Fallen Officers of the Great War   |   Cheshire Regiment

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     Roll of Honour of Officers of The Cheshire Regiment

     Who Died in the Great War

Cheshire Regiment Capbadge
Copyright and source:  British Military Badges

Formation and Early Years of the Cheshire Regiment

 

The Cheshire Regiment was formed on 1st July 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms,which saw the 2 separate Battalions of the 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment of Foot re-titled to become the regular 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Regiment, with the Regimental Depot based at Chester Castle. 

 

The 1881 reforms also added the Rifle Volunteer Corps (RVC) and Militia units within the Regimental District of the County of Cheshire to the Regimental Establishment, as numbered Battalions of the Regiment.   The Rifle Volunteer Corps (RVC) units were the 1st Cheshire Rifle Volunteer Corps, the 2nd (Earl of Chester's) Cheshire RVC,  the 3rd Cheshire RVC, the 4th Cheshire (Cheshire and Derbyshire) RVC and the 5th Cheshire RVC.   The Militia units of the Regiment were the 1st Royal Cheshire Light Infantry Militia and the 2nd Royal Cheshire Militia. 

 

In 1908, as part of the Haldane Reforms, the Militia Battalions were reorganised and restructured forming the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion and the RVC Battalions were retitled as Battalions of the Regimental Territorial Force (TF).   The 1st Cheshire RVC became the 4th Battalion TF, the 2nd (Earl of Chester's) Cheshire RVC and the 3rd Cheshire RVC amalgamated and became the 5th (Earl of Chester's) Battalion TF, the 4th Cheshire RVC became the 6th Battalion TF and the 5th Cheshire RVC became the 7th Battalion TF.  

 

After the Declaration of War on 4th August 1914 and up to 1st June 1918, the Cheshire Regiment had formed, disbanded or reconstituted 35 Territorial Force, Service, Garrison, Labour, Reserve, Graduated and Young Soldier Battalions.

Regimental Details of The Cheshire Regiment

(As Published in the Army List of August 1918)

Cheshire Regiment - Army List

 

Aim of the Website/Project

The aim of this part of the website is simple.   It is to collate into one place an accurate record of the service and death of the                  officers of the Cheshire Regiment who died during the First World War and to make a permanent record of their sacrifice.   These officers served and died for their country on land, sea and in the air and are listed here in Regimental Officers Rolls of Honour.

 

Accuracy and Research

The author has taken every reasonable care to ensure that the information on this website is as accurate as possible.   Please contact the author should errors or omissions be discovered in order that corrective action can be taken.   Contact details are shown above and below.  Research is continuing for further information which will be posted on the site as soon as it is checked and verified.

 

First World War Casualties

The formal dates of the First World War as recognised by the UK Government are between 4th August 1914 and 31st August 1921 inclusive, and any member of the UK or Empire/Commonwealth Armed Services who died in this period, or as a result of their service during this period, are officially registered and commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) either by an approved headstone on the grave, or if this is not possible or practical, the name being inscribed on a relevant Memorial to the Missing.

 

All of the officers listed in these Regimental Officers Rolls of Honour are those registered and commemorated by the CWGC.   However there are most probably others who died as civilians when retired or discharged from the Army too late to be commemorated by the CWGC and investigations continue to trace any former officers.

 

The Cheshire Regiment During the Great War

During the Great War the Regiment was organised into Regular, Territorial Force, Service, Reserve, Garrison, Labour, Graduated and Young Soldier Battalions as described here.   A total of 76 Battle Honours were earned by these Battalions during the war and a list of these Battle Honours, as published in Army Order 55/1925, can be viewed here.

 

Facts and Figures of Officer Casualties

A total of         officers of the Regiment lost their lives during the Great War and a detailed analysis of these casualties can be viewed here.   All are buried or commemorated on Memorials To The Missing throughout the world as official war casualties.                       of these officers died whilst serving with fighting Battalions and other units within the Regiment and              died whilst detached from the Regiment and serving with other Services, Corps, Regiments, Units and Establishments.   A detailed list of these            officers can be viewed here.

