The Sunderland Rifles was a Volunteer unit of the British Army formed in 1860. It went on to become a battalion of the Durham Light Infantry (DLI) in the Territorial Force and saw action as infantry and pioneers in some of the bloodiest actions on the Western Front during World War I. Between the wars it became an air defence unit, serving during World War II in The Blitz and the campaign in North West Europe, when it had a special role in the Rhine crossing. Postwar it continued in the Territorial Army in the air defence role until 1975, when its successor unit reverted to infantry.
Origin During an invasion scare in 1859, large numbers of part-time Rifle Volunteer Corps (RVCs) were formed throughout Great Britain, eager to supplement the Regular British Army in case of need.Beckett.Spiers, pp. 163–8.Westlake. The 3rd (The Sunderland) Durham Rifle Volunteer Corps was one such unit, with the first officers' commissions being issued on 6 March 1860. By 1862 the unit had six companies under the command of Major Lord Adolphus Vane-Tempest, MP for North Durham.Beckett, Appendix VII.Frederick, p. 145.Westlake, p. 75.Dunn, p. 10. After the death of Vane-Tempest in 1864, Edward Temperley Gourley (later MP for Sunderland) was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel in command on 10 November 1865.Army List, various dates. The 'Sunderland' title was authorised in 1867. The unit's uniform was scarlet, with blue facings. The Regimental Colour of the former Sunderland Volunteer Infantry raised in the Napoleonic Wars (1803–13) was presented to the new corps in 1860. A purpose-built drill hall was opened in Livingstone Road in 1880.Dunn, pp. 9–11.
Under the scheme of 'localisation' introduced by the Cardwell Reforms in 1873, the Durham RVCs, together with the Durham Militia and the two Regular battalions (68th Light Infantry and 106th Light Infantry) that later formed the Durham Light Infantry (DLI), constituted Brigade No 3, based at Sunderland in the Durham sub-district of Northern District. While the sub-districts were referred to as 'brigades', they were purely administrative organisations and the Volunteers were excluded from the 'mobilisation' part of the Cardwell system, though they carried out joint manoeuvres.Training Depots, 1873–1881 at Regiments.org.
Under the Childers Reforms the Volunteers were affiliated to their local Regular Army regiment – the DLI in the case of the Durham RVCs – as Volunteer Battalions on 1 July 1881. The Sunderland rifles changed its facing colour to white in 1884 to match the DLI (the DLI reverted to its traditional dark green at the beginning of the 20th Century) and formally became the 3rd (Sunderland) Volunteer Battalion of the DLI in December 1887.Dunn, p. 12. The Stanhope Memorandum of December 1888 proposed a more comprehensive Mobilisation Scheme for Volunteer units, which would assemble in their own brigades at key points in case of war. In peacetime these brigades provided a structure for collective training.Beckett, pp. 135, 185–6.Dunlop, pp. 60–1. Under this scheme the Volunteer Battalions of the DLI and the Northumberland Fusiliers formed the Tyne and Tees Brigade until a separate Durham Light Infantry Brigade was formed in 1902.
The 3rd VB gained an extra company in 1900, giving it a total of six rifle companies and one of cyclists, and it contributed detachments to three successive service companies of Volunteers who served alongside the Regular DLI in the Second Boer War and gained its first battle honour: South Africa 1900–1902.Dunn, pp. 12–3; Appendix 1.Leslie.
Territorial Force
When the Volunteers were subsumed into the new Territorial Force (TF) under the Haldane Reforms of 1908, the 3rd VB became the 7th Battalion Durham Light Infantry. There were eight companies, six at Livingstone Road and two at South Shields that had previously formed part of the 5th VB DLI. The cyclist company transferred to the Northern Cyclist Battalion.London Gazette 20 March 1908.Dunn, pp. 13–7. The 7th DLI formed part of the Durham Light Infantry Brigade in the Northumbrian Division of the TF.Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 93–100.DLI at Long, Long Trail.50 Division at Regimental Warpath.
When war broke out in 1914, the battalion was commanded by Lt-Col Ernest Vaux, of the Sunderland-based Vaux Breweries family. He had formerly served in the 1st Durham Royal Garrison Artillery (Volunteers) and had won the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) with the 5th Imperial Yeomanry during the Boer War.Dunn, pp. 208–9.Wyrall, p. 2.
World War I Mobilisation The outbreak of World War I found the DLI Brigade at Conwy in North Wales at its annual training camp, which had started on 25 July. Orders to prepare for mobilisation were received on 3 August and the battalion returned to Sunderland by train, where mobilisation began the next day. The Northumbrian Division then took up its war stations in the Tyne Defences as part of Central Force. The 7th DLI was distributed around Sunderland by companies, to a roller-skating rink in Park Lane, to Hudson Road School, to Hendon Valley Road School, and to the Granary at Sunderland Docks.James, pp. 100–1.Dunn, pp. 23–8.Wyrall, pp. 3–4.
On 31 August 1914, the formation of Reserve or 2nd Line units for each existing TF unit was authorised. Initially these were formed from men who had not volunteered for overseas service, and the recruits who were flooding in. Later they were mobilised for overseas service in their own right. They were distinguished by the prefix '2/', the parent 1st Line battalion taking '1/'. Later 3rd Line or Reserve battalions were formed to train drafts for the 1st and 2nd Line battalions.Becke, Pt 2b, p. 6.Dunn, p. 196.
