Bedfordshire Regiment - 5th Battalion (TF) - 1908-1914

This post will look at regimental numbering in the 5th Battalion (TF), Bedfordshire Regiment between 1908 and 1914.

The 5th Battalion was formed on the 1st April 1908 and prior to this had been the 3rd and 4th (Huntingdon) Volunteer Battalions of the Bedfordshire Regiment. The Territorial Year Book for 1909 recorded that the battalion strength was 24 officers and 738 men. No details of camp attendance for that year are given.

The following year, The Territorial Year Book for 1910 recorded that the strength was 23 officers and 664 men and at the annual camp in 1909, 159 officers and men had attended for eight days whilst 443 officers and men had attended for 15 days. Camp in 1910 was scheduled to be held at Ipswich from the 30th July

In August 1914 the battalion was headquartered at Gwyn Street, Bedford and the battalion's companies drew men from the following areas.

A Company: Bedford

B & C Companies: Luton

D Company: Biggleswade, with drill stations at Sandy, Arlesey and St Neots
E Company: Ampthill, with a drill station at Olney

F Company: Luton, with drill stations at Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard

G Company: Fletton, with a drill station at Yaxley

H Company: Hintingdon, with drill stations at St Ives and Ramsey

Understanding the company distribution is important if you know where your 5th Battalion soldier lived as it would likely suggest the company he served with. For instance, men living in Ampthill and wishing to join this battalion would have logically been assigned to E Company. (Note that this logic was abandoned after 4th August 1914).

Here are some sample regimental numbers and joining dates for the 5th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment.

Numbering started at around 2000 in 1908

2015 joined from the Volunteer Force on the 30th June 1908
2508 joined on the 23rd March 1909

2637 joined on the 16th March 1910
2741 joined on the 16th January 1911
2925 joined on the 23rd March 1912
2992 joined on the 3rd January 1913
3181 joined on the 5th March 1914
3785 joined on the 18th August 1914

Use the regimental numbers above to estimate when a man would have joined this battalion between 1908 and August 1914. For example if your man's number was 2345 he would have joined the battalion between June 1908 and March 1909. 

Also see my posts on regimental numbering in these other Bedfordshire Regiment battalions:

1st and 2nd Battalions, Bedfordshire Regiment

3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment
4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment

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To search for photos of your Bedfordshire Regiment ancestors, check my British Army Ancestors website.

Bedfordshire Regt wounded, November 1914

I've been transcribing - for some while now - non fatal casualties reported in The Times newspaper for 1914. I expect to complete this task this year and will then augment the data with other 1914 data.

The men listed below all served with the Bedfordshire Regiment and were all reported as having been wounded. Their names were notifed to the War Office on the 27th November 1914 and they appeared in a casualty list published in The Times on the 5th January 1915.

I publish this small sample here because it serves as useful spotlight on the British Army at this particular time. I have not anlaysed this list of wounded men in particular depth but I can tell, by looking as far as 6927 APte Arthur Mabbott, that there are a lot of men from the Special Reserve in this list. I have indicated this by noting (3rd Battalion) next to their names, although this detail does not appear in the official casualty lists.

It is important to note the difference between regular soldiers and men of the Special Reserve. Whereas the former were career soldiers, the Special Reserve were men who had enlisted for part-time soldiering only, albeit they would have known that they would be sent out as drafts to the regular battalions if they were needed.  It is also important to remember that the regular 1st and 2nd Battalions adopted a completely different regimental numbering sequence to the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion. So whereas 6313 Joseph Knightley, for instance, must have enlisted as a career soldier in July 1898, 6237 Pte William Levitt and 6381 Pte J Smith had both enlisted in 1910.

Such important distinctions are not generally noted in casualty lists, although the simple addition of a 3/ prefix to the special reservists' numbers would have made it very obvious what these men's origins were and when they had enlisted.

What this list says to me though is that already, by November 1914, the Bedfordshire Regiment had suffered significant losses and had already taken in large numbers of men from the Special Reserve. These men too, were now returning back to England as wounded soldiers.

