Warrington Pals

[SusanW]

Hello,  Anyone out there any knowledge of the 1/4 South Lancashire Regiment?  I believe this is sometimes referred to as the Warrington Pals. 

 

I wondered if this unit might have been at Passchendaele, or anywhere in the Ypres area in 1917 or 1918? 

 

Any help gratefully received.

 

Susan

[Chris_Baker]

They were the Pioneer Battalion of 55th (West Lancashire) Division, and as you will see from this page they were indeed in the Ypres area during 1917: http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/55th-west-lancashire-division/

 

I've never heard them called the Warrington Pals, and really it would be wrong to do so. They were not a pals battalion, but a local unit of the Territorial Force.

[John_Hartley]

As a Territorial unit, the battalion recruited in Warrington pre-war. As such, its members would have always known each other - as friends, neighbours and colleagues. As such, they shared many of the attributes of the later "pals" battalions which recuited in the autumn of 1914. I can understand that how they might have come to have been thought of as a "pals battalion" but, as Chris notes, they weren't one. I can't find any contemporary mention of the "Warrington pals" in the British Newspaper Archive, so I suspect any such unofficial naming probably comes from much later.

 

There is a published history of 55th Division which is fairly short and has no mention of the Battalion.

[SusanW]

Thank you very much for your responses.  I had seen the phrase ‘Warrington Pals’ but doubted that it was being used correctly.  I know the South Lancashire Regiment had their barracks in Warrington and recruited many young men in the town, so it was regarded as the ‘local’ regiment.  My maternal grandfather did not serve with the South Lancs. Jack Gregg volunteered at age 17 in 1915, but avoided the local barracks.  It was too close to home and he obviously feared being ‘found out’ as underage.  I believe he went down to Staffordshire.  He ended up on the Western Front some months later and became a Signaller with 3rd Btn Rifle Brigade. 

My late Mother (Grace) once told of an incident which must have taken place late 1930s or 1940s and I am curious about the details. In Warrington town centre one day with her Dad they met a man Grace had never seen before. His greeting to Jack was enthusiastically friendly; a warm handshake and cheery smile. Clearly, he was genuinely pleased to see Jack Gregg.  A brief conversation followed and then the man went on his way.  Grace was puzzled as she knew he wasn't a relative and she had never come across him as a family friend.  She must have pressed Dad for more information and he relented and told her this WW1 story.  This was unusual for him.  Mum told us that she could only remember him mentioning the War on perhaps three or four occasions. Two places named to her were Ypres and Passchendaele, but no details were given.  She was also aware that he had been awarded the Military Medal (we don’t have his medals – lost, possibly stolen, in 1935) and I now know that the MM was for signalling under dangerous conditions on 8th June, 1917 in an action near Wytschaete.

Jack described terrible muddy conditions and being in this group of men having to struggle from one position to another.  They were in single file and stepping across duckboards and other objects sticking out of the mud when he suddenly realised that the ‘board’ beneath his foot was actually a man’s back!  He stopped and reached down to help this individual up out of the mud.  He wasn’t from Jack’s unit but had attempted to pass that way a little earlier, had fallen and been too exhausted to get up.  Men coming on behind him hadn’t noticed; he found himself being pushed face down into the quagmire and unable to get anyone’s attention. Jack helped him along and in conversation it came out that they were both Warringtonians!

I suppose Granddad would not have met up with many from his home town whilst serving with the Rifle Brigade, so this must have seemed a remarkable coincidence in the circumstances.  I am guessing that this man might have been with the Pioneer Battalion and I’m pleased that someone has confirmed that this unit could have been in the same area as 3rd Rifle Brigade.  We’ll never know exactly who he was but it was clear to my Mum that he regarded Jack Gregg as a hero; the man who saved his life.