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Infantry division of the British Army during World War I
Military unit
The 19th (Western) Division was an
infantry
division of the
British Army , part of
Kitchener's Army , formed in the
Great War .
Formation history
Men of the 8th (Service) Battalion,
North Staffordshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Own) on the march near
Merville ,
France , 5 August 1915.
The 19th (Western) Division was created under
Western Command in September 1914, shortly after the outbreak of the
Great War , from men volunteering for
Lord Kitchener 's
New Armies . The division, whose first commander was
Major General
Charles Fasken , a 59-year old
Indian Army officer brought out of retirement,
[1] was formed as part of Kitchener's Second New Army (K2) and, in common with most other newly-raised Kitchener units, there was a severe shortage of trained officers and NCO's to train the men, alongside a lack of modern equipment, training facilities and billets. However, by June 1915, training had progressed well and the division was sent to the
Western Front , where it remained for the rest of the war.
[2]
Order of battle
The 19th (Western) Division was constituted as follows during the war:
[2]
56th Brigade
7th (Service) Battalion,
King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment) (disbanded February 1918 )
7th (Service) Battalion,
East Lancashire Regiment (disbanded February 1918 )
7th (Service) Battalion,
South Lancashire Regiment (disbanded February 1918 )
7th (Service) Battalion,
Loyal North Lancashire Regiment (disbanded February 1918 )
4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion, King's (Liverpool Regiment) (joined 3 December 1915, left 15 December 1915 )
56th Machine Gun Company,
Machine Gun Corps (joined 14 February 1916, moved to 19th Machine Gun Battalion 14 February 1918 )
56th Trench Mortar Battery (joined 17 June 1916, broken up 5 February 1918, reformed 6 March 1918 )
9th (Service) Battalion,
Cheshire Regiment (joined February 1918 )
1/4th Battalion,
King's (Shropshire Light Infantry) (joined February 1918 )
8th (Service) Battalion,
Prince of Wales's (North Staffordshire Regiment) (joined February 1918 )
57th Brigade
10th (Service) Battalion,
Royal Warwickshire Regiment
8th (Service) Battalion,
Gloucestershire Regiment
10th (Service) Battalion,
Worcestershire Regiment (until June 1918 )
8th (Service) Battalion, Prince of Wales's (North Staffordshire Regiment) (until February 1918 )
57th Machine Gun Company, Machine Gun Corps (joined 14 February 1916, moved to 19th Machine Gun Battalion 14 February 1918 )
57th Trench Mortar Battery (joined 15 June 1916 )
3rd Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment (joined June 1918 )
58th Brigade
9th (Service) Battalion, Cheshire Regiment (left February 1918 )
9th (Service) Battalion,
Royal Welsh Fusiliers
5th (Service) Battalion,
South Wales Borderers (left December 1914 )
9th (Service) Battalion,
Welsh Regiment
6th (Service) Battalion, Duke of Edinburgh's (Wiltshire Regiment) (from December 1915 until June 1918 )
58th Machine Gun Company, Machine Gun Corps (joined 14 February 1916, moved to 19th Machine Gun Battalion 14 February 1918 )
58th Trench Mortar Battery (joined 15 June 1916 )
2nd Battalion, Duke of Edinburgh's (Wiltshire Regiment) (joined May 1918 )
Divisional Troops
6th (Service) Battalion, Duke of Edinburgh's (Wiltshire Regiment) (left December 1914 )
5th (Service) Battalion, South Wales Borderers (joined as provisional Pioneer battalion December 1914, conversion completed February 1915 )
13th Motor Machine Gun Battery (joined 14 July 1915, left 7 March 1916 )
246th Machine Gun Company,
Machine Gun Corps (joined 19 July 1917, moved into 19 Machine Gun Battalion 14 February 1918 )
19th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps (formed 14 February 1918 )
Divisional Mounted Troops
Divisional Artillery
LXXXVI Brigade,
Royal Field Artillery (left 23 January 1917 )
LXXXVII Brigade, Royal Field Artillery
LXXXVIII Brigade, Royal Field Artillery
LXXXIX (Howitzer) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery (broken up 8–9 September 1916 )
19th Divisional Ammunition Column Royal Field Artillery
19th Heavy Battery,
Royal Garrison Artillery (raised with the division but moved independently to France on 15 July 1915 and joined XXI Brigade, Royal Garrison Artillery )
W.19 Heavy Trench Mortar Battery, Royal Field Artillery (joined May 1916, disbanded 19 February 1918 )
X.19, Y.19 and Z.19 Medium Mortar Batteries, Royal Field Artillery (formed by May 1916; on 18 February 1918, Z broken up and batteries reorganised to have 6 x 6-inch weapons each )
Royal Engineers
81st Field Company,
Royal Engineers
82nd Field Company, Royal Engineers
94th Field Company, Royal Engineers
19th Divisional Signals Company, Royal Engineers
Royal Army Medical Corps
57th Field Ambulance,
Royal Army Medical Corps
58th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps
59th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps
36th Sanitary Section, Royal Army Medical Corps (left 9 July 1917 )
Other Divisional Troops
19th Divisional Train
Army Service Corps (154, 155, 156 and 157 Companies )
31st Mobile Veterinary Section
Army Veterinary Corps
220th Divisional Employment Company (joined 19 July 1917 )
19th Divisional Motor Ambulance Workshop (absorbed into divisional train 6 April 1916 )
Commanders
Victoria Cross recipients
Second Lieutenant
Hugh Colvin , 9th (Service) Battalion,
Cheshire Regiment
Temporary
Lieutenant Colonel
Adrian Carton de Wiart , commanding the 8th (Service) Battalion,
Gloucestershire Regiment
Acting
Captain
Eric Dougall , LXXXVIII Brigade,
Royal Field Artillery
Temporary
Captain
Julian Gribble , 10th (Service) Battalion,
Royal Warwickshire Regiment
Captain
Manley James , 8th (Service) Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment
Private
James Miller , 7th (Service) Battalion,
King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment)
Private
Thomas Turrall , 10th (Service) Battalion,
Worcestershire Regiment
Lieutenant
Thomas Wilkinson , 7th (Service) Battalion,
Loyal North Lancashire Regiment
See also
References
Further reading
Roberts, James (2017). Killer Butterflies: Combat, Psychology And Morale In The British 19th (Western) Division 1915–18 . Wolverhampton Military Studies. Warwick: Helion.
ISBN
978-1-911512-24-0 .
External links
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