Rob HAmilton Posted 26 July , 2003 Share Posted 26 July , 2003 I have received an enquiry regarding a man who is believed to have served in the West Riding Volunteers during WW1. I seem to think that they were absorbed into the territorial army when it was formed. Does anyone have more information about them. Regards Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HERITAGE PLUS Posted 27 July , 2003 Share Posted 27 July , 2003 There were originally 45 Rifle Volunteer Corps raised between 1859 and 1875 in the West Riding of Yorkshire. These evolved through amalgamations to become Volunteer Battalions of : West Yorkshire Regiments York and Lancaster Regiment Duke of Wellingtons regimnt King's Own Light Yorkshire Infantry With the forming of the Territorial Force they became: 5th, 6th, 7th (Leeds Rifles) and 8th (Leeds Rifles) Battalions of the West Yorks, Regt. 4th (Hallamshire) and 5th. Battalions York & Lancashire Regt. 4th, 5th, 6th & 7th Battalions Duke of Wellingtons Regiment. 4th. & 5th. Battalions KOYLI Added to which therewere also West Riding Territorial Units of Royal Horse Artillery, Royal Field Artillery, Royal Army Medical Corps (Casualty Clearing, Sanitary, Field Ambulance), Army Service Corps (Divisional, Transport & Supply), Engineers and National Reserve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob HAmilton Posted 27 July , 2003 Author Share Posted 27 July , 2003 Heritage Plus Many thanks for the reply. You've confirmed what I suspected but the detail is much appreciated. The enquiry I have had is about a man from the Oldham area of Lancashire who joined or was conscripted in 1916, so I presume he joined one of the battalions which had previously been part of the volunteers and they were still informally refered to as such. Regards Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Hartley Posted 27 July , 2003 Share Posted 27 July , 2003 Rob I dunno - I reckon your brain is giving up. Must be the water from the Calder. I think you told me a lot of this months back as your was the only internet site with a reference (guy of Luddenfoot?).If you remember I have a work colleague who had bought an inscribed ciggie case. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob HAmilton Posted 27 July , 2003 Author Share Posted 27 July , 2003 John I knew that I'd found something about the volunteers in the past but could only remember the basic details and I couldn't look through my emails as I had a catastrophic computer crash quite recently and lost all of my saved emails and a lot of other work. Fortunately I keep a back up of my memorials database so nothing was lost there, but I've been unable to update my website as I lost my web publishing software and can't for the life of me remember where I put the original disk. As for my memory, I'm hopeless much to my wife's despair. I think it might be all the Yorkshire pudding we eat o'er here on t' proper side o' t' Pennines. Regards Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Sweeney Posted 28 July , 2003 Share Posted 28 July , 2003 Rob, He could have been a member of the Infantry Volunteer Corps. These units were units raised for home defence from 1914 to 1918. They were not linked to Line Regiments until 13 July 1918. The West Riding (volunteers) Regiment had about 22 Bns in WWI. He would not have been conscripted into these volunteers but may have been conscripted out of the West Riding Volunteers. Or he simply could have joined the West Riding Volunteers in 1916. Joe Sweeney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob HAmilton Posted 28 July , 2003 Author Share Posted 28 July , 2003 Joe That's very interesting. Were these battalions something similar to the WW2 Home Guard ? Presumably a man simply volunteered but was not paid. Have you any idea what their duties were ? Many thanks Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HERITAGE PLUS Posted 28 July , 2003 Share Posted 28 July , 2003 As a follow up to Joe's post: In 1918 the West Riding Volunteer Regiment Battalions were re-numbered as Volunteer Battalions of the 4 county regiments as follows: 1st to 7th. Vol. Battalions West Yorks.Regt. were formed from the 3rd, 4th,5th, 11th, 12th & 13th & 21st.Battalions 1st to 5th. Vol. Battalions Duke of Wellington's Regt. were formed from 2nd, 6th, 8th, 9thand 20th.Battalions 1st to 3rd. Vol.Battalions KOYLI were formed from the 7th, 10th & 19th. Battalions 1st to 4th. Vol.Bats. The York & Lancaster Regt. were formed from 1st, 16th, 17th & 18th.Batts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tintin Posted 29 July , 2003 Share Posted 29 July , 2003 The Volunteers served part-time after work, principally guarding vulnerable points (like Eastbourne Reservoir) they provided valuable pre-service training. In London they manned AA machine guns and helped out the Rail Transport Officers at Liverpool Street Station.They were just like the Home Guards, The Derbyshre Volunteers actually using the Home Guard title for a period. The 1863 Volunteer Act had been replaced not repealed by the Reserve Forces Act which set up the TA and was used as enabling legislation for the Great War volunteers There were motor volunteers and RAMC as well as infantry The motor volunteers used to help move casualties from Hospital Trains to Hospital In 1918 when troops had to be diverted from Home Defence the Volunteers had to form active service companies which served full-time on the East Coast Defences Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob HAmilton Posted 29 July , 2003 Author Share Posted 29 July , 2003 Heritage Plus/Tin Tin Many thanks for the information. Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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