5th Battalion, King's Regiment (Liverpool)

Under the 'Localisation of the Forces' scheme introduced by the Cardwell Reforms of 1872, volunteer battalions were brigaded with their local regular and Militia battalions. Sub-District No 13 (County of Lancashire) was formed in Northern District with headquarters at Liverpool and the following units assigned:[6][8]

• 8th (The King's) Regiment of Foot (2 battalions)
• 2nd Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own Rifles) (2 battalions)
• 1st Lancashire RVC (with 48th and 54th Lancashire RVCs attached)
• 5th (Liverpool Volunteer Rifle Brigade) Lancashire RVC
• 64th (Liverpool Irish) Lancashire RVC
• 80th (Liverpool Press Guard) Lancashire RVC

The 1st Lancashire RVC became a volunteer battalion of The King's (Liverpool Regiment) under the Childers Reforms on 1 July 1881 with 10 companies, and was redesignated as the 1st Volunteer Battalion of the regiment on 1 March 1888. Two more companies were sanctioned in 1883, followed by a 13th in 1900 when the Volunteers were expanded during the Second Boer war.[4][6][8]

While the sub-districts were referred to as 'brigades', they were purely administrative organisations and the volunteers were excluded from the 'mobilisation' part of the Cardwell system. The Stanhope Memorandum of December 1888 proposed a more comprehensive Mobilisation Scheme for volunteer units, which would assemble in their own brigades at key points in case of war. In peacetime these brigades provided a structure for collective training.[9][10][11] Under this scheme the Volunteer Battalions of the King's (Liverpool Regiment), together with VBs from other regiments based in Lancashire and Cheshire formed a large and unwieldy Mersey Brigade. By 1900 the brigade consisted only of the 1st–6th and 8th Volunteer Bns King's.[8]

At the outbreak of World War I the West Lancashire Division had just begun its annual training and when mobilisation was ordered on 4 August 1914 the units were sent back to their drill halls. The 5th King's mobilised at St Anne St under the command of Lieutenant Colonel J. M. McMaster[16][20] and went to its war station guarding the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, then joined the rest of the Liverpool Brigade at Canterbury in Kent.[17][18][19][21]

The TF was intended to be a home defence force for service during wartime and members could not be compelled to serve outside the country. However, on 10 August 1914 TF units were invited to volunteer for overseas service and the majority did so. On 15 August, the War Office issued instructions to separate those men who had signed up for Home Service only, and form these into reserve units. On 31 August, the formation of a reserve or 2nd Line unit was authorised for each 1st Line unit where 60 per cent or more of the men had volunteered for Overseas Service. The titles of these 2nd Line units would be the same as the original, but distinguished by a '2/' prefix. In this way duplicate battalions, brigades and divisions were created, mirroring those TF formations being sent overseas.[22]

In October 1914 the West Lancashire Division concentrated in Kent. However, the division was progressively broken up to reinforce the British Expeditionary Force fighting on the Western Front.[18][21][17] The 1/5th King's was one of the units that left, landing at Le Havre on 22 February 1915 and joining 6th Brigade in 2nd Division. It served with 2nd Division in the following actions:[17][19][23][24]

• Battle of Festubert: in the successful night attack of 15 May 1/5th King's were in reserve, providing carrying parties for the assaulting troops; further attacks next day were stopped by enemy fire. On 17 May the battalion was in support. Nevertheless, it suffered a number of casualties in these actions.[25]
• In August 1/5th King's was attached temporarily to 2nd Divisional HQ to act as pioneers, probably because of the amount of Tunnel warfare and crater fighting on the division's front. It was not employed in 6th Bde's disastrous attack at the Battle of Loos on 25 September. The battalion was brought back into the divisional area that night to relieve troops for a renewed attack.[26][27] By 1 October 6 Bde was holding part of 'Gun Trench' near the Hohenzollern Redoubt, with 1/5th King's in support. They were relieved on 3/4 October, and although they went back into the line on 13 October they were not engaged in the Actions of the Hohenzollern Redoubt.[28]

On 15 December 1/5th King's transferred to 99th Brigade, still in 2nd Division, but left on 7 January 1916 to rejoin its brigade in the West Lancashire Division, which were being reformed in France as 165th (Liverpool) Brigade and 55th (West Lancashire) Division respectively. It remained with this formation until the end of the war, taking part in the following engagements:[17][18][19][23][29]

• Battle of the Somme:
  • Battle of Guillemont: in an attack here on 8 August 1/5th King's achieved the only small gain of the day. After the main attack on 3 September patrols of 1/5th King's penetrated deeply into High Wood and consolidated the captured ground.[30]

British soldiers in a wrecked German trench at Ginchy, 1916.

