West Yorkshire Regiment - 4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion

This post will look at regimental numbering in the 4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment between 1908 and 1914. The Special Reserve and the Extra Reserve were the natural heirs to the militia battalions which, for the most part they replaced in 1908. My 2009 article on the Creation of the Special Reserve in 1908 may be helpful here.

Both West Yorkshire Regiment militia battalions survived in all but name when the Special Reserve was created in 1908. Men who were then serving with the 3rd (Militia) Battalion, were asked if they wanted to continue to serve with the newly formed 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion, and men who were then serving with the 4th (Militia) Battalion, were asked if they wanted to contunue to serve with the newly formed 4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion. 

Men joining the militia and special/extra reserve were not career soldiers. The Army Book for the British Empire, published in 1893 provided a useful summary of the militia when it noted:

"Its object is to maintain in the United Kingdom a trained body of men available "in case of imminent national danger or great emergency" to supplement the regular army in the defence of the country.

"It offers military service to the class of men willing to give it for a month in the year for training of for the term of their engagement on emergency, but whose avocations do not lead them to become either regular soldiers or volunteers."

Most 1914 Star rolls show plenty of evidence of Special Reserve and Extra Reserve men who served alongside career soldiers. Sometimes their numbers are prefixed by the number of their battalion - typically a 3/ or 4/ in most line infantry regiments - but just as often there will be no prefix.

Confusingly, for those with an interest in West Yorkshire Regiment regimental numbers, the series used by the 4th Battalion pretty much kept pace with the series used by the 3rd Battalion, but both were distinct series and that is important to remember. Also important to note is that when these men were called up as drafts for the regular 1st and 2nd Battalions from August 1914, they retained their original 3rd and 4th Battalion regimental numbers.

Here are some sample regimental numbers and joining dates for the 4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment:

5727 joined on 27th June1908, but this number had originally been issued to this man when he joined the 4th (Militia) Bn in 1903

6886 joined on 1st June 1909

7322 joined on 31st January 1910

7411 joined on 16th February 1911

7656 joined on 2nd May 1912

7845 joined on 26th February 1913

8067 joined on 25th February 1914

8277 joined on 5th August 1914

Do also read of some of the articles towards the bottom of the Army Service Numbers 1881-1918 index. 

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Drop me a line 

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

West Yorkshire Regiment - 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion

This post will look at regimental numbering in the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment between 1908 and 1914. The Special Reserve and the Extra Reserve were the natural heirs to the militia battalions which, for the most part they replaced in 1908. My 2009 article on the Creation of the Special Reserve in 1908 may be helpful here.

Both West Yorkshire Regiment militia battalions survived in all but name when the Special Reserve was created in 1908. Men who were then serving with the 3rd (Militia) Battalion, were asked if they wanted to continue to serve with the newly formed 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion, and men who were then serving with the 4th (Militia) Battalion, were asked if they wanted to contunue to serve with the newly formed 4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion. 

Men joining the militia and special/extra reserve were not career soldiers. The Army Book for the British Empire, published in 1893 provided a useful summary of the militia when it noted:

"Its object is to maintain in the United Kingdom a trained body of men available "in case of imminent national danger or great emergency" to supplement the regular army in the defence of the country.

"It offers military service to the class of men willing to give it for a month in the year for training of for the term of their engagement on emergency, but whose avocations do not lead them to become either regular soldiers or volunteers."

Most 1914 Star rolls show plenty of evidence of Special Reserve and Extra Reserve men who served alongside career soldiers. Sometimes their numbers are prefixed by the number of their battalion - typically a 3/ or 4/ in most line infantry regiments - but just as often there will be no prefix.

Confusingly, for those with an interest in West Yorkshire Regiment regimental numbers, the series used by the 3rd Battalion pretty much kept pace with the series used by the 4th Battalion, but both were distinct series and that is important to remember. Also important to note is that when these men were called up as drafts for the regular 1st and 2nd Battalions from August 1914, they retained their original 3rd and 4th Battalion regimental numbers.

Here are some sample regimental numbers and joining dates for the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment:

6207 joined on 27th June1908, but this number had originally been issued to this man when he joined the 3rd (Militia) Bn in 1902

7695 joined on 22nd February 1909

7907 joined on 13th January 1910

8108 joined on 31st May 1911

8363 joined on 12th July 1912

8533 joined on 27th May 1913

8703 joined on 26th January 1914

8869 joined on 12th August 1914

9723 joined on 2nd September 1914

10198 joined on 3rd October 1914

Do also read of some of the articles towards the bottom of the Army Service Numbers 1881-1918 index. 

Remember. I research soldiers!

