"The Territorials 1908-1914" - Ray Westlake. Any good ?

[ss002d6252]

Has anyone read this book and is it any good ?.

Does it have much in the way of statistics and numbers or is it simply a list of units and locations ?

Craig

[Ken Lees]

No statistics as such. It is a list of locations with details of the units based there.

Ken

[ss002d6252]

Thanks Ken, I had a feeling that was the case but wanted to check.

Craig

[clive_hughes]

I'm intrigued,

what sort of details would it have, for example, for the 6th RWF please?

Clive

[Steven Broomfield]

6th (Carnarvonshire & Angelsey) Bn, The Royal Welsh Fusiliers.

HQ, A Company: Carnarvon, B Compnay ]: Porthmadoc, C Company: Penygroes with a drill station at Nanttle; D Company: Llanberis with a drill station at Ebenezer, E Company,: Conway with a drill station at Llandudno, F Company: Penamenmawr, G Compant: Pwllheli with a drill station at Criccieth, H Company: Holyhead with a drill station at Menai Bridge. Part of North Wales Infantry Brigade with the Welsh Division.

[Guest]

6th (Carnarvonshire & Angelsey) Bn, The Royal Welsh Fusiliers.

HQ, A Company: Carnarvon, B Compnay ]: Porthmadoc, C Company: Penygroes with a drill station at Nanttle; D Company: Llanberis with a drill station at Ebenezer, E Company,: Conway with a drill station at Llandudno, F Company: Penamenmawr, G Compant: Pwllheli with a drill station at Criccieth, H Company: Holyhead with a drill station at Menai Bridge. Part of North Wales Infantry Brigade with the Welsh Division.

Steven

I think you are understandably confusing two books. The entry above that you quoted is from Westlake's "The Territorial Force 1914". The question is about Westlake's "The Territorials 1908 -1914: A Guide for Military and Family Historians" to give it the full title. The latter book is a gazetteer of town and villages in Britain that were the home for Territorial Force units. It is a slightly awkward splicing of Victorian and Edwardian travel gazetteers with the information contained in The Territorial Force 1914. The Gazetteer is preceded by a list of TF units. Under the Royal Welsh Fusiliers it shows

6th (Carnarvonshire & Angelsey) Battalion: 'South Africa 1900-02' Headquarters Carnarvon. Companies: 'A' (Carnarvon), 'B' (Portmadoc). 'C' (Penygroes and Nantlle), 'D' (Llanberis and Ebenezer), 'E' (Conway and Llandudno), 'F' (Penmaenmawr), 'G' (Pwllheli and Criccieth), 'H' Holyhead and Menai Bridge).

With the info from the Units section, one can then look up the towns and villages. For example there are entries for Carnarvon, Portmadoc, Penygroes, Nantlle etc. The is no index as every town or village is of course in alphabetical order as one might expect in a gazetteer. For example:

Carnarvon. Seaport and market town on the Menai Strait served by the London & North Western and North Wales Narrow Gauge railways. Victorian guides note the parish church as being 'modern' and the existence in the town of the North Wales training College of Schoolmasters. Territorials: Denbighshire Yeomanry, Welsh RGA and 6th Royal Welsh Fusiliers

Penygroes. Canarvonshire village, seven miles from Canarvon, served by the London and North Western Railway. Here many were involved in local slate industry. Territorials: 6th Royal Welsh Fusiliers.

To answer the question, if you have the first book, the second book really doesn't tell you anything more that Google can reveal and probably a lot less. No stats on the TF. For those, depending on the level of detail I would suggest TNA WO 114. Incidentally the Territorial Force 1914 is data lifted from WO 114/55 Territorial Force - Returns showing HQ of Units and Outlying Drill Sections. MG

[clive_hughes]

Steven and Martin,

Thank you both for the information and explanation of the different volumes!

Clive