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The Great War The Lancaster Pals

On Saturday 6th September 2014 at 11am there will be a church service in Lancaster Priory Church to commemorate the Pals.

The 5th (Territorial Force) Battalion of the King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment was mobilised on 5th August 1914 for service in the First World War.  After a brief period at Barrow in Furness to guard the docks the battalion volunteered for overseas duty, or "Imperial Service".  They briefly returned to Lancaster and then moved to Didcot in Berkshire where they guarded the Great Western Railway.

Early in September 1914 it was realised that of the 938 men in the battalion some were too old, some were too young and others simply not fit enough for overseas service.  200 men were not to proceed to France and replacements were needed - so an appeal was made in the Regimental area.

At a public meeting at the Central School, Morecambe 50 men volunteered.  In Lancaster more than 300 men volunteered and gathered at the Drill Hall on Phoenix Street.

Of these men, and others from places such as Fleetwood and Carnforth, 200 were selected to go to Didcot, the others remained in Lancaster and Morecambe and began their training in the newly formed 5th Reserve Battalion, which later became the 2nd/5th Battalion.

On Sunday 6th September 1914 the Pals attended a church service in the Priory Church, later that same day, the selected 200, by now called "the Gallant 200" by the Lancaster Observer newspaper, departed to the south.

'The Pals' after attending Church Service in Lancaster on Sunday 6th September 1914.
Accession Number: KO1203/02 & KO1225/01

No exact list exists of who these men were, but some of the volunteers are listed below:

Edward Adams 2069; Edmund Irving Alderson 2066; A Aldren 2255; Douglas Alston 2028; Harry Angus 2067; H Ashay 2256; John Procter Atkinson 2068; H Atkinson 2257; C Bainbridge 2064; T G Bakeson 2260; E Baldwin 2258; S Baldwin 2259; Frederick William Ball 2228; Henry Barrow 2077; Thomas Smith Bateson 2183; R Beaumont 2261; Harold Bedford 2226; Eric Latham Bennett 2071; Thomas Irwin Benson 2076; Joseph C Benson 2078; B Benson 2262; T A Benson 2263; H Bibby 2082; Charles Bibby 2236; W Bilton 2235; Joseph Birtle 2237; Reginald Blackhurst 2073; T Blacon 2075; Reginald Blamire 2052; T A Bleasdale 2264; Charles Dunn Bluck 2070; William Bonney 2265; Robert James Borrowdale 2072; J Bostock 2186; Alfred Bostock 2266; Henry Boustead 2238; F Bowes 2074; Harold William M Bransden 2229; Wilfred Brash 2041; Frank Brear 2062; Henry Brewer 2080; William Brockbank 2081; Mark Brockbank 2267; B Brookfield 2079; Roger Brown 2065; C B Brown 2268; J F Brown 2269; John Brownhill 2270; W F Bunks 2227; R Butler 2063; H E Capstick 2272; Herbert Carey 2271; Roland Cariss 2097; J Cartmell 2085; Edward Ernest Cartmell 2087; Sidney Cartmell 2094; James Cathcart 2091; George F Cathcart 2093; Harold Chapman 2045; J W Clark 2090; W B Clarke 2095; Edgar Clifton 2089; E Cole 2223; H Collinson 2084; Stephen Cook 2086; Alexander Cooper 2061; C B Cooper 2096; Samuel Cooper 2189; Richard Corless 2083; Albert Edward Corless 2188; Frederick Cottam 2187; C Cotton 2201; W P Cowell 2219; A P Cragg 2088; Robert George Croft 2273; Harry Cross 2092; R Curwen 2039; J R Curwen 2274; Robert Evan Davies 2106; Dennett Howard Davies 2234; Robert Dawson 2275; R H Dennison 2276; R Dennison 2277; J G Dickson 2098; Albert Dobson 2278; Henry Dolan 2100; George Douch 2225; J T Downey 2184; John William Downham 2099; George Downham 2239; W J Downing 2279; A Dowthwaite 2280; J Dowthwaite 2281; R Dowthwaite 2282; Albert Ellwood 2232; Fred Eltoft 2104; Clifford English 2105; James Ewan 2043; Tom Fairclough 2101; James P Fairclough 2190; G Farr 2221; D Finch 2284; E Fisher 2285; A Fleming 2054; C Foster 2287; T Fox 2102; G Fox 2286; T E Frear 2103; Horace Frost 2191; Henry Alexander Funk 2240; R H Galloway 2119; William Gardner 2055; Robert Gardner 2108; J Gardner 2241; Arthur Gardner 2289; J Gardner 2290; J Gaskell 2288; W A Gay 2123; John J Gilchrist 2036; J C Gill 2114; G A Gill 2122; William Gilson 2291; R Edward Goodall 2032; John Edwin Goodwin 2107; G G Goose 2200; J Gornall 2292; E Goth 2121; P Gregory 2293; R Griffin 2294; James Hall 2109; T Hall 2115; Burgoyne Hall 2192; Gilbert Hall 2193; G Hall 2295; E J Hannam 2126; Frederick Crossfield Happold 2111; Frederick Hargreaves 2242; Robert Harlow 2198; F Harris 2296; William Harris 2297; William Thomas Harrison 2113; Joseph Hartley Hartley 2133; S Heaton 2124; Thomas Helm 2131; A Edward Helme 2243; Robert Higginson 2125; E J Hill 2110; Richard Hind 2130; Thomas Herdson Hine 2034; T Hodgson 2120; Edward Hoggarth 2118; Thomas Holden 2195; Frank Holding 2117; L W V Holloway 2244; J Holmes 2029; John Holmes 2127; Albert Holt 2112; J Horne 2035; John Robert Howson 2194; Richard Huartson 2197; C A Huiston 2128; H Hunter 2196; Frank D Huntington 2116; William Huntington 2199; H Ingle 2129; Dick Inman 2147; Joseph Edward Inman 2148; T C Ireland 2218; R Irving 2044; William P Jackson 2135; G Jackson 2136; William Jackson 2140; F Jeffrey 2138; Frank Herbert Johnson 2139; Jack Johnson 2145; Gerald Kirk 2132; J Lamb 2137; Robert Lamb 2143; E J Lidford 2230; Hubert Lilley 2141; William Liver 2146; Charles Longton 2144; Benjamin Charles Love 2202; Fred Lowe 2134; E Lowndes 2231; John Edward Lund 2060; Sidney George Lynes 2142; J A Mabbs 2245; J Mackereth 2224; C Mashiter 2059; James Radcliffe Mawson 2152; Roland McGowan 2038; S H Miller 2149; Fred Victor Monks 2153; Thomas Miller (Junior) Monks 2205; William Alfred Morris 2166; Joseph Nash 2154; Edward Nash 2206; J Newbould 2151; J W Newley 2150; R Newton 2204; R Nicholson 2203; B Parker 2246; George Pearcy 2247; J Peel 2185; H Pennington 2208; E Pennington 2209; W Pinch 2042; Arthur Ray 2033; Harry Read 2048; P Redhead 2158; Walter Redhead 2161; Roland Alfred Relph 2160; Peter Rimmer 2248; Allan Gilbert Ripper 2159; R Robinson 2167; R Roocroft 2249; Clifford Roscoe 2162; Watkin Rundle 2165; Alexander Sanderson 2168; A Shaw 2250; J S Sheer 2047; H Shuttleworth 2057; E R Simpson 2157; Reginald Simpson 2163; Herbert Simpson 2169; John Simpson 2210; William Singleton 2049; G J Slinger 2156; John Wilfred Smith 2058; A E Spall 2164; A Sterland 2040; C Stirzaker 2251; John Robert Stuart 2155; Robert Sutcliffe 2207; Albert John Swann 2222; Arthur Sweeney 2053; Herbert Teasdale 2172; H N Thacker 2252; Mortimer Thomas 2217; Leonard Thompson 2056; J W Thompson 2171; Robert Threlfall 2176; J H Thwaites 2181; J Timms 2050; H Titherington 2253; H G Towers 2180; Thomas Towers 2215; E Townend 2283; Bertrand James Vince 2177; F Waddington 2212; Robert Wadsworth 2031; R Walker 2051; C W Walker 2233; Thomas Walsh 2216; J C West 2174; Whiteside 2179; Richard Whiteside 2211; John Wilson 2182; G W Wilson 2214; J R Wilson 2220; William H Winder 2175; Edward Winder 2213; J Wolcock 2046; John Woods 2173; J H Worden 2254; Harry Harold Wright 2030; Douglas Campbell Wright 2037; W J Yare 2170; George Yates 2178;

Morecambe Pals on Parade, men of the 5th (Reserve) Battalion, King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, September 1914
Accession Number KO2046/33

The 'Gallant 200' as named by the 'Lancaster Observer' - the volunteers who joined the 5th Battalion in September 1914 - and formed the 'Pals Company'.  Seen on parade on about  4th September at Giant Axe Field, Lancaster.  Before uniform was issued the volunteers wore, on their shoulders, small blue and orange silk ribbons to represent the colours of the King's Own.  After basic training in Lancaster and Morecambe the volunteers headed off to Didcot and joined the rest of the battalion to continue their training.
Accession Number KO1091/10