Drop me a line 

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

West Yorkshire Regiment - 8th (Leeds Rifles) Bn (TF)

This post will look at regimental numbering in the 8th 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 8th Battalion: 

274 joined on the 21st May 1908 

560 joined on the 20th January 1909

1053 joined on the 3rd January 1910 

1200 joined on the 9th January 1911 

1255 joined on the 24th January 1912 

1519 joined on the 28th April 1913 

1769 joined on the 11th June 1914 

1930 joined on the 7th August 1914 

A reserve or ‘second-line’ battalion was formed at Leeds on the 14th September 1914, the original 8th Battalion now becoming the 1/8th Battalion and the new reserve battalion becoming the 2/8th Battalion. Although the battalion had been formed to take in men surplus to establishment and then to provide drafts for the 1/8th Battalion, the 2/8th eventually served overseas in its own right from January 1917, serving alongside the 2/7th. 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 305001 and extended to 330000. 

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

I have borrowed the photo on this post from the Leaves from a Leeds Album blog. It shows Arthur Shoesmith, formerly of the 3rd Volunteer Battalion, who later served with the 8th Battalion (regimental number 12) and ended the war as a company sergeant major.

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.

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.

West Yorkshire Regiment - 6th Bn (TF)

This post will look at regimental numbering in the 6th (Territorial Force) Battalion, The Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment) 1908 and 1914. 

Until the 1st April 1908, the 6th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment had been the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment and by 1914 it was headquartered at Belle Vue Barracks, Bradford, its eight companies drawing men from Bradford. The battalion formed part of the 1st West Riding Infantry Brigade in the West Riding Division. 

Here are some sample regimental numbers and joining dates for the the 5th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment:

101 joined on the 1st April 1908 

693 joined on the 16th March 1909

993 joined on the 8th February 1910 

1123 joined on the 12th January 1911 

1287 joined on the 28th March 1912 

1419 joined on the 4th February 1913 

1575 joined on the 29th January 1914 

1740 joined on the 5th August 1914 

A reserve or ‘second-line’ battalion was formed at Bradford on the 12th September 1914, the original 6th Battalion now becoming the 1/6th Battalion and the new reserve battalion becoming the 2/6th Battalion. Although the  battalion had been formed to take in men surplus to establishment and then to provide drafts for the 1/6th Battalion, the 2/6th eventually served overseas in its own right from February 1917. Meanwhile, a 3/6th Battalion had been formed at Bradford in March 1915 but never served overseas.  All three battalions - the 1/5th, 2/5th, 3/5th - issued numbers from the same regimental number series and from 1917 reissued numbers to serving soldiers and to new recruits from a brand new numbers series which began at 240001 and extended to 265000. 

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

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.

West Yorkshire Regiment - 5th Bn (TF)

This post will look at regimental numbering in the 5th (Territorial Force) Battalion, The Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment) 1908 and 1914. 

Until the 1st April 1908, the 5th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment had been the 1st Volunteer Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment and by 1914 it was headquartered at York, its eight companies drawing men from the following areas: 

A Company: York, with a drill station at Tadcaster

B Company: York

C Company: York

D Company: Selby

E Company: Harrogate 

F Company: Harrogate, with a drill station at Wetherby

G Company: Knaresborough, with drill stations at Borobridge and Starbeck

H Company: Ripon, with a drill station at Pateley Bridge

By August 1914 the battalion formed part of the 1st West Riding Infantry Brigade in the West Riding Division. 

Here are some sample regimental numbers and joining dates for the the 5th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment:

70 joined on the 1st April 1908 

604 joined on the 4th March 1909

1101 joined on the 22nd December 1910 

1114 joined on the 20th February 1911 

1292 joined on the 7th March 1912 

1378 joined on the 18th February 1913 

1537 joined on the 24th February 1914 

2001 joined on the 10th August 1914 

A reserve or ‘second-line’ battalion was formed at York on the 28th September 1914, the original 5th Battalion now becoming the 1/5th Battalion and the new reserve battalion becoming the 2/5th Battalion. This battalion, only ever formed as draft-finding battalion for the 1/5th Battalion, eventually served overseas in its own right from February 1917. Meanwhile, a 3/5th Battalion had been formed at York in March 1915 but never served overseas.  All three battalions - the 1/5th, 2/5th, 3/5th - issued numbers from the same regimental number series and from 1917 reissued numbers to serving soldiers and to new recruits from a brand new numbers series which began at 200001 and extended to 240000. 

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 had the number 1432 and lived in Harrogate, he would have joined the battalion in 1913 - and probably served with E or F Company. 

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

Gracious, it's been a while since I posted anything here.  There is still much to say about regimental numbers but I have been very busy on a number of other projects. 

