Devonshire Regiment - 6th Battalion (TF) - 1908-1914

This post will look at regimental numbering in the 6th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment between 1908 and 1914.

The 6th Battalion was formed on the 1st April 1908, taking in men from the former 4th Volunteer Battalion. It was headquartered at Barnstaple.

The Territorial Year Book for 1909 recorded that the battalion strength was 25 officers and 523 men. At the annual camp in 1908, 243 officers and men attended for eight days whilst 207 officers and men attended for 15 days.

The following year, The Territorial Year Book for 1910 recorded that the strength was 27 officers and 853 men. At the annual camp in 1909, 408 officers and men had attended for 8 days whilst 411 officers and men had attended for 15 days. Camp for 1910 was scheduled for West Down South from the 23rd July.

The battalion's eight companies drew men from the following areas.

A Company: Barnstaple, with a drill station at Muddiford
B Company: Okehampton, with drill stations at Hatherleigh, Bow, and Sticklepath
C Company: Bideford, with drill stations at Appledore, Parkham, and Hartland
D Company: Torrington, with drill stations at St Giles, Holsworthy, and Ashwater
E Company: South Molton, with drill stations at Witheridge, Molland, and Chittlehampton
F Company: Chulmleigh, with drill stations at Winkleigh, King's Nympton, Burrington, and Crediton
G Company: Combe Martin, with drill stations at Berrynarbor,Braunton and Croyde
H Company: Barnstaple

Understanding the company distribution is important if you know where your 6th Battalion soldier lived as it would likely suggest the company he served with. For instance, men living in South Molton and wishing to join this battalion would have logically been assigned to E Company. (Note that such logic was largely abandoned after 4th August 1914).

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

386 joined on the 1st April 1908
665 joined on the 16th February 1909
1203 joined on the 28th April 1910
1442 joined on the 1st July 1911
1479 joined on the 22nd February 1912
1724 joined on the 9th June 1913

1825 joined on the 9th January 1914
2240 joined on the 26th August 1914

Use these regimental numbers to approximate when a man would have joined the 6th Battalion between 1908 and August 1914. For example if your man's number was 1500 he would have joined the battalion between February 1912 and June 1913.

The undated image on this post shows men of the 4th Battalion band. To search for photos of your Devonshire Regiment ancestors, check my British Army Ancestors website.

Remember. I research soldiers!

West Yorkshire Regiment - 7th (Leeds Rifles) Bn (TF)

This post will look at regimental numbering in the 7th Battalion (Leeds Rifles), The Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment) between 1908 and 1914. 

Both the 7th and the 8th Battalions, formed in April 1908, were derived from the 3rd Volunteer Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment and both were headquartered at Carlton Barracks, Leeds; both drawing their men from Leeds. At the time when Britain went to war with Germany in August 1914, both battalions formed part of the 1st West Riding Infantry Brigade in the West Riding Division. 

Both the 7th and the 8th Battalions operated independent regimental number series and the numbers and dates below are taken from surviving service and pension records of men who signed up with the 7th Battalion: 

833 joined on the 10th July 1908 

1020 joined on the 18th March 1909

1297 joined on the 10th March 1910 

1445 joined on the 3rd February 1911 

1556 joined on the 8th February 1912 

1742 joined on the 21st April 1913 

1895 joined on the 30th March 1914 

2265 joined on the 11th August 1914 

A reserve or ‘second-line’ battalion was formed at Leeds on the 15th September 1914, the original 7th Battalion now becoming the 1/7th Battalion and the new reserve battalion becoming the 2/7th Battalion. Although the battalion had been formed to take in men surplus to establishment and then to provide drafts for the 1/7th Battalion, the 2/7th ultimately served overseas in its own right from January 1917. Meanwhile, a 3/7th Battalion had been formed at Leeds in March 1915 but never served overseas.  All three battalions - the 1/7th, 2/7th, 3/7th - issued numbers from the same regimental number series and from 1917 reissued numbers to serving soldiers and to new recruits from a new numbers' series which began at 265001 and extended to 305000. 

Use the regimental numbers above, which were issued sequentially, to estimate when a man would have joined this battalion between 1908 and August 1914. 

The photo on this post shows an unknown Leeds Rifles corporal.

