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2nd
(Reserve) Battalion |
Wellington Barracks, London -
August 1915 |
London Defences |
Home Defence.
Training and supply of
reinforcements to 1st Battalion |
Initially located at Marlow, moved to Tower of London in October 1915,
going on to Tadworth, near Epsom, on 12th June 1916, to Orpington on 24th October
1916, returning to Tadworth on15th May 1917 and finally to Barnes on 5th
September 1917 where it remained for the rest of the war. |
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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
Foot Guards Regiments and sixty-nine Infantry Regiments. The
Grenadier and Coldstream Guards were each made up of 3 Battalions and
the Scots and Irish Guards 2 Battalions each. There were no
Reserve Battalions in the Guards 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. Many of the Infantry Regiments 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 Battalion 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. The Foot Guards did not raise
any TF Battalions.
The Re-Organisation at the Outbreak of
War.
The Guards Regiments immediately raised
Reserve Battalions whilst the Infantry 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 Battalions, those personnel
who had signed up for Imperial Service were formed into the First Line
of the Battalion 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 for UK based service. These Battalions continued
to recruit and train their own personnel.
Foot Guards Reserve Battalions. The
Grenadier Guards and Coldstream Guards each formed a 4th (Reserve)
Battalion in August 1914. The Scots Guards formed a 3rd
(Reserve) Battalion and the Irish Guards a 2nd (Reserve) Battalion in
August 1914.
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. The Foot
Guards raised no Service Battalions.
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. The Foot Guards formed no Locally Raised Battalions.
Further Re-Organisations.
Foot Guards. In
July 1915 the Grenadier Guards and Coldstream Guards each formed a 5th
(Reserve) Battalion and the Irish Guards a 3rd (Reserve) Battalion.
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 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:
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.
More Reorganisations.
Training Reserve Battalions.
In 1917 the Training Reserve (TR) 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.
This reorganisation did not affect
the Foot Guards Regiments.
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