I was flicking through some old issues of Your Family History magazine the other day and in a military special issue from 2012 came across a piece by Graham Caldwell on First World War records. In it, he talks about regimental numbers and references this blog.  On the subject of numbers, and citing the example of 52415 Jesse H Towner of the West Yorkshire Regiment, he writes:

"[numbers] are... unique within the same regiment or corps... For example, a soldier in the Devonshire Regiment or Royal Field Artillery could also have the number 52415, but not another soldier in the West Yorkshire's, irrespective of which battalion he belonged to."

As a theory, this is of course, completely bonkers.  Let's have a look at The West Yorkshire Regiment in December 1914.  By this date there would have been at least three men with the number - let's pick one at random - 7000.  The first number 7000 would have belonged to a regular soldier who would have joined in 1903 and who would probably have served with the 1st and 2nd Battalions, been on the reserve when war was declared and then have been posted back to the 1st or 2nd battalions when war was declared.  7000 also appears in the series being used by the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion and would have been issued in 1908. The same number appears for a third time in the series being used by the 4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion and would have been issued in 1909.  So, three examples of the same number in the same regiment (and the same could be said for 7001, 7002, 7003 and so on).

As for the Territorial Force battalions, the West Yorks had four TF battalions which each began numbering at 1 in April 1908. Each continued numbering sequentially until 1917 when the TF was re-numbered and it was only then that each of the four TF battalions were issued with distinctive six-digit numbers from new series.

The initial new service battalions of the regiment which were numbered 9-14 all drew their numbers from the same series which had been the exclusive preserve of the regular battalions prior to August 1914 and so from this date you find these six battalions and the 1st and 2nd battalions all numbered from the same series.  But the 15th to 18th Battalions (the Leeds Pals and the Bradford Pals) each started numbering from 1, albeit their numbers were prefixed with the battalion number.

So you could quite easily find a man in the West Yorks with the number 2000, for instance, and he could have belonged to any one of the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 15th, 16th, 17th or 18th West Yorks. 

In actual fact, the number that Mr Caldwell refers to is unique to the regiment - but only because numbering in the other battalions didn't reach this high.  52415 belongs to that series used by the 1st and 2nd battalions and some of the later service battalions and if nothing else it tells us that Jesse H Turner was the 52415th person to be issued with a number from that series since the 1st and 2nd Battalions had started numbering from 1, way back ion 1st July 1881.

So for goodness sake don't believe the old lie that all numbers were unique to a regiment. They weren't.

Mr Caldwell also notes against the image of Jesse Towner's medal index card (above, courtesy of Ancestry) that the "Cl" in "Cl Z" in the remarks section means that he was, "sent a dated clasp".  Again, utter rubbish.  "Cl" is an abbreviation of "Class" and denotes that he was transferred to Class Z of the Army Reserve. 

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West Yorkshire Regiment - 1st & 2nd Battalions

This post will look at army service numbers issued to men joining the regular battalions (1st and 2nd Battalions) of the Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire) Regiment between 1882 and July 1914. The regiment started numbering from 1 in July 1881 but my data starts the following year.

Prior to the British Army Reforms of 1881, the West Yorkshire Regiment had been the 14th Regiment of Foot and had been conferred with the title The Prince of Wales's Own just five years earlier in 1876.

There are over 64,000 West Yorkshire Regiment serviceand 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.

117 joined on 26th January 1882
535 joined on 17th September 1883
666 joined on 22nd March 1884
994 joined on 1st March 1885
1225 joined on 2nd January 1886
1823 joined on 18th June 1887
2212 joined on 14th March 1888
2484 joined on 26th July 1889
2646 joined on 11th February 1890
2953 joined on 28th July 1891
3314 joined on 26th September 1892
3534 joined on 20th February 1893
4066 joined on 13th June 1894
4509 joined on 9th December 1895
4678 joined on 4th March 1896
5000 joined on 16th July 1897
5241 joined on 12th July 1898
5283 joined on 27th March 1899
5895 joined on 6th June 1900
6106 joined on 21st May 1901
6284 joined on 25th January 1902
6624 joined on 7th January 1903
7705 joined on 1st November 1904
7942 joined on 8th May 1905
8279 joined on 3rd January 1907
8751 joined on 29th January 1908
9064 joined on 12th January 1909
9321 joined on 9th March 1910
9453 joined on 29th January 1911
9675 joined on 11th March 1912
9863 joined on 6th January 1913
10172 joined on 8th July 1914

Less than a month later, Britain was at war with Germany and the newly forming service battalions (with the exception of the Pals' Battalions) would draw their numbers from the same series (above).

The image on this post comes from the intriguingly named, the internet bandsman's everything within and shows men of the 3rd (Special Reserve) Batttalion in presumably the early 1900s. A number of ther men pictured wear the Queen's South Africa and King's South Africa medals.

