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Mars & Clio No.24 Spring 2009

The Changing Character of the London Territorial Force 1914-18The case of the 19th (County of London) Battalion,

The London Regiment (St. Pancras)

by Charles Fair

Kitchener’s New Armies have been a particular area of focus in the immense outpouring of books on the Great War over the last 20 years. The Pals battalions form one of the most enduring images of the Great War in the public consciousness, particularly with respect to the prominent part they played on the Somme on 1 July 1916. Their place in the British national myth has been cemented by reference to the Pals in several treatments of the Great War in popular culture such as Oh What A Lovely War! in the 1960s. Private Baldrick from the BBC’s Blackadder Goes Forth (1989) joined the, presumably fictional, ‘Turnip Street Workhouse Pals’. Histories of Pals battalions are popular with publishers and the public alike, and new books appear regularly.20 However, units of the Territorial Force (TF) did share many of the characteristics that are normally associated with the Pals battalions, and it can be argued that the territorials were the ‘original pals’. Many, and possibly most, TF units had shared bonds of social class and occupation. One famous example is the Sandringham company of the 1/5th Norfolks which largely consisted of workers from the Royal Estate, and which disappeared at Suvla on Gallipoli. This incident was the subject of a television dramatisation in 1999 and is a rare treatment of the TF in popular culture. The London Regiment is particularly rich with examples such as the Civil Service Rifles (15th Londons), the Post Office Rifles (8th Londons) and a number of other so-called ‘class corps’. Other strong candidates for TF units with ‘Pals-like’ characteristics are those in distinct geographic areas such as the 8th Hampshires (Princess Beatrice’s Isle of Wight Rifles) and the 5th Seaforth Highlanders which was the local battalion for Caithness and Sutherland. Some TF units such as the Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire Regiments had no counterparts in the Regular Army yet came from a distinct area and so their members might have felt that they were the ‘Pals’ for their particular county.

When compared with the New Armies, however, the TF has received scant attention from historians. Studies have been few and far between, with the first comprehensive overview of the pre-war TF only appearing in 2008.21 Unit histories of the TF have also tended to focus on the glamorous ‘class’ battalions where members had to pay a subscription. These units were middle class, and as their members were more literate and better educated, they have generally left behind a stronger historical record. The relative abundance of material on these units has meant that they have been an obvious choice of study for historians.22 In contrast, studies of working class battalions are comparatively rare.

This paper will help to redress the balance by studying a working class TF battalion of the London Regiment. It will demonstrate that this battalion did in fact have many characteristics 20 Roni Wilkinson, Pals on the Somme 1916, Pen & Sword, 2006 and Andrew Riddoch and John Kemp, When The Whistle Blows: The Story of the Footballers’ Battalion in the Great War, Haynes, 2008 are merely two recent examples21 KW Mitchinson,, England’s Last Hope: The Territorial Force 1908-14, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008 22 See for example Jill Knight, The Civil Service Rifles in the Great War: 'All Bloody Gentlemen', Pen & Sword, 2004 and Helen B. McCartney, Citizen Soldiers: The Liverpool Territorials in the First World War, Cambridge University Press, 2005.

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of a Pals battalion and will go on to show how the experience of war influenced the character of the unit.

The 19th Battalion The London RegimentThe unit chosen for study is the 19th Battalion of the London Regiment. The headquarters was at 76, High Street, Camden Town, which was approximately in the centre of the Borough of St. Pancras, the regimental recruiting area. The first volunteer unit known to have originated in the Borough was the St Pancras Volunteers - a militia unit which was raised in response to the Napoleonic threat in 1798. This was disbanded in the early 1800’s as the invasion threat disappeared with the peace of Amiens in 1802 and the Borough was left without a volunteer unit. However, 1859 saw a great rush of public enthusiasm for voluntary military service as new threats from Europe became apparent. On 1 March 1860 the 29th (North Middlesex) Rifle Volunteer Corps was embodied in St Pancras, and was renumbered the 17th (North Middlesex) RVC on 3 September 1880. A detachment from the battalion served in South Africa with the City of London Imperial Volunteers.

Above: Composite photo of the façade of the drill hall at 76, Camden High Street. A photograph of the front of every property on Camden High St was taken in 1904 as a record prior to the extension of the Northern Line. The façade covers numbers 72-78. (Source: London Transport Collection, Camden Local Studies Library)

As part of Lord Haldane’s Army Reforms of 1908 that created the Territorial Force, the Battalion was renamed the 19th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (St. Pancras). It formed part of the 5th London Infantry Brigade of the 2nd London Division TF.

Recruiting started well from 1 April 1908 with 253 former Volunteers choosing to reenlist immediately.23 The strength built quickly to a peak of 898 men on 1 July 1909, the highest known strength reached by the Battalion before the outbreak of war.24 However, in common with the majority of TF units, particularly in London which proved to be a difficult recruiting ground, it could not maintain its strength and saw a steady decline over the next few years as men finished their four year engagements and were not fully replaced. By 1 October 1913 the 23 The National Archives (TNA) WO114/114 Quarterly Returns of the Territorial Force 1909-191424 London Metropolitan Archives A/TA/1 Territorial Force Association of the County of London, minutes of meeting 13 July 1910, pp. 2-3

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strength had fallen to 698 men.25 A recruiting drive did, however, see an improvement in the last few months of peace with the strength on 1 July 1914 recorded as 859 men26 - almost 15% below establishment.

After the outbreak of war the 19th London Regiment raised two more battalions. The second line battalion (henceforth referred to as the 2/19th) served on the Western Front, in Salonika and Palestine with the 60th (2/2nd) London Division. The third line battalion (3/19th) was a draft finding unit and spent the entire war in England.

This paper will look initially at the recruitment into the 19th London Regiment both before and after the outbreak of war. In terms of the wartime experience of the three battalions it will then focus mainly on the first line battalion, the 1/19th, which served on the Western Front with the 47th (1/2nd London) Division.

The Social BackgroundWith a population of 218,453 in the 1911 Census, the Borough of St Pancras covered a cross-section of Edwardian London. It incorporated middle class areas such as the squares of Bloomsbury in the South, Regent’s Park in the West and the heights of Hampstead and Highgate in the North. On the Eastern side were King’s Cross and St. Pancras railway stations and several accompanying goods depots. Squeezed in between Euston and King’s Cross was the working class district of Somers Town. To the North of this in the centre of the Borough were the scarcely less densely populated areas of Camden and Kentish Towns. Mixed into these districts were areas of shops and commerce, such as Tottenham Court Road and Camden High Street.

The mixed nature of the area is shown in the pioneering social surveys carried out by the reformist and philanthropist Charles Booth in the late 19th Century. Every street was categorised into one of seven types depending on the housing stock, occupancy and the incomes and occupations of the families living there.

This map, taken from Booth’s 1889 survey shows the area to the south east of the drill hall between Euston and St Pancras stations.27 It shows six of the seven classes, ranging from the black – the lowest class described as ‘vicious’ and ‘semi-criminal’ – to the red – which was middle class and considered ‘well-to-do’. In between were two other classes of poverty (dark blue ‘very poor, casual. chronic want’ and light blue ‘poor. 18s. to 21s. a week for a moderate family’), a mixed class (‘some comfortable others poor’) shown in purple, and a class shown as ‘fairly comfortable. Good ordinary earnings’ shown in pink.

The only class not shown in this extract is the wealthiest class (yellow) – described as ‘upper-middle and upper classes’. These residents lived in the large houses bordering Regent’s Park.

Booth repeated his study in 1902-0328 and a similar pattern was seen with Somers Town as shown in the map again being one of the main areas of deprivation in the Borough. However, by then the area was in economic decline: living standards had fallen below those seen in the

25 TNA WO114/114 Quarterly Returns of the Territorial Force 1909-191426 TNA WO114/114 Quarterly Returns of the Territorial Force 1909-191427 Charles Booth, Descriptive Map of London Poverty, 188928 Charles Booth, Life and Labour of the People in London, 1902/03 (17 volumes)

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earlier survey and ‘nearly every house was said to have a lodger’.29 Certain industries that were of local and national importance in the late 19th century had declined as they lost competitiveness. Camden and Kentish Towns had been the centre of the British piano industry since the early 19th Century, but by 1914 the industry had become ‘cut throat’ and ‘short term’ with ‘falling standards of workmanship’ that could not compete with higher quality German exports.30 This led to a decline in the number of manufacturers. The local cabinet making industry had suffered a similar decline.

Above: an extract from the 1889 edition of Charles Booth’s Descriptive Map of London Poverty.The drill hall is marked with an X in the top left.

In 1914 the largest employers in the Borough were the railway companies at Euston, St Pancras and Kings Cross stations. For the 19th Londons the most important would prove to be The Railway Clearing House (RCH) which was located on the western side of Seymour Street north of Euston Station. The RCH was founded in 1842 and was where transfers of goods and money between the then numerous railway operating companies were reconciled. It performed a service similar to that of a clearing house between banks. The RCH employed

29 Steven Denford and F. Peter Woodford, Streets of Camden Town, Camden History Society, 2003 p. 1230 Jack Whitehead, The Growth of Camden Town AD 1800-2000 (2nd revised ed.), Jack Whitehead, 2000

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nearly 2,800 people – mainly male clerks – in 1912, of which approximately 2,000 worked in the Seymour Street buildings.31

Another major employer was W&A Gilbey, the gin distillers and wine merchants who occupied premises of 20 acres running north and west from Camden Lock as far as the Round House on Chalk Farm Road. The firm had moved into the area in 1879 to build a distillery as the network of railways and canals meant that the location made an ideal distribution centre. There was even a special train, The Gilbey’s Special, running daily to the London Docks.32

Teetotallers were catered for by the Idris and Co. Ltd. mineral water factory which was built in the 1890s above an artesian well off Pratt Street and which covered three acres. Thomas Howell Williams was an analytical chemist who started to supply mineral water from his shop until he switched to the bottling of mineral water. He used the name Idris for his product after the mountain of Cader Idris which was near his birthplace. He adopted the surname Idris in 1893 and represented North St. Pancras on London County Council. As Alderman Idris he became Mayor of St Pancras in 1903-04.33 His son, John Hughes Williams Idris, a solicitor, was commissioned into the 19th Londons on 29 May 1915 after having enlisted in the Inns of Court OTC on 16 October 1914.34

A recent local history of Camden Town describes the area in the years up to 1914 as having a ‘murky and unpublicised night life … from Euston Road northwards and southwards an underworld existed, of pubs which unaccompanied women used, of decrepit lodging houses used for prostitution’.35 This ‘demi-monde reputation’ was enhanced by the publicity given to the murder of a part time prostitute, Emily Dimmock, in Agar Grove in 1907 and the subsequent trial of Robert Wood.36

Preliminary analysis of a sample of the home and next-of-kin addresses37 of soldiers suggests that those other ranks who enlisted directly into the Battalion either before the outbreak of war or shortly afterwards were mainly drawn from the working class districts within a very tight radius of a mile or so from the drill hall. The area shown in the extract from the Booth map was a particularly fertile area for recruiting, as was the area north and north east of the drill stretching up to Chalk Farm and Kentish Town. Fewer were drawn from Highgate in the northern end of the Borough. Almost no recruits were drawn from the southern end of the Borough (i.e. south of Euston Road) where there was intense competition from other TF battalions which had headquarters within or near the southern boundary of the Borough. These were the 1st London at Handel Street, the 12th London (Rangers) at Chenies Street and the 28th London (Artists’ Rifles) in Duke’s Road off Euston Road.

