This post will look at army service numbers issued to men joining the 1st and 2nd Battalions of The King's (Liverpool Regiment) between the regiment's formation in 1881, and the day Britain went to war with Germany: 4th August 1914.
There are over 67,000 King's (Liverpool 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.
The King's (Liverpool Regiment) was formed in July 1881 from the 8th (The King's) Regiment of Foot.
157 joined on 21st October 1881
210 joined on 18th February 1882
376 joined on 5th July 1883
690 joined on 18th March 1884
1028 joined on 1st January 1885
1647 joined on 29th April 1886
2055 joined on 21st April 1887
2373 joined on 1st February 1888
2880 joined on 30th March 1889
3344 joined on 18th April 1890
3541 joined on 29th May 1891
3811 joined on 10th May 1892
4098 joined on 16th February 1893
4443 joined on 1st February 1894
4874 joined on 31st July 1895
5290 joined on 16th April 1896
5659 joined on 5th March 1897
6125 joined on 9th July 1898
6351 joined on 4th February 1899
6733 joined on 20th February 1900
7332 joined on 9th January 1901
8151 joined on 22nd May 1902
8418 joined on 24th February 1903
8774 joined on 28th April 1904
9316 joined on 8th July 1905
9622 joined on 10th September 1906
9923 joined on 25th April 1907
10477 joined on 9th November 1908
10578 joined on 9th June 1909
10799 joined on 11th January 1910
11102 joined on 15th March 1911
11226 joined on 12th February 1912
11588 joined on 26th May 1913
11987 joined on 4th August 1914
Number 11987 enlisted as a career soldier for 12 years' long service, and there would be many thousands of men following in his footsteps, albeit the vast majority of these for shorter, war-time only service.
The King's did not start a separate series for the Kitchener volunteers but used the same number series that had been in use by the regulars up until then. The only differentiation between a man enlisting for a regular period of service was - initially at least - the prefix before the number. Numbers for the volunteers were prefixed with the letter K/ whilst those enlisting for regular service had the letter L/ placed before their numbers. The King's appear to have abandoned the K/ prefix by around mid November 1914, but the L/ prefix continued to be used - inconsistently - for regular enlistments; certainly into 1915 at least.
I've borrowed the image on this post from the Wikipedia page about the King's (Liverpool Regiment). It shows men from The King's (D Company; battalion not stated) at Wellington Barracks, Nova Scotia in 1890.
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Further Reading
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History of the King's Regiment (Liverpool) 1914-1919
Massive history of the old 8th Regiment of Foot. Originally published in three volumes this reprinted work comes in one softback edition and include a roll of honour of 14,200 war dead.
The History of the 2/6th Battalion "The King's" (Liverpool Regiment) 1914-1919
Contains detailed appendices listing officers and other ranks, appointments held, casualty details etc.
Story of the "9th King's" in France
First World War history of this Territorial Force formation.
The Liverpool Scottish 1900-1919
Solid history of this King's (Liverpool Regiment) Territorial Force battalion from its formation in 1900.