1/7th Battalion After the Home Service men had been separated, the DLI Brigade concentrated under canvas at Ravensworth Castle, Gateshead, where the training became more intense. When the autumn weather deteriorated, the troops were once again billeted in schools around Gateshead. Orders to proceed overseas to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) arrived in early April, and the transport and equipment of the battalion was completed. The advance party left Gateshead for Boulogne on 17 April, the rest of the battalion following on 19 April, arriving the same day.Dunn, pp. 29–35.Wyrall, pp. 4–5.
2nd Battle of Ypres The division completed its concentration in the area of Steenvoorde and went straight into action at the Second Battle of Ypres. The DLI Bde was at Ryveld, and at 16.30 on 23 April 1/7th Bn began marching to Vlamertinge, arriving soon after midnight and being billeted in a hop warehouse. Next day the brigade received a succession of countermanded orders, ending with 1/7th Bn bivouacking under shellfire in the grounds of Potijze Chateau. British forces were fighting to stabilise the British line (the Battle of St Julien) and the Northumbrian Division's units were thrown in piecemeal. 1/7th Battalion came under the command of 2nd Bn King's Shropshire Light Infantry and at 14.00 on 26 April Lt-Col Vaux was ordered to move up towards Gravenstafel. The battalion advanced across open fields in 'artillery formation' under heavy fire, watched by Col Vaux standing in the open with his shepherd's crook in his hand. They reached a position north of Zonnebeke to support 85th Bde, before being ordered to retire after dark to Verlorenhoek, where they spent the whole of 27 April. Unlike the rest of the brigade, 1/7th Bn's casualties in their first action had been light, though they suffered a trickle of other casualties before being relieved from the front line on 3 May.Dunn, pp. 36–48.Wyrall, pp. 5, 10–11, 20–1, 34–5, 40.
During the Battle of Frezenberg Ridge (8–13 May), 1/7th DLI was engaged in digging a new second line of defences (the GHQ line), sometimes under shellfire. The Northumbrian Division officially became the 50th (Northumbrian) Division on 14 May, when the DLI Bde became 151st (Durham Light Infantry) Brigade.50th Division at Long, Long Trail.Dunn, pp. 48–52.Wyrall, pp. 52–4.
On 21 May the battalion was sent up to learn the routine of trench holding with 85th Bde. A and B Companies were attached to 3rd Bn Royal Fusiliers, HQ, C and D Companies to 3rd Bn Middlesex Regiment. The brigade's trenches were knee-deep in mud. While the battalion was in the line, the Germans launched another serious attack on Whit Monday (24 May) preceded by a gas cloud (the Battle of Bellewaarde Ridge). At one point Lt-Col Vaux ordered his men out of the trench and to stand up to avoid the low-hanging gas cloud, which they did, singing the hymn Abide with Me. The Fusiliers and Durhams repulsed the initial attack, but a neighbouring unit was driven back and the battalions' left flank was open. They were pushed back to the third line, just behind Railway Wood before reinforcements (including C and D Companies of 7th DLI) arrived to help halt the enemy advance. The battalion lost 29 killed, 76 wounded or gassed, and 183 missing, mainly Prisoners of War (PoW) from the overrun front trench.Dunn, pp. 52–68.Wyrall, pp. 59–70.
Over the following months the division was concentrated and took over its own section of the line south of Ypres, with 1/7th DLI occupying dug-outs in Sanctuary Wood when not in the front line. It then moved to better trenches near Kemmel, where it received a draft of 160 reinforcements from home.Dunn, pp. 69–76.Wyrall, pp. 72–4. By the end of July the division had moved to the Armentières sector, and stayed in this quiet sector until mid-November, when it moved to Merris.Dunn, pp. 79–87.Wyrall, pp. 90–2.
Pioneer battalion
1/7th DLI left 151st Bde on 16 November 1915 to become the divisional pioneer battalion. In this role it provided working parties to assist the divisional Royal Engineers (RE) in tasks ranging from trench digging and wiring, to road making, while remaining fighting soldiers. The men received extra pay and the battalion transport was augmented to carry the necessary tools and equipment, but the battalion machine gun section was transferred out: brigade machine gun companies were formed soon afterwards. Lieutenant-Colonel Vaux was instrumental in the battalion's conversion, arguing that many of the Sunderland shipbuilders in its ranks already had the skills required.DLI at Regimental Warpath.Dunn, p. 88.Wyrall, p. 101.
In December 1915 the division returned to the Ypres Salient, in the Hill 60 sector, with 1/7th DLI billeted at 'Canada Huts' in appalling conditions. Here the battalion established repair workshops, cleared abandoned equipment, repaired communication trenches and set out dummy trenches to confuse the enemy. There was almost constant low-level fighting until the division was relieved at the beginning of April 1916 and moved to the Wytschaete sector, 1/7th DLI marching from Canada Huts to La Clytte. The usual trench work continued, often under shell and machine gun fire.Dunn, pp. 90–5.Wyrall, pp. 100–4, 118.
Somme