The High Peak Rifles, later 6th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters, was a volunteer unit of Britain's Territorial Army. First raised in the High Peak area of Derbyshire in 1860, it fought as infantry on the Western Front during the First World War and as an air defence unit during the Second World War. Its descendants remained in the Army Reserve until 2014.
Origin The origin of the 6th Sherwood Foresters lay in the various Rifle Volunteer Corps (RVCs) formed in northern Derbyshire and the Peak District as part of the enthusiasm for the Volunteer movement during an invasion scare in 1859–60.Beckett.Westlake, pp. 59–62.MacDonald, pp. 19-21. By June 1860, there were enough company-sized RVCs in the area to form the 3rd Administrative Battalion of Derbyshire RVCs, based at Bakewell (the dates given are those of the first officers' commissions):Beckett, Appendix VII.Frederick, pp. 320–1.Chart from Brett, Photo-Sleuth.of the Derbyshire RVCs' at Derbyshire Territorials in the Great War.List of Derbyshire RVCs at Derbyshire Territorials in the Great War.6th Bn notes 1911 at Derbyshire Territorials in the Great War. 3rd (Chesterfield) Derbyshire RVC (7 January 1860) 6th (High Peak Rifles of Buxton) Derbyshire RVC (16 February 1860; disbanded December 1861) 7th (High Peak Rifles of Chapel-en-le-Frith) Derbyshire RVC (1 February 1860) 9th (High Peak Rifles of Bakewell) Derbyshire RVC under the command of Lord George Cavendish (28 February 1860) 11th (Matlock) Derbyshire RVC under the command of Sir Joseph Paxton (17 March 1860) 17th (Clay Cross) Derbyshire RVC (26 January 1861) 18th (Whaley Bridge) Derbyshire RVC (16 March 1866, from a half company of the 7th)Whaley Bridge was actually in Cheshire at the time. 21st (Hartington) Derbyshire RVC (25 May 1872) 22nd (Staveley) Derbyshire RVC (23 September 1874)
Lord George Cavendish of the 9th Derbyshire RVC took command of the administrative battalion with the rank of major.Army List, various editions
In 1869 the smaller 2nd Derbyshire Admin Bn was disbanded and its remaining South Derbyshire units were transferred to the 3rd: 2nd (Sudbury) Derbyshire RVC, two companies under the command of Lord Vernon (16 March 1860; disbanded 1869)) 8th (Dove Valley) Derbyshire RVC at Ashbourne (1 February 1860) 10th (Wirksworth) Derbyshire RVC (10 March 1860)
In 1867, Lord George Cavendish became Honorary Colonel of the battalion; he was succeeded as Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant by his son James Charles Cavendish, formerly an officer of the Royal Artillery. Most RVCs adopted 'Rifle Grey' for their uniform; however, under J.C. Cavendish, the units of the battalion standardised on scarlet coats with blue facings.
The unit applied to have its RVCs consolidated in 1879, the 3rd Admin Bn being renumbered on 16 March 1880 as the 3rd Derbyshire RVC, changed to 2nd Derbyshire RVC on 15 June 1880, still under the command of Lt-Col J.C. Cavendish. The ten constituent RVCs became lettered companies in order of seniority. This meant that the battalion had six chaplains and ten surgeons, who had previously been attached to individual corps.Beckett, p. 133. In the following year, under the Childers Reforms, the Volunteers were attached to their local Regular Army regiments, the 2nd Derbyshire RVC being affiliated to the Sherwood Foresters (The Derbyshire Regiment; from 1902 the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment). In 1887 it was redesignated as the 2nd Volunteer Battalion of the regiment, and later adopted the white facings of the Regular battalions, though by special permission it retained its blue Austrian knot on the sleeve, and wore coats rather than tunics.
When Volunteer Infantry Brigades were introduced in 1888, the VBs of the Sherwood Foresters formed part of the North Midland Brigade, although for a few years from 1901 they formed a separate Sherwood Foresters Brigade.
2nd Boer War The battalion had been over its establishment strength, and during the 2nd Boer War it was permitted to raise three additional companies, one at Chesterfield, one at Buxton, and one a special Cyclist Company. The battalion formed a service company of volunteers to serve alongside the Regulars in the war, earning the Battle honour South Africa 1900–1902. A total of three officers and 125 other ranks served either with the 1st Battalion or with the Imperial Yeomanry.Leslie.
Territorial Force When the Volunteers were subsumed into the Territorial Force (TF) under the Haldane Reforms in 1908, the 2nd VB became the 6th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters. The battalion had its headquarters at the Victoria Diamond Jubilee Drill Hall on Ashgate Road, Chesterfield, and the companies were disposed as follows: A Company at 10 Corporation Street, Chesterfield.Chesterfield at Drill Hall Project. B Company at Market Street, Chapel-en-le-Frith,Chapel-en-le-Frith at Drill Hall Project. with detachments based at the drill stations in Hathersage, Peak Dale, Chinley and Edale.Derbyshire Drill Stations at Drill Hall Project. C Company at The Armoury, Rock Terrace, Buxton,Buxton at Drill Hall Project. with an outlying detachment at The Armoury, Town Hall Buildings, Ashbourne. D Company at The Drill Hall, Bakewell.Bakewell at Drill Hall Project. E Company at Drill Hall, Wirksworth,Worksworth at Drill Hall Project. with detachments at The Armoury, Wellington Street, Matlock,Matlock at Drill Hall Project. and at Cromford. F Company at Drill Hall, Staveley.Staveley at Drill Hall Project. G Company at Drill Hall, Clay Cross.Clay Cross at Drill Hall Project. H Company at Drill Hall, Whaley Bridge,Whaley Bridge at Drill Hall Project. with detachments at New Mills, Disley and Hayfield.