A more detailed analysis of occupation and social class in the Battalion and how this changed during the course of the war is awaiting a systematic analysis of a sample of service records.38

However, one way in which an assessment of the relative social class of the Battalion can be

31 GA Sekon, ‘The RCH: What it is and What it Does’, The Railway and Travel Monthly, May 191232 Jane Kidd, Gilbeys, Wine and Horses, Lutterworth Press, Cambridge, 1997 pp. 53-433Denford and Woodford, op cit p. 9134 TNA WO 374/36213 service record of Captain JH Williams-Idris MC35 John Richardson, Camden Town and Primrose Hill Past, Historical Publications Ltd, 1991 pp. 119-2036 Daily Mirror, 13 December 190737 These were compiled from Commonwealth War Graves Commission records, service records, and the 1918 Absent Voters List for St Pancras38 McCartney, op. cit. pp. 27-36 provides the best example of how this can be done with occupations linked to the more robust social class definitions as used in the 1921 Census

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made is to look at the number of men commissioned from the ranks of the 19th Londons as compared with the number from the other battalions of the London Regiment.

Table 1 shows the number of men from each battalion that received commissions and is ranked in descending order of those listed in the Medal Rolls of the 1914 and 1914/15 Stars. This gives an indication of the relative social class of each battalion in the early part of war when the qualifications to be an officer in terms of education, occupation and class were at their strictest. In comparison, the number of men listed in the rolls of the British War and Victory Medals as having been commissioned is also shown. The 28th London is not included in this table as its main role was as an officer training unit from which 10,256 men were commissioned, so it would not be an appropriate comparison.39

Figure 1 Commissions from The London Regiment 1914-18

Battalion Number and Name Headquarters Commissions granted from the ranks as per

rolls of: 1914 &

1914-15 Stars40

British War & Victory

Medals41

14 London Scottish 59, Buckingham Gate, SW 503 1,204 42

5 London Rifle Brigade Bunhill Row, EC 409 827 15 Civil Service Rifles Somerset House, Strand 332 499 16 Queen's Westminster Rifles 58, Buckingham Gate, SW 297 784

9 Queen Victoria's Rifles Davies Street, EC 255 491 20 Blackheath and Woolwich Holly Hedge House, Blackheath 181 243 21 First Surrey Rifles Flodden Road, Camberwell 96 134 12 The Rangers Bedford Square, WC 92 194 18 London Irish Rifles Duke of York's, Chelsea 87 168 13 Kensingtons Iverna Gardens, Kensington 77 191

2 Royal Fusiliers Tufton Street, Westminster 72 143 23 Clapham Clapham Junction 72 159

7 'Shiny' Seventh Sun Street, Finsbury Square 57 100 6 'Cast Iron' Sixth Farringdon Road, EC 47 86

24 The Queens Kennington Park Road, SE 42 109 19 St. Pancras 76, High Street, Camden Town 31 87

8 Post Office Rifles Bunhill Row, EC 30 54 1 Royal Fusiliers Handel Street, Bloomsbury 29 94 3 Royal Fusiliers Hampstead Road 28 97

17 Poplar and Stepney Rifles Tredegar Road, Bow 23 39 4 Royal Fusiliers City Road, N 20 118

11 Finsbury Rifles Pentonville, N 14 21 22 The Queens Jamaica Road, Bermondsey 8 38 10 Hackney The Grove, Hackney 4 13 25 London Cyclists Fulham House, Putney Bridge n/a 33

29-3443 n/a n/a 27 Total 2,806 5,953

39 Regimental Roll of Honour and War Record of the Artists Rifles, Howlett, 1922, p. xviii40 Data from Paul Reed ‘London’s Saturday Night Soldiers: The London Regiment in Peace and War, 1908-1918’, Stand To!, Sept 1995 pp.15-19 (Original source: Medal Rolls for the 1914 Star and 1914/15 Star, London Regiment, TNA WO 329/2482-2483 and WO 329/2863-2871)41 TNA WO 329/1904-1952 Medal Rolls for the British War & Victory Medals, London Regiment42 Includes 15 Admiralty commissions into RN, RNR, RNVR, RMLI, RNAS, RN Division43 These six Service battalions of the London Regiment were raised in June 1918 from men combed out from Home Service units and 18 and 19 year olds. See Charles Messenger, Call To Arms: The British Army 1914-18, 2005, pp. 282-284

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Certain battalions of the London Regiment were socially exclusive, with the 5th (London Rifle Brigade) and 14th (London Scottish) Battalions being well known examples. These ‘class corps’ charged a membership fee which effectively excluded men from poor areas of London. It is no surprise that these battalions sit at the top of the table. In contrast, the position of the 19th Londons in the lower part of the table is consistent with having a predominantly working class recruiting area. The history of the 2/19th writes: “the unit had always been a ‘working man’s’ as distinct from a ‘class’ battalion, and it had a very good record”.44

Table 1 does not give the full picture as it only shows those who had served overseas with their battalions – thus becoming eligible for the medals – before being commissioned. It does not account for those who were commissioned before their battalions were sent overseas. For example, the Rolls list only 499 men commissioned from the 15th Londons (Civil Service Rifles) whereas the regimental history states that 967 received commissions, the balance of 468 being those who were sent for commissions before the 1/15th and 2/15th departed for France.45 The table also does not account for the many territorials that would have been commissioned had they not been killed early in the war such as the London Scottish killed at Messines in November 1914.

Another battalion that is underrepresented in this table is the 25th London (London Cyclists). None of its three battalions served in a theatre of war. The 2/25th and 3/25th remained in the UK as draft finding units. The 1/25th remained in the UK until 3 February 1916 when it was sent to India. As men in the three battalions opted for foreign service they were sent as drafts to reinforce other battalions of the London Regiment. A number were received by the 19th

Londons, and of those a few were subsequently commissioned.

The history of the 2/19th states that “a characteristic feature was the way in which successive generations of the same families followed one another through its ranks”.46 One example was the Clatworthy family who ran an undertaker’s business at 96, High Street, Camden Town. George Clatworthy joined the Regiment in 1910, was promoted sergeant in June 1914, was wounded at High Wood in September 1916 and finished the war as RSM of the 3/19th. He followed both his father and grandfather: the latter joined the Regiment on its formation in 1859. All three reached at least sergeant and were awarded the Long Service decoration. Their combined service up to 1926 was 60 years, which covered most of the then 67 years of the Regiment’s history.47

Recruitment in 1914 and raising the 2/19th

On Sunday 2 August 1914 the rifle companies of the 19th London Regiment were entraining for their fortnight annual camp on Salisbury Plain when they received the order to return to the headquarters in Camden Town. There they were to hold themselves in readiness for further orders. According to the local newspaper, the strength of the Battalion on this date

44 Major FW Eames, The Second Nineteenth; being the History of the 2/19th London Regiment, Waterlow & Sons Ltd. 1930, p. 145 The History of the Prince of Wales' Own Civil Service Rifles, 1921, pp. 394-39546 Eames, op cit, p. 1 47 ‘Sergeants’ Mess Celebrities: RQMS G Clatworthy’, Memories, the Magazine of the 19th London Old Comrades Association, Spring 1926, Vol. 3, p. 284. (This publication is henceforth referred to as Memories.)

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was 860 men.48 This appears to have remained a fairly consistent figure during the summer of 1914, since the strength at the end of May is given as “789 men, 48 sergeants and 27 officers” i.e. a total of 864 all ranks.49

The declaration of war and mobilisation of the Battalion followed on 4 August. The Battalion headquarters and barracks were ‘besieged’ by ‘a great number of recruits’ and former members ‘anxious to rejoin’. By the evening of 6 August the total strength had risen to 988 all ranks.50 It reached its full wartime establishment of 1,015 all ranks within another two or three days.

After a parade at St. Pancras Church on Sunday 9 August, Lt-Col George Cattell, the Commanding Officer, addressed the Battalion to ask for volunteers for overseas service. The St Pancras Gazette reported that ‘no less than 800 men and 29 officers at once stepped forward’;51 in other words about 80% of the strength.

If the first step in the wartime expansion of the TF was bringing units up to full strength, the second step followed shortly after. On 15 August the County Territorial Associations were authorised to form new units to replace those volunteering for General Service.

The Headquarters of the 19th London Regt received instructions to raise a second battalion late on Friday 28 August. A general order authorising all TF units to form duplicates was not issued until 21 September.52

Recruitment commenced with a public announcement on Tuesday 1 September and ‘prominent placarding of the Borough from one end to the other with an attractive two-colour poster’. The call was initially for 800 ‘smart and active’ men to add to a nucleus of at least 200 men already enrolled over the first battalion establishment.53

Recruiting proceeded apace with “an instant response of over 100 new recruits” on Wednesday 2 September. A similar rate of enlistment was maintained on succeeding days. By the evening of Thursday 10 September “over 700” recruits had been enrolled.54 This had been achieved in just nine days and the success encouraged the Regiment to increase the target from 800 to 1,000 men. However, recruiting appears to have been much slower in the second week: by the evening of Thursday 17 September total enrolments had only reached 851, although by this time it was only accepting men for foreign service.55 The 1,000 mark was reached no later than 25 September – about three weeks in total – and it continued to recruit a number of men over establishment in the week after.56

During this period, and into 1915, there was intense competition between the TF and New Armies. The official handicaps placed on the recruitment of men into the TF undoubtedly meant that many prospective recruits were turned away to end up in a nearby New Army unit.

48 St. Pancras Gazette, 7 August 191449 Ibid.50 Ibid.51 St. Pancras Gazette, 14 August 191452 Army Order 399/191453 St. Pancras Gazette, 4 September 191454 St. Pancras Gazette, 11 September 191455 St. Pancras Gazette, 18 September 191456 St. Pancras Gazette, 25 September 1914

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For example, the initial cap on 200 men over establishment meant that there was a pause in recruiting for the 19th until the second battalion was authorised. In addition, London’s comparative strength in the TF may well have meant that competition between TF units was greater in the capital than in other less densely populated areas.