 

                       officers are buried or commemorated in France and               in Belgium.   Other burials or commemorations are in Cameroon, Egypt, Gallipoli, Gold Coast (now Ghana), Gibraltar, India, Italy, Mesopotamia, Palestine and Salonika.  There are                 officers buried in the UK and       officers were lost or buried at sea.

 

A total of              officers of other Regiments lost their lives during the Great War whilst serving with fighting Battalions of the Cheshire Regiment.   A list of their names in this Roll of Honour and details of their death can be viewed here.

 

Project Development

In addition to the basic sources of information outlined on the main Project Home Page, an enormous amount of fact regarding the Cheshire Regiment is available through the following organisations and publications:

  •   Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC).

  •   Officers Died in the Great War (ODGW).

  •   Cheshire Bantams.   15th, 16th and 17th Battalions of the Cheshire Regiment, by Stephen McGreal (ISBN-13:  978-1844155248).

  •   6th Battalion The Cheshire Regiment in the Great War, by John Hartley (ISBN-13: 978-1473897588).

  •   Wirral Pals.   A History of the Wirral Battalion, the 13th (Service) Battalion Cheshire Regiment 1914 - 1918, by Stephen McGreal (ISBN-13: 979-8327112254).

  •   The Cheshire Military Museum.

  •   British Regiments 1914 - 1918:   by Brigadier E A James.

  •   General Register Office (GRO) Index To War Deaths 1914 - 1921, Army Officers.

  •   Army Lists (1914 - 1921) (from the National Library of Scotland).

  •   Cross of Sacrifice - Officers Who Died 1914 -1918.

  •   Bond of Sacrifice (Volumes 1 and 2).

  •   De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour 1914 - 1918.

  •   War Office personal files held in Catalogues WO 339 and WO 374 at The National Archives.

  •   Medal Index Cards held in Catalogue WO 372 at The National Archives.

  •   Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914 - 1918 held in Catalogue WO 329 at The National Archives.

  •   Battalion War Diaries and Histories (available in Catalogue WO95 at the National Archives).

  •   British First World War Trench Maps, 1915 - 1918 (from National Library of Scotland).

  •   National and Local contemporary press.

  •   The Times Digital Archive 1785 - 1985.

  •   The London Gazette.

  •   War Memorials and commemorative plaques.

  •   The RAF Museum Archive (for RAF/RFC Casualty cards).

  •    Royal Flying Corps Research Data Website.

  •    Fatal Air Accidents in Britain Website (Period 1914 -1920).

  •   The Great War Forum.

  •   The FreeBMD Project.

  •   The Imperial War Museum National War Memorial Register.

  •   The National Army Museum.

  •   The Long, Long Trail Website- Discovering the British Army and its soldiers in the Great War.

  •   The Wartime Memories Project.

  •   Ancestry.co.uk  -  Military Records.

These sources, with others, together form the basis of the information for the Regimental Roll of Honour of Officers of the Cheshire Regiment who died in the Great War.

 

Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC)

The CWGC commemorates those official casualties who died in service, or died due to their service, during the First World War.   The formal inclusive dates of the war are between 4th August 1914 and 31st August 1921 and any member of the UK Armed Services who died during this period are officially registered and commemorated by the CWGC either by an approved headstone on the grave, or if this is not possible or practical, the name being inscribed on a Memorial to the Missing.

 

In December 2020, the Commission reviewed their policy on amendments to the Casualty Database.   One of the outcomes of the review was that they would no longer add awards to the database where there is no entitlement to post-nominal letters.   Therefore the recording of "Mentioned in Despatches", for instance,  would no longer be carried out.  

 

There are some apparent anomalies in individual officer's records contained in the Casualty Database maintained by the CWGC and these are listed here with the suggested corrective action taken or planned, and the long term aim is to correct all of these inaccuracies. 

 

Officers of Other Corps and Regiments Honoured and Remembered in this Website/Project

Also recorded and honoured in this website/project are the names of fallen officers of the following Yeomanry, Royal Engineer, Guards and Infantry Regiments:

Site/Project Author

The author of this website can be contacted through:   fallenofficersofthegreatwar@gmail.com

 
 

Soldier Cross

 

Copyright and source - Imperial War Museum, under Share and Re-use

 

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

 

 Written by Robert Laurence Binyon - 1914

 

 

 

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