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Saxonw.
Guest
Which were the main regiments which recruited in Birmingham in the first world war? Forgive me for my ignorance would virtually every soldier from Birmingham be in the same regiment or what would the position be?
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Saxonw They came from all over the country to recruit in Brum so without doing a long list..............and then you had ya local regiments Warcs. and Staffs etc
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Saxonw.
Guest
I feared that might be the case
terry carter
Birmingham Pals
B'ham Recruiting WW1
Birmingham's boundaries expanded in 1911 take on areas that were once in Worcestershire and Staffordshire. So I suppose a lot of men, even though by 1914, lived in Birmingham they still classed themselves as coming from Worcs or Staffs. That is quite a lot of Brummies who volunteered in 1914 served in the Worcestershire and South Staffordshire Regiments. The majority of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment Service battalions (i.e. 9th, 10th, 11th, 14th, 15th & 16th Battalions) were made up originally of Birmingham men.
With Birmingham being in a central location and the hub of the country's railway system a lot of volunteers of 1914 saw it as a chance to get as far from Birmingham as possible. That is why you get a fair number of Brummies serving in the Devon and Dorsets regiments, however, for some reason the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry was very popular with Brummies. Then there was the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, which has been said to have had more Brummies than Welsh men !
The Rifle Brigade and the Kings Royal Rifle Corps also had plenty of Birmingham recruits. Checking the newspaper casualty lists of the time I find also that the 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards recruited a lot of Birmingham men too.
It was reckoned 148,000 Birmingham men entered the services during WW1 and around 13,000 died and perhaps another 40,000 receiving some type of wound.
Terry
Birmingham's boundaries expanded in 1911 take on areas that were once in Worcestershire and Staffordshire. So I suppose a lot of men, even though by 1914, lived in Birmingham they still classed themselves as coming from Worcs or Staffs. That is quite a lot of Brummies who volunteered in 1914 served in the Worcestershire and South Staffordshire Regiments. The majority of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment Service battalions (i.e. 9th, 10th, 11th, 14th, 15th & 16th Battalions) were made up originally of Birmingham men.
With Birmingham being in a central location and the hub of the country's railway system a lot of volunteers of 1914 saw it as a chance to get as far from Birmingham as possible. That is why you get a fair number of Brummies serving in the Devon and Dorsets regiments, however, for some reason the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry was very popular with Brummies. Then there was the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, which has been said to have had more Brummies than Welsh men !
The Rifle Brigade and the Kings Royal Rifle Corps also had plenty of Birmingham recruits. Checking the newspaper casualty lists of the time I find also that the 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards recruited a lot of Birmingham men too.
It was reckoned 148,000 Birmingham men entered the services during WW1 and around 13,000 died and perhaps another 40,000 receiving some type of wound.
Terry
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