Above: advert which appeared in the St Pancras Gazette of 3 September 1914

The history of the 2/19th describes these recruits as “men of the finest quality; they were fully representative of the manhood of the borough and were drawn from every grade of society”.57

The Daily Express reported that the range went from “several road-sweepers - fine soldiers these make - to a private earning £2,000 per year”.58 The battalion history goes on to say that “practically all the local trades and occupations were represented”, and included some members of staff at London Zoo in Regent’s Park.59 Most of the companies appear to have a mixed composition.

57 Eames, op cit, p. 258 ‘Wheatfield of Death - Stretcher-bearers of the 19th Londons’, Daily Express, 16 July 191559 Three of those who enlisted in the 19th London Regiment are commemorated on the war memorial at London Zoo. One, a keeper of birds, Pte Whybrow, was killed at High Wood (15 Sept 1916). The other two had been transferred into other regiments by the time of their deaths.

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However, the 2/19th provides one example of recruiting in the TF which has much in common with the New Armies. “One whole company - under the old [eight company] organisation, about 120 strong - was drawn from the staff of the Railway Clearing House”.60 The railwaymen formed ‘A’ Company. These included a number of men who were later to have prominent roles in both overseas battalions. One example was a 31 year old supervisor, Arthur Ridout, who enlisted in the 2/19th on 5 September 1914 with no prior military experience.61 He was transferred into the 1/19th and arrived in France as a lance corporal with that battalion on 10 March 1915. Promotion followed swiftly and by the spring of 1916 he was Acting RSM. Ridout was killed at High Wood on 15 September 1916.

A high proportion of enlistees from any one street in the Borough was therefore likely to have joined the 19th Londons. College Lane, a terrace of workingmen's cottages on the western side of Kentish Town, is rare in that it is one of a small number of streets in the country that has its own war memorial. A small stone plaque affixed to the wall of number 10 has ten names, four of whom are those of 19th London men.

One of the first enlistments in the 2/19th was JJ Sheppard and his experience shows the random element that could affect individual decisions to enlist. At the outbreak of war he was working as a clerk in an insurance company. He spent the first four weeks of the war deciding what to do since his employers "were trying to prevent anybody from going because they knew that they would lose their staff". However, on 1 September he had made up his mind and had found out that the nearest recruiting office for the New Armies was at the Working Men's College in Crowndale Road, St. Pancras.

"Well I went there on 1 September somewhere just after 9 o'clock and I found a queue there of anything up to say 150 men queuing up all along the wall. All down the street and there was a policemen just patrolling up and down and keeping the rest of the footpath clear for pedestrians. Well, I thought we were moving so very slowly and when the policeman came along I said to him "How long do you think I have to stop here before I can get in there?" He said "Well, judging from what has happened previously, you will be here for probably four or five hours". "So," I said, "that seems an awful long time to hang about." "Well", he said, "if I was you son, I would go around the corner into the High Street, Camden Town. There you will find a little way up on the right hand side a Territorial unit, the 19th County of London Regiment. So, if I were you I would go around there and you won't have to wait so long." "So", I said, "well, that is alright". Any unit was good enough to me. I wanted to join up and that was it."62

Sheppard’s experience illustrates the fact that for many members of the public there was no great distinction between the New Armies and the TF and that chance could play a role in an individual’s decision to enlist in a given unit. Sheppard served at Loos as Signal Sergeant, was commissioned in early 1916 and commanded the 1/19th for a time in 1918.

60 Eames, op cit, p. 261 TNA Service Record of 2624 A/RSM Arthur Ridout. I am grateful to Russell Ridout for providing a copy of this document62 Lt Col JJ Sheppard papers, Liddle Collection, Brotherton Library, University of Leeds

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Another early enlistment was the former Colour Sergeant ET Calver who joined the 17th North Middlesex Rifle Volunteers in about 1893. He had served in South Africa with the CIVs, but had left the TF in 1908 because of his work as secretary of the Amateur Boxing Association. On the outbreak of war he rejoined the 19th "after one or two unsuccessful attempts to pass the doctor, in the course of which he became gradually younger".63 Calver had personally recruited another 35 men by 11 September.64

Imperial and Home Service

Kitchener’s lack of understanding of - and even antipathy towards - the TF has been documented by all his biographers and he famously referred to it as a ‘Town Clerks Army’.65

A number of reasons have been stated such as his poor impression of French Territorials during the Franco-Prussian War and the poor performance of volunteer units in South Africa. These have been given as reasons why he chose to ignore the framework of the Territorial Force when raising the New Armies.

However, it is most likely that the main reason is that he was aware of the legal framework under which individuals enlisted in the TF, and the restrictions which this placed on deployment of individuals and units overseas. The TF’s role was for home defence, not as an overseas expeditionary force. However, individual soldiers and officers in the TF could volunteer for overseas service by signing form E624 – the Imperial Service Obligation (ISO). Those that had signed the ISO were entitled to wear a small badge.

Above: Imperial Service badge which would have been wornabove the right chest pocket.

However, few TF officers and men had taken the ISO prior to the outbreak of war. Statistics from 1912 show that only 1,154 officers and 19,458 other ranks, or almost 8% of the strength

63 'Our Portrait Gallery', Memories, Vol VI, Spring 1933, pp. 194-195. Calver was posted to the 1/19th as Colour-Sergeant of C Company and went to France with the battalion in March 1915. He was wounded at Loos and eventually discharged on 31st December 1916.64 St. Pancras Gazette, 11 September 191465 See for example John Pollock, Kitchener, Constable, 2001 pp. 387-388 and Philip Magnus, Kitchener, Portrait of an Imperialist, John Murray, 1958 pp. 303, 333 and 346-348 (these page references are taken from the Penguin edition of 1968.)

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of the TF had signed the ISO, including only 1 officer and 32 other ranks of the 19 th

Londons.66 Many more signed the ISO within days or weeks of the outbreak of war, but there remained a sizeable rump of men who had signed for Home Service only. In addition, a proportion of those who enlisted after the outbreak of war enlisted for Home Service only.

The issue therefore was what to do with the Home Service men. Their presence in any great number in a unit would prevent that unit from being sent overseas. In addition, there were a number of men who were not medically fit enough to be sent overseas. Evidence from the rolls of the Silver War Badge suggests that as many as 5.5% of the pre-war battalion were in one of these lower medical categories.67 Under age soldiers were also another problem given that a man could enlist in the TF at 17 (compared with 18 in the Regular Army), but could not be sent overseas until he was 19.

The 2/19th was initially referred to as the ‘Reserve Battalion’. The evidence from the St Pancras Gazette suggests that many, if not most, of those enlisting into the 2/19th had signed the ISO. The only way to untangle the mix of Home Service and Imperial Service men across the two battalions was to transfer the Imperial Service men into the 1/19th and the Home Service men into the 2/19th. This is shown in Figure 2 below.

Figure 219th London Regt – Expansion and Transfers between battalions (1)

September 1914 – mid-February 1915

By early 1915 the Home Service men, along with those in lower medical categories, were largely in the 2/19th. A major concern for the War Office at this time was the number of TF men who seemed reluctant to sign the ISO. Nevertheless, it was still possible to enlist in the TF for home service only until March 1915.

66 TNA WO 32/710167 TNA WO 329 Silver War Badge, 19th London Regiment. At least 46 men who enlisted pre-war but who did not serve overseas with any unit have been found in these rolls. This is 5.5% given that the strength of the battalion was about 830 other ranks on the outbreak of war. Approximately 150 men who enlisted after the outbreak of war and who did not serve overseas were awarded the Silver War Badge.

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1/19th 2/19th Depot(76, Camden

High St)

Volunteerenlistment

s

Raisedfrom

1 Sept 1914

Imperial Service Obligation

Home Service

KEY

Foreign Service only from Mid-Sept



One reason for this reluctance is that men who joined the TF under the terms of the 1907 Act did so on the understanding that they would remain with their own units. Form E624 clearly stated this. However, the casualties suffered by the BEF in the autumn of 1914 were more than could be supplied by the regulars or the Special Reserves. The New Armies were not ready and only the TF could fill the gap. In January 1915 ‘TF Associations were asked to seek volunteers willing to transfer to the Army Reserve’.68

The question of possible transfer was put to the men of 180 (2/5th London) Infantry Brigade in January 1915. Figure 3 shows the result of a count which was presumably carried out at the request of the County of London TF Association.

Figure 3Willingness to accept the Imperial Service Obligation in 180 Brigade, January 1915 69

A. Number "signed for Foreign Service with Service Battalions"

B. Number "prepared to undertake Imperial Service Obligation for service

with present unit"Officers Other Ranks Officers Other Ranks

2/17th 7 106 26 6002/18th 3 13 % 21 46 %2/19th 22 42 % 27 74 %2/20th 10 26 % 22 52 %Total 42 96

The data in column A shows the number or percentage that would have consented to transfer. However, the data in column B shows that TF soldiers and officers were far more likely to sign the ISO if they could be guaranteed that they would stay with their current unit. The shared bonds of home, occupation and social class that characterised many TF units were clearly still important.

The following month Parliament discussed ‘the possibility of amending the 1907 Act’, with a draft Bill being discussed in April against ‘considerable opposition’. An amended version of Form E624, Form E624a, was introduced in May 1915. On this version, those who had already signed the ISO as well as new recruits consented to possible transfer.70

However, from mid-1915 onwards it became apparent that some territorials were being transferred to other units without their consent. The London Regiment was particularly affected with the strongest complaints coming from the well connected ‘class corps’. The War Office perhaps considered all battalions of the London Regiment to be interchangeable, rather than the distinct regiments which, in fact, they were. This issue was raised in Parliament as early as June 1915 and refused to go away, developing into ‘a major controversy’ in early 1916.71 According to Bill Mitchinson, this episode illustrates that the Government ‘totally

68 Ian FW Beckett, The Territorial Force, Chapter 5 (pp. 126-163) in Ian FW Beckett and Keith Simpson, A Nation in Arms, Tom Donovan Publishing, 1985, p. 13669 180 Brigade War Diary TNA WO95/3031 16 January 1915. Please note that some data is given as headcount, and other data is given as a percentage.70 Beckett, The Territorial Force, p. 13671 For a detailed description of this issue see ‘The ‘Transfer’ Controversy: Parliament and the London Regiment’, KW Mitchinson, Stand To! No. 33, Winter 1991 pp. 29-32

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failed to appreciate or understand the fire and motivation that had driven men to enlist in particular TF battalions, or the inestimable esprit de corps that had been built up within them’.