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4677 Pte Arthur Worbey 
5366 Sgt G Hodge 
5373 Sgt E Hutchinson 
6037 Pte A Mills 
6108 Pte Alfred Richardson (3rd Battalion)
6137 Pte Arthur Holt (3rd Battalion)
6234 Pte S Webb 
6237 Pte Roger William Levitt (3rd Battalion)
6313 Pte Joseph Knightley 
6381 Pte J Smith (3rd Battalion)
6388 Pte John T Bates 
6494 Pte Arthur Green 
6512 Pte Albert S Fitch 
6707 Pte Harry Darlow (3rd Battalion)
6712 Pte W Waller 
6779 Pte A Abbott 
6827 Pte Charles Harley 
6849 Pte J F Randall (3rd Battalion)
6858 Pte Charles Gregory (3rd Battalion)
6916 Pte Abel Clark (3rd Battalion)
6927 Pte Arthur Mabbott (3rd Battalion)
6991 Pte G Thompson 
7017 Pte B Wood 
7030 Pte J Keep 
7066 Pte F Gooding 
7171 Pte S Evans 
7174 Pte A Butler 
7216 Pte F Coppin 
7289 Pte W Webb 
7398 Pte H Gray 
7412 Pte E Carter 
7451 Pte Arthur H Haile 
7570 Pte J Goodwin 
7612 Sgt P Chandler 
7656 Pte A Turner 
7730 Pte J Fensome 
7936 Bandsman E Clarke 
8306 Sgt P Folkard 
8355 L-Sgt W Gale 
8388 Bandsman E Fynn 
8398 Pte W Millard 
8441 Sgt C Guerin 
8458 Sgt E Endersby 
8469 Pte F Wright 
8509 Pte E Keogh 
8548 Pte F Crew 
8555 Pte E H Reid 
8591 Sgt G Roper 
8692 Pte C Smith 
8742 Pte J Marney 
8812 Cpl A Smith 
8841 Dmr A Pearcey 
8874 Pte F Richardson 
8922 Pte C J Hooper 
8939 Pte I Afford 
8963 Pte W Shaw 
8978 Pte J Hornett 
8981 Pte A Chandler 
8982 Sgt F Bulley
 9024 Cpl J Newby 
9035 Pte J Ellis 
9047 Pte F Braybrook 
9074 Pte T Gardiner 
9097 Pte A Jeeves 
9134 Pte H Cooper 
9135 Pte H Gear 
9220 Pte G Webster
9231 L-Cpl H Halls 
9260 Pte G Harlott
9264 Cpl W R Brown 
9267 Pte Frank Bird 
9278 Pte J Eccles 
9294 Pte S Webb 
9299 Pte A Chennells 
9326 Pte W Robinson 
9337 Pte Edward Boxall 
9349 Pte J King 
9385 Pte A Beard
9397 L-Cpl G Taylor 
9419 Pte C Wright 
9445 Pte E Larman 
9459 Pte G Ellis 
9475 L-Cpl T Sharpe 
9503 Pte O Denton 
9544 L-Cpl E Pepper 
9581 Pte W Papworth 
9594 Pte J Goodhead 
9595 Pte J Sharp 
9598 Cpl F Robinson 
9648 Pte A Skinner 
9655 Pte E Parker 
9690 Pte H Osborne 
9712 Pte D Lydle 
9726 Pte A Gilbey 
9744 Pte G Butler 
9756 Pte A Tomlinson 
9759 Pte S Simons 
9804 Pte G Cope 
9808 Pte P Clark 
9819 Pte Arthur Richardson 
9826 Pte S Rumbles 
9837 Pte S J Folwell 
9867 Pte W Mardling 
9869 Pte A R Maydwell 
9891 Pte A Mee 
9951 Pte H Wright 
9973 Pte R Franklin 
10017 Pte W G Watson 
10030 Pte A Woodcock 
10031 Pte G Brown 
10041 Pte J Reid 
10042 Pte A Fitzjohn 
10048 Pte W White 
10081 Pte H Denton 
10144 Cpl P Sandilands 
10145 Pte T J Harris 
10171 Pte W Austin 
10188 Pte G Stringer 
10374 L-Cpl T Allen

Image courtesy of The History Place

Bedfordshire Regiment - PoW Other Ranks 1914

The following men were all serving with regular battalions of The Bedfordshire Regiment, when they became prisoners of war of the Germans on or before Christmas Day 1914. There are 173 names in this list.  Read more about this Prisoner of War data source on my 1914 PoWs page.

