1st Garrison Battalion Devonshire Regiment

[DH8257]

Hello,

I am trying to find out more information about the Battalion my Great Grandfather Edward Holloway (19407) served in: the 1st Garrison Battalion Devonshire Regiment. Unfortunately I have not been able to find out much, his service records have not survived and I believe the War Diaries for the Battalion have not been digitised by TNA. I've also been unable to discover anything via web searches. Would anyone here be able to provide me with some details about the places in Egypt and Palestine they served and the duties they performed during the War, or any information related to the Battalion really.

I know he arrived in Egypt on the 16th October 1915 and was discharged to Class Z reserve on the 21st April 1919 so anything within that time scale would be of great interest to me.

Many thanks,

Dan

[Eran Tearosh]

Hi Dan,

I don't know about the 1st Garrison Battalion. As far as I know, two Devonshire battalions were serving in the EEF and were involved in the Palestine Campaign, both as a part of the 75th Division: 1/5 (Prince of Wales's) Battalion & 2/4 Battalion. Both battalions were transferred to the Western Front in 1918. 

1/5 (Prince of Wales's) Battalion: You'll find a little about their service in this theatre of war here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5th_(Prince_of_Wales's)_Battalion,_Devonshire_Regiment (Scroll down to the relevant part)

2/4 Battalion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exeter_and_South_Devon_Volunteers#2/4th_Battalion (Same. Scroll down to the relevant part)

 

Probably you want to find this book: 'The Devonshire Regiment 1914-1918', by C.T. Atkinson, 1926

 

Eran

 

 

 

[stevenbecker]

Mate,

Don't forget the 16Bn (Devon) Regt formed for the 74 Div

A number of my ICC blokes arrived from that unit.

But as to the 1 Garr Bn I am unsure and the LLT, only said it moved to Palestine in 1917

To do what, and where, needs more checking 

[DH8257]

11 hours ago, Eran Tearosh said:

Hi Dan,

I don't know about the 1st Garrison Battalion. As far as I know, two Devonshire battalions were serving in the EEF and were involved in the Palestine Campaign, both as a part of the 75th Division: 1/5 (Prince of Wales's) Battalion & 2/4 Battalion. Both battalions were transferred to the Western Front in 1918. 

1/5 (Prince of Wales's) Battalion: You'll find a little about their service in this theatre of war here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5th_(Prince_of_Wales's)_Battalion,_Devonshire_Regiment (Scroll down to the relevant part)

2/4 Battalion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exeter_and_South_Devon_Volunteers#2/4th_Battalion (Same. Scroll down to the relevant part)

 

Probably you want to find this book: 'The Devonshire Regiment 1914-1918', by C.T. Atkinson, 1926

 

Eran

Many thanks for your reply Eran. I have managed to find a copy of the book you suggest on the Internet Archive and it does indeed contain details about the 1st Garr Btn: It was formed at Weymouth on the 8th August 1915, left Devonport on the 27th September comprising of 28 officers and 961 other ranks and landed at Alexandria in October 1915 (which ties up with the entry date I already had). It explains its initials activities upon arriving in Egypt (Which I hope is ok to quote):

Quote

'and proceeded to Cairo. Here it discharged a multiplicity of duties: it found guards over prisoners of war, hospitals, Army Headquarters and the High Commissioner's Residency; it sent out detachments to a wireless station at Abu Zabul, to an Australian hospital at Helouan, to several prisoners-of-war camps; it provided a strong inlying picquet ready for all emergencies, and a Town Picquet, which patrolled the quarters frequented by the troops and co-operated with the Cairo Town Picquet in maintaining order'

The only photograph I have of him during the War is of him in front of the Sphinx (The photo which I have used for my profile picture incidentally), which of course is not far from Cairo so that also ties up well. Naturally I don't know which of the tasks it describes he undertook, nor will I ever be able to find out I suppose, but it gives me some places to research. If anyone has any information about the places mentioned I'd be grateful to hear it. The book goes on to mention an incident in 1916:

Quote

'In January, 1916, it had to turn out 300 men to suppress a dangerous riot, when crowds of discontented Egyptian Army Reservists started demonstrating outside the Abdin Palace Hotel and came into collision with the police.'

Does anyone know anything further about this? It goes on to mention providing a guard of honour for the Sultan of Egypt during a visit in May and in August providing escorts for prisoners taken at Romani. The book later describes the Battalion's entry into Palestine in August 1917:

Quote

'The Garrison Battalion meanwhile had not got nearer the front than the G.H.Q. Camp at Rafa, where it had taken over duty on the defences in the middle of August, two companies being in the Rafa defences. It was kept busy enough; there were any number of dumps, depots and wells to be guarded, many of them so far from the main camp that separate detachments had to be posted at them finding their own relief: there was much to be done to improve the appearance and sanitary condition of the camp, and there were occasional interruptions in the shape of bombing raids by hostile aeroplanes.'