Remember. I research soldiers! Drop me a line if you need help 

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

Regimental numbers are windows into the past

A regimental number is like a window into the past. And for many soldiers for whom no service or pension records survive, it may often be the only window.

This blog will demonstrate why regimental numbers are so important for today's family and military historians. To illustrate this have taken a list of men from the King's Royal Rifle Corps whose names were all published in The Times on the 30th January 1915. All had been posted as missing; and officially notified by the War Office on the 6th December 1914.

I've arranged the numbers chronologically. If - and it's a big IF - these numbers had all been issued to men joining the regular battalions - that's the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Battalions - it would be a simple job to identify when these men joined the KRRC. However, there will be men in this list who had originally enlisted with the 5th (Special Reserve) or 6th (Extra Reserve) Battalion, and both of these battalions operated their own distinct regimental number series.

I am often queried why someone's regimental number does not fit with the sequences I have published on this blog. "It can't possibly be correct..." goes the hypothetical cry, "according to your information he must have enlisted in 1894 when he was nine!  The answer is invariably that the ancestor concerned did not originally enlist with a regular battalion - and remember, it's mostly regular battalions that I have concentrated on to date - but with a special or extra reserve battalion; or later, a Territorial Force battalion or New Army battalion.

But for the purpose of this exercise - and because I don't have the time to look at each of these 229 records individually - let's assume that all of these men were issued with these numbers when they enlisted as career soldiers with the King's Royal Rifle Corps.

The first man on this list was certainly a career man. Philip Horace Taylor originally enlisted at Aldershot in 1898. His service record shows that he served in the Boer War and was reported missing and a prisoner of war on the 3rd November 1914. He would spend the rest of the war in captivity and would finally be transferred to Class Z of the Army Reserve in 1919 having served 21 years and 37 days; enough time to claim a pension.

So Private Turner appears to be the longest-serving man here, but  - and assuming we're just talking about regulars, remember - all the men in this first group had joined the KRRC while Queen Victoria was still on the throne:

802 Pte Philip Horace Taylor
891 Pte J Barrett
900 Pte W Walton
1182 Pte F Wood
1315 Pte J Murphy
1403 Pte J Benson
1447 Pte J Brady
1466 Col-Sgt Harry W Charles
2043 Pte F Potter
2125 Pte G Winsor
2151 Pte H Turner
2179 Pte J Speak
2200 Pte A Duggan

In order for these pre-August 1900 KRRC enlistments to still be serving in August 1914 they must have either re-engaged to complete 21 years with the colours OR enlisted as Section D reservists. This would have extended their period on the reserve for a further four years. As a reward for this commitment they were paid the grand sum of 6d per day. Colour-Sergeant Harry Charles had certainly re-engaged and must have cursed his luck - and the odd German - when he was captured at Ypres on the 2nd November 1914. He has a number of papers held by the International Committee of the Red Cross archive. Follow the ICRC PoW link to search for prisoners of war. The site is FREE!

2262 Pte J Walsh
2268 Pte B Cocker
2274 Pte W Corser
2463 Pte J Wilkins
2471 Pte J Street
2499 Pte T McQueeney
2563 Pte G Clarke
2569 Pte T Farley
2570 Pte A Payne
2573 Sgt F Tyler
2727 Pte W Eaton
2989 Pte S Johnston
3033 Pte N Bartley
3069 Pte S Sykes
3334 Pte Bert Cooper (enlisted 7th December 1900)
3347 Pte Samuel Beach

Numbers in this range would have been issued to regulars joining up in 1901:

3347 Pte Samuel Beach
3487 Pte Jonathan Bingham
3575 Pte W Wilson
3686 Pte J Lalley
3917 Pte H Clarke
3939 Pte S Pammant
3963 Pte W Bailey
3998 Pte H Chesterton
4081 Pte E Revell
4139 Pte T Ball

Numbers in this range would have been issued to regulars joining up in 1902:

4170 Pte J Cade
4187 Pte Eli Henry Meecham
4210 Pte W Birkett joined on the 28th January 1902
4221 Pte A Grant
4245 Pte C Moore
4250 Pte W Cox
4320 Pte J Watt
4330 Pte P Murphy
4368 Pte A Stockwell
4390 L-Cpl J Brown
4499 Bugler C Simpson
4563 Pte P Newton
4581 Pte J Sheldon
4658 Pte J Whalley
4660 Pte J Conley
4685 Pte J Barfield
4771 Pte H Jayes
4808 Pte W Jones
4813 Pte F Adfield
4841 Pte J Roberts
4944 Pte W Leyland
5075 Pte J Allen
5098 Pte T Hill
5225 Pte J Rafferty