This data has been transcribed from the following sources which are now housed at the Imperial War Museum:

1. B.O.2 1/108. A five-page handwritten list from Bedfordshire Regiments' [sic] Prisoners of War Care Committee dated 5th January 1919.
2. B.O.2 1/110. A nine-page handwritten list to Sir Ernest Goodhart from colonel i/c No 2 Records, Warley, Essex; letter dated 18th January 1919

My full transcription of this Bedfordshire Regiment Prisoners of War roll call of other ranks (not reproduced here) also contains the battalion, and home address or next of kin address. 

The full transcription is available for sale as a download or CD for £20. Contact me if you would like to purchase a copy.

6601 Private E Alexander
8315 Private G Anderson
8628 Lance-Corporal J Andrews
8016 Private A Ansell
8582 Private S Archer
10166 Private G Argent
9985 Lance-Corporal A Austin
7849 Private E Ayres
7809 Private C Baker
10321 Private F C Baker
10208 Private L Baker
7801 Private H Banks
10279 Private H Banyard
10169 Private F Bateman
10218 Private L Beard
8449 Private E P Beech
8252 Lance-Corporal W Benton
8951 Private S Bilcock
9923 Private A Bowskill
7448 Private W Branch
6886 Private A Brooks
9137 Private F G Brown
5946 Private J A Brown
8468 Private R Brown
8076 Sergeant W Brown
3/5946 Private W A Brown
7858 Private G W Byerly
8060 Private A Cambers
8213 Private T Cambers
8295 Private B Chamberlain
10206 Private S Chambers
7452 Private R Christmas
8373 Private A W Clarke
10008 Private E Clarke
10004 Private T Clarke
8373 Private W A Clarke
8798 Private A Cobbett
7954 Private J Cook
10134 Private A Crawley
10176 Private J Cuthbert
8408 Private C M Day
7457 Corporal E Day
8988 Lance-Corporal H Delamore
7624 Private W Dobson
7545 Private J Dorling
10035 Private T Dowse
9741 Private A Duberry
8132 Lance-Corporal J Eames
6668 Private H Elliott
8824 Private W Evans
9692 Private E Farrant
9416 Lance-Corporal W Fenning
7713 Private A Fensome
7950 Private W Fish
8149 Private A Freeman
8915 Private A French
8185 Corporal J Galvin
7603 Private W Garner
7799 Private H Gilbert
7967 Private J Glenn
7729 Private J Good
7850 Private H Green
8740 Private F Grey
6227 Private R Hallett
7432 Private B Hammett
7767 Private W Harvey
8313 Private C Hatcher
9402 Private H Haynes
8781 Private C Hebbs
7431 Private A Henman
7796 Private T Higgins
10153 Private Frederick Hilton
12371 Lance-Corporal Walter S Hoar
8807 Private A Holland
10020 Private A Hollingsworth
7977 Sergeant J Hoptroff
10249 Private W Horne
8068 Private R Hornett
7758 Private F Howard
10170 Private N Howe
9683 Sergeant Harry Charles Hubbard
7479 Private H Humphrey
9590 Private H Jackson
7587 Corporal H Jaggers
8727 Lance-Corporal A James
7345 Private J Jenkins
8788 Lance-Corporal F Jones
9896 Private L Jordan
9132 Private B King
7366 Drummer P Lambert
14336 Private J Larman
7972 Private C Laxton
8359 Private B Lay
8517 Private W Lewington
8083 Private George T Lewis
8629 Private M Mackeon
9800 Private S Males
10157 Private J Marks
7364 Private T Martin
7186 Private A Mason
10275 Private G Maxwell
9429 Private F McCarthy
8629 Private M McKeon
8906 Private G G Meadlarkan
5946 CSM W Mears
6998 Private S Mobley
6864 Sergeant J Moore
8106 Private John F Morgan
8266 Private S Moules
10112 Private J Moult
8685 Private W Mynott
9749 Private A C Nash
8369 Private A J Norman
6676 Private C Odell
8687 Private Charles Pallett
9123 Private F Papworth
10175 Private P Papworth
8602 Private F Parker
6344 Private A Payne
8871 Private L Petchey
10028 Private C Petts
10172 Private A Piggott
7658 Private A Pinney
10051 Private C Porter
10174 Private T W Preston
8795 Private E Prior
8767 Private G Prior
10033 Private A Rayment
6993 Private P Richardson
8842 Private E Rodwell
10197 Private W A Rogers
8330 Private W Rose
8760 Private E Russell
10200 Private G Rutland
9289 Private J Sambridge
7572 Private T Samuels
7460 Private A Saville
8173 Corporal H Sheppard
7147 Private J Short
7761 Private J Simkins
9237 Private A Skinner
9625 Lance-Corporal A Smewing
10071 Private R Smith
9040 Private W Smith
7605 Private W Smith
10239 Private A F Sole
7429 Private C Southgate
7533 Private G Sparkes
7696 Private E Stevens
9410 Private C Stringer
7671 Private J Taylor
9938 Private H Thompson
8141 Private H Turner
10187 Private W G Turner
6131 Private W Valentine
10289 Private W Villiers
8000 Private J Walker
8176 Private F Ward
8994 Private F Watson
9673 Private F Wells
8625 Private C White
7472 Private D White
7911 Private J White
9437 Corporal H Wilders
7319 Private A Williams
7755 Corporal T Williams
7830 Lance-Corporal T Williams
7755 Corporal T Williams
8471 Private S Woodman
9170 Private H Wright
8268 Private J Wright
8003 Private L Wright
9794 Private C York

