Dorsetshire Regiment 1881-1914 - 1st and 2nd Battalions

The Dorsetshire Regiment was formed on 1st July 1881; the 1st Battalion from the 39th (Dorsetshire) Regiment of Foot, and the 2nd Battalion from the 54th (West Norfolk) Regiment of Foot.

There are over 28,000 Dorsetshire Regiment pension and 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 Dorsetshire Regiment 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 newly formed regiment was established as the county regiment for Dorsetshire and started numbering from 1 in 1881.

6 joined on 5th July 1881
262 joined on 6th February 1882
465 joined on 2nd March 1883
1089 joined on 13th June 1884
1555 joined on 11th April 1885
2306 joined on 28th December 1886
2320 joined on 10th January 1887
2681 joined on 1st June 1888
2792 joined on 7th January 1889
2998 joined on 13th January 1890
3162 joined on 6th January 1891
3446 joined on 13th June 1892
3693 joined on 22nd March 1893
4310 joined on 5th March 1894
4607 joined on 7th January 1895
4805 joined on 16th January 1896
5350 joined on 26th March 1897
5645 joined on 18th January 1898
5872 joined on 5th April 1899
6114 joined on 27th February 1900

The Dorsetshire Regiment fielded one volunteer service company during the South African War. It did not leave “… an interval of a clear thousand between the last number received by an ordinary recruit… and the first Volunteer number” but carried straight on from where regular numbering left off. Numbers 6020 to 6101 were all 1st VSC men who joined in January 1900, so too were the drafts numbered 7108 to 7126 who joined in 1901.  The 1st VSC sailed for South Africa aboard the SS Devon on 29th March 1900.

6367 joined on 9th September 1901
6422 joined on 17th January 1902
6674 joined on 4th March 1903
7142 joined on 11th February 1904
7533 joined on 25th January 1905
7990 joined on 18th July 1906
8280 joined on 30th January 1907
8440 joined on 3rd January 1908
8657 joined on 2nd January 1909
8915 joined on 5th April 1910
9094 joined on 27th February 1911
9318 joined on 17th January 1912
9500 joined on 6th January 1913
9784 joined on 9th June 1914
9828 joined on 5th August 1914

The First World War

When Britain went to war in August 1914, men joining the new service battalions were issued with numbers from the same series in use by the two regular battalions.

Recruitment rates 1881-1911

Between 1st July 1881 and 21st March 1891, The Dorsetshire Regiment recruited 3,162 men, a below average rate of 330 soldiers a year and one which placed the regiment in the fortieth position out of sixty-nine infantry recruiting regiments. Nevertheless, it was to be the regiment’s most successful recruiting period.

Recruitment in the 1890s tailed off considerably, the regiment adding just over 3,205 men between January 1891 and September 1901; or a rate of 300 men per annum for the decade. It would be a similar picture in the next decade too.

Between September 1901 and February 1911, the regiment added a further 2,727 men to its ranks, an average of 290 men per year for the decade. From being 38th in the 1880s, the regiment fell to sixty-first position in the 1890s, climbing one position to sixtieth in the first ten years of the 1900s.

In total, between 1st July 1881 and 27th February 1911, The Dorsetshire Regiment recruited 9,094 men, well below the national average (355) at just 307 men a year.

1st Battalion stations 1881-1914

1881 Bengal
1882 Chatham
1885 Malta
1886 England
1888 Malta
1889 Egypt
1893 Meean Meer
1895 Bangalore
1897 Tirah
1898 Nowshera
1902 Feroxepore
1906 Gosport
1909 Farnborough
1911 Blackdown
1913 Belfast
1914 France and Flanders (from August)

2nd Battalion stations 1881-1914

1881 Cherat
1885 Aden
1887 Malta
1888 Portsmouth
1891 Plymouth
1893 Enniskillen
1898 Crete
1899 Malta
1899 South Africa
1902 Portland
1904 Colchester
1906 Madras
1910 Poona
1914 Mesopotamia (from November)

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

Manchester Regiment - Volunteer Service Companies

Special Army Order 29 of 2nd January 1900 stated:

"The regimental numbers given to the members of the Volunteer companies will form a portion of the regimental series, but, in order to avoid the confusion which would result from the assignment of numbers to Volunteers and ordinary recruits indiscriminately, and also to simplify future reference, the Volunteer numbering should run consecutively, with an interval of a clear thousand between the last number received by an ordinary recruit, at the date on which the Volunteer numbering begins, and the first Volunteer number."

The following year there was another Army Order. On 25th January 1901, Special Army Order 41 stated that fresh companies could be raised as above and those already in South Africa could stay if they wished to.

The Manchester Regiment fielded four Volunteer Service Companies during the Boer War and this post will look at numbering in those companies and how that numbering fitted in with numbering in the - at that stage - four regular battalions.

For some reason, the WO 363 class at the National Archives is awash with service records for the Manchester VSCs. Some other regiments appear to have no surviving VSC records at all. All the records mentioned below are at the National Archives and can also be viewed on-line at the Ancestry.co.uk website which is currently offering a FREE 14 Day Trial.

1st Volunteer Service Company
This VSC comprised numbers from 7001 through to 7197. First numbers were issued on the 9th February 1900 and the final numbers by 10th March 1900. Men joining the 1st VSC joined in sequential order according to the Volunteer Battalion they were serving with at the time. So 7001 through to 7026 are all 1st VB men; 7032 to 7057 are 2nd VB men, and so on. All Volunteers, in all VS companies, enlisted for one year only.

2nd Volunteer Service Company
Numbering in this VSC is a little more complicated. Numbers 7113 through to 7224 are all 2nd VCS men. So too are numbers from 8225 through to 8325, and the single number 8367.

7224 was issued to a VSC on the 10th March 1900. Meanwhile, numbering in the four regular battalions continued apace and by October 1901 the regiment was approaching 7000 (ie, the series of numbers that had already been allocated to VSC men the previous year).

Numbers 8225 through to 8257 were all issued in 1901. 8227 was issued on the 4th February 1901 and I'm guessing that the other numbers also date to close to that time. Presumably the authorities realised that numbering in the regular battalions would soon reach 7000 and they took the decision in early 1901 to give a clear break of 1000 from the last VSC number they had issued in March 1900 (7224).

3rd Volunteer Service Company
This VCS comprised numbers from 8236 through to 8366, all of which were issued in February and (I'm guessing) March 1901.

4th Volunteer Service Company
This VSC comprised numbers from 8376 to 8462. These numbers were issued between 17th February and 4th March 1902.

8463, the next number in line, was issued to a regular soldier who joined on the 2nd January 1903.

My thanks to Stuart Wilson, David Langley, Graham Stewart and Mike C in Canada, for their input - via correspondence on this blog and elsewhere - regarding VSCs generally and the Manchester Regiment specifically. The AO reference above is taken from the privately published Regimental and Army Numbers of the British Line Infantry Soldier from AD. 1800 to 2008 by Langley and Stewart.

Also see my blog post on the regular battalions of The Manchester Regiment.

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