Raising the third battalion

Another major step in the expansion of the TF came on 24 November 1914 with an Army Order instructing 'third line' battalions to be raised in place of 'first line' units proceeding overseas. On 15 January GHQ Central Force issued Order No. 46 which authorised reserve battalions of TF units to recruit "up to 30% above establishment with a view to formation of Second Reserve units".72

Authorisation to raise a third battalion of the 19th Londons was granted in early February 1915 as the first battalion was almost ready to leave for France. At a recruiting meeting in the Drill Hall on 18 February Major Schonfield announced “we are told we are to proceed to form the nucleus of a third battalion of the 19th”.73 This instruction became general throughout the TF in March 1915 when all units were authorised to form third line units.


late February to early April 1915

The 3/19th, or ‘Second Reserve Battalion’ as it was known at first, recruited only for Imperial Service. It also received men who had been ‘backsquadded’ from the 2/19th as they were underage or not fit for General Service.

Recruiting for this battalion appears to have gone much more slowly than for the first and second battalions. One reason was the decline in recruiting after the boom months of August and September 1914. By the spring of 1915 recruiting had fallen to a level that caused considerable concern in the War Office and Parliament.74 By this time those who were most

72 2/19th War Diary TNA WO95/3031 19 January 191573 St. Pancras Gazette, 19 February 1915

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1/19th 2/19th

(1st Reserve)

Depot(76, Camden

High St)

Volunteerenlistment

s

3/19th

(2nd Reserve)

To FranceMarch 1915

Raisedfrom lateFeb 1915


Home Service

KEY



willing and able to join had already done so, and it was getting harder to persuade those who remained to volunteer.

The level of voluntary direct enlistments into the TF in England in 1915 was extremely low during this period. For example, in the four weeks ending 3 March 1915 only 14,464 men enlisted in the whole of England.75 Given that London provided two of the 14 pre-war TF divisions, we could estimate that approximately 2,600 of these came from London. With this small number to go around all the battalions of the London Regiment, as well as the various supporting arms which made up the London Divisions, it is not surprising that the 19th

Londons attracted few recruits during this period.

The other local reason was increased competition for recruits in what the editorial of The St Pancras Gazette called “another and most stupid recruiting blunder”.76 The St Pancras Gazette of 26 March reported that “a meeting has been held for the purpose of establishing a battalion of Kitchener’s Army in St. Pancras”. This was the 16th (Service) Bn (St. Pancras) The Rifle Brigade which was raised by Parliamentary Recruiting Committee from 2 April 1915, and which was taken over by the War Office on 19 July.77 This battalion attracted more support from local dignitaries than the 19th Londons had done: the Mayor of St Pancras served on the recruiting committee of the 16th Rifle Brigade whereas he had not been involved with recruiting for the 19th Londons.

This was a local manifestation of the clash between the Territorial Force and New Army approaches to increasing the manpower of the Army. The success of the Pals movement in the first few months of the war led the War Office to encourage the formation of more locally raised units "often by making a plea to the mayor or MP of a city or town where the reservoir of able-bodied men did not yet appear to have been exhausted. Particular attention was focused on the metropolitan boroughs of London which had so far yielded surprisingly few municipally raised units."78 Nine infantry battalions were raised by London boroughs between November 1914 and July 1915.79

Not surprisingly, this did not meet with the approval of those trying to recruit for the 3/19th. The editorial of The St Pancras Gazette is almost incandescent with anger. It considered that the decision to grant the title of ‘St Pancras’ to the 16th Rifle Brigade “necessarily operates to the detriment of the Territorial battalion which it was contended should have first been completed before the new battalion was commenced”.80

The War Diary of the 2/19th gives the monthly strength for much of 1915. On the surface, the Battalion appears to have a fairly steady strength, albeit slowly reducing over the course of the

74 ‘Recruiting in Decline October 1914-May 1915’ in Peter Simkins, Kitchener’s Army: The Raising of the New Armies 1914-16, Manchester University Press, 1988, pp. 104-137 gives a detailed picture of the reasons for this decline and the political and military response75 Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire During the Great War 1914-1920, The War Office, 1922, pp. 365-36676 St. Pancras Gazette, 2 April 191577 Brig. EA James OBE TD, British Regiments 1914-18, Samson Books, 1978, p. 11178 Simkins, op cit, pp. 119-12079 Simkins lists Battersea, Bermondsey, Islington, Lambeth, Lewisham, Shoreditch, Wandsworth and West Ham in addition to St Pancras. Artillery brigades were also raised by Camberwell, Deptford, East Ham, Fulham, Hackney, Hampstead, Tottenham, West Ham and Wimbledon.80 St Pancras Gazette, 16 April 1915

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year. However these raw figures conceal regular and large transfers of men into and out of the unit.

The month which saw possibly the biggest change in the composition of the 2/19 th was June 1915. Three hundred men were received from the 3/19th. However, one officer and 66 other ranks were transferred to the 1/19th and 5 officers and 370 other ranks were transferred to the 106th Provisional Battalion. The net outflow for the month was 2 officers and 146 other ranks with the total strength at the end of the months dropping to 28 officers and 701 other ranks.81

This is shown diagrammatically in Figure 5 below.


April to late 1915

During the summer of 1915 sixty-eight 'Provisional Battalions' were formed from members of second and third line TF battalions who were not available for service overseas. This was the result of a change in policy in April 1915 where the role of the third line battalions became exclusively to act as reserve and replacement organisations for units on active service. Nine Provisional Battalions, numbered from 100 to 108, were formed from men from The London Regiment, with 19th London men going into the 106th Provisional Battalion. They included men of low medical categories, soldiers who were too young for overseas service, and those who had not taken the Imperial Service Obligation. As the men in them opted for overseas service, the number was reduced until by the end of 1916 only forty Provisional Battalions remained, consisting of men unfit for front line duties.82

The constant changes to the battalion would clearly have made it very difficult for it to attain the high level of training required for overseas service. In early August Lt-Col. Christie wrote

81 2/19th War Diary TNA WO95/303182 The formation of the Provisional Battalions is described in Brig. EA James OBE TD, British Regiments 1914-18, Samson Books, 1978, Appendix IV to Part II and FW Perry, The Commonwealth Armies: Manpower and Organisation in Two World Wars, Manchester University Press, 1988, p 13

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1/19th 2/19th Depot(76, Camden

High St)

Volunteerenlistment

3/19th

medical

To FranceMarch

incl. low medical

categories

Provisional Battalions

306

370t/f to106th

PB


Home Service

KEY

Transfer figures for June 1915 (Source: PRO WO 95/3031)

Men opting for overseas service posted to 2/19th or

3/19thFormed

from



that the 2/19th was "largely composed of recruits from 3 to 6 months service"83 A month later he added: "Efficient training is made difficult, owing to the class of recruits received from the third line; many are boys of 15-17, who are obviously incapable of bearing arms; some of these have been claimed by their parents and are discharged under KR 392(Vi)a. A few are 48-50 years old. It is difficult to understand how a large number can have passed the doctor."84

Major-General ES Bulfin took over as GOC 60th Division in December 1915. His initial impression was that the Division “had been bled white in officers, NCOs and men” to provide drafts for the 47th Division. He noted that the strongest infantry battalion “was about three hundred of all ranks”.85 Shortly after he arrived it was announced that the Division was to prepare for foreign service and that its battalions would no longer provide drafts for their first line battalions. This gives rise to the final model for the structure of the Regiment, shown below in Figure 6. The 2/19th was at last able to settle down and work up to a consistent standard of training.


December 1915 to Mid 1916

Late 1915 saw the final throes of the voluntary system of recruiting. Men who had so far not enlisted voluntarily were given one last chance to do so under the so-called ‘Derby Scheme’ named after the Earl of Derby who had been appointed as Director of Recruiting at the War Office on 11 October. Under the scheme they would enlist but not be called up until required. Depending on a combination of age and marital status volunteers would be allocated to one of

83 2/19th War Diary TNA WO95/3031 monthly report to Brigade HQ dated 1 August 191584 2/19th War Diary TNA WO95/3031 monthly report to Brigade HQ dated 4 Sept 191585 Col. PH Dalbiac CBE TD, History of the 60th Division, George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1927, p. 34

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incl. low medical

categories

1/19th

2/19th

3/19th

Provisional Battalions

Depot(76, Camden

High St)

Derby schemeenlistments

France

To FranceJune 1916

Conscriptsfrom

mid 1916


Home

KEY



46 groups which would be called up in numerical order. Groups 1-23 consisted of single men aged between 18 and 40, and Groups 24-46 consisted of married men between 18 and 40. Young single men would therefore be called up sooner than a family man of 40.

The Derby Scheme opened for registrations on 16 October 1915 and closed on 15 December 1915. The first recruits started to filter through to the 1/19th and 2/19th surprisingly quickly. The War Diary of the 2/19th records that "25 'Derby' recruits arrived from Administrative Centre" on 26 January 1916.86 These would have been young single men as Derby Groups 2-5 (19-22 year olds) were called up in the last fortnight of January.

At the beginning of May 1916 the 60th Division received a large draft of “some three thousand men of the RAMC who had volunteered for infantry”.87 Of these, 272 were allocated to the 2/19th battalion88 and examination of a small sample of their service records suggests that they were all Derby Scheme men. This draft “contained men from all parts of the country, especially Wales and the North, and these added diverse elements.” By then the battalion had settled down and its spirit “proved equal to absorbing them all into the body corporate and they proved a most useful addition”.89

The increasingly anomalous position of Home Service men in the TF was not finally eliminated until the Military Service Act of January 1916. All Territorials under the age of 41 had to take the ISO by 2 March 1916, with non-signatories being compulsorily discharged and thus made liable to conscription.90 Men in some Provisional Battalions had been offered the opportunity of transferring to their second or third line units provided they signed before 2 March.91 However, it will require a detailed analysis of service records to determine whether the 2/19th and 3/19th did in fact receive drafts of their own men from the Provisional Battalions.

A Pals Company in the Territorial Force – the 19th London ‘Pals’

The distinction between the New Armies and the TF seems obvious enough to us today, but evidence from the recruitment into the 19th Londons suggests that the man in the street might not have been too concerned. The term ‘Pals’ was applied to a company of the 3/19 th in early 1915 and was used by the men in it. This was unofficial and clearly not one of the official Pals units of the New Armies as defined by the War Office.