• • Battle of Ginchy (9 September): the battalion successfully 'bombed' their way into the trench known as Wood Lane.[31]
  • Battle of Flers–Courcelette (17–22 September)

British infantry at Morval, 25 September 1916.

• • Battle of Morval (25–28 September): 165th Bde seized its first and second objectives near Gueudecourt, then 1/5th King's went up from reserve to reinforce the position.[32]
• Third Battle of Ypres:
  • Battle of Pilckem Ridge (31 July –2 August 1917)
  • Battle of the Menin Road Ridge (20–23 September)
• Battle of Cambrai (20–21 November): 55th (WL) Division had to go back into the line when the Germans counter-attacked on 30 November. 1/5th King's held Fleeceall Post, driving off a frontal attack, but the rest of the brigade suffered severely.[33]

Men of 55th (WL) Division marching through Béthune after the defence of Givenchy, April 1918.

• Battle of the Lys:
  • Battle of Estaires: 1/5th King's was the left hand battalion of the division when the Germans broke through the neighbouring Portuguese troops on 9 April; although attacked in flank, the battalion's outposts fell back fighting according to plan, first to the 'Old British Line' and then to the 'Line of Resistance', where the battalion held its positions for the rest of the day. 55th (WL) Division then fought in the Defence of Givenchy. On 11 April Lt-Col A. Buckley, commanding 1/5th King's organised on his own initiative a successful local counter-attack by all available troops, including part of 13th King's. On 13 April, 'Route A Keep' captured by the Germans on 9 April, was recovered by a night attack by 165th (2/1st L) Bde employing an extemporised company composed of men from 1/5th, 1/6th, 10th and 13th Bns, King's, preceded by a 'crash' barrage lasting just 3 minutes.[34]
• Hundred Days Offensive:
  • Capture of Givenchy Craters (24 August)
  • Capture of Canteleux Trench (17 September)
  • Pursuit to Mons (2 October–11 November)

The battalion was at Ath in Belgium when the Armistice with Germany came into force on 11 November. 1/5th King's was demobilised on 13 June 1919.[6][17][35]

The 2/5th Bn King's was formed at Liverpool in September 1914. In November it was sent to Blackpool, and in February 1915 it went to Canterbury where the 1st and 2nd Line Liverpool Brigades had been temporarily combined under a single commander. The 2nd Line brigade and division were numbered as 171st (2/1st Liverpool) Brigade in 57th (2nd West Lancashire) Division on 1 August 1915. Until November the infantry only had obsolete .256-in Japanese Ariska rifles with which to train; then they were given salvaged Lee–Enfield .303-inch rifles in poor condition. At this time 57th (2nd WL) Division formed part of Second Army of Central Force in Home Forces, but in July 1916 it moved into the Emergency Reserve around Aldershot, with 2/5th King's at Bourley. In September it moved to Woking.[6][17][19][22][36]

In January 1917 57th (2nd WL) Division was released for service with the BEF, and the units crossed to France in February, taking their place in the line on 25 February. The division took part in the Second Battle of Passchendaele (26 October–7 November) during the Third Ypres Offensive.[17][19][22][36]

By early 1918 the BEF was suffering a manpower crisis and 2/5th King's was broken up on 1 February 1918 to reinforce other battalions of the regiment: 2/6th (Rifles), 2/7th, 11th (Service) (Pioneers) and 12th (Service).[6][17][19][36]