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

From The Naval & Military Press:


The West Yorkshire Regiment in the war 1914-1918

Another weighty regimental history, two volumes, 820 pages in all covering the record of twenty-two battalions in France, Flanders, Italy and Gallipoli (all of them served on the Western Front). When war broke out the regiment consisted of two Regular battalions (1st and 2nd), two Special Reserve (3rd and 4th) and four Territorial battalions (5th to 8th); the 1st Battalion went to France with 6th Division in September 1914, the 2nd Battalion came home from Malta to join the newly formed 8th Division (Regular) and went to France in November 1914. Both battalions remained in the same brigades (18th and 23rd) and divisions throughout the war.

The four Territorial battalions each formed a 2nd and a 3rd line battalion; the four original battalions made up the 146th Brigade, 49th (West Riding) Division, arriving in France in April 1915, the second line battalions combined to make the 185th Brigade, 62nd (2nd West Riding) Division which arrived in France in January 1917.

Kitchener’s call to arms resulted in eleven Service battalions being raised, 9th to 18th (the 17th was formed as a Bantam battalion) and 21st; of these only 13th and 14th did not go on active service. The 21st Battalion became a Pioneer battalion in 4th Division and the 22nd was a Labour battalion which also went to France.

This history records events in chronological order, the dates of the operations being described are shown in the margin as are the identities of the battalions involved. Volume 1 (x + 355pp with 18 maps and 15 b/w photos) covers the period from the outbreak of war to the end of 1916, the close of the Somme offensive and includes the Dardanelles campaign where the 9th Battalion was in action with the 11th (Northern) Division. On 1st July 1916, the first day of the Somme, the 10th Battalion attacked at Fricourt and incurred the heaviest casualties of any battalion - 710, of whom 307 were killed including the CO, 2IC, adjutant and two company commanders. More than half of them are in in Fricourt New Military Cemetery which is in the No Man’s Land across which they attacked and where they died. The CO (Lt Col Dickson) and his adjutant (Capt Shann) lie side by side.

There is a Roll of Honour for the period covered in which the other ranks are listed alphabetically by battalions as are the Territorial battalion officers; the other officers are shown in one group in alphabetical order with the battalion number in front of the name. Although the note at the head of the officer casualty list states that the theatre in which death occurred is France and Flanders unless otherwise indicated, nonetheless ‘Gallipoli’ is not shown against the names of the officers of the 9th Battalion who died there, and so one is left with the wrong impression they died on the Western front. Volume 2 (xi + 494pp with 9 maps and 8 b/w photos) covers 1917-18 and Italy where the 11th Battalion served from November 1917 to the end of the war in 23rd Division, suffering only two officers wounded, 11 other ranks killed and 58 wounded in that last year of the war. There is a Roll of Honour for 1917-18, arranged as in Volume 1. In all the regiment had 12,700 dead and was awarded four VCs for which the citations are all at the end of Volume 2. CLICK HERE TO ORDER.


Historical Records of the 14th Regiment... from 1689 to 1892

Despite the title the West Yorks came into existence in June 1685 at the time of the Monmouth Rebellion and, as then was the practice, was known after the man who raised it, Sir Edward Hales. Of immediate interest is the establishment of the regiment as at January 1686 showing the rates of pay for each rank and the numbers authorised, and the Regimental Roll of officers in 1687, the earliest roll that can be found. Hales unfortunately picked the wrong side in 1688 by supporting James II against William of Orange and ended up in the Tower; he was replaced by William Beveridge, appointed by the Prince of Orange who, in February 1689 was crowned William III with his consort Queen Mary.

In 1692 the regiment went on active service for the first time, joining the army in Flanders where it gained its first battle honour - Namur 1695. In 1751 with the introduction of the system of foot numbers the regiment became the 14th Regiment of Foot. and a few years later, in 1764, King George III directed their badge should be the White Horse of Hanover. Following the decision to affiliate regiments to counties to improve recruiting the regiment was, in 1782, styled the Fourteenth, or Bedfordshire Regiment of Foot, changed some twenty-five years later to Buckinghamshire. It wasn’t till the reforms of 1881 that the regiment became the West Yorks. A second battalion was formed in 1804 and between them they served in wars and expeditions across the globe, all carefully described. Lists of officers present for duty in either battalion are regularly featured - for example the complete roll of regimental officers as in the Army Lists of June 1873 and January 1893 are reproduced. The book is arranged on a year by year basis, each year being a heading. There is a detailed contents' list which is a great help in tracing events and appendices include biographies of Colonels of the Regiment from 1685 and of other eminent officers, copies of regimental correspondence and other matters of regimental interest. This is a very good example of what a regimental history should be. CLICK HERE TO ORDER.