The West Riding Territorials in the Great WarMagnus, Laurie
History
The West Riding Territorials in the Great War
Magnus, Laurie
Great Britain. Army. Division, 49th; Great Britain. Army. Division, 62nd; World War, 1914-1918 -- Regimental histories -- Great Britain
Finally, we reproduce below a tabulated statement of the designations
and peace-stations of the Corps which formed the Territorial Force of the
West Riding shortly after the outbreak of war, and in the third column
of that table we add the names of their then Commanding Officers. This,
in fine, was the outcome of the six and a half years’ work of the Lord
Lieutenant and his colleagues in the Association. These Corps of gallant
officers and other ranks were the open and visible sign of the response
of the West Riding to the appeal of 1908. The Association might not have
succeeded in discharging fully the duties numbered from (_a_) to (_l_)
in Section II., Sub-section (2) of the Territorial and Reserve Forces
Act. They might not have provided all the necessary buildings, nor have
arranged with all employers of labour as to holidays for training, nor
have supplied all the requisites on mobilization, nor have done half a
dozen more things which they tried to do in the face of obstruction,
and would have liked to do if they had been allowed. Their shortcomings
were their misfortune, not their fault, and they have served since as a
warning to the Army Council to prevent their repetition in the future.
But in the spirit of the officers and men who were on the strength of the
units in 1914, the West Riding had given overrunning measure. ‘Any part
of the Territorial Force,’ it is written in Section XIII. (1) of the Act,
‘shall be liable to serve in any part of the United Kingdom, but no part
of the Territorial Force shall be carried or ordered to go out of the
United Kingdom.’ The Act of Parliament limited the liability; we shall
see how the action of West Yorkshiremen broke those limits, when the day
came.
WEST RIDING TERRITORIAL FORCE AT THE OUTBREAK OF THE GREAT WAR.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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