The 3/5th King's was formed at Liverpool in May 1915 and moved to Blackpool in the Autumn. Its role was to train reinforcement drafts for the 1st and 2nd Line battalions. By early 1916 it was at the training camp at Oswestry. It was redesignated 5th (Reserve) Bn, King's, on 8 April 1916, and on 1 September it absorbed 6th (Reserve) (Rifle) Bn. It formed part of the West Lancashire Reserve Brigade at Oswestry for the rest of the war.[6][17][19]

The battalion was disbanded on 12 June 1919.[6]

The remaining Home Service men of the TF were separated when the 3rd Line battalions were raised in May 1915, and were formed into Provisional Battalions for home defence. The men of 5th King's joined with those from the 6th (Rifle) Bn to form 43rd Provisional Battalion at Sheringham in Norfolk. It joined 3rd Provisional Brigade in the defences of East Anglia.[6][17][37]

The Military Service Act 1916 swept away the Home/Foreign service distinction, and all TF soldiers became liable for overseas service, if medically fit. The Provisional Brigades thus became anomalous, and their units became numbered battalions of their parent units. On 1 January 1917 43rd Provisional Battalion became 25th Battalion, King's in 223rd Bde. Part of the role of the former provisional units was physical conditioning to render men fit for drafting overseas, and 25th Kings landed at Calais as a 'Garrison Guard' battalion on 7 May 1918. In France it was attached to 59th (2nd North Midland) Division at Estrée-Cauchy, and on 16 June it joined 176th (2/1st Staffordshire) Brigade in that formation. By mid-July the 'Garrison Guard' title had been dropped and it became a fighting battalion, serving with 176th Bde at the Battle of Albert (21–23 August) and the final advance in Artois and Flanders.[6][17][38][39]

On 21–22 October Fifth Army was closing up to the Schelde and 59th (2nd NM) Division tried to establish bridgeheads across the river. A chain stretching across the river was found at Esquelmes and a ferry extemporised; 25th King's went across, but the men found themselves waist deep in marshy ground on the far bank. Nevertheless, they made contact as ordered with Second Army at Pecq.[40] By the Armistice the battalion had reached Velaines, north-east of Tournai.[17][39]

25th King's continued serving after the war, and was finally disbanded in Egypt on 28 March 1920.[6]

The TA was mobilised on 1 September 1939, and war was declared on 3 September.[6] 5th King's remained in 165th (Merseyside) Bde of 55th (WL) Division, which was organised as a motor division. However, it did not go to France with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and remained in the UK. After the BEF was evacuated from Dunkirk, 55th (WL) Division was converted into a conventional infantry division in June 1940, serving in II Corps in East Anglia. It remained in home defence, and in January 1942 it was placed on a lower establishment, indicating that it would not be deployed oversea[42]

5th King's left 55th (WL) Division on 16 April 1943, and on 18 July it joined 163rd Infantry Brigade of the 54th (East Anglian) Infantry Division. This division eased to exist on 14 December 1943, when divisional HQ became HQ Lines of Communications for 21st Army Group, and many of it units were assigned roles in the forthcoming Allied invasion of Normandy (Operation Overlord).[42] 5th King's was assigned to No 5 Beach Group as its infantry component, and landed with it on Sword Beach on D day (6 June 1944).[43][44] After the successful completion of the assault landing phase of Overlord, 5th King's continued to serve with 21st Army Group on line of communication duties for the remainder of the campaign in North West Europe.[45][46][47] The battalion was placed in suspended animation in 1945.[6]

9th King's mobilised in 164th Brigade of 55th (WL) Division. After the division was reduced to lower establishment, the battalion left on 17 September 1942[42] to join 206th Independent Infantry Bde. This was initially attached to 46th Division, but that formation was preparing to embark for the Allied invasion of North Africa (Operation Torch), so from 1 December 1942 206th Bde was attached to 43rd (Wessex) Division, which was training for Overlord in Kent.[48]

9th King's returned to 55th (WL) Division on 12 April 1943 joining 165th Bde. The division served in Northern Ireland from 21 December 1943 until July 1944. When it returned to the UK, 9th King's left the division. Most formations in Home Forces were by now committed to supplying reinforcements to the units fighting overseas.[42] 9th King's passed into suspended animation on 21 March 1946.[6]