These numbers would all have been issued to career KRRC enlisting in 1903:

5260 Pte W Andrews
5297 Pte J Quinn
5406 Pte R Robinson
5432 Pte T Batson
5454 Pte G Ashton
5502 Pte W Towler
5529 Pte C Thompson
5575 Pte A Garrison
5602 Pte J Dunn
5608 Pte W Gilbert
5630 Pte J Fell
5704 Pte H Donnelly
5710 Pte J Kempton

And so on...

The point is that by analysing the regimental numbers it is possible to work out not only when a man joined the regiment but also what his subsequent service probably looked like. I find this actually more interesting than analysing service records; although I have plenty of experience of doing both - drop me a line if I can help you with your research.

5743 Pte W Barker
5782 Pte G Savigar
5794 Pte G Samuels
5813 Pte J Cook
5856 Pte A Nash
5871 Pte W Garner
5875 Pte G Allen
5894 Pte W Fox
5903 Pte F Mockford
5909 Pte E Barker
5910 Pte C Hurt
5915 Pte R Topper
5922 Pte A Dean
5980 Pte H Drummond
5997 Pte L Broadbent
6036 Pte J Cannon
6047 L-Cpl W Meadley
6088 Pte G Wolliter
6133 Pte J Forengo
6136 Pte J Holden
6205 L-Cpl J Almond
6277 Pte J Cahill
6297 Pte P Gunning
6385 Pte T Campey
6410 Pte F Jagger
6434 Pte E Myers
6457 Pte S Bowers
6511 L-Cpl F Callaway

What is easy to forget when looking at the lists of 1914 casualties is the loss to the British Army in terms of experience. Many of these men had more than a dozen years' service under their belts before they sailed for France in 1914. They were efficient at musketry and drill, and many of them would have served throughout the British Empire.

6514 Pte E Stinson
6522 Pte W Swingle
6539 L-Cpl G Cooper
6556 Pte C Crook
6579 Pte M Stephenson
6605 Pte J Franklin
6630 Pte H Freeman
6651 Pte G Coake
6678 Pte F Harratt
6681 Pte C Cammaeron
6687 Pte J McDermott
6697 Pte J Blunt
6710 Pte T Maughan
6751 Pte W Phillips
6759 Sgt S Thompson

Men from about this point onwards are all enlistments from 1907 onwards. Typical terms of enlistment at this time would have seven years with the colours and five on the reserve, although if a man was serving overseas during his period of colour service he could expect to actually serve eight years with the colours and four years on the reserve.

6759 Sgt S Thompson
6791 Pte G Davies
6833 Pte H Greenwood
6978 Pte W Freatwell
6987 Pte W Champion
7022 Pte J Fereday
7026 Pte W Emery
7055 Pte L Posnett
7064 Pte W Smith
7067 Cpl H Revell
7110 Pte C Cully
7120 Pte T Starkie
7141 Pte J Meakins
7165 L-Cpl S Crockett
7209 Pte F Roberts
7247 L-Cpl O Mullarkey
7270 Pte W Colfar
7300 Pte W Chapman
7316 Pte R Fitt
7320 Sgt T Painting
7334 Pte J Parker
7339 Pte W Pallin
7358 Pte B Edmunds
7364 Pte D Kingston
7370 Pte S Hill
7411 Cpl A Chapman
7414 Pte C Easden
7417 Pte J Farrell
7418 Pte W Brown
7442 Pte A Smithurst

7462 Pte V Conn
7469 Pte W Ryan
7502 Pte W Collins
7512 Pte J Coleman
7531 Pte C Amass
7540 Pte B Gayler
7574 Pte R Chambers
7590 Pte F Hines
7649 Pte H Bradley
7659 Pte George Cutler
7867 Pte J Whitney
7871 Pte S Shemmings
7890 Pte J Lee
7947 Pte Thomas Baister
8002 Pte S Chater
8011 Pte A Mullins
8032 Pte W Johnson
8047 L-Cpl E Amies
8058 L-Cpl J Garwood
8115 Pte D Cullimore

Use my snapshot of KRRC enlistment dates in my King's Royal Rifle Corps to work out for yourself when the men in this list would have joined the regiment. Don't forget too that many of the men in this list will also appear in my list of KRRC prisoners of war. I'll publish that soon. 