This company is first referred to in the 4 February 1915 edition of The Stage. It recorded that 2937 Private Paul Murray – an actor in civilian life - “is interesting himself in the endeavour to raise a company (strength 125) for the Reserve Battalion [i.e. 3/19th] of his Regiment, the company to be exclusively composed of British subjects who are at present members of the theatrical and vaudeville professions. Communications should be addressed to Mr. Murray at the headquarters of the regiment, High Street, Camden Town.”92 Before the war Murray had

86 2/19th War Diary TNA WO95/3031 26 January 191687 Dalbiac, op cit, pp. 36-3788 Memories, Vol V, No. 37 (Summer 1929), p. 40889 Eames, op cit, p. 16290 Beckett, The Territorial Force, p. 135. Officers were forced to resign.91 Hansard 1916, 81, 584 and 924 quoted in Mitchinson, The Transfer Controversy.92 The Stage, 4 Feb 1915

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been ‘general manager of the Variety Theatres Controlling Company’ so clearly would have had the entrepreneurial and managerial drive necessary to raise such a body of men.93

The edition of 11th February 1915 contained an advertisement and the editorial explained further:

“Age, 19 to 35 years; height, 5ft. 3ins and upwards; chest measurement, 33ins when expanded. All candidates must undertake liability for foreign service. The usual Army allowances will be paid to the wives and children of married men, and also the usual grants to dependants of single men. Recruits can be medically inspected at any recruiting office in Great Britain, and if approved of and sworn in (if they are desirous of immediately joining the regiment) will be supplied with a free railway warrant to London, where they will report at the depot, 76 High Street, Camden Town. All uniforms, kit etc., are ready for issue to accepted recruits. Arrangements have been made that in the case of “The Pals' Company” the first recruits will not be sent off in small drafts to Reigate (where the [2/19th] battalion is at present billeted), but retained together in London until fifty have been enrolled.”94

Advert from The Stage, 11 February 1915

Further coverage was keen to stress that recruitment was nationwide “Artists can join from any part of the country, and so soon as they have passed the medical test will be supplied with a free railway pass to London.”95

Recruitment for the Pals company was supported by Neil Kenyon – described as a ‘Scottish humorist’96 – who opened a run of performances at the Oxford Music Hall on Monday 15 March 1915.97 He made a nightly appeal for recruits to the 19th. Sergeant-Major Linden and other members of the battalion recruiting team were on hand to talk to prospective recruits.

93 The Stage, 8 April 191594 The Stage, 11 February 191595 The Stage, 18 March 191596 St Pancras Gazette, 26 March 191597 The Stage, 18 March 1915

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This produced a small but steady stream of recruits to the Pals company with 22 recruits by 25 March,98 and another 40 being recruited the following week.99 On 15 April The Stage reported that “directly resulting from his recruiting speeches at the Oxford 100 recruits for the 19 th … have been secured.”100

Recruiting at the Oxford Music Hall was also supported by the band of the 3/19th as well as humorous sketches illustrating why men should enlist.

The good work [of recruiting] is continued by the introduction of a dialogue in the course of [actor] Bransby Williams's study, “The Lounger”. The “lounger” is asked by a khaki-clad warrior if he realises what the “German dogs” did to the women of France and Belgium and what they would do if they reached England. Smashing his clay pipe from his mouth to the stage, and shouting, “By God! I'm with you,” Mr Williams goes off to enlist arm in arm with the recruiting officer.101

Private Wilson Roberts of the recruiting team wrote to The Stage in a further appeal:

“I appeal especially to the musical comedy and revue chorus men to join us. Surely they cannot say they are serving any useful purpose in this awful time dancing about and looking pretty on the stage, whilst their fellow country-men are fighting and dying in the trenches in France and Belgium. Chorus ladies can certainly take the place of chorus men at the present crisis.”102

Roberts appealed again in October 1915 as conscription became increasingly likely:

In view of the fact that conscription looms in the near future, there must be many young fellows in the profession who are realising that they must either enlist now or they will be fetched. Perhaps it would help them to decide if they know that we have in the 19th Battalion London Regiment a “Pals Company” for professionals, and that if they enlist in this regiment they will be placed in a company of professionals and also billeted together. The professionals who are already in the battalion are all smart soldiers, and a great many of them are now sporting their one, two or three stripes.103

Roberts spoke at a meeting of the Variety Artists Federation in January 1916 at which he reported that “there were over 150 members of the entertaining profession, over 60 of whom were V.A.F's, and he could safely say on their behalf that they would never again work on the stage with alien enemies.”104

It would appear that this company did not survive beyond the 3/19th. There is no mention of it in the history of the 2/19th or in the War Diaries, or in those personal accounts that survive. One can only surmise that its men were supplied in ‘penny packets’ to reinforce the other two battalions.

98 The Stage, 25 March 191599 The Stage, 8 April 1915100 The Stage, 15 April 1915101 The Stage, 13 May 1915102 The Stage, 22 April 1915103 The Stage, 21 October 1915104 The Stage, 27 January 1916

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The term ‘Pals’ does appear to have been applied to other units or subunits in the TF on rare occasions. The only other known authenticated example is the ‘Padiham Pals’, a company of the 2/5th East Lancashires.105 A third possible example is from a veteran of the 6th Londons who was known to refer to the ‘Cast Iron Sixth’ as the ‘Fleet Street Pals’.106 It is likely that other examples of the use of the term within the TF are awaiting discovery. Many such uses would have been local and informal. The word was in daily use, and it is quite possible that groups of ‘pals’ from workplaces, sports teams or churches would have joined TF units in preference to New Army units, adopting the ‘Pals’ moniker for their platoons or companies. The most likely period in which this would have occurred would have been during the peak recruiting period for the TF when the second line units were being raised in September and October 1914.

This 19th London ‘Pals’ company, as well as the company recruited from the Railway Clearing House at Euston, demonstrates that, in the 19th Londons at least, TF recruitment did share many characteristics more commonly associated with the New Armies.

1/19th on the Western Front – Rebuilding the Battalion five times over

When studying the history of any battalion that served for any length of time on the Western Front it soon becomes apparent that the turnover of officers and men was a continuous process. One officer with the 1/19th observed in November 1916 that:

“A year ago I joined the Battalion. It is the first time that any combatant officer has completed a year without being evacuated sick or anything else as, even when I was in hospital with my arm, I never left the divisional area.”107

Before discussing the nature of this turnover, it is worth trying to establish how many men in total served with the battalion after it left England. Approximately 10,000 men are reputed to have passed through the ranks of the three battalions of the 19th London Regiment, 7,000 of whom served overseas with either the 1/19th or 2/19th battalions.108 It has not yet proved possible to confirm the accuracy of these figures, or whether they include those who served with the 19th while wearing other cap badges.

However, an indication of the relative turnover within the two overseas battalions may be gauged from the fact that the first battalion suffered 5.25 times as many fatal casualties as the second. Given the figure of 7,000 with overseas service, and if we assume that both the 1/19 th

and the 2/19th left England with approximately 1,000 all ranks, a very crude estimate would be that a total of 5,000 men served overseas with the 1/19th and 2,000 men served overseas with the 2/19th.

The War Diary of the 1/19th records that it left St. Albans by train for Southampton on the morning of 9 March 1915 and arrived in Le Havre the following morning. On the afternoon

105 I am grateful to Bill Mitchinson for bringing this example to my attention.106 I am grateful to Clive Harris for this anecdotal evidence. The context is not known but may well have been referring to a platoon or company in the 2/6th or 3/6th Londons.107 Major Charles H Fair DSO, 1/19th London Regt, 5 November 1916, letter to his father108 Memories, Vol. 1 No. 8 (March 1922) p. 230

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of 11 March ‘1 officer and 100 men [were] left here as [a] base depot’ when the rest of the battalion departed for the front.109

The Medal Rolls for the 1914/15 Star for the 19th London Regiment allow the compilation of a list of those who arrived in France with the 1/19th on 10 March 1915. The Roll reveals that the initial strength was at least 27 officers and 959 other ranks.110 We can identify what happened to this original contingent by cross checking the nominal roll with the rolls of the Silver War Badge which gives reasons for discharge as well as the roll of casualties from Soldiers Died in the Great War and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Figure 7The Eventual Fates of the men of the original 1/19th London Regiment

who arrived in France, March 1915

Officers Other Ranks

Total %

killed in action 6 205 211 21.4 Incl. one OR missing presumed killed

died of wounds 2 70 72 7.3 died other causes 1 11 12 1.2 wounded 6 223 229 23.2 98 ORs wounded and later

dischargeddischarged 1 112 113 11.5 no reason given

term of engagement 31 31 3.1 POW 4 4 0.4 of which one wounded

deserted 5 5 0.5 of which one wounded

survived 11 298 309 31.3 Total 27 959 986 100.0 %

Some items in this table need clarification. A total of 37 men left the battalion when their four-year ‘term of engagement’ in the TF – automatically extended by a year on the outbreak of war – had expired. Thirty left between December 1915 and May 1916. Six of these men had already been wounded so may have been invalided out of the Army. There is currently no information about what happened to the other 31 men, and it is likely that some were later conscripted and ended up in other regiments. Some of these men were discharged on account of age, for example CSM Dillingham who was 51 when his service finished on 10 April 1916.111 He was instrumental in setting up the Old Comrades Association on his return to Battalion HQ in Camden in late 1916.

A number of other men would have been eligible for their discharge up until early 1916, but would have chosen the alternative of one month’s home leave and a bounty upon reengagement for another four years or the duration. With conscription becoming increasingly likely they would have preferred to stay with the 19th instead of an unknown unit. The Military Service Acts of 1916 eliminated the possibility of men seeking their discharge at the end of their term of engagement.

109 TNA WO 95/2738 1/19th War Diary110 TNA WO 329/2869 (officers) and WO 329/2953 (other ranks) 1914/15 Star Rolls, 19th London Regiment111 Dillingham had enlisted in 1896 and served in South Africa

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Over 11% were ‘discharged’ but with no specific cause being known at the moment. It may cover men who were discharged for psychological reasons as well as injuries or illness.

Those men against whose name nothing is given other than the date on which their service on the Western Front ended are shown in the table as ‘survived’. It is likely to be an overestimate, and may simply reflect a lack of information. It might cover many things that are not recorded such as transfers out. This figure should therefore be regarded as a maximum. As many as 81 other ranks (about 8%) appear to have spent the entire war with the battalion, a number that is perhaps rather larger than the stereotype of a battalion on the Western Front would lead one to believe.112

The nature of the turnover and pattern of fatalities is important. A steady and continuous turnover has implications for training, character and continuity that are very different from a pattern that is discontinuous with a unit being almost destroyed every time it goes into action. John Terraine has argued that most casualties occurred during the steady ‘grignotage’ or wearing down by the time spent by the attrition of being in the front line rather than in major offensives.113 However, others have challenged this view, arguing that it was the major offensives which caused the majority of casualties.114

Analysis of the fatal casualties in the 1/19th reveals the overall pattern of deaths during the 44 months the Battalion spent on the Western Front. The Battalion spent approximately one day per month in what could be termed as ‘close and dangerous contact’ with the Germans i.e. being either on the receiving or delivering end of some kind of offensive action ranging from trench raids to major offensives. The monthly pattern of casualties is shown below in Figure 8.