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The Bedfordshire Regiment - 3rd & 4th Battalions

The 3rd (Special Reserve) and the 4th (Extra Reserve) Battalions of the Bedfordshire Regiment were the natural heirs of the 3rd and 4th Bedfordshire Militia Battalions and men transferring from the Bedfordshire Militia to the newly formed Bedfordshire Special and Extra Reserve Battalions in 1908, retained their old numbers.

Men attested with the Special Reserve on Army Form B.59: ARMY RESERVE (SPECIAL RESERVISTS) and they did so for six years' service. Question 11. of the attestation form asked:

"Have you ever served in the Army, the Marines, the Reserve Forces, the Territorial Force, the Militia, the Militia Reserve, The Imperial Yeomanry, or the Royal Navy. If so, state which and cause of discharge."

An asterisk against the question pointed towards a further note:

"If so, the Recruit is to be asked the particulars of his former service, and to produce, if possible, his Parchment Certificate of Discharge and Certificate of Character which should be returned to him conspicuously endorsed in red ink as follows: Name, Re-enlisted in the (Regiment), on the (Date)."

Men joining the Special Reserve or Extra Reserve straight from the Militia fell into none of the eight categories outlined in question 11. and so it is usual in their cases to see the answer given as, "No, except for the Militia in which I am still serving" or words along those lines.

Here are some Army Service numbers and corresponding joining dates for men attesting with the 3rd and 4th Battalions of the Bedfordshire Regiment:

The 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion, The Bedfordshire Regiment

4305 joined on 21st June 1908

As I mentioned earlier, men joining the 3rd & 4th Battalions of the Bedfordshire Regiment from the old Bedfordshire Militia battalions retained their old Militia numbers. Neither the 3rd nor the 4th Battalions of the Bedfordshire Regiment started numbering from 1 in 1908. Number 4305 was a 3rd Militia Battalion man who had originally been issued his number when he joined the Militia in September 1901. Certainly by the time the Militia ceased to exist, both the 3rd and the 4th Bedfordshire Militia battalions were numbering in the 5900s and possibly higher (although I don't currently have the data to prove that).