8679 Col-Sgt J Reynolds
9111 Sgt S Gilbert
9277 Pte A Day
9354 Pte C Casey
9358 Cpl P Freeman
9373 Pte F Noble
9379 Pte H Beel
9452 L-Cpl T Waud
9579 Pte H Walters
9749 Pte P Broughton
9842 Pte J Burke
9866 Pte C Ayres
10006 Cpl A Morgan
10043 Pte F White
10324 Cpl A Lee
10346 Pte G Stonham
10436 L-Cpl W Dalby
10462 Pte H Moore
10463 Pte A Pitman
10526 Pte P Bell
10530 Pte C Parrott
10688 Pte T Day
10718 Pte C Wills
10768 Pte G Young
10777 Pte R Cox
10892 Pte S Booker

All of the men below had only joined the regiment in 1913 and thus could still be considered to have been learning their craft as soldiers.

10912 Pte A Burridge
10928 Pte E Paveley
10933 Pte W Ward
10948 Pte W Allen
10950 Pte H Sims
10963 Pte A Fry
10976 Pte G Pearson
10977 Pte W Ramsay
10980 Pte G Symes
10983 Pte P Brown
10990 Pte A Lloyd
11002 Pte W Strong
11005 Pte R Reeve
11012 Pte A Beale
11013 Pte L Price
11025 Pte W Soppitt
11027 Pte Walter John Shubrook
11046 Pte George Henry Peter Lanz
11049 Pte S Francis
11054 Pte A Silverton
11082 Pte B Pocock
11100 Pte G Ford
11101 Pte F Williams
11104 Pte H Thorpe
11133 Pte A Gilbert
11134 Pte J Reynolds
11140 Pte B Brown
11141 Pte G Walker
11145 L-Cpl F Adams
11151 Pte A Evans
11214 Pte B Wood
11246 Pte H Tiplady
11262 Pte L Davis
11296 Pte E Morgan

The last two men on this list are both 1914 enlistments, still wet behind the ears:

11319 Pte H Searle
11545 Pte F Thomas

All photos on this post are from my own KRRC collection. Service record extract courtesy of The National Archives.

Still need help? Drop me a line.

Not with a bang but a whimper: the demise of Special & Extra Reserve enlistments

This post will look at the demise of Special and Extra Reserve enlistments in the Infantry of the Line. I've not seen any official Army Council Instruction dealing with this and consequently would be pleased to know if anyone has seen evidence that recruiting into these battalions should cease. What follows is an alphabetical listing of infantry regiments and the latest dates that I have in my database for enlistments into their Special and Extra Reserve battalions. This is obviously a huge caveat as my database is, and always will be, incomplete: the later the war progresses, the thinner the data becomes. With largely Irish exceptions though, as will be seen from what follows, recruiting into the majority of Special and Extra Reserve battalions had become a thing of the past by the end of 1914. I will be pleased to update this list if anyone wishes to  add to, or correct, the information contained here.

3rd A & S Highlanders: Oct 1914
4th A & S Highlanders: Oct 1914
3rd Beds Regt: Nov 1914
4th Beds Regt: Sep 1914
3rd Black Watch: Sep 1914
3rd Border Regt: Oct 1914
3rd Buffs: Aug 1914

Note that a new number sequence was begun for men wishing to join the SR for wartime service only and this ran at least until October 1914

3rd Cameron Highlanders: Jan 1915
3rd Cameronians: Sep 1914
4th Cameronians: Sep 1914
3rd Cheshire: Jul 1915
3rd and 4th Connaught Rangers: appear to have recruited and maintained their number sequences throughout the war
3rd Devonshire Regt: Oct 1914
3rd Dorsetshire Regt: Mar 1915
3rd DCLI: Oct 1914
3rd Duke of Wellington's: Apr 1916
3rd Durham L.I.: Oct 1914
4th Durham L.I.: Sep 1914
3rd East Lancs Regt: Oct 1914
3rd East Surrey Regt: Apr 1915
4th East Surrey Regt: Sep 1914

Note that two new short-lived number sequences were begun In August 1914 for men wishing to join the 3rd E Surrey and 4th E Surrey for wartime service only and these ran at least until October and September 1914 respectively

