Enlistment in West Kent

[Guest]

I wonder if anyone has looked at the issue of recruitment into the New Army in West Kent? I am obviously focused on Sevenoaks but am interested in the wider area.

 

There was a suggestion that Kent wasn't doing its bit. This is certainly the view in the Sevenoaks papers of the time and is a suggestion I've seen more broadly.

 

I'm picking up the books you'd expect on the subject but would be interested to hear from anyone else who has looked at or written about this in Kent particularly.

 

Thanks all

 

Matt

[Longboat]

Hi Matt,

 

Just picked up your post.

 

I've looked into the recruitment for the 11th Royal West Kent's raised in Lewisham. While the majority came from South London there was a number of men from North West Kent, including Bromley, Dartford, Gravesend, Strood and Chatham IIRC.

When researching local papers it struck me that as well as the 10th (Kent County) and 11th (Lewisham) battalions of the Royal West Kent's being raised at the same time, that is late spring to late autumn 1915, there were also the territorial battalions of the regiment recruiting men.

There were also the London Regiments placing adverts in local newspapers as well as the Buffs of East Kent and their demand for men.

 

Another factor was the number of men in Kent who signed up at the beginning of the war onwards for the Yeomanry, the Royal East Kent Mounted Rifles and the West Kent Yeomanry.

The 11th Royal West Kent's recieved large drafts from these units after their losses on the Somme and a sizable number of these men were Farm Workers. This must of been a major factor why many men didnt flock to the colours in the late summer/autumn of 1914 due to the imminent harvest.

 

Of course these I my thoughts only and I would be pleased to hear what you or anybody else thinks,

 

Stuart