Gloucestershire Regt

[Guest Stoner]

Would any one know if any particular battalion or unit of the Gloucesters was ever reffered to as the "Gloucester Bantams"?

I'm looking into pte H T Pearce, from Ashbury

Thanks

Mark

[HERITAGE PLUS]

Mark

14th (West of England) Service Battalion(Bantams)

Served in F&F in 35th.Div. 1915-18

Lost 12 Officers and 359 ORs

See: http://members.tripod.com/~Glosters/14thBn.htm

Dave

[Promenade]

Mark,

I am sure you know that he was No 21678 and that he was an MM winner gaz 2/11/17. I presume you know this as you know where he came from which is listed in the gazette. He enlisted 13/7/15.

Joe

[Myrtle]

Mark/Dave

Do you know if Bantam Regiments only took those of bantam stature ? I am researching a soldier who was with the Glos. 14th Bn but he was originally with the Herefords. How would he have been able to join the Herefords if he was not tall enough or did the Herefords have a Bantam Bn also ?

Myrtle

[Promenade]

Myrtle,

I presume you are referring to No 32077 Pte Thomason. By the time he was transferred (with a batch of others from the Herefords by the way) the casualties were such in the 14 Glos that they were taking men from anywhere possibly only criteria was that they were breathing and mobile. I checked out the diary for the Bn and found the following.

On 21st April 1917 the Battalion was relieved without casualties in the front line of the Gricourt sector by the 15th Sherwood Foresters. On the subsequent three days the battalion provided working parties at full strength on the Brown Line. On 24th the Battalion diary reports that 2 men were killed on the St Quentin Rd near Bois de Holnon.

Regards

Joe

[HERITAGE PLUS]

Myrtle

Sorry I don't know the answer to your question on height and recruitment of non-bantams in bantam regiments. The Herefords did not have a bantam battalion.

Dave

[Myrtle]

Joe

Yes Pte. Herbert Thomason known as Bert.

Thank you very much for the information. Do you have a date for when he was transferred from Herefords to 14th Glos. and do you know how many soldiers were in the "batch."?

Dave

Thanks for your reply.

[Guest Stoner]

Dave and Joe

Many thanks

I knew someone would have the answer!

Joe, thanks for all the extra info, I didn't have any of it, all I had was his initials, surname, Gloucester Bantams & village from a local newspaper Roll of Honour dated Sat March 25th 1916 & so that is really appreciated.

Sorry Myrtle i can't help you there, this is the first reference I've had to a bantam btn. from the men I am researching, and so I am pretty much in the dark at the moment as to how their recruitment worked, sorry.

From a very Mark

[Myrtle]

Mark

I am pleased you have solved your mystery. As soon as I saw mention of the 14th Bn I couldn't resist asking my question. I hope you don't mind . I find when researching a memorial I am always having to keep my eyes open for the mention of relevant regiments and battalions. As there are 85 men commemorated on the Rhayader Memorial who joined near on forty different regiments I sometimes wish that the old Radnorshire Regiment had existed at the start of the war. Then I should have known where the majority of the men would have enlisted.

Regards

Myrtle

[HERITAGE PLUS]

Myrtle

I came across this. It looks interesting.

Dave

http://www.hellfire-corner.demon.co.uk/review2.htm

[Myrtle]

Hi Dave

Thanks for that. I've just sent Sidney Allinson an email to find out more about his book.

Joe's explanation of The 14th Glosters having to take whoever they could for their Battalion even if they were "giants" sounds very likely.

There is another soldier on the memorial who was with the 12th SWB which again was a Bantam Bn. however he again started with another regiment.

Regards

Myrtle

[Promenade]

Myrtle,

The 'Batch' was about 50 or so men and I can only guess by looking at the batch that they transferred early in 1917.

Joe

[Myrtle]

Joe

Thanks for your reply. I am grateful for the information.

Myrtle