3rd East Yorks Regt: Dec 1914
3rd Essex Regt: Nov 1914
3rd Gloucs Regt: Nov 1914
3rd Gordon Hrs: Nov 1914
3rd Hants Regt: Nov 1914
3rd HLI: Oct 1914
4th HLI: Sep 1914
3rd King's (Liverpool Regt): Nov 1914
4th King's (Liverpool Regt): Sep 1914
3rd King's Own: Nov 1914
3rd KOSB: Apr 1915
3rd KOYLI: Sep 1914
5th KRRC: Sep 1914
6th KRRC: Insufficient data
3rd Lancs Fus: Oct 1914
4th Lancs Fus: Oct 1914
3rd Leics: Sep 1914 3rd,
4th & 5th Leinster Regt: appear to have recruited and maintained their number sequences throughout the war
3rd Lincs Regt: Jun 1915
3rd Loyal N Lancs: Nov 1914
3rd Manchester Regt: Nov 1914
4th Manchester Regt: Nov 1914
5th Middx: Aug 1914
6th Middx Regt: Aug 1914

Note that two new short-lived number sequences were begun In August 1914 for men wishing to join the 5th Middx and 6th Middx for wartime service only and these ran at least until October and September 1914 respectively

3rd Norfolk Regt: Oct 1914
3rd Northants Regt: Sep 1914
3rd North Staffs Regt: Oct 1914
4th North Staffs: Sep 1914
3rd Northumberland Fus: Sep 1914
3rd Ox & Bucks LI: Nov 1914
3rd Queen's (RWS): Oct 1914
5th Rifle Brigade: Aug 1914
6th Rifle Brigade: Aug 1914
7th Rifle Brigade: Insufficient data
3rd Royal Berks Regt: Oct 1914
3rd, 4th and 5th Royal Dublin Fus: appear to have recruited and maintained their number sequences throughout the war 5th Royal Fus: Jan 1915
6th Royal Fus: Dec 1914
7th Royal Fus: Jan 1915
3rd & 4th R Innis Fus: appear to have recruited and maintained their number sequences at least until the end of 1915 and possibly throughout the war
3rd & 4th R Irish Fus: appear to have recruited and maintained their number sequences at least until the end of 1915 and possibly throughout the war
3rd & 4th R Irish Regt: appear to have recruited and maintained their number sequences at least until the end of 1915 and possibly throughout the war
3rd, 4th and 5th R Irish Rifs: appear to have recruited and maintained their number sequences at least until Jan 1916 in the case of the 4th and 5th Battalions, and at least until October 1916 for the 3rd Battalion; possibly to the end of the war for all battalions
3rd, 4th and 5th R Munster Fus: appear to have recruited and maintained their number sequences well into 1916 and possibly throughout the war
3rd Royal Scots: Jan 1915
3rd Royal Scots Fus: Oct 1914

3rd Royal Sussex Regt: Nov 1914 Note that a new short-lived number sequences were begun in August 1914 for men wishing to join the 3rd R Sussex for wartime service only. This appears to have petered out by November 1914.

3rd R Warwicks Regt: Sep 1914
4th R Warwicks Regt: Oct 1914
3rd Royal Welsh Fus: Feb 1915
3rd Royal West Kent Regt: Aug 1914

Note that a new short-lived number sequences were begun in August 1914 for men wishing to join the 3rd RWK for wartime service only. This appears to have petered out by October 1914.

3rd Seaforth Hrs: Nov 1914
3rd Sherwood Foresters: Nov 1914
4th Sherwood Foresters: Sep 1914
3rd Shrops L I: Feb 1915
3rd Somerset L I: Oct 1914
3rd South Lancs Regt: Jun 1915
3rd South Staffs Regt: Oct 1914
4th South Staffs Regt: Oct 1914
3rd South Wales Bords: Sep 1914
3rd Suffolk Regt: Nov 1914
3rd Welsh Regt: May 1915
3rd West Yorks Regt: Oct 1914
4th West Yorks Regt: Aug 1914
3rd Wilts Regt: Nov 1914
5th Worcs Regt: Aug 1914
6th Worcs Regt: Nov 1914
3rd Yorks Regt: Jul 1915
3rd York & Lancs Regt: Mar 1915

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

South Wales Borderers 1881-1914 - 1st and 2nd Battalions

The information contained this post has been compiled as a result of looking at service records in WO 97, WO 363 and WO 364. All of these series, joy of joys, are now online via subscription or pay per view. Clicking on the links will take you to these pay-sites. My online correspondent, Greenwich Pensioner (GP), has also contributed data for 1907-1908 and I am grateful to him for his research.