112 In the medal rolls their dates on the Western Front are shown simply as 10/03/15 to 11/11/18 with no break (apart from leave which is not recorded on the rolls). However, six of the 81 are known to have been wounded (all in 1915), perhaps only lightly, which may mean that they did in fact move out of the Divisional area. An analysis of surviving service records from this group will determine whether the medal rolls have not been strictly accurate and if the figure of 81is an overestimate.113 ‘Understanding’, The 1991 Presidential Address, John Terraine, Stand To! No. 34 (Spring 1992) uses the example of 2nd Lancashire Fusiliers114 See letter from Owen Dadge in Stand To! No. 35 (Summer 1992) quoting casualty data from 4th

Grenadier Guards and the analysis ‘Lies, Damned Lies and Casualty Statistics - The Western Front Experience’ by Mike Senior in Stand To! No. 84 (December 2008/January 2009)

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Figure 8Fatalities in the 1/19th London Regiment, April 1915 to Nov 1918115

In total, 993 men of all ranks lost their lives whilst serving with the battalion during this period. However, the chart clearly shows that these fatalities were highly concentrated into specific months. The six worst months accounted for 620 fatalities i.e. an average of 103 each. These months were those of Loos (Sept 1915), the Somme campaign (Sept and Oct 1916), Cambrai (Dec 1917) and the Hundred Days (Aug and Sept 1918). The March 1918 retreat was relatively light in terms of fatalities (just over 40) but is important since the battalion lost a large number of men as prisoners.

In contrast the 38 remaining months (over 86% of the Battalion’s time at the Front) accounted for 373 fatalities, or less than 10 a month. Even in these ‘quiet’ months fatalities were not evenly spread with raiding and other activity causing distinct ‘blips’.

We therefore have a total of five events each of which was a major discontinuity in the life of the Battalion. It had to be rebuilt after each one. In addition, the divisional reorganisation of early 1918 introduced more change and should be considered as a sixth event. This paper will go on to look at each episode in a little detail.

The first major change event affecting the Battalion was the Battle of Loos. This represented the single largest loss of life to the Battalion on any one day and up until at least 1939 the Sunday nearest the 25 September was the Regiment’s main commemorative day. The CO, Lt-Col Collison-Morley, was killed and a further 15 officers and 308 other ranks became casualties.116 However, Loos did not lead to any real change in the character of the Battalion

115 19th London Regt Roll of Honour in Memories, Middlesex fatalities are taken from the CD-ROM edition of SDITGW116 TNA WO 95/2733 141 Brigade War Diary

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0102030405060708090

100110120130140150160170

A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N

Tot

al M

onth

ly F

atal

ities

1/19th London Regt ORS 1/19th London Regt Officers Middlesex Regt (attd)1915 1916 1917 1918

Loos

Somme

BourlonWood

100Days

MarchRetreat



as the reinforcements were mainly men who had joined up in 1914 and early 1915 – predominantly local men - so the essential character of the Battalion was retained.

The next eleven months were less intense but characterised by trench warfare in the Loos area and the northern end of Vimy Ridge. The Germans exploded a mine under a section of trench held by the Battalion in April 1916, and the Battalion took part in a trench raid at the end of June. During this period there was a steady turnover of men, but drafts were small and easily assimilated.

In common with many TF battalions, the strength of the 1/19th was at its lowest in the spring of 1916. The term ‘strength’ requires some explanation. Figure 9 shows three comparisons for the strength of the Battalion drawn from different sources. Each set of data applies either to the last day of the month, or else a date extremely close to that. The three measures are explained as follows:

‘Fighting strength’ – (solid bars). This is believed to include all men serving with the Battalion in the Divisional area i.e. Ration Strength. The data is usually that on the last day of the month.117

‘Trench strength’ – (green line and triangles). Data is believed to represent what in modern terms one would call the ‘bayonet strength’. This includes all officers and men who would be directly involved in action against the enemy but not the supporting elements of the battalion who would normally be in echelon behind the lines. The battalion transport, the RQMS and his party, and the four CQMSs and their parties would not be included in this figure as they would not normally be in the front lines. Data is only available for a few months from late 1915 to mid 1916.118

‘Total strength’ – (orange line and triangles). This data is the strength of the Battalion as reported in the Overseas Monthly Returns of the Territorial Force Serving Abroad. This is believed to be the ‘base-wallah’s’ view of the strength of the Battalion and probably includes the cadre and drafts at the base depot (mainly in 47 Infantry Base Depot at Le Havre) and drafts en route to 47 Division who have not yet been Taken On Strength of the 1/19th. The data is given as being the first day of the following month i.e. the datum for March 1915 is actually the Total Strength as of 1 April 1915 in order to ensure consistency with the Fighting Strength.119

Although each set of data has some missing values, when taken together they give a reasonably complete picture of the fluctuating manpower of the Battalion. December 1917 is the only month for which no strength data has so far been found. While the three terms are all different measures of the Battalion’s strength, they nevertheless all show the same pattern of peaks and troughs.

117 TNA WO 95/2706-2707 47 Division A&Q War Diary118 TNA WO 95/2733-2736 141 Brigade War Diary119 TNA WO 114/52-54 Overseas Monthly Returns of the Territorial Force Serving Abroad

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Figure 9Strength of the 1/19th London Regiment March 1915 to January 1918

The chart shows that the Battalion was just under 600 all ranks in May 1916, of which the trench strength was just over 400 rifles. This reflects the weakness of recruitment into the TF in general and the 19th Londons specifically in mid to late 1915. Furthermore, the terms of service under which a man enlisted into the TF prevented him from being posted into another unit with a different cap badge, so there was no possibility of the Battalion receiving recruits from a better recruited part of the TF. However, that restriction was removed with the Military Service Acts of 1916, and during the late spring and summer of 1916 the Battalion started to receive drafts from other battalions of the London Regiment, and from TF battalions of other regiments in South-East England. The Battalion was therefore ‘pumped up’ to full establishment by the time it went into action on the Somme.

The second change event was the three weeks that the Battalion spent on the Somme in September and October 1916. September 1916 was the Battalion’s worst month in the entire war. It took part in the capture of High Wood by 47th Division on 15 September and the casualties speak for the severity of the fighting. The dead included the Commanding Officer and all four company commanders. The War Diary recorded 12 officers and 293 other ranks killed, wounded and missing.120

On 24 September the Battalion received a draft of 250 other ranks.121 On 27 September it went into support positions at Bazentin le Grand prior to making bombing attacks along the two parallel Flers Lines on 29 and 30 September. For this action ‘it was largely an untried

120 TNA WO 95/2738121 TNA CAB 45/133 letter from Major Charles H Fair DSO to Brig-Gen JE Edmonds (undated but known to be late 1935)

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19th London Regt Total Strength March 1915 - Jan 1919

0

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ay-15Jun-15Jul-15Aug-15Sep-15O

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anks

Fighting strength (47 Div A&Q War Diary) Officers Fighting strength (47 Div A&Q War Diary) ORsTotal Strength (Monthly Returns of TF) All Ranks Trench Strength (141 Bde War Diary) All Ranks

Loos Somme 100Days

MarchRetreat

BourlonWood



battalion under officers whom they hardly knew’.122 By the time it was withdrawn on 5 October it had suffered a further 8 officers and 297 other ranks killed wounded and missing.123

This meant more large drafts and further reorganisation during the last three months of 1916. Reinforcements of 8 officers and 136 other ranks were received in October, 15 officers and 55 other ranks in November, and 141 other ranks in December.124

The replacements shortly before, during and immediately after the Somme were mainly Derby Scheme men, with a large draft from the 2/4th East Kent Regiment (Buffs) arriving in France on 1 September 1916. The first conscripts start to appear in the ranks of the 1/19 th towards the end of the Somme campaign.

After the Somme the Battalion moved up to the Ypres salient where it spent almost twelve months. Its time was comparatively quiet as it does not appear to have gone ‘over the top’ during this period. The 47th Division was the extreme left hand assault division for the storming of the Messines Ridge, but the Battalion took little part in the battle as it was the reserve battalion of the reserve brigade. The Division was not used as an assault division during the entire Third Ypres campaign which suggests that it was not quite as trusted as it had been prior to High Wood.

The third change event was in late November and early December 1917. The 47 th Division was sent from the Ypres area to reinforce the salient created by the Cambrai offensive. Figure 7 has already shown that the Battalion suffered over 140 fatalities in November and December 1917. Almost all were incurred while the Battalion was gassed whilst holding part of Bourlon Wood against German counter attacks.

On 28 November the Battalion moved into a support position in the wood. An artillery bombardment started that evening, with gas shells from 11.30 pm until 2.15 am the following morning. The shelling continued throughout 29 November with a gas bombardment from 3.00 pm to 6.00 pm. At 9.00 am on 30 November the Medical Officer “visited all companies and reported 50% gassed badly and should be evacuated at once”.125 The shelling continued all day. In mid-afternoon the CO “visited all companies and found only 10 NCOs and men all badly gassed in C Company’s trenches and about 30 NCOs and men in the same condition in B Company’s trenches”. The Battalion was withdrawn from the front line in the early hours of 2 December. Its strength was a mere 6 officers and 61 other ranks,126 many of whom were sent to hospital during the next few days suffering minor effects of gas poisoning, finally reducing the number to 2 officers and 20 other ranks.127

An analysis of fatalities during and after Bourlon Wood shows that only 17 officers and men were killed immediately, but many more died of gas poisoning some days later after they had

122 TNA CAB 45/133 Fair to Edmonds123 TNA WO 95/2738124 TNA WO 95/2706-2707 47 Division A&Q War Diary125 TNA WO 95/2738126 TNA WO 95/2738 However 141 Brigade War Diary (TNA WO 95/2736) gives a trench strength of 9 officers and 61 other ranks as of 12 noon on 3 December. The 19th Londons were then the weakest battalion in the brigade since the other three battalions all had between 9 and 12 officers and between 205 and 285 other ranks.127 'War History of the First Battalion, December 1917 - March 1918', Memories, Vol III, No. 22 (Autumn 1925), p192.

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been evacuated to the base hospitals.128 The peak in deaths from gas occurred in the period 3rd to 5th December, with 17 to 18 deaths per day, and a long tail tapering away by the middle of the month.129

After Bourlon Wood the Battalion spent several weeks recuperating, reforming and training. Reinforcements were drafted to the Battalion and a reorganisation was effected by forming two companies, each consisting of two platoons.130 On 14 December it received a new draft of 41 men from the 3/20th London Regiment but the Battalion remained weak until the end of January 1918.131

One man who was transferred to the 1/19th sometime after Bourlon Wood was Bill Thompson. Born in 1893 he came from a farm in the Yorkshire Wolds.132 In June 1914 he signed on as a Wolds Waggoner. In return for £1 he signed that in the event of war he would serve as a waggon driver for the Army. He was mobilised at the outbreak of war, and despite having had little military training had taken part in the retreat from Mons. He stayed as a waggoner with the 4th Reserve Park until late 1917 when he volunteered to serve in the infantry. He went on a snipers' course and was then transferred to the 19th Londons. He served with the 1/19th as a stretcher bearer and was awarded the MM for his actions in the September 1918 battles.

