The mobilisation of Reserves was signed into law on 4th August. Patrick reported to the Regimental Depot (at Ashton-under-Lyne, near Manchester) the following day. Two sizeable groups of reservists joined the 2nd Battalion in Ireland on the 7th and 8th. These were probably men from the Special Reserve. They had 3-4 weeks of training every…
All posts tagged Great War
Boots were made for walking – Part 1
As mentioned in ‘Would not start from here’, the War Diary appears to have been written in an exercise book. Compiling it was the job of one of the officers. The handwriting is reasonably legible. To help the reader, place names are generally written in capitals. I thought that tracking the journey of the 2nd…
Would not start from here
When the Great War started, Patrick, from Roscommon, was living in England. He was in Dewsbury, Yorkshire. As a reservist, he could live where he liked. Most of his close relatives were in Dewsbury, so that is where he went after completing his eight years of service in the Army in October 1910. His Battalion…
Contribution of Ireland in the Great War
Many years ago, I asked a work colleague what prompted his interest in the Great War. He said that he had become aware of how much the world had changed in those four years. The map of Europe had been redrawn. The social changes were even more dramatic. Things could never return to the old…
Irish soldiers
At the Battle of Waterloo, in 1815, estimates of the numbers of Irish born soldiers in the British Army vary from a third to a half. There were many exclusively Irish regiments. As stated in ‘Advantages of birth’, a life in the military offered certain attractions to the poor. (Regular food and clothing being the…
Advantages of birth
The term ‘advantages of birth’ normally refers to those who were born into wealthy families. People who had decent clothes and good shoes. People who always had enough to eat. People with secure jobs, or those who did not need to work. People who lived in warm, dry houses, and slept in comfortable beds. People…
Always a Private
Promotion can come quickly in times of war. Opportunities abound to show leadership qualities. There are many cases of men rising from Private to Lieutenant and beyond. Reaching the level of Major was possible. As previous articles have shown, the level of attrition of both officers and other ranks was high. As recorded in “Ancre”,…
Why as well as what
One of the characters in Alan Bennett’s play ‘The History Boys’ expresses the sentiment that history is just one thing after another. (I am not repeating the exact quote. It is easily accessible on line!) And, at one level, so it is. I have tried to convey in these blogs that history has a profound…
More Indians
As covered in ‘Late 1915’, there were many hospitals treating wounded servicemen in Brighton. From an architectural point of view, the most interesting building pressed into medical service was the Royal Pavilion. Started in 1787 as a seaside retreat for the Prince of Wales (later King George IV), it features an astonishing mix of styles:…
Late 1915
When Patrick returned from service in India in October 1910 he went back to Dewsbury. So where did he go after insisting on his discharge in October 1915? He headed south. He went back to the town that he first saw almost exactly a year before: Brighton. Originally, he arrived on a stretcher. His recuperation…