6086 joined on 30th June 1908 (no prior Militia service)
6170 joined on 5th January 1909
6518 joined on 25th April 1910
6835 joined on 8th August 1911
6994 joined on 29th January 1912
7258 joined on 11th February 1913
7486 joined on 6th July 1914
7511 joined on 8th August 1914
7932 joined on 10th September 1914
8608 joined on 2nd October 1914
8756 joined on 2nd November 1914

My data for the 3rd Battalion currently ends at this point.

4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion, The Bedfordshire Regiment

6092 joined on 2nd November 1908
6141 joined on 20th January 1909
6267 joined on 17th January 1910
6602 joined on 30th December 1911
6694 joined on 28th August 1912
6772 joined on 4th January 1913
6908 joined on 8th January 1914
7101 joined on 7th August 1914
7326 joined on 5th September 1914

My data for the 4th Battalion currently ends at this point.

Although I've not included prefixes in the numbers above, it was usual to prefix 3rd battalion numbers with a 3/ and 4th Battalion numbers with a 4/; usual but by no means universal.

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Alf Webb - a Bedfordshire regular

Since publishing this post about Alf Webb, I have been sent additional information and photographs of him which I have posted here on my Army Ancestry Research blog. My original post follows below:

Alf Webb sent this postcard to his sister in late September or early October 1914. On the reverse it reads:

Dear E

Will you let all of them know that we are moving from here Sunday 4th but don't know where. With love from Alf xxx

21st Brigade
7th Division
2nd Beds Reg, A Coy

and inside the card - the knapsack on the soldier's back - on the back of a series of humorous images, he had written an earlier note:

Dear E

Hope you are quite well as it leaves me. I suppose you are quite busy now aren't you. Give my love to all at Bedford and tell them I will write later, especially Lily as I haven't written to her for a long time but you see we are so busy now, we don't know when we are moving yet but it may be any time now. Hope you will like these views from

Loving brother Alf xxx

The 2nd Bedfords had been in South Africa when Britain went to war with Germany. The battalion was mobilized on the 10th August and embarked for England aboard HMT Kenilworth Castle at Cape Town on the 22nd August. It put into Table Bay the following day and sailed for England on the 27th.

After a short stop at St Helena, the battalion arrived in at Southampton on the 19th September and then moved to Lyndhurst where it joined the 21st Brigade in the 7th Division. As Alf wrote to his sister, the battalion moved in two trains to Southampton on the 4th October, half of the battalion then sailing to France the same day, the other half sailing the following day.

It's doubtful that Alf Webb ever saw his sister again. He was killed in action on the 20th September 1915. Soldiers Died in the Great War (SDGW) notes 10069 Corporal Alfred Webb of the 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment. He was born in Clavering, Essex and at the time of his enlistment at Bedford, was living at Newport in Essex.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission notes that Alf was 21 years old, the son of Joseph and Susan Harriet Webb, of Wicken Rd, Newport, Essex. He is buried in Vermelles British Cemetery.

Finally, using the information that I posted the other day on army service numbers in the regular battalions of the Bedfordshire Regiment we can see that Alf must have joined up between 6th April 1912 and 28th June 1913. Actually, he must have joined up in 1912 because number 10111 was issued on 6th September 1912.

Thanks to his consideration in sending a postcard to his sister in 1914 I am able to commemorate Alfred Webb on this army service numbers blog.

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The Bedfordshire Regiment - 1st & 2nd Battalions

There are over 35,000 Bedfordshire Regiment service and pension records (for this regiment - and its antecedents) in various War Office series held at the National Archives. Clicking on the link will take you to the results on Findmypast but you will need a subscription or Pay-Per-View credits to actually view the records. Some of these records can also be viewed on-line on Ancestry although Findmypast has by far the most comprehensive service record collection.

Pictured above, Private Alf Webb, a Bedfordshire regular who I have written about elsewhere. Alf joined the regiment in 1912 and was killed in action on the 20th September 1915. The photo above probably dates to pre-First World War.

