THE RESERVE BATTALION
[Sidenote: Reserve Battalion. 1914-18.]
The Reserve Battalion, originally known as the 4th Battalion, sprang
into existence at the School of Mines at the London University at
Kensington as soon as war was declared in 1914. Within five days one
thousand seven hundred reservists had arrived from all parts of England
and Wales, and retired officers appeared on the scene, whether they
belonged to the Reserve or not. This mass of men had to be converted
into a disciplined Battalion, non-commissioned officers appointed, and
the whole machinery of a battalion created. Yet so smoothly did the
mobilisation work that within a few days every man was fully equipped,
and companies were drilling in the Park, with N.C.O.'s shouting out
their drill as if they had never been away.
Lieut.-Colonel G. D. White was appointed Commanding Officer, Major G.
W. Duberly Second-in-Command, Captain E. N. E. M. Vaughan, Adjutant,
and Lieutenant J. C. Rolinson, Quartermaster.
The whole conditions of service were now different. Instead of the
usual apathy on the part of the men to learn anything new, they now
eagerly seized every occasion to acquire knowledge. The Army was no
longer a profession, where a man could reduce to a science the practice
of doing the least possible amount of work without getting into
trouble. It was now a matter of life and death. The latest developments
of modern warfare had to be learnt quickly, and the men, who were
already seasoned soldiers, set to work with a will to learn from
officers and N.C.O.'s at first as ignorant as themselves, the new drill
and the latest method of attack and defence. By the time the Reserve
Battalion moved to Chelsea Barracks, about three weeks later, it had
already become a serviceable body of men. A large number of N.C.O.'s
and old soldiers, mostly "D" section reserve, were selected and sent as
instructors to train the new battalions of "Kitchener's Army." Nearly
all proved excellent instructors, and many privates rose almost at once
to be sergeants and even warrant officers. In the early days of the
war the National Guard and Volunteers did not exist, and consequently
the duty of finding guards to protect the reservoirs, electric power
stations, and other vulnerable points, devolved on the regular troops
in London. The number of small guards all over London was so great that
it took the field officer, whose duty it was to visit them, over five
hours in a motor to go his rounds. About October 1914 the majority of
these guards were taken over by the Special Home Service Units.
Soon the heavy casualties incurred by the battalions in France made the
sending of large drafts necessary, and the Reserve Battalion began to
change completely, with new officers and new men constantly arriving
from Caterham. The number of men in the Battalion became so great that
there were two thousand five hundred men in barracks, and the problem
of accommodation was a very difficult one. Early in 1915, Aylwin huts
were erected at Burton's Court, which somewhat relieved the pressure.
On the formation of the Welsh Guards in February 1915, five officers
and six hundred and thirty-four other ranks were transferred to this
new regiment, and in July of the same year, when it was decided to form
another battalion of the Grenadier Guards from the Reserve Battalion,
the latter automatically became the 5th Battalion.
The officers at that time were as follows:
_In Command_--
Lieut.-Colonel G. D. White
_Major_--
Du Plat Taylor, G. P.
_Captains_--
Stewart, E. O.
Ellice, E. C.
Macdonald, G. G.
Taylor, E. R.
Halford, C. H.
Webster, Sir A. F. W. E., Bart.
Lethbridge, Sir W. P. C., Bart.
Coventry, St. J. H.
Glyn, A. St. L.
Loftus, D. F.
Vaughan, E. N. E. M.
Lygon, Hon. R., M.V.O.
Cary, Hon. L. P.
Needham, Hon. F. E.
_Lieutenants_--
Stewart, W. A. L.
Harcourt-Vernon, G. C. FitzH.
Cecil, A. W. J.
Ward, E. S.
Stanhope, Hon. R. P.
Pearson-Gregory, P. J. S.
Kenyon-Slaney, R. O. R.
Sitwell, F. O. S.
Williams, M.
Graham, H. A. R.
Duckworth-King, Sir G. H. J., Bart.
