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4th Battalion TF (formed 1/4th Battalion TF, and 2/4th Battalion TF in
October 1914) |
Shrewsbury - 1908, as part of the
Haldane
Reforms |
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Welsh Division |
India, Andaman Islands and
Singapore.
To 109th Bde, 63rd (RN) Div,
Aug 17
To 56th Bde, 19th Div, Feb 18.
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October 1914, 1/4th Battalion TF
and 2/4th Battalion TF were formed
on reorganisation of 4th Battalion TF.
To India 29th October 1914. To Singapore 10th February 1915.
Returned to UK 27th July 1917. To BEF and attached to 190th
Brigade, 63rd (Royal Naval) Division 18th August 1917.
Transferred to 56th Brigade, 19th (Western) Division 4th February 1918. |
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Pre-War Regular, Reserve and Territorial Force Infantry Battalions.
Immediately prior to the outbreak of the
Great War, the Regular Infantry of the British Army consisted of four
Guards Regiments and sixty-nine Infantry Regiments. Infantry
Regiments normally consisted of two active Battalions, with one
Battalion serving overseas and one Battalion serving in the UK. Each Regiment
would normally have one Reserve Battalion, based at the Regimental
Depot, which trained new soldiers and supplied reinforcing drafts to the
two active Battalions. In the case of The King's (Shropshire
Light Infantry), as with most Infantry Regiments, the active Battalions were
numbered the 1st and 2nd, and the Reserve Battalion was numbered the 3rd
(Reserve).
Many of the Infantry Regiments, including
The King's (Shropshire Light Infantry), also had Territorial Force (TF)
Battalions. These were made up of part-time officers and
soldiers who had signed up for Imperial or Home Service, and each of
these Battalions trained its own personnel so there was therefore no
requirement for the TF to be established with Reserve Battalions.
The TF Battalions were usually numbered after the Regular and Reserve
Battalions of the Regiment and often had a second title linking them
with their home city or town. In The King's (Shropshire
Light Infantry), the one TF Battalion was numbered the 4th Battalion TF.
Each of the active Battalions, UK and overseas
based, were grouped with a Brigade and/or Division and
immediately prior to the outbreak of war, Battalions of the Regiment were deployed as follows:
- 1st Battalion (Regular).
Based at Tipperary, under command of 16th Brigade/6th Division.
- 2nd Battalion (Regular).
Based at Secunderabad, under command of GHQ India.
- 3rd (Reserve) Battalion.
Based at Shrewsbury.
- 4th Battalion (TF). Based at
St Marty's Court, Shrewsbury. Under command of Army Troops,
Welsh Division (TF).
The Re-Organisation at the Outbreak of
War.
The Regular and Reserve Battalions saw
little change at the outbreak of war, only their reinforcement to War
Establishment by Regular and Special Reservists and the deployment to
mobilisation locations. In the TF Battalion, those personnel
who had signed up for Imperial Service were formed into the First Line
of the Battalion, designated the1/4th Battalion (TF), for service
overseas. Those who had signed for Home Service (and could
not or would not sign up for Imperial Service) were formed up into the
Second Line of the Battalion designated the 2/4th
Battalion TF. These Battalions continued
to recruit and train their own personnel.
Service Battalions.
On the outbreak of war, The Secretary of State for War, Lord Kitchener,
saw that the UK must be prepared for a war lasting three to four years,
requiring an Army of at least 70 Divisions. On 7th August
1914, he started a campaign to recruit an initial 100,000 men, but the
response was overwhelming and 500,000 were signed up. He
decided not to use the framework of the TF to expand the Army, but to
create a "New Army", separate from the current Regulars and
Territorials. More than 500 New Army Battalions were raised
forming the basis of three New Armies, known as K1 (9th - 14th
Division), K2 (15th - 20th Division) and K3 (21st- 26th Division).
The New Army Battalions were numbered consecutively after the existing
Regular and Territorial Battalions and they were distinguished by the
word "Service", in brackets, after their number. In
The King's (Shropshire Light Infantry), the Service Battalions raised were:
- 5th (Service) Battalion.
Raised at Shrewsbury, in August 1914. K1.
Placed under command of 42nd Brigade, 14th (Light) Division.
- 6th (Service) Battalion.
Raised at Shrewsbury, in September 1914. K2.
Placed under command of 60th Brigade, 20th (Light) Division.
- 7th (Service) Battalion.
Raised at Shrewsbury in September 1914. K3.
Placed under command of 76th Brigade, 25th Division.
- 8th (Service) Battalion.
Raised at Shrewsbury in September 1914.
K3. Placed under command of 66th Brigade, 22nd Division.