The Regular battalions of the Sherwood Foresters adopted Lincoln green facings after 1907, and were followed by the 6th Bn.
The four TF battalions of the Sherwood Foresters formed the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Brigade of the North Midland Division.Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 61–7.James, p. 87.
First World War Mobilisation When war broke out in Europe in August 1914, the units of the North Midland Division were undergoing their annual training camp, the Notts and Derby Brigade being at Hunmanby on the Yorkshire coast. On August Bank Holiday, 3 August, with Britain's entry into the war imminent, the camp was struck and the battalions entrained for their home towns. Orders to mobilise were received at the company HQs of the 6th Bn at 19.00 on 4 August and they were ordered to assemble at Chesterfield. The battalion's mobilisation plan had been kept up to date by the permanent adjutant, Captain S.F. McL. Lomer (King's Royal Rifle Corps), and became known as 'Lomer's Guide to Chesterfield'. On the second day of mobilisation the men from Bakewell, Wirksworth, Staveley and Clay Cross, together with the half company from Buxton, marched into Chesterfield, where they were met by the Buxton Brass Bands. The companies from Chapel-en-le-Frith, Whaley Bridge, and the half company from Ashbourne arrived the following day. The men were accommodated in the drill hall and Chesterfield Central Schools. On 10 August the battalion laid up its Colours in St Mary's Church and marched to Derby, the war station of the Notts and Derby Brigade and HQ of the North Midland Division. The North Midland Division then moved to the Luton area, where the Notts and Derby Brigade was billeted at Harpenden.Sherwood Foresters at Long, Long Trail.MacDonald, p. 30.Mobilisation of 6th Bn at Derbyshire Territorials in the Great War.Anon, Robin Hoods, pp. 21–26.
On 31 August, the formation of Reserve or 2nd Line units for each existing TF unit and formation was authorised, after which the parent battalion was designated the 1/6th and the recruits coming forward were organised into the 2/6th Bn in the 2nd Notts & Derby Brigade. Later, a 3/6th Bn was raised to provide reinforcements for the 1st and 2nd Line.Becke, Pt 2b, p. 6.
1/6th Battalion On 1 September, the 1st North Midland Division was invited to volunteer for foreign service. This was accepted by the majority of the men, the remainder (in the case of the Notts and Derby Brigade) being posted to a Provisional Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters, which was assigned a role in the defences around London. The division was given warning orders to embark for France about 30 October, but these were later cancelled. Meanwhile, the men went through intensive training, the brigade marching to new quarters at Braintree, Essex in mid-November.Anon, Robin Hoods, pp. 27–34 & 268–9.
King George V inspected the division on 19 February 1915, and gave permission for the Notts & Derby Brigade to change its title to Sherwood Foresters Brigade. Soon afterwards, embarkation orders arrived.MacDonald, p. 32.Anon, Robin Hoods, p. 39. The North Midland Division began landing in France in late February 1915 and by 8 March had completed its concentration – the first complete TF formation to arrive on the Western Front. In early April it went into the line at Messines for two months to learn the techniques of trench warfare. It was numbered the 46th (North Midland) Division in May, when the Sherwood Foresters Brigade was numbered 139th (Sherwood Foresters) Brigade.MacDonald, pp. 32–3.
The division next spent two months in the Ypres Salient, the battalions taking turns in the tranches at Sanctuary Wood near Hooge. The 1/6th Bn was not directly involved in 139th Brigade's first action (the German flamethrower attack at Hooge on 30–31 July 1915),MacDonald, pp. 33–5. but was in the attack on the Hohenzollern Redoubt in October that year.
Hohenzollern Redoubt
This was an attempt to restart the failed Battle of Loos, and the division was moved down from Ypres on 1 October for the purpose. The Germans recaptured the Hohenzollern trench system on 3 October, and the new attack was aimed at this point. The 137th (Staffordshire) Brigade attacked on the right with 1/6th Sherwood Foresters in support. The Staffords suffered terrible casualties, and the Foresters were sent over to consolidate their meagre gains, which had to be evacuated that night.MacDonald, pp. 43–5.Rawson, pp. 120-8.Anon, Robin Hoods, p. 125.
In December 1915, the 46th Division was ordered to Egypt, and part went there. In January 1916, however, the move was cancelled before the Sherwood Foresters had embarked. In the following months there were cases of Paratyphoid fever among the units that returned from Egypt, and the infection spread to units that had remained in France.Macdonald, pp. 50–2, 106–7.
Gommecourt The 46th Division went back into the line in the Vimy sector, suffering a steady trickle of casualties over the coming months. In May, however, it moved south to take part in the forthcoming offensive on the Somme. The division was ordered to assault the north side of the Gommecourt Salient on 1 July 1916. The operation, in conjunction with the 56th (1st London) Division attacking from the south, aimed at cutting off the salient, but was in fact a diversion for the main attack a few miles south that opened the Battle of the Somme.MacDonald pp. 57–65.Middlebrook, Somme, p. 73.Edmonds, 1916, Vol I, pp. 252–9, 308.
In the weeks before the attack, the battalion was engaged in fatigue duties and patrolling, suffering a trickle of casualties; it also suffered a number of casualties from paratyphoid. It received a draft of 42 men from the 8th Entrenching Battalion at the end of May.MacDonald pp. 81, 84, 104, 119, 125, 184, 190, 260.