Here is a sample series of regimental numbers and corresponding joining dates for the regular 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Bedfordshire Regiment. Use these numbers and dates as a guide to plot your own ancestor's joining date.

19 joined on 7th September 1881
245 joined on 11th February 1882
732 joined on 15th May 1883
1001 joined on 20th May 1884
1391 joined on 6th February 1885
1904 joined on 25th February 1886
2342 joined on 25th May 1887
2580 joined on 12th January 1888
3085 joined on 1st March 1889
3462 joined on 14th January 1890
3753 joined on 20th January 1891
4034 joined on 20th March 1892
4663 joined on 26th September 1893
5015 joined on 1st September 1894
5249 joined on 28th January 1895
5671 joined on 23rd April 1896
6044 joined on 10th August 1897
6312 joined on 20th July 1898
6571 joined on 24th July 1899
6747 joined on 1st March 1900
6928 joined on 26th February 1901
7233 joined on 8th July 1902
7413 joined on 19th January 1903
7947 joined on 5th February 1904
8193 joined on 27th January 1905
8501 joined on 15th May 1906
8901 joined on 14th January 1907
9340 joined on 7th August 1908
9460 joined on 11th June 1909
9526 joined on 31st January 1910
9750 joined on 8th April 1911
9994 joined on 6th April 1912
10259 joined on 28th June 1913
10358 joined on 7th January 1914

The First World War

The 6th (Service) Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, was formed in August 1914. Men joining this battalion were given numbers that followed the same sequence being used by the regular battalions. So, in theory, 10400 (to take a hypothetical example) could enlist with the 6th Battalion for the duration of the war whilst 10401 could enlist with the 1st or 2nd battalion for Seven years with the Colours and five years on the Reserve.

I have a gap in my regular army service number data between 10381 (joined 9th February 1914) and 10712 (joined 14th August 1914). Certainly numbers in the 104** and 106** range were issued to 6th Battalion men between the 10th and 13th August 1914 and, from the information I hold, it looks as though this "sharing" (for want of a better term) of numbers between the 6th Battalion and the 1st and 2nd Battalion continued into the 107**s.

At some point in August 1914 though, it looks as though a decision was taken to separate the numbering sequences of the regular battalions from that of the service battalions. Service battalion numbering leaps from the 107**s to the 120**s in August 1914 whilst numbers in the 107** series and above, continued to be issued to regular enlistments throughout the war.

Here then, are some more regular enlistment army service numbers and joining dates for Bedfordshire Regiment enlistments during the war years:

10766 joined on 2nd November 1914
10785 joined on 12th December 1914
10793 joined on 4th January 1915
10849 joined on 18th March 1915
10881 joined on 29th April 1915
10891 joined on 22nd May 1915
10955 joined on 26th September 1915
10972 joined on 25th October 1915
10983 joined on 9th November 1915
11011 joined on 25th February 1916
11057 joined on 20th October 1916
11110 joined on 18th October 1917
11116 joined on 24th January 1918

My data currently ends in January 1918, and if some of the foregoing information is confusing, here's a summary based on my examination of the Bedfordshire Regiment army service numbers on my database:

Number 1 - 10450 (approx)
Regular enlistments whose numbers were issued sequentially between 1st July 1881 and 3rd August 1914
Number 10451 (approx) to 10760 (approx)
Regular enlistments and war-time service enlistments who joined the Bedfordshire Regiment in August 1914
Number 10761 (approx) to 11200 (approx)
Regular enlistments between c October 1914 and November 1918

And finally, a word of caution.

It is wrong to assume that numbering sequences in battalions always followed a sequential pattern. As can be seen above, 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 example, Bedfordshire Regiment numbers in the 119** range, which one might reasonably expect to fall in between the August 1914 107** and 120** patterns mentioned above, do no such thing. They appear to have been issued in July 1917 to men serving in the Bedfordshire Regiment graduated battalions.

For chapter and verse on the Bedfordshire Regiment in the Great War, visit Steve Fuller's excellent website.

I also offer a comprehensive, fast and cost-effective military history research service. Follow the link for more information.