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Remembered Today:

51st (grad) Battn Welch Regt in Great Yarmouth


Dragon

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I’m trying to fill in the background to some documents I have (pay book, letters, diary) for a soldier from Manchester who enlisted aged 19. (The date of enlistment is given as Sept 1914, but his family say that this doesn’t seem correct. He is an ancestor of my husband.) He was injured at Guillemont in July 1916 and as far as I know did not return to active service.

His Certificate of Employment during the War gives his regiment as Manchester and his Unit as 51st (Grad) Battn Welch Regt. There is a gap from Aug 1916 – Jan 1917: would this be while he was recuperating from his injury? And then from Jan 1917 – Jan 1919 his employment is stated as Orderly: would this be employment following his injury? And if so, what sort of employment?

All the official letters to him, from him and about him are addressed to the 51st (Grad) Battn Welch Regt at Great Yarmouth.

Is anyone able to explain the following?

- What was the 51st (Grad) Battalion Welch Regt?

- Why might a man from Manchester end up in the RWF?

- Where exactly in Great Yarmouth were the buildings used by the RWF?

- Is this soldier likely to have actually been in Gt Yarmouth for any time? If so, doing what?

I’m sorry to seem so vague, but the family were not the sort of people to take an interest in the personal story of a surviving man, being more preoccupied, even obsessed, with the one who did not return.

I appreciate any ideas or suggestions.

Many thanks

Gwyn

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According to the venerable Brig. E.A. James:

On 27 October 1917, the 226th Graduated Bn, formerly 63rd Training Rserve Bn, formerly the 18th and 20th Royal Welsh Fusiliers, became the 51st (Graduated) Bn, the Welsh Regiment (spelled with an s). It went to Yarmouth for the winter and by May 1918 was at Herringfleet where it remained.

In 1917 the TR was reorganised and the battalions became more specialised in their training. In May, 14 of them were designated as Young Soldier battalions which took in recruits aged 18 years and 1 month, and after basic training they were posted in Companies to a Graduated Bn. They were 28 Graduated Bns, linked in pairs to each YS Bn.

It was now decided that the Graduated Bns would be used for home defence while completing their recruit training, and they were posted to the eight Home Service Divisions, replacing 2nd-Line and Home Service TF battalions which were then disbanded. [The 226th Bn was posted to 203rd Brigade, 68th Division].

The Graduated and YS battalions were allotted to infantry regiments in October 1917.

The 52nd (Graduated) Bn, also of the Welsh Regiment, had previously been 234th Graduated Bn and before that 65th TR Bn, formerly 14th South Wales Borderers. It was in Lowestoft, and later Saxmundham and Henham Park.

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Thank you, Chris. That is helpful and I will print it to refer back to.

Does that mean that after his injury, because he was unfit for active service, he was likely to have been posted into the battalion, for, say, home defence work?

And how do I find out exactly where in Gt Yarmouth, Lowestoft, etc, these people were based?

I have tried the regimental contacts, but they don't know, apparently.

(Just one point - his official documents and records all have a 'c' spelling right through to 1919. Naive question - but is there a difference?)

Gwyn

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Gwyn - it seems to be not that uncommon for Mancunians (and those living to the south of the City) to have joined RWF. I have notes of a number travelling to Chester to enlist. Probably men who wanted to join but were "too late" for the Manchesters or, with mine, the local Cheshire battalions.

John

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Gwyn,

Reference Welsh or Welch I remember someone asking this question before on Paul Reed's Old Front Line forum so I hope that the respondees Paul and David Langley don't mind if I repeat the answers given then:

"Welsh Regiment during WW1, Welch regiment afterwards. The latter is, apparently, the correct spelling, and was granted for distinguished war service. Same applies to RWF."

"The War Office authorisation of "Welch" for RWF was dated 27 Jan 1920 in a letter 20/Infy/1320. The relevant Army Order may have pre-dated this by a few days. The letter required that existing stocks of badges etc should all be used up before change. Commonwealth War Graves Commission used Welch [yes, Welch] on headstones until recently but has decided that replacements will regress to Welsh."

Regards

Marc

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