which county

[Fred W]

Which county provided the most battalions in WW1? I have been told it was Lancashire. Is this tue?

Fred

[Terry Denham]

Almost certainly London with the London Regt!!

[Steven Broomfield]

Lancashire must be a runner, though - Lanc Fus, Mancs, King's, E Lancs, Prince of Wales's Volunteers, N Lancs.

And Yorkshire, too - West Riding, W Yorks, E Yorks, Green Howards, Y&L, KOYLI.

Add up all the battalions and although none are the biggest regiment, the question is 'county', so unless you add Middlesex and R Fusiliers into London Regt, I'm not sure, and as I'm at work at present, I can't get to the study to find out!

[nfh249]

And Yorkshire, too - West Riding, W Yorks, E Yorks, Green Howards, Y&L, KOYLI.

Not forgetting the Yorkshire Dragoons, Yorkshire Hussars and East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry... if we aren't talking about just infantry...

Regards,

Neil.

[auchonvillerssomme]

33 Lancs Fus

16 East Lancs

22 Loyal North Lancs Regt

19 S Lancs

15 R Lanc Regt

33 London regt including supanumary companies

47 Northumberland Fus

Although the question should consider the transfer between Regiments and the fact that men didnt always enlist in the county regiment.

Mick

[auchonvillerssomme]

East, West, South, North Yorkshire are different counties.

Mick

[Derek Robertson]

Which county provided the most battalions in WW1?

Fred,

Scotland provided the most volunteers per head of population so your question is largely irrelevant

[joseph]

Mick

Not during the Great War they where Ridings the only other county was Hull.

Regards Charles

[nfh249]

East, West, South, North Yorkshire are different counties.

Mick

Only in modern times. Traditionally the 3 Ridings were all part of the county of York: riding means/is derived from 'third' in old English or Norse or something! That's my tuppence worth!

[SiegeGunner]

East, West, South, North Yorkshire are different counties.

They are today, but in WW1 Yorkshire was one county sub-divided into three Ridings. To answer Fred's question, we surely have to refer to the counties as constituted in 1914-18.

Mick

[auchonvillerssomme]

That wasnt the question, the question was just which county. If we assumming the question was the counties in existance in 1914-18 then it will even harder to answer.

Mick

[auchonvillerssomme]

That wasnt the question, the question was just which county. If we assumming the question was the counties in existance in 1914-18 then it will even harder to answer.

Mick

I wonder where the Y&L fit in?

[nfh249]

I wonder where the Y&L fit in?

Half for each?

[SiegeGunner]

riding means/is derived from 'third' in old English or Norse or something!

'Thriding', derived from Old Norse meaning 'a third'. The 1888 Local Government Act actually made each of the three ridings an independent administrative county (until 1974), so perhaps the 'which county' competition needs to be based on either geographical or administrative counties.

Probably best to leave wapentakes out of this ....

Charles: I thought Hull was an independent republic ....

Mick

[joseph]

Mick,

Was when it told King Charles to "Op it", started a civil war. would an "Administrative County" be a county in its own right or part of the original County.

Regards Charles

[Steven Broomfield]

Y&L is (was) a Yorkshire regiment, recruiting from the area of Hallamshire, round Sheffield/Barnsley - definitely Yorkshire.

Going on James' book, Id say:

Lancashire:

King's Own - 17 Bns

King's - 49

Lanc Fus - 31

E Lancs - 17

PWV - 21

N Lancs - 21

Manch - 44

Yorkshire:

West Yorks - 35

East Yorks - 19

Yorkshire Regt - 24

West Riding - 22

KOYLI - 24

Y&L - 22

London:

Royal Fus - 47

Middlesex - 49

London regt - 88

HAC - 3

Maths was never my strong point, but I make that:

Lancashire 200 battalions

Yorkshire 146 battalions

London 187 battalions

So I'd stick with Lancashire.

[joseph]

York and Lancaster Regiment

The title of the regiment was derived not from the cities of York and Lancaster, or from the counties. Instead, the name came from the fact that it recruited from, amongst other places, landed properties owned by the Duchy of York and the Duchy of Lancaster. The regiment's recruiting area was in fact wholly within South Yorkshire (an area known as Hallamshire). Indeed, the regiment's TA battalion dropped its number and was known simply as The Hallamshire Battalion from 1924.

Regards Charles

[SiegeGunner]

Would an "Administrative County" be a county in its own right or part of the original County.

Administratively, as in County Councils, they were separate counties, but for serious purposes, like cricket, they were still all part of Yorkshire. I fondly remember, after the 1974 'reorganisation', a Look North reporter showing a new-style map to an old lady in a village that had been 'moved', and her saying something like 'Nay lad, yer map's wrong - I 'ope you 'aven't paid money for it'.

Mick

[Fred W]

Fred,

Scotland provided the most volunteers per head of population so your question is largely irrelevant

I don't see why it is irrelevant. Just a striaghtfoward question! And when was Scotland a mere county?

Fred

[auchonvillerssomme]

York and Lancaster Regiment

The title of the regiment was derived not from the cities of York and Lancaster, or from the counties. Instead, the name came from the fact that it recruited from, amongst other places, landed properties owned by the Duchy of York and the Duchy of Lancaster. The regiment's recruiting area was in fact wholly within South Yorkshire (an area known as Hallamshire). Indeed, the regiment's TA battalion dropped its number and was known simply as The Hallamshire Battalion from 1924.

Regards Charles

Thanks for that Charles...Ive added Y&L to my must study list. (its a long list!!)

When I first started researching men in South Yorkshire, parts of Doncaster specifically, it took me a year to discover that the absent voters lists were situated in Wakefield., the kindly libriarian did attempt to explain why, but after the first hour i decided I had a life to lead.

Mick

[auchonvillerssomme]

Thanks for that Charles...Ive added Y&L to my must study list. (its a long list!!)

When I first started researching men in South Yorkshire, parts of Doncaster specifically, it took me a year to discover that the absent voters lists were situated in Wakefield., the kindly libriarian did attempt to explain why, but after the first hour i decided I had a life to lead.

Mick

When I say 'studying men' I do mean soldiers in the historic context, not men in general.

[edwin astill]

"York and Lancaster Regiment

The title of the regiment was derived not from the cities of York and Lancaster, or from the counties. Instead, the name came from the fact that it recruited from, amongst other places, landed properties owned by the Duchy of York and the Duchy of Lancaster. The regiment's recruiting area was in fact wholly within South Yorkshire (an area known as Hallamshire). Indeed, the regiment's TA battalion dropped its number and was known simply as The Hallamshire Battalion from 1924."

Like a lot of Regiments, The York and Lancaster Regt had a lot of Irish - hence its nickname (see earlier thread on nicknames) as "The Cork and Doncasters"

Edwin

[barrieduncan]

When was Scotland a mere county? Look up any kind of business directory, catalogue, online form etc, it usually asks for county - you get a list of all the english counties, then you get Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales chucked in for good measure.

[Fred W]

When was Scotland a mere county? Look up any kind of business directory, catalogue, online form etc, it usually asks for county - you get a list of all the english counties, then you get Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales chucked in for good measure.

I don't know whether, or not, you are implying Scotland is a county on its own. If you are I don't agree. Have a look at Scottish Counties on Google to see the whole list.

Fred

[bart6169]

I don't see why it is irrelevant. Just a striaghtfoward question! And when was Scotland a mere county?

Fred

Of course if we are talking countries, Australia would knock them all over per head of population

TC