- 9th (Service)
Battalion. Raised at Pembroke Dock in October 1914.
K4. Became a Second Reserve Battalion, on the break-up of 4th
Army in late 1914/early 1915, to act as a depot and to train and supply reinforcements to
Regimental Service Battalions of K1, K2
and K3.
Locally Raised Service Battalions.
Apart from the formal Service Battalions being raised as described
above, local Citizen's Recruiting Committees were raising their own
Battalions independent of the War Office. The expense of
raising, clothing, feeding, housing and training of these Battalions
were met by the Recruiting Committees until they were formally taken
over by the War Office in 1915 and added to the Army Establishment.
At this time all previous expenses were refunded to Committees and
further costs borne by the War Office. These Battalions were
to become known as Locally Raised Battalions and provided the majority
of the infantry for the 4th New Army (K4). The Battalions
were numbered consecutively after the Service Battalions in a Regiment
and had an additional title showing the connection with the city, area
or organisation which raised them. In The King's (Shropshire
Light Infantry), no Locally Raised Battalions were
raised.
Further Re-Organisations.
Territorial Force (TF).
By June 1915 most of the First Line Battalions of the TF had been
deployed to active service locations overseas and the Second Line
Battalions were preparing for future overseas service and so a Third
Line Battalion was
formed to form a depot and to train and supply reinforcements to the First Line and later to the Second Line Battalions.
Home Service personnel and those not fit for overseas service were
transferred from the Second and Third Line Battalions to the
non-Regimentally affiliated Provisional Battalions TF. In the
Regiment, the Third Line Battalion TF raised was:
- 3/4th Battalion (TF).
Formed at Shrewsbury in May 1915 and moved to Oswestry to guard
local installations and to train recruits and provide drafts for
1/4th and 2/4th Battalions TF. Became 4th (Reserve)
Battalion TF on 8th April 1916, part of the Milford Haven Garrison.
Service Battalions.
By spring 1915 it had become clear
that voluntary recruitment was not
going to provide the numbers of men
required. The Government
passed the National Registration
Act on 15th July 1915 as a step
towards stimulating recruitment and
to discover how many men between the
ages of 15 and 65 were engaged in
each trade. The results
of this census became available by
mid-September 1915 and on
11th October 1915, Lord Derby was
appointed Director-General of
Recruiting. He brought
forward a scheme five days later,
called the Derby Scheme, for
raising the numbers. It was
half-way to conscription.
Disappointed at the results
of the Derby Scheme, the Government
introduced the Military Service Act
on 27 January 1916. All
voluntary enlistment was stopped as
all British males were now deemed to
have enlisted - that is, they were
conscripted - if they were
aged between 18 and 41 and resided
in Great Britain (excluding Ireland)
and were unmarried or a widower on 2
November 1915.
Conscripted men were no longer given
a choice of which service, regiment
or unit they joined, although if a
man preferred the navy it got
priority to take him.
This act was extended to married men
on 25th May 1916.
The
Training Organisation, based on the
Regimental Reserve Battalions could
not cope with the sheer number of
conscripted men now available and a
new system was put in place on 1st
September 1916 to deal with these
numbers. All New Army
Regimental Reserve Battalions would
lose their Regimental identity and
become a Battalion of the Training
Reserve. The role of
these Battalions was to train new
recruits for active service and
despatch drafts to Service
Battalions overseas. The
Second Reserve Battalion of the
Regiment was
reorganised as follows:
-
9th (Reserve) Battalion.
Formerly 9th (Service) Battalion
based at Prees Heath, formed the
48th Training Reserve Battalion,
part of 11th Reserve Brigade.
More Reorganisations.
Training Reserve Battalions.
In 1917 the Training Reserve was
re-organised to provide better and
more specialised training for
recruits and a total of 14 TR
Battalions were designated "Young
Soldier" and "Graduated" Battalions.
This system saw these new Young
Soldier Battalions take in and
trains 18 year olds recruits and
train them step by step until the
recruits could be posted , in
Company strength, to Graduated
Battalions for further training
until ready to be sent to active
service units. In
October 1917, these Battalions were
affiliated to Regiments of the Line.
No new units were formed in The
King's (Shropshire Light Infantry).
TF
Battalion Formed Overseas.
The 10th (Shropshire and Cheshire
Yeomanry) Battalion was formed at
Cairo on 2nd March 1917 by the
amalgamation of the dismounted
1/1st Shropshire Yeomanry and the
1/1stCheshire
Yeomanry. The Battalion was
placed under command of 231st Brigade, 74th
(Yeomanry) Division for operations
in Palestine. The unit
was moved to the BEF on 7th May
1918.
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