using numbers within the block 250001 to 280000. Here are some sample numbers and joining dates for the six digit series (original numbers, where known, in brackets):

250011 originally joined on 1st April 1908 (and was almost certainly a 3rd VB RF man)
250036 originally joined on 8th June 1909
250044 originally joined on 8th February 1910
250124 originally joined on 14th March 1912 (1208)
250227 originally joined on 11th March 1913 (1508)
250356 originally joined on 6th January 1914 (1831)
250457 originally joined on 22nd August 1914
250646 originally joined on 4th September 1914 (2377)
250967 originally joined on 16th October 1914
250998 originally joined on 30th November 1914 (3097)
251849 originally joined on 14th June 1915 (4577)
251969 originally joined on 9th July 1915 (4785)
252056 originally joined on 15th August 1915 (4935)
252169 originally joined on 10th November 1915 (5107)
252355 originally joined on 25th January 1916 (5339)
253636 originally joined on 8th January 1917 (8177)



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Caveat
It is wrong to assume that numbering sequences in battalions always followed a sequential pattern. They didn't. As the war progressed and casualties grew, large numbers of men were often transferred from one battalion to another and allocated numbers within blocks which did not fit the sequential patterning seen to date. This becomes particularly evident in most battalions from 1916 onwards. For an example of this, see my post on the 23rd London Regiment.

My thanks to Tony Ring in New Zealand for supplying the photograph on this post.

Read my other posts on numbering in the London Regiment battalions:

City of London Battalions

1st (City of London) Battalion (Royal Fusiliers)
2nd (City of London) Battalion (Royal Fusiliers)
4th (City of London) Battalion (Royal Fusiliers)
5th (City of London) Battalion (Rifle Brigade)
6th (City of London) Battalion (Rifles)
7th (City of London) Battalion
8th (City of London) Battalion (Post Office Rifles)

County of London Battalions

9th (County of London) Battalion (Queen Victoria's Rifles)
10th County of London) Battalion (Hackney) [Originally Paddington Rifles]
11th (County of London) Battalion (Finsbury Rifles)
12th (County of London) Battalion (The Rangers)
13th (County of London) Battalion (Kensington)
14th (County of London) Battalion (London Scottish)
15th (County of London) Battalion (Prince of Wales's Own Civil Service Rifles)
16th (County of London) Battalion (Queen's Westminster Rifles)
17th (County of London) Battalion (Poplar & Stepney Rifles)
18th (County of London) Battalion (London Irish Rifles)
19th (County of London) Battalion (St Pancras)
20th (County of London) Battalion (Blackheath & Woolwich)
21st (County of London) Battalion (First Surrey Rifles)
22nd (County of London) Battalion (The Queen's)
23rd (County of London) Battalion
24th (County of London) Battalion (The Queen's)
25th (County of London) Cyclist Battalion
28th (County of London) Battalion (Artists Rifles)


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