Early 1918 - the Divisional Reorganisation and the March Retreat

The final year of the war saw further diminution in the local character of the Battalion. In early 1918 this was caused by two specific factors in addition to the allocation of drafts of conscripts. First was the reorganisation of early 1918 when infantry brigades were reduced from four to three battalions. Memories recalled that "great anxiety was felt by every battalion as to which would suffer in consequence. We ourselves feared that as our numbers were still small we should lose our identity, but fortunately we were spared".133 In the 47th Division the 1/6th, 1/7th and 1/8th Battalions of the London Regiment, all of 140 Brigade, were selected for disbandment.134 Orders for this reorganisation appear to have been issued on 28th January, and the disbandments were completed on 2 February. Their men were dispersed between either their own second-line battalions in 58th (London) Division or other battalions of the 47th

Division.135

128 These include 1 officer and 46 other ranks buried at Etaples Military Cemetery and 2 officers and 27 other ranks buried at St. Sever Cemetery and Extension, Rouen.129 Soldiers Died in the Great War. The available statistics, horrifying as they are, of course do not show those men who continued to suffer from the effects of gas poisoning after they returned to civilian life. The pages of Memories refer to several men who died prematurely in the post-war years from the after effects of gas poisoning, but these men do not appear on any official roll of war dead.130 'War History of the First Battalion, December 1917 - March 1918', Memories, Vol III, No. 22 (Autumn 1925), p192131 TNA WO 95/2738132 obituary in WFA Bulletin, 1993133 'War History of the First Battalion, December 1917 - March 1918', Memories, Vol III, No. 22 (Autumn 1925), p192134 This reorganization has been criticised for being unnecessarily complicated. See for example John Hussey, ‘The British Divisional Reorganisation in February 1918’, Stand To! No. 45, January 1996. In the 47th

Division the simplest and most expedient method would have simply to disband the weakest battalion in each brigade, and to redistribute those officers and men among the other battalions in that brigade.135 A detailed description of the 47th Division reorganisation is given in Alan H Maude (ed), The 47th (London) Division 1914-19, Amalgamated Press, 1922, pp. 145-147

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Stretcher bearer Frank Dunham was one of the 1/7th London men.136 He recalled that on 29 January, 14 officers and 350 other ranks were transferred to the 1/19th, while the remainder went to join the 2/7th London Regiment in the 58th Division. He found that the 19th Londons did certain things differently from the 7th Londons, and this caused some initial dissatifaction, but ‘our opinions gradually changed and in a very short time we became loyal 19th men.’137

Pte Dunham undoubtedly found this adjustment possible because at least he moved within the 47th Division, so was able to maintain his pride in the division. In addition he stayed within the London Regiment, so had a large degree of common background.

Another 1/7th Londoner was Sgt Sidney Weaver whose career in the Territorial Force illustrates many points already discussed above.138 He enlisted in the 25th (Cyclist) Battalion London Regt on 21 March 1912 and was mobilised on the outbreak of war. He served with the 1/25th on the East Coast, then as an instructor with the 3/25th until the whole battalion was transferred en masse to the 3/10th London Regt. He went to France on 28 October 1916 with a draft of 300 men, and was transferred to the 1/7th Londons after three weeks in a base depot at Le Havre. He took four weeks 'reengagement leave' in May and June 1917. He was transferred (on paper) to the 1/19th when the 1/7th was disbanded in January 1918, though in practice did not arrive until 28th May since he was on attachment to the 47th Divisional Salvage Company at the time. He became Acting CSM on 28th August, and remained with the 1/19th until he returned to England for officer training on 12 October 1918. Weaver had thus served under four different cap badges of the London Regiment.

The second delocalising factor in early 1918 was the effect of the German offensive of 21 March. On that morning the Battalion was in the front line, and over the next few days carried out a fighting retreat across the 1916 Somme battlefield. On 25 March the remnants of the Battalion "were joined by 2 officers and about 100 other ranks, consisting of men from leave, and details from the transport lines, such as shoemakers, tailors and the sundry personnel usually to be found under the supervision of the Quartermaster, but let it be known that these men gave a very good account of themselves on the following days of the retreat".139

Unsurprisingly, the War Diary is only able to give ‘estimated casualties’ for the period 21 to 26 March. It states total losses among other ranks as 17 killed, 82 wounded, 9 wounded and missing and 310 missing. The St Pancras Gazette later recorded that in fact 132 men were taken prisoner.140

The first reinforcements were hurriedly scraped together from troops at the base depots. The War Diary records a draft of 41 men on 27 March. “These were all ASC men, who had not seen service in the line before, and were sent up to the front as the only reinforcements available.”141 The War Diary records that the battalion trench strength on 2 April was 13 officers and 264 other ranks.

136 RW Haigh and PW Turner (eds), The Long Carry: The War Diary of Stretcher Bearer Frank Dunham 1916-1918, Pergamon Press, 1970 p. 121137 Ibid p. 123138 Weaver papers, Liddle collection139 'War History of the First Battalion', Memories, Vol IV, No. 25 (Summer 1926), p. 6140 St. Pancras Gazette, 24 January 1919. The 1/19th lost only 8 men as prisoners during the rest of the war, and the 2/19th lost only 7 men.141 Haigh and Turner, op cit, p. 164

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More men were rushed over from England from the 3/19th but that was no guarantee that those men would end up with the 1/19th. One of these was Private FAJ ‘Tanky’ Taylor. Taylor had enlisted on 4 September 1917 with the intention of getting into the Royal Flying Corps. However, he turned out not to be suitable for some unspecified medical reason, and was instead deemed suitable for the infantry. Despite coming from Salford, he was ‘shipped off without delay’ and ‘was sent with about 40 others to Winchester’ where he was allocated to the 3/19th. He was naturally annoyed at not being sent to join the Manchester Regiment (his brother’s), instead of ‘this damn cockney battalion’.142 Taylor ‘never did develop any feelings of loyalty of pride in [the] regiment. In any case, no one took any trouble to tell us about [the] regiment or its traditions.’

Taylor had been training with the 3/19th for some months when the German March offensive broke. Drafts were created from the 3/19th, and Taylor was separated from his ‘old RFC pals’ more or less at random and shipped across the channel in another draft. In early April he was in Etaples, where he changed regiments yet again.

“We were regrouped and parted with our insignia identifying us with the 19th City [sic] of London Regt or St. Pancras Rifles for ever. Our cap badges, shoulder names, fancy buttons we all discarded to be replaced by insignia linking us now to the 2nd Battalion Worcestershire Regt. As I had never developed any particular loyalty for the London Regiment, into which I had been unceremoniously thrust a few months previously, and no one had taken time or trouble to tell us about the traditions or battle honours of the regiment, it was not difficult to transfer to a new one.”143

Drafts to the 47th Division in the second week of April brought the strength back to establishment. According to the War Diary, 3 officers and 646 other ranks arrived on 9 April. The Fighting Strength at the end of that month at 1,150 was the highest reported for the Battalion for the entire war. The majority of the other ranks were badged to the Middlesex Regiment. (The 19th Londons had become affiliated to the Middlesex Regiment on 7 July 1916 and as they were considered to be part of the same corps, there was considerable cross posting between the two.144) Most of these Middlesex Regiment men had in fact passed through one of the Training Reserve Battalions before being posted to the Middlesex. The most common county of enlistment was Surrey and a number have been identified in the Surrey Recruitment Registers.145

The arrival of this massive draft was described in the Regimental journal:

“In the late afternoon, reinforcements arrived – hundreds of them – mostly youngsters who had been hurried out from England, half trained, to fill the gaps caused by the enormous losses of retirement. They had hardly reached us before were off 'on trek' back to refit and reorganise in the area around Abbeville. It was three wearying days' march back to the village of Gapennes, which was to be our home for some weeks. This young draft could not stand

142 FAJ ‘Tanky’ Taylor, The Bottom of the Barrel, Regency Press, London 1978 p. 25143 Ibid. p. 47144 Approximately 1,000 men with either 19th London numbers, or who served with one of the battalions of the 19th Londons, have been identified in the medal rolls of the Middlesex Regiment. The 7th Londons were also affiliated to the Middlesex Regiment which explains the posting between the 7th and 19th Londons.145 The Surrey Recruitment Registers CD-Rom, The Surrey History Trust, 2005

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the long marches with full equipment, and the first day's march resulted in nearly 150 stragglers. Although we had hundreds of men, there was indeed a dearth of officers and NCOs. The Colonel [Lt-Col. EJ Collett] had gone down gassed, and the adjutant, Capt JJ Sheppard was in temporary command.”146

Private Dunham described these newcomers as “a large draft of the recently recruited ’18 year old’ class. These did not take kindly to discipline and service abroad at first; but the nucleus of the old Battalion continued to uphold the traditions of the 19th, and the recruits gradually fell into line.”147

Headstone of Private Broughton in Bray Vale Military Cemetery

About two thirds of the Battalion in the 100 days were actually bearing Middlesex Regiment regimental numbers and were still badged to the Middlesex. This proportion is reflected in the fatal casualties in the 100 days. These men have Middlesex Regiment headstones or are commemorated on the Middlesex Regiment panels on the Vis-en-Artois Memorial to the Missing.

The changing character of the 1/19th 1915-1918

A common observation in letters and memoirs of the BEF is that units became progressively less related to the area of their origin during the course of the war as men were drafted in to wherever they were needed. One way of quantifying this phenomenon in the 1/19th is to look at the place of enlistment as given in Soldiers Died. Figure 10 compares the place of enlistment for all men who died between March and 30 November 1915 with all those who died between 1 July and 30 November 1918.

146 'War History of the First Battalion', Memories, Vol. IV No. 27 (Christmas 1926) p. 72147 Haigh and Turner, op cit, p. 173

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Figure 10Place of enlistment of men who died in 1915 and 1918 148

All the men who died whilst serving with the Battalion in 1915 enlisted in Camden Town, with one exception who enlisted in Holloway. In contrast, the Battalion of 1918 was a London battalion more in name than in fact. Less than 8% of those who died had enlisted at St Pancras and nearly 24% had joined in other boroughs that were home to other battalions of the London Regiment. Nearly 29% came from the counties surrounding London. Just over 20% came from other counties in the South and South-East. Lastly 18% had enlisted in other regions of the country.

Although the 1/19th had largely lost its London character, it was at least predominantly a South-East battalion with over 80% of the men from London or elsewhere in the region. This is consistent with the findings of Helen McCartney who observed a similar regionalisation in her study of two battalions of the Kings Liverpool Regiment. She argued that this was the result of a deliberate War Office policy of trying to preserve at least some regional identity by structuring the Training Reserve on regional lines.149

Another frequent observation is that the drafts sent to the BEF in 1918 consisted mainly of 18 or 19 year old boys. One would therefore expect a battalion of 1918 to be younger than one of 1915. This can be tested by taking the same groups of men and cross checking their ages at death as shown in the CWGC records.