St. Aubyn, F. C.
Mildmay, A. S. L. St. J.
Westmacott, G. R.
Cary, Hon. P. P.
Parker-Jervis, T.
Rumbold, H. C. L.
Eyre, J. B.
Asquith, R.
Walker, P. M.
_Second Lieutenants_--
Llewelyn, H.
Loftus, F. P.
Crosland, C.
Yorke, Hon. A. E. F.
Charteris, Hon. I. A.
Sloane-Stanley, G. C.
Sloane-Stanley, H. H.
Miller, E. E.
Combe, T. A.
Parker, R. W.
Chapman, M.
North, J. B.
Farquhar, R.
Joicey-Cecil, J. F. J.
Bonham-Carter, F. G.
Manners, the Hon. F. H.
Alexander, H.
Gordon-Lennox, V. C. H.
Irvine, A. F.
Nairn, E. W.
Kendall, R. Y. T.
Worsley, J. F.
Hopley, F. J. V. B.
Benyon, J. W. A.
_Adjutant_--
Hon. L. P. Cary.
_Quartermaster_--
Rolinson, J.
In February 1916 Lieut.-Colonel G. D. White left to take up a Staff
appointment in France, and was succeeded by Lieut.-Colonel G. C.
Hamilton, D.S.O. From January 1916 until the end of the war, the
Battalion was organised on a nine-company basis in the following
manner: the first four companies were composed of recruits who were
being trained to feed the Battalions at the front. No. 5 Company
consisted of men employed on various duties, and the remaining four
companies, six to nine, comprised sick and wounded men from France.
On May 29, 1916, Lieut.-General Sir Francis Lloyd, commanding the
London Districts, inspected the Battalion, and expressed himself much
pleased with its appearance on parade. General Sir George Higginson
also paid a visit to the Battalion that year, and both officers and
men much appreciated this attention from a veteran Grenadier, who
had fought in the Crimean War. In September a duty, somewhat out of
the ordinary routine, was assigned to the Reserve Battalion. During
an air raid over London, one of the German Zeppelins was brought
down in flames in Essex, and the Battalion was ordered to provide
a guard over what was left of it during the two following days.
In December Lieut.-Colonel Hamilton was given command of the 4th
Battalion in France, and was succeeded by Lieut.-Colonel Lord Francis
Montagu-Douglas-Scott, D.S.O.
Nothing of interest occurred until 1918, when, owing to the large
numbers of men who joined in consequence of the protected trades being
brought under the Military Enlistment Act, a Provisional Battalion was
formed at Tadworth. This Battalion, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel
Maitland, D.S.O., proceeded to Aldershot four companies strong,
leaving behind two companies under Captain Lord Forbes. A month later
Lieut.-Colonel Maitland was succeeded by Lieut.-Colonel G. E. C. Rasch.
Throughout the war the Reserve Battalion found the public duties in
London, and on several occasions provided guards of honour, notably at
the funeral of Field-Marshal Earl Roberts at St. Paul's Cathedral on
November 19, 1914.
Field training was carried out by one company at a time at Basildon
Park, lent by Captain J. A. Morrison, during the autumn of 1914, and at
Bovingdon Green Camp, Marlow, during the summer of 1915, and after that
at Tadworth Camp. In addition, there were specialist courses: bombing
at Southfields and Godstone, Musketry at Rainham and Hythe, Machine
Gun courses and Gas Instruction at Chelsea.
The arduous and somewhat thankless task of continually training men as
quickly as possible, to feed the battalions in France, was successfully
carried on during the four years of the war, and letters from the
four Commanding Officers bear ample testimony to the efficiency of
the Battalion organisation. The greater part of the work fell on the
Commanding Officer, Adjutant, and the senior Captains, whose untiring
efforts will ever be gratefully remembered by the regiment. Day in and
day out, during four long years, these officers strived to maintain
with each draft the high standard of the regiment, and this result
could not have been effected without the invaluable assistance of the
warrant officers and sergeants.