Later it says many detachments had to be found to guard the numerous prisoners of war taken during the offensive in November. It goes on to describe the Battalion's activities after the Ottoman surrender:

Quote

'the last representative of the Regiment in Egypt and Palestine, would have been disbanded sooner but for the outbreak of trouble in Egypt in the spring of 1919. Since the Turkish surrender it had continued split up between various stations, Headquarters and A and B Companies remaining at Bir Saleh till February, when they moved to Ramleh. C and D were at Jerusalem from October to the middle of December, when they rejoined Headquarters, but were soon sent off again to Haifa.'

Unfortunately I don't know which company he was part of so I expect I won't be able to find out which of these places he went to. It then describes the disbandment of the Battalion:

Quote

'Demobilization, which had begun to deplete the ranks appreciably, was suspended owing to affairs in Egypt from March 29th till May 16th, and for a time the situation was very strained. There was trouble with the natives, orders had to be issued that no one should be absent from camp unarmed, there were many attempts to steal rifles, and extra vigilance was necessary'

Seeing as he was Class Z reserve in April 1919 I assume he had already left Palestine by this point and was not involved in the incident.

If anyone can shed any more light about anything mentioned in these quotes, or any other information related to the 1st Garr Btn, I would greatly appreciate it. The book has certainly helped a lot to fill in the blanks I had regarding my Great Grandfather's service.

Thanks,

Dan

Edited 7 April by DH8257

[Eran Tearosh]

11 hours ago, stevenbecker said:

Mate,

Don't forget the 16Bn (Devon) Regt formed for the 74 Div

A number of my ICC blokes arrived from that unit.

But as to the 1 Garr Bn I am unsure and the LLT, only said it moved to Palestine in 1917

To do what, and where, needs more checking 

Thanks Steve!

Indeed, somehow I forgot the dismounted Devonshire Yeomanry!

Eran

[Eran Tearosh]

Dan,

Glad it helped a bit. Strange, but I was unable to find Atkinson's book on the Internet Archive.

Could you kindly sen the link?

Eran 

[DH8257]

29 minutes ago, Eran Tearosh said:

Dan,

Glad it helped a bit. Strange, but I was unable to find Atkinson's book on the Internet Archive.

Could you kindly sen the link?

Eran 

Certainly Eran, I struggled to find it myself, it was the very last return of my search!

https://archive.org/details/the-devonshire-regiment-1914-1918

Dan

[MaureenE]

The Search on the Internet Archive is definitely unreliable at times. For example, when searching for a book I knew was there, I could not find  it when searching by title, but I found it by searching for the author's surname.

Maureen

[FROGSMILE]

3 hours ago, MaureenE said:

The Search on the Internet Archive is definitely unreliable at times. For example, when searching for a book I knew was there, I could not find  it when searching by title, but I found it by searching for the author's surname.

Maureen

I’ve been finding Google especially unreliable for quite some time now, and always use others like Bing as belt and braces.  Apparently a lot of that is caused by the monetisation of algorithms to give priority to interests not necessarily aligned with the inquirer.  I know that you will be more aware that than me, but I’ve been deeply surprised by the scale of the decline of what was once a good search service. 

Edited 8 April by FROGSMILE

[Bob Davies]

12 hours ago, DH8257 said:

Certainly Eran, I struggled to find it myself, it was the very last return of my search!

https://archive.org/details/the-devonshire-regiment-1914-1918

Dan

Thanks for the link Dan.

Here is a link to The Campaign In Mesopotamia 1914-1918 Vol-iii by Brig Gen F. J. Moberley C.B.  C.S.I. D.S.O. psc.

If you scroll to the bottom of the page you should find Vols i, ii and iv.

They may be of use?

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.210668/page/n3/mode/2up

Regards, Bob.

[DH8257]

11 hours ago, Bob Davies said:

Thanks for the link Dan.

Here is a link to The Campaign In Mesopotamia 1914-1918 Vol-iii by Brig Gen F. J. Moberley C.B.  C.S.I. D.S.O. psc.

If you scroll to the bottom of the page you should find Vols i, ii and iv.

They may be of use?

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.210668/page/n3/mode/2up

Regards, Bob.

Many thanks Bob, I'll have a look through them, although I don't think the 1st Garr Btn served in Mesopotamia. Nonetheless it'll be very helpful for me to learn what's going on in the 'bigger picture' so to speak as my knowledge of the War in the Middle East is shamefully very small.

Thanks again,

Dan

[Eran Tearosh]

Thank you Dan and everyone.

Indeed, I also feel that change in the reliability of Google

Eran

 

Edited 9 April by Eran Tearosh