Figure 11 shows that the most common age group in the battalion of 1915 was 20-24 (43%) with another quarter aged only 18 or 19. The average age was 23.

148 Soldiers Died in the Great War, CD-Rom version 1.1, Naval & Military Press149 McCartney, op cit pp. 62-65

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County or Region 191519th

LondonLondon (Camden Town) 164 14 - 14 8 %London (other parts of London) 1 31 12 43 24 %South East - 18 73 91 50 %South-West - 1 7 8 4 %Midlands & North - 1 19 20 11 %Wales and Scotland - - 5 5 3 %

Total 165 65 116 181 100 %

1918Middlesex Regt (attd)

Total



Figure 11Age structure of the 1/19th London Regt – 1915 compared with 1918150

By the summer of 1918 over 60% of the Battalion consisted of 18 and 19 year olds. However, the average age had dropped by less than a year. The men who were badged 19th London (one third of the battalion) were actually two years older (25) on average than their counterparts of 1915. This is a result of there being no 16 and 17 year olds and a threefold increase in the proportion of 35-39 year olds. Some of these men were among the handful of original members of the battalion and were usually senior NCOs; others had been 'combed out' as conscription steadily raised the maximum age. The Middlesex Regiment men were two years younger on average (21) than the battalion had been in 1915, with 70% aged 18 or 19.

The officers also displayed some marked changes during the course of the war.151 The officers commissioned pre-war and in 1914-15 were usually consistent with the pre-war definition of an officer i.e. middle and upper-middle class. They were predominantly public school educated, and many had also been to university. The majority of those commissioned pre-war or in 1914 had served in an Officer Training Corps (OTC) at school or university. Those commissioned in 1915 were most likely to have first enlisted in the Inns of Court OTC.152

However, they usually did not live in the Borough of St Pancras but instead lived in parts of

150 Soldiers Died in the Great War with age at death taken from CWGC records151 This section is awaiting a more detailed and systematic analysis of officers’ service records. The commentary included here is anecdotal and impressionistic being based on an unscientific sample of those service records and obituaries that have been reviewed to date152 A total of 22 officers were commissioned directly into the 19th Londons from the Inns of Court between the outbreak of war and January 1916. Another former cadet was commissioned directly into the 19th in August 1914. In addition, a further 10 men were posted from the ranks of the Inns of Court to an Officer Cadet Battalion before being commissioned into the 19th between late 1916 and 1918. Lt-Col FHL Errington CB VD (editor), The Inns of Court Officer Training Corps During the Great War 1914-1919, Printing Craft Ltd, 1920

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0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

70

75

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a.) 1915 data based on 93 men who died between 1 March and 30 November

b.) 1918 data based on 36 19th London and 44 Middlesex Regt men who died between 1 July and 30 November, weighted to represent the correct mix at that time



London that were more middle and upper class. For example the CO Lt-Col GT Cattell and a company commander Major WG Carlton Hall both lived in Kensington.

Pre-war and in 1914-1915 the 19th Londons had more Jewish officers that any other battalion of the London Regiment.153 These officers typically lived in Hampstead and other parts of North London popular with the establishment Jewry. They usually worked in the City in finance and insurance, or else in the legal profession, and the drill hall would have been conveniently located between work and home.

The officers commissioned in 1917-18 were typically very different. Many would not have been considered as suitable officer material by 1914 standards, typically being lower-middle and upper-working class. The majority were grammar school educated, and some had not even had that level of education. However, most of the 1917-18 officers had served in the ranks, and many had seen active service already before being commissioned via an Officer Cadet Battalion. A high proportion had already served in one of the other battalions of the London Regiment, before being commissioned into the 19th. This included a number commissioned from the 20th Londons (Blackheath and Woolwich) or 21st Londons (Camberwell) who lived in the more middle and lower-middle class parts of the pre-war catchment areas of those battalions. Around a quarter of the 1917-18 officers were Scottish. Typically they had been educated at one of Glasgow’s grammar schools and had been commissioned from the ranks of the 9th Highland Light Infantry or the Glasgow Yeomanry.

The experience of the 2/19th on active service

In contrast the 2/19th had a very different experience of active service. It went to France in June 1916 with 32 officers and 941 other ranks.154 The battalion then moved on to Macedonia in December 1916 before going to Palestine in June 1917. Its casualty toll was very light in comparison: only 14 officers and 175 other ranks died on active service, and another 19 officers and 430 other ranks were wounded. ‘At no time was it subjected to the devastating casualties, which made it necessary for units to be practically reconstituted perhaps two or three times within a few months.’155 It therefore received fewer Derby Scheme men and conscripts than the 1/19th. It had the ‘immense advantage’ of a low turnover ‘and consequently all ranks got to know one another better’. It enjoyed continuity in certain appointments which helped ensure that the modus operandi and morale of the battalion remained largely unchanged. RSM Manning held his post from the formation of the battalion until after the armistice. Captain Edgar Bleeze served as Quartermaster throughout the period of active service. Only two men served as RQMS, and they were supported throughout by a Boer War veteran, Sgt Windust, who was responsible for the drawing and issue of rations.156

Impact of relative turnover on activities of the Old Comrades Association

The difference between the battalions was reflected in the activities of the Old Comrades Association (OCA) which was established in the summer of 1916 on the initiative of the then CO of the 1/19th, Lt-Col Hamilton and Major Charles Fair. From a small start, the OCA grew

15318 are listed in the British Book of Jewry Book of Honour, pp.459-460154 Memories, Vol. V No. 37 (Summer 1929) p. 408155 Eames, op cit, p. 159156 Ibid pp. 160-161

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rapidly. By early 1922 it had a total membership of over 1,000, of which 170 were officers and ex-officers of the battalion.157

As well as its roles in organising reunions and commemorative activities, the OCA also fulfilled an important role in the local community. In March 1922 it was ‘in touch with no less than 750 relatives of Old Comrades who died during the war’.158 It established a fund to support Old Comrades, or their dependents, who had fallen into financial difficulty.

The OCA also published a quarterly journal Memories from 1919 to 1939. Editorial and printing were organised by a number of former officers. It was priced so as to be affordable to the majority of old comrades and attracted several hundred subscribers. However, it appears to have had trouble making a profit and losses were subsidised by the officers. The letters pages and advertising in Memories helped the OCA to act as an informal labour exchange.

The OCA and the contents of Memories were dominated by pre-war members of the regiment, and those wartime volunteers who served in it in 1915-16, the period “above all others” when the battalion “was composed of the men who joined up in the first rush of enthusiasm at the beginning of the war, when conscription and ‘combing out’ were unknown”.159 It is significant that the regimental memorial day was the Sunday nearest the 25th September, the anniversary of the battle of Loos, and the first occasion in the war on which it suffered heavy losses.

Memories contains relatively little on the 1/19th in 1917-18. By then the Battalion largely consisted of conscripts, and these are not represented in its pages or the social activities of the OCA. The few reminiscences of 1918 are from the handful of survivors of 1915-16 who went through the war with the Battalion. Len Gilbey, a member of the original contingent of March 1915 and an orderly room clerk in 1918, contributed a series of articles. Some of the 1/7 th

London men who were transferred into the Battalion in early 1918 also joined the OCA, but again these tended to be pre-war territorials or the volunteers of 1914-15. For example, stretcher-bearer Frank Dunham travelled from Norwich to attend dinners.

The 2/19th appears to have maintained a distinct position within the framework of the OCA. It held a Jerusalem Dinner every December to commemorate the capture of that city on 9 December 1917. Its history was published in 1930, whereas the 1/19th did not succeed in producing a history. The 2/19th Signals Section had little change in personnel and had its own column in the journal as well as holding its own reunions between the wars. There were also annual dinners of the Railway Clearing House men who served with the 19th Londons and of the Sergeants of "D" Company 2/19th.160

The 19th London War Memorial was unveiled in the drill hall in 1924. It is a wooden memorial which cost £300 raised by subscription from Old Comrades and the Borough and can now be found in the vestibule of St Pancras Church on Euston Road. It commemorates almost 1,100 dead. The relative, but probably unintentional, overlooking of the conscripts is seen after close study of this memorial: it does not include the 126 dead conscripts attached

157 Memories, Vol. 1 No. 8 (March 1922) p. 230158 Ibid159 Major Charles H Fair DSO, ‘Old Haunts Revisited’ in Memories, Vol. 1 No. 2 (Sept 1920) pp. 34-37, 43 and Vol. 1 No. 3 (Dec 1920) p. 74.160 Memories, Vol. 3 No. 24 (Spring 1926) pp. 257 and 261

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from the Middlesex Regiment in 1918. The other category of omissions from the memorial is many of those men who originally enlisted in the 19th but who were posted to another cap badge such as the MGC or Labour Corps.

Summary and Conclusions

This study of a working class infantry battalion of the TF shows that both pre-war and in the initial rush to the colours in 1914-15 the recruitment shared a great many characteristics more commonly associated with the Pals battalions of the New Armies. Until the advent of the Derby Scheme and conscription the other ranks were mainly drown from a small geographic area of little more than one mile radius from the drill hall. On the evidence of this example there is certainly a good case for arguing that the TF were ‘the original Pals’ long before the concept had been developed in the New Army recruitment of 1914. In late 1914 and early 1915 two companies are known to have been recruited from specific employers or occupational groups, with one of these even calling itself a ‘Pals’ company.

However, the nature of the 1/19th would change after it went to France in March 1915. Six ‘change events’ – five of which were large scale losses in the field, and the sixth the divisional reorganisation of early 1918 – lead to a steady diminution of the local character of the battalion. By the time of the 100 days of 1918 the 1/19th was no longer a St Pancras battalion: it was a regional battalion with men drawn from all over south-east England, albeit with a sizeable minority of Londoners. The war experience of the 2/19th was very different, with turnover perhaps as little as one-fifth that of its sister battalion, and it consequently appears to been much more successful in retaining its character.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the staff of the Camden Local Studies Library, Holborn and Tony Richards of the Department of Documents at the Imperial War Museum for obtaining some of the sources referred to. I would also like to thank members of the St. Pancras Regiment Old Comrades Association, The Western Front Association, the Great War Forum and the British Commission for Military History who have given constructive feedback on earlier versions of this paper. I am particularly grateful to Malcolm Hume of the Great War Forum for bringing the existence of the theatrical ‘Pals’ company to my attention and for obtaining the information from the archives of The Stage. I would also like to thank Charles Messenger, John Sainsbury, Arthur Potton and Bill Mitchinson for their assistance on specific points.

74www.bcmh.org.uk