There are over 28,000 South Wales Borderers pensionand service 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.

Use the regimental numbers and dates on which these were issued, below, to determine parameters for when your own South Wales Borderers' ancestor would have joined up. Note though that these numbers are only for regular enlistments. Special Reserve and Territorial Force battalions operated completely separate regimental number sequences.

The South Wales Borderers was formed on the 1st July 1881 from the 24th (the 2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot.

The newly formed regiment was established as the county regiment for Brecknockshire, Cardiganshire, Monmouthshire, Montgomeryshire and Radnor and started numbering from 1 in 1881.

12 joined on 12th August 1881
263 joined on 29th June 1882
732 joined on 26th June 1883
985 joined on 8th January 1884
1433 joined on 7th April 1885
1725 joined on 21st January 1886
2169 joined on 5th April 1887
2355 joined on 16th February 1888
2621 joined on 26th April 1889
3237 joined on 28th April 1890
3598 joined on 13th January 1891
3910 joined on 22nd January 1892
4150 joined on 13th March 1893
4520 joined on 10th January 1894
4851 joined on 10th January 1895
5188 joined on 25th January 1896
5551 joined on 12th January 1897
5894 joined on 18th March 1898
6076 joined on 13th January 1899
6623 joined on 9th March 1900

The South Wales Borderers raised two complete volunteer service companies during the South African War and one volunteer service section comprising one officer and 31 men. Numbers were allocated as follows:

1st VSC: numbers within the ranges 6720 to 6738 and 7502 to 7612
2nd VSC: numbers within the range 7613 to 7727
3rd VSC: numbers 7731 to 7761

The 1st VSC departed home locations on 29th January 1900 and by May that year had joined the 2nd Battalion at Osfontein in South Africa. The 2nd VSC was mobilized at Brecon on the 15th February and arrived at Cape Town on the 16th April 1901.

6977 joined on 1st April 1901
7257 joined on 16th April 1902

7358 Thomas William Boon oined on 6th August 1902
7848 John Potter Booty oined on 29th December 1902
7868 joined on 8th January 1903

8313 Frederick Davies joined on 29th December 1903
8341 joined on 28th January 1904

8634 James Williams joined on 28th December 1904
8841 joined on 31st July 1905

9003 Albert Edward Webber joined on 30th December 1905
9246 joined on the 3rd July 1906

9488 Godfrey Charles Tomkins joined on 31st December1906

1907-1908

By 1905, the 1st Battalion South Wales Borderers was in Karachi and a number of drafts from the UK were sent to Karachi during the time frame 1907-8 (about 450 men in all). When it was time for the 1st to come back to the UK, and for the 2nd Battalion to deploy overseas to South Africa (Pretoria), around 250 men were transferred to the 2nd so that the new overseas battalion was well up to strength.

The majority of the following numbers and names from 1907 and 1908 are reproduced here thanks to research undertaken by GP.

