1st Garrison Battalion Cheshire Regiment

[Laird of Camster]

1st Garrison Battalion
Formed at Chester on 1 August 1915, then to Gibraltar where it remained throughout the war.

 

 

During the war, they appear to have sustained 19 casualties!!!

 

http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead.aspx?cpage=1

http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead.aspx?cpage=2

 

What on earth, were they doing to sustain so many casualties? Can anyone hazard a guess? I would suggest disease, but judging by the dates of death, there doesn't appear to be any patterns and I there was medical facilities readily available? 

 

 

 

[ss002d6252]

32 minutes ago, Laird of Camster said:

1st Garrison Battalion
Formed at Chester on 1 August 1915, then to Gibraltar where it remained throughout the war.

 

 

During the war, they appear to have sustained 19 casualties!!!

 

http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead.aspx?cpage=1

http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead.aspx?cpage=2

 

What on earth, were they doing to sustain so many casualties? Can anyone hazard a guess? I would suggest disease, but judging by the dates of death, there doesn't appear to be any patterns and I there was medical facilities readily available? 

 

 

 

I had a look through some of them on SDGW and they all showed died so illness, injury or accident etc would be the cause of death.

Craig

[John_Hartley]

Joseph Costello died of natural causes (details unknown). I presume the others will have met similar deaths, or accidents. Bear in mind that these were older, less fit men who had had hard lives, often working in the very unhealthy cotton mills of North Cheshire.

 

One of his mates, a Private Little, wrote home shortly after they arrived in Gib. He mentioned Costello as one of several who wnated news form home, particularly how Stockport County had got on against Manchester City. This was a match in the War League and Countt confirmed to me it was played on 15 September 1915, with City winning 3 - 1.

[Laird of Camster]

6 minutes ago, ss002d6252 said:

I had a look through some of them on SDGW and they all showed died so illness, injury or accident etc would be the cause of death.

Craig

Thanks Craig, I thought illness would account for a large proportion - Malaria & influenza and the like. Would be interesting to know what injury & accidents befell them? Drowning I expect would account for some of them? 

[Laird of Camster]

3 minutes ago, John_Hartley said:

Joseph Costello died of natural causes (details unknown). I presume the others will have met similar deaths, or accidents. Bear in mind that these were older, less fit men who had had hard lives, often working in the very unhealthy cotton mills of North Cheshire.

 

One of his mates, a Private Little, wrote home shortly after they arrived in Gib. He mentioned Costello as one of several who wnated news form home, particularly how Stockport County had got on against Manchester City. This was a match in the War League and Countt confirmed to me it was played on 15 September 1915, with City winning 3 - 1.

Thanks John, for sharing this with us, that's very interesting. Starts to make perfect sense really. 

 

Just another thought, would these chaps have been entitled to a BWM? I assume plaques would be issued to the families for the 19? I wonder whether any of them are in peoples collections? 

[johnmelling1979]

Hello   found an example on your own website John_Hartley.. Come across a few of these Garrison Battalions These old chaps wanting to do their bit ... illnesses and accidents seem to be grim reaper for them   John HIGGINS
Rank:	Private
Number:	11629
Unit:	“B” Company, 1st Garrison Battalion CHESHIRE REGIMENT
Date of Death:	9 June 1917
Age:	53
Cemetery:	Gibraltar (North front) Cemetery
The Garrison Battalion was formed in1915 and sent to Gibraltar. It was comprised of men too old or unfit for front-line service.   John's birth was registered in Stockport between March and May 1864 and he had been born in the parish of St Josephs Roman Catholic Church. He was married to Annie who, after the war, was living at 24 Piccadilly, Stockport. The 1901 census does not record a John Higgins, of the right age, living in Stockport, although one is recorded in Liverpool, working as a fish porter. It is possible that this is our man as military records show John to have been a Liverpool resident when he enlisted. An officer wrote to Mrs Higgins saying that John had been admitted to hospital with "kidney disease" and that he had died at 10.30pm. He was buried at 9am on 11 June, with full military honours, in the Roman Catholic plot of the cemetery.

Edited 26 August , 2017 by johnmelling1979

[MaureenE]

Bear in mind that Garrison Battalions were made up of soldiers unfit for front line duty. This decision was made at time of enlistment or after previous front line service where the soldier had suffered wounds or sickness. They were therefore a group of soldiers who had medical problems, so  deaths could be expected.

 

Perhaps also a place like Gibraltar had less advanced   hospital and other medical facilities, compared to say Malta, which seemed to be  a regional medical centre, which could account for some of the deaths.

 

Cheers

Maureen

[Laird of Camster]

Thanks guys all very interesting stuff.

 

Would be interesting to know whether these chaps are mentioned by name in the unit war diary on the dates of their deaths? 

[MaureenE]

1 hour ago, Laird of Camster said:

 

Would be interesting to know whether these chaps are mentioned by name in the unit war diary on the dates of their deaths? 

As the posting to Gibraltar was not to a war zone, it is very unlikely a unit war diary exists. In fact, the very nature of a Garrison Battalion means there will not be a war diary for any Garrison Battalion.

 

I have also seen comments, in respect of Garrison Battalions in India, that there is generally not even a mention in the Regimental Histories of the various Regiments of which they were a part.

 

Cheers

Maureen

[Laird of Camster]

5 hours ago, Maureene said:

As the posting to Gibraltar was not to a war zone, it is very unlikely a unit war diary exists. In fact, the very nature of a Garrison Battalion means there will not be a war diary for any Garrison Battalion.

 

I have also seen comments, in respect of Garrison Battalions in India, that there is generally not even a mention in the Regimental Histories of the various Regiments of which they were a part.

 

Cheers

Maureen

 

Many thanks for your reply Maureen. As Gibraltar was not deemed a war zone am I right in thinking that no BWM would have been issued to these chaps and should concentrate my efforts towards tracking down memorial plaques? 

 

 

[ss002d6252]

13 minutes ago, Laird of Camster said:

 

Many thanks for your reply Maureen. As Gibraltar was not deemed a war zone am I right in thinking that no BWM would have been issued to these chaps and should concentrate my efforts towards tracking down memorial plaques? 

 

 

I'm no expert but I think the criteria for the BWM was that you had 'left your native shores' for service, it didn't have to be a recognised theatre of war.

 

http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/how-to-research-a-soldier/campaign-medal-records/the-british-campaign-medals-for-the-great-war/

Craig

[Laird of Camster]

2 hours ago, ss002d6252 said:

I'm no expert but I think the criteria for the BWM was that you had 'left your native shores' for service, it didn't have to be a recognised theatre of war.

 

http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/how-to-research-a-soldier/campaign-medal-records/the-british-campaign-medals-for-the-great-war/

Craig

From another thread on this forum, it's been confirmed to me that the award of a BWM would have been made to the Cheshire's. Will certainly be keeping my eye out for an example, to add to my collection. 

[Laird of Camster]

Just thinking outside the box of a means that might assist me tracking down medals to the 1st Garrison Btn, did they use a specific set of regimental numbers?