The 21st (Wigan) Lancashire Rifle Volunteers, later the 5th Battalion, Manchester Regiment, was a unit of Britain's Volunteer Force and Territorial Army recruited in and around Wigan. It served as infantry in Egypt, at Gallipoli, and in some of the bitterest battles on the Western Front in the First World War. Its Second Line battalion was virtually destroyed in the German spring offensive of 1918. During the Second World War, the battalion served in the Battle of France and was evacuated from Dunkirk. Afterwards it was converted into an armoured regiment, but saw no action in this role. Postwar it served as an anti-aircraft unit of the Royal Artillery until 1955.
Volunteer Force The enthusiasm for the Volunteer movement following an invasion scare in 1859 saw the creation of many Rifle Volunteer Corps (RVCs) composed of part-time soldiers eager to supplement the Regular British Army in time of need.Beckett.Bonner.Spiers, pp. 163–8.Westlake, Rifle Volunteers. One such unit was the 21st Lancashire RVC raised by mill-owner Nathaniel Eckersley at Wigan on 20 January 1860. The corps had a strength of two companies, with the riflemen drawn mainly from artisans employed by the local collieries and engineering works, officered by local professional men. A permanent headquarters was built at Wigan, the £6000 cost being raised by the formation of a limited liability company with £1 shares bought by the members through small instalments. A number of smaller RVCs were also raised in the surrounding area (now part of Greater Manchester), and from 29 October 1860 these were grouped into the 4th Administrative Battalion, Lancashire Rifle Volunteers, based at Eccles:Beckett, Appendix VII.Frederick, pp. 131–3.Lancashire Record Office, Handlist 72.Westlake, Rifle Volunteers, pp. 139–54. 46th (Swinton) Lancashire RVC, formed as one company on 24 February 1860 and absorbed No 12 (Eccles) Company of the 6th (1st Manchester) Lancashire RVC when the 4th Admin Bn was formed 55th (Leigh) Lancashire RVC, formed as a sub-division on 3 March 1860, increased to a full company in June; joined the 4th Admin Bn in October 1861 60th (Atherton) Lancashire RVC, formed as one company on 6 March 1860; joined the 4th Admin Bn in October 1861 67th (Worsley) Lancashire RVC, formed as one company on 7 May 1860 76th (Farnworth) Lancashire RVC, formed as one company on 3 July 1860 91st (Flixton) Lancashire RVC, formed as one company on 14 August 1872
The headquarters (HQ) of the 4th Admin Bn moved to Manchester in 1862, to Wigan by the beginning of 1877, and back to Manchester in 1879. From 16 March 1865 the battalion was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Mather, a former captain in the 14th Hussars. He was succeeded by Major John H. Chambers of the 6th Royal Lancashire Militia. The battalion's Honorary Chaplain from its formation was the Rev St. Vincent Beechey, Vicar of Worsley.Army List, various dates.
After a period attached to the 8th (Bury) Lancashire RVC, the 21st (Wigan) Lancashire RVC also joined the 4th Admin Bn in 1869, and Eckersley became one of the battalion's majors the following year. The 21st expanded to five companies during the 1870s. When the Volunteers were consolidated into larger units in 1880, the 4th Admin Bn became the 21st Lancashire RVC on 6 March, taking the number of its senior subunit, but renumbered as the 4th Lancashire RVC on 3 September the same year, with the following organisation: A to E Companies at Wigan – ex 21st RVC F Company at Swinton – ex No 1 Company, 46th RVC G Company at Eccles – ex No 2 Company, 46th RVC H Company at Leigh – ex 55th RVC J Company at Atherton – ex 60th RVC K Company at Worsley – ex 67th RVC L and M Companies at Farnworth – ex 76th RVC N Company at Flixton – ex 91st RVC
By now Lt-Col Chambers had become the battalion's honorary colonel, and with so many companies the unit was entitled to two lieutenant-colonels, of whom James Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford, a former Ensign in the Grenadier Guards and MP for Wigan, was the senior, and his brother-in-law Arthur Bootle-Wilbraham (grandson of the 1st Lord Skelmersdale and father of the 5th Lord), a former Ensign in the Coldstream Guards, was the junior.Burke's: 'Crawford'.Burke's: 'Skelmersdale'. Throughout this period of time, the battalion, like many other Volunteer Battalions had a shortage of Officers.L & M Companies, located at Farnworth are a typical example. In the 1880s they were led by Captain E.S. Hargreaves and Captain Cuthbert James Taylor. However, both men resigned, the former on 14 September 1889 and the latter on 15 March 1890. To remedy the immediate shortfall, Officers from the Wigan Detachment took over the running of L & M company. Captain John Laidler Hedley, ex 'E' Company, was placed in temporary command of L & M. This was not ideal, Laidler's strengths lay in his organisational abilities and he was utilised in assisting the Quarter Master in his duties at the annual camp. This effectively left L & M leaderless during this time. In 1891, Laidler returned to the Wigan detachment and newly promoted Captain Walter Tomlinson, ex 'B' Company, replaced him.1st V.B.M.R. Orders printed in Wigan Observer Newspapers - 1880-1913 By 1884 the social composition of the Wigan corps had changed, with 43 per cent of the rank and file now employed in building trades, only 25 per cent in engineering and metalwork, and a further 12 per cent were clerical workers.
