Territorials

[Guest winstonsmith]

Am I right in thinking that Army Reservists would have served in Territorial Regiments during the War?

At least at first?

[CROONAERT]

They could have done, but ,if they were ex-regular soldiers, were more likely to have been drafted back to a regular battalion at first (probably a reserve Bn, such as in the case of the East Lancs, the 3rd Bn, then shipped out to whichever battalion needed them the most (1st or 2nd). The East Lancs also had the 10th and 12th battalions as Reserve Bns.). However, in the case of the East Lancs, a "Reserve Territorial Battalion" was formed on April 21st 1916. This was the "4th (reserve) Battalion" and was an amalgamation of the 3/4th Bn and the 3/5th battalions which had been formed in March 1915.

Dave.

[Guest]

A reservist was a former regular soldier who had left the army, but under his terms of engagement he was liable to be called back. Reservists would normally serve with the regular batallions and the original BEF contained many reservists, who took some time to get back into good condition, break in their new boots, etc.

The Territorial Force was in effect a volunteer militia, which had undergone a major reorganisation a few years previously. Many of its members were probably a lot younger and fitter than the reservists, but in spite of their "weekend soldier" training they were actually less well trained and not really ready to go into action.

As an example, when the London Scottish (Territorials) went into action at 1st Ypres, they did well, but lost something like half their number, partly because of their limited training and experience.

[Guest winstonsmith]

Thank you both for that. I'm slowly getting a handle on all this.

How wonderful that a resource like this forum exists for those like Myself with less than expert knowledge.

[Tony Lund]

The Holmfirth Regular Army reservists landed in France with the original expeditionary force, while a National Reservist (Tom Wood) was sent to the south of England to guard German Prisoners. I have also seen a reference to National Reservists being a reserve for the Territorial Army. It would seem that there are two or three different types of reservists. I would quite like to have this clarified myself.

Tony.

[ANDREW JUKES]

hi, all.

the national reserve was quite a seperate article. in that it was formed in the u.k from older men who for what ever reason were unable to serve at the front. and acted like a home guard unit did in w.w.2.

[tintin1689]

I think our correspondent might be asking a different question to the one we're answering

Could a reservist on leaving the army join his local TF unit and if so how did this effect his reserve obligation? Could he be born on the books as an efficient if in the event of war he would be called away to his parent regular unit? (or was he born on the books as some kind of supernumerary) What happened to these men in the event of war - if indeed they existed.

There was no systematic reserve of ex-territorials (although there was a campaign for one) until after the Great War - the National Reserve was partly set up to meet this need

The younger NR men in many cases joined the 2nd Line TF Battalions as did many ex-teritorials, the older ones formed supernumerary companies of their parent TF units

[Guest R Pope]

My Dad and uncle were in the Territorials in Cornwall, then tried to enlist in Canada at the start of the war. They were informed that they were still considered to be in their old outfit, and they would be called when that unit was called up. It never happened, and they stayed on the farm.

[Guest winstonsmith]

Thanks so much again, all of you. The reason for my enquiry was that at present I am researching two soldiers.

My GG Pte John Harry Pate and his brother Pte Tom Pate. John Harry began the war as a reservist with the east Lancs.

At that time his number was 37638. He was discharged 24th Aug 1915 as a time expired man. He'd seen 3 priods in France

by then. He rejoined 23rd Feb 1917 as 102566 and was in the 8Bn MGC. He was killed on 1st April 1918.

His brother Tom Pate 240739 served with the East Lanc Territorials. I'm trying to work out if they ever served together.

I thought that maybe as a reservist that John Harry might also have been with the Territorials rather than the regulars.

I think that I may be wrong though.

[SPotter]

Some of the confusion between the National Reserve (NR) and the Territorial Army is that the NR was administered on a County basis and therefore was closely allied to the Territorial organisation for this purpose.

Those of the NR who were fit enough were encouraged to enlist and predominantly became part of the New Armies. The remainder stayed at home for the defence of local vulnerable points (bridges, railways etc.)

Regards

Steve