3rd/6th B.M.R.Firing Party

[Moonraker]

I've seen a postcard of some 100 posed soldiers captioned "3rd/6th B.M.R.Firing Party A 591. 25-3-15,8-4-16,Salisbury Plain". It may be that the "R" stands for Rifles or Regiment, but I can't even guess at what "B.M." stands for - I can't get any matches from my list of infantry regiments based on the Plain during the war.

The card was published by someone from Westbury, which suggests the photograph shows a unit on the western part of the Plain (around Imber), which was used by artillery units during the Great War.

Any ideas, please?

Moonraker

[centurion]

If the M is a badly written H then Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment otherwise the only thing that fits is the Burmese Mounted Rifles which seems unlikely.

[Moonraker]

The 6th Bedfordshire was in the Ludgershall area (eastern edge of the Plain)from May to July 1915, but the Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Regiment wasn't formed until 1919.

Moonraker

[headgardener]

Both the 3rd and 6th CMR (Canadian Mounted Rifles) were disbanded around that time, and would have been stationed thereabouts. I reckon it's a typo; should have read CMR.

[Moonraker]

I admit that my own researches into the Canadians on Salisbury Plain taper off after the First Division left the area in February 1915, but I've no evidence that thereafter many other Canadian units were based in Wiltshire, and probably not the CMR. Glances at the CMR on-line war diaries and a Google suggest that Shorncliffe in Kent was where they were based in England. Doubtless artillery units spent short periods on the Plain's ranges, but only for short periods, certainly not the 13 months suggested by the card's caption.

I also admit I was being coy about the postcard, as it's currently

on eBay

and I didn't want to alert any "BMR" enthusiast to its availability. But if giving the link solves the problem of what the BMR was, then fair enough.

Moonraker

[Moonraker]

My query seems to have stumped the collective wisdom of the Forum, and I've exhausted all the permutations I can think of. Presumably "3rd/6th" denotes the Third Line of the Sixth Battalion, and there can't have been very many units with such a designation. (One was the 3/6th Lancashire Fusiliers, who were at Codford, not far from Westbury, at the period suggested by the card's caption, but I can't relate them to "BMR".)

So a simpler question: what was a "firing party"? Was it a group of soldiers tasked with the administration of artillery (or, indeed, rifle) ranges?

Moonraker

[Phil Evans]

Moonraker,

I've tried a few combinations, including "B" for Battalion and "R" for reserve, but got no further than you.

The only references I can get for firing party are funerals and executions. 100 men seems a bit excessive for both.

I can only suggest that you ask the seller for a high resolution scan of the cap badge.

.......... and I promise not to bid on it ....... my Paypal bill's high enough at the moment as it is.

Phil

[bruce]

Wouldn't you just love it to be the Burmese Mounted Rifles!

Bruce

[themonsstar]

The Manchester Regt had a 3/6th Bn, how about "3/6th Battalion Manchester Regiment (BMR) It ended up in the same Bde as the 3/6 LF.

[PhilB]

Good try, themonsstar, but 3/6 Manch R`s first move from Wigan/Manchester was to Witley, Surrey in early 1916.

[Moonraker]

At my request the vendor has added a crop showing the badges to his listing but they're still indistinct.

See here.

Thanks all for the ideas so far.

Moonraker

[Moonraker]

I won the card for just under £5, and on the back is pencilled "3rd/6th Bn (TF) M/cs Regt 25.3.15-8.4.1916". I'm not sure whether this is a contemporary annotation, though it has more the look of that made by a collector.

Could "M/cs" be a somewhat quaint abbreviation of "Manchester"? On The Manchesters website is a postcard of its 3rd/6th, and the cap-badges look very similar in shape.

Also, the 3rd/6th became the 6th Reserve Battalion on April 8, 1916 - one of the dates on my card. Perhaps the change of title coincided with a move to Witley? It was common for a battalion to be raised in a particular locality and after a short period being kitted out at the regimental depot to move to a training area - such as Salisbury Plain. I've noticed before that "location" lists of British units - including those on the LLT - do have gaps - as do many regimental histories when it comes to the less significant battalions.

Moonraker

[headgardener]

Could "M/cs" be a somewhat quaint abbreviation of "Manchester"? On The Manchesters website is a postcard of its 3rd/6th, and the cap-badges look very similar in shape.

Yes. 'M/c' was a standard contemporary abbreviation for Manchester. You'll see it written in addresses on post-cards of that era. The crop also looks very much like Manchester's cap-badge. Not a terribly good image, but good enough I'd reckon.