9495 Thomas Thomas joined on 8th January 1907

9510 joined on 29th January 1907
9579 Alfred Walker joined on 11th July 1907
9605 Ernest Charles Andrew joined on 24th August 1907
9607 Morgan Hopkins joined on 21st August 1907
9610 Harry Jenkins joined on 26th August 1907
9613 Albert William Powell joined on 22nd August 1907
9614 John Carlton joined on 29th August 1907
9616 Noah Francis joined on 30th August 1907
9617 William Gabb joined on 29th August 1907
9621 William Gough joined on 4th September 1907
9624 Walter Nash joined on 2nd September 1907
9630 Bedwin Robert Watson joined on 3rd September 1907
9637 David Williams joined on 3rd September 1907
9641 Arthur Ernest Peacock joined on 5th September 1907
9642 William Storer joined on 5th September 1907
9643 Joseph Humphries joined on 6th September 1907
9644 Osborn James Hales joined on 4th September 1907
9645 Will F Manning joined on 4th September 1907
9648 Alfred Smith joined on 5th September 1907
9656 James Camplin joined on 7th September 1907
9664 William Pope joined on 9th September 1907
9669 Eugene McCarthy joined on 11th September 1907
9679 Alfred E Box joined on 11th September 1907
9680 Henry George Spencer joined on 12th September 1907
9683 Sidney Ernest Collins joined on 12th September 1907
9686 William Joseph Powell joined on 12th September 1907
9690 George Warner joined on 16th September 1907
9696 William Suggett joined on 16th September 1907
9700 Isaac Rees Evans joined on 18th September 1907
9704 Peter Blake joined on 19th September 1907
9715 Evan John Davies joined on 23rd September 1907
9720 Eric Leslie Bowyer joined on 23rd September 1907
9726 Edgar William Wall joined on 23rd September 1907
9729 Nathan John Goat joined on 24th September 1907
9739 Alfred Ernest Mayhew joined on 12th October 1907
9745 Alfred Gibbons joined on 19th October 1907
9746 Thomas Davies joined on 21st October 1907
9750 John Hudson joined on 22nd October 1907
9752 Francis John Court joined on 24th October 1907
9758 Joseph Jennings joined on 5th November 1907
9769 Thomas Jones joined on 22nd November 1907
9785 John Dillon joined on 30th December 1907

9789 Michael Reed joined on 31st December 1907
9790 Robert Carver joined on 4th January 1908
9791 William Ludwick joined on 4th January 1908
9805 Ernest Cruise joined on 17th January 1908
9818 Fred Round joined on 16th January 1908
9861 Ernest Reuben Loveridge joined on 29th April 1908
9908 Gerbert Cockeran joined on 20th July 1908
10226 James Joyce joined on 18th December 1908
10238 joined on 15th January 1909

10296 Arthur Richard Hall joined on 13th December 1909
10492 joined on the 12th August 1910

10586 Ernest Jones joined on 2nd January 1911
10648 joined on the 6th July 1911

10723 William David Price joined on 29th December 1911
10818 joined on 28th May 1912

10966 Charles Edward Powell joined on 11th December 1912
11041 joined on 5th May 1913

11103 Timothy Burke joined on 24th November 1913
11109 Cecil Jones joined on 14th January 1914
11115 joined on 5th February 1914

11213 Edward Timbury joined on 27th July 1914
11218 Hector Clapton joined on 7th August 1914

The First World War

When Britain went to war in August 1914 an attempt appears to have been made to differentiate between those men who were enlisting for war-time service only and those men who were enlisting during war-time, but under regular terms of enlistment.

By August 1914, The South Wales Borderers had three separate number series running: one for the two regular battalions, one for the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion, and one for the Territorial Brecknockshire Battalion. Quite a simple differentiation on the face of it, but the South Wales Borderers numbering is far from straightforward from August 1914 onwards.

Numbers prefixed with the number 3/ start appearing on attestation papers of men who were joining up for a career in the army. The 3/ appears to be a red herring, a way of differentiating perhaps, between war-time only enlistments and regular enlistments. However, the same prefix also appears – as it might be expected to do - on some 3rd Battalion numbers. Thus, for example 3/11283 joined up for seven years with the colours and three years on the reserve on the 2nd September 1914. However, the same number had already been issued to a man joining the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion in March 1913.

At the same time, some men who were joining up for war-time service only were issued with numbers from the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion, even though their papers are clearly not those of Special Reservists but rather men signing up for active service for three years or duration.

In summary, and ignoring the 3/ prefix, it looks as though numbers up until around 12300 were held back for men who wanted to join the SWB as career soldiers whilst numbers higher than this were issued to war-time only recruits.

Recruitment rates 1881-1911

Between 1st July 1881 and 25th February 1891, The South Wales Borderers recruited 3,598 men, a good average of 375 men each year. Of the sixty-nine infantry regiments recruiting at this time, The South Wales Borderers was the seventeenth most successful infantry recruiter.

Recruitment in the 1890s dipped for the regiment and by April 1901 it was issuing number 6977 to its latest career soldier, an average recruitment rate of 330 men per annum and put the regiment in thirty-eighth place out of the sixty-nine infantry regiments recruiting at the time.

Recruitment in the regiment picked up in the first decade of the twentieth century and by July 1911 the regiment had issued number 10648 to its latest recruit; an above-average recruitment rate for the 1900s of 358 men.