Under the 'Localisation of the Forces' introduced by the Cardwell Reforms, the 4th was linked with other Manchester-based RVCs, Militia regiments and the Regular 63rd and 96th Foot into Sub-district No 16 (Lancashire). When the 63rd and 96th were amalgamated to create the Manchester Regiment as part of the Childers Reforms, the 4th Lancashire RVC was formally attached to it as a volunteer battalion (VB) on 1 July 1881, and was redesignated as its 1st Volunteer Battalion on 1 September 1888.
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. 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; Appendix A.Spiers, pp. 228–9. Under this scheme the five (later six) VBs of the Manchester Regiment constituted the Manchester Brigade. By now the 1st VB's HQ was established at 42 Lancaster Avenue, Fennel Street, Manchester, still with the Earl of Crawford as Lt-Col Commandant and Lt-Col Bootle-Wilbraham as second-in-command.
Volunteers from the battalion served for a year in a Service Company alongside the Regulars of the regiment during the Second Boer War, followed by two further drafts in succeeding years. This service gained the battalion its first Battle Honour South Africa 1900–1902.Leslie. By now it was based at the Drill Hall, Patricroft, Manchester.
Territorial Force
When the Volunteer Force was subsumed into the new Territorial Force (TF) under the Haldane Reforms of 1908, the 1st VB became the 5th Battalion, Manchester Regiment, with its HQ at Bank Chambers, Wigan.Dunlop, Chapter 14.Spiers, Chapter 10. The Manchester Brigade became part of the East Lancashire Division of the TF.Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 35–41.42nd (EL) Division at Long, Long Trail.
First World War Mobilisation On the outbreak of war, the division was at its annual camp when the order to mobilise was received at 05.30 on 4 August. The units returned to their drill halls to mobilise, the men being billeted close by. The 5th Battalion mobilised at Bank Chambers under the command of Lt-Col W.S. France.James, pp. 96–8.Manchesters at Long, Long Trail.'Territorial Force 1914–1919' at Manchester Regiment Museum.
On 10 August, TF units were invited to volunteer for Overseas Service. The infantry brigades of the East Lancashire Division volunteered by 12 August and on 15 August 1914, the War Office issued instructions to separate those men who had opted for Home Service only, and form these into reserve units. On 31 August, the formation of a reserve or 2nd Line unit was authorised for each 1st Line unit where 60 per cent or more of the men had volunteered for Overseas Service. The titles of these 2nd Line units would be the same as the original, but distinguished by a '2/' prefix and would absorb the flood of volunteers coming forwards. In this way duplicate battalions, brigades and divisions were created, mirroring those TF formations being sent overseas.Becke, Pt 2b, p. 6.WO Instructions Nos 108 & 310 of August 1914.Gibbon, p. 5.
1/5th Battalion On 20 August the East Lancashire Division moved into camps, with the Manchester Bde near Rochdale, and on 5 September it received orders to go to Egypt to complete its training and relieve Regular units from the garrison for service on the Western Front. It embarked on a convoy of troopships from Southampton on 10 September, and landed at Alexandria on 25 September, the first complete TF division to go overseas.Gibbon, pp. 6–8. Major Henry Darlington, who had seen active service in the Boer War, was promoted to Lt-Col to command 1/5th Manchesters and take it overseas.Burke's: Knightage: 'Darlington'.Gibbon, p. 18.Gibbon, p. 245.
On arrival the 1/5th Bn went into garrison at Mustapha Barracks in Alexandria and underwent intensive training. At first the division's role was simply garrison service, but on 5 November Britain declared war on Turkey and Egypt became a war zone. While the East Lancashire Division went to guard the Suez Canal, the Manchester Bde was detached in January 1915 to garrison Cairo.Gibbon, pp. 8–13.
Gallipoli At the end of April the division was ordered to sail to join the Gallipoli campaign. On 3 May 1/5th and 1/6th Manchesters embarked at Alexandria on the SS Derfflinger, a captured German Norddeutscher Lloyd shipping line vessel that had just arrived with a cargo of wounded from the initial landings at Gallipoli. Derfflinger missed her intended landing spot at Cape Helles, and so the Manchesters arrived late on 6 May, after the rest of the division had gone into action. The 1/5th Bn bivouacked above 'W' Beach ('Lancashire Landing') and during the night of 7/8 May was moved, with ammunition, rations and entrenching equipment, but no blankets or baggage, to the Krithia sector, where the men went into the firing line for a 10-day period. On 12 May the brigade made a feint attack to attract attention away from a movement elsewhere.Gibbon, pp. 16–28.Westlake, Gallipoli, pp. 183–4.
On 25 May, the East Lancashire Division was formally designated 42nd (East Lancashire) Division, and the Manchester Brigade became 127th (Manchester) Brigade.Gibbon, p. 33.