1st Battalion stations 1881-1914

1881 Colchester
1883 Kilkenny
1885 Curragh
1887 Dublin
1889 Aldershot
1893 Egypt
1895 Gibraltar
1897 Chakratta
1903 Dalhousie
1905 Karachi
1909 Quetta
1910 Chatham
1913 Bordon
1914 France and Flanders (from August)

2nd Battalion stations 1881-1914

1881 Sheffield
1883 Mullingar (India)
1888 Cork
1891 Devonport
1892 Secunderabad
1897 Bellary
1899 Ahmednagar
1901 Subathu
1904 Quetta
1906 South Africa
1908 (Sep) - 1910 (Jan) Pembroke Dock
1910 (Jan) - 1912 (Oct) Pretoria
1912 (Oct) - 1914 (Sept) Tientsin, China

1914 Tsingtao / Hong Kong
1915 (Jan) UK

The photo on this blog is an anachronism and shows men of the 24th Regiment of Foot in 1879.  Image taken from Historik Orders.

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Further reading:

The South Wales Borderers, 24th Foot 1689-1937

Historical records of the 24th Regiment (South Wales Borderers)

History of the South Wales Borderers 1914-1918

British Army recruitment in the nineteenth century

Further to responses to my post yesterday on recruitment into the Border Regiment in 1906, and specifically the regions from which regiments drew their recruits, I'd like to quote from Alan Ramsay Skelley's The Victorian Army at Home (Croom Helm London, & McGill - Queen's University Press; Montreal 1977).

"... recruitment relied heavily upon a large staff of army pensioners and soldiers seconded from regular and militia units. Each regiment recruited at its headquarters while, independent of this, the country was divided into several large districts centred around major cities, where full time recruiting staff were employed. Regulations forbade units to recruit over their voted establishment... This meant that recruitment had to be turned off like a tap when the establishment was reached and back on when colonial drafts reduced the size of the home army."

There were also incentives both for the recruit, and for the recruiting staff.

"Cash bounties were sometimes used to attract men to the colours, the amount paid varying with the need for men. In 1859 during the threat of war with France, each recruit received £3. Recruiting officials received a fee for every man they enlisted. In 1859 again, £1 7s 6d was shared between the recruiting party and the superintending officer."

I am not sure how widespread this incentive practice was by 1906.

Dr Skelley also presents various tables, and in the table showing the nationalities of men serving with the colours between 1868 and 1898 there is a clear decline in the percentages of men deriving from Ireland and Scotland. In 1868, English and Welsh recruits accounted for 59.5 per cent of the total, whilst Scottish recruits accounted for 9.5 per cent, and the Irish, 31 per cent. By 1898 the figures were 78.2, 8.2 and 13.6 per cent resepectively.

In 1891, according to the census taken that year, Rank and File in the Royal Scots, Seaforth Highlanders, Highland Light Infantry, Royal Highlanders, Cameron Highlanders, Gordon Highlanders, Cameronians and Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders numbered 2,076. Of these, 61.5 per cent were born in Scotland, 32.9 per cent in England & Wales, 4.3 per cent in Ireland, and 1.3 per cent overseas.

For the army in Scotland as a whole, in 1891, less than half - 44.5 per cent - of the Rank and File had been born in Scotland, with 48.8 per cent born in England & Wales, five per cent born in Ireland, and 1.7 per cent born overseas.

As Dr Skelley concludes, and as Graham Stewart pointed out in his comment on yesterday's post, "it is clear... that the proportion of Scots in their own units declined somewhat between 1851 and 1891 [and a good deal after that as well]. Their places in the ranks, like those of the Irish, were taken by English (and Welsh) soldiers. This clearly throws some doubt on the success of Cardwell's localisation of recruitment."

As a further example - which Alan Skelley questions - Lord Sandhurst asserted in 1893 that only 21 per cent of Cameron Highlanders came from the Cameron's recruiting district and that of the remaining men, sixty per cent were "Whitechapel Highlanders". Whitechapel, in London's East End, is just two or three miles away from Stratford where the Border Regiment would have so much success 17 years later.

I've borrowed the famous image of recruiting sergeants lounging outside a public house in Westminster in 1877, from the Victoria & Albert Museum's website. The photograph was taken by John Thomson (1837-1921).


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