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8th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment
8th (Service) Battalion, The Devonshire Regiment was raised at Exeter on the 19th of August 1914 as part of Kitchener's First New Army and joined 14th (Light) Division as Divisional Troops. In May 1915 they left the Division, having completed training, but a lack of ammunition delayed them and it was not until the 26th of July that they proceeded to France, landing at Le Havre. On the 4th of August 1915 they joined 20th Brigade, 7th Division. They were in action in The Battle of Loos. In 1916 They were in action during the Battles of the Somme, including the capture Mametz, The Battle of Bazentin, the attacks on High Wood, The Battle of Delville Wood, The Battle of Guillemont and the Operations on the Ancre. In 1917 They fought during The German retreat to the Hindenburg Line and the flanking operations round Bullecourt during The Arras Offensive, before moving to Flanders for the Third Battle of Ypres, seeing action in The Battle of Polygon Wood, The Battle of Broodseinde, The Battle of Poelcapelle and The Second Battle of Passchendaele. In late 1917 the 7th Division was selected to move to Italy. They took up position in the line along the River Piave,in late January 1918. The Division played a central role in crossing the Piave, in October and the Battle of Vittoria Veneto.
4th Oct 1914 Orders Received
5th Oct 1914 On the Move
6th Oct 1914 On the Move
7th Oct 1914 On the Move
8th Oct 1914 On the Move
9th Oct 1914 Anxiety
10th Oct 1914 Withdrawal
11th Oct 1914 Hostile Forces
11th Oct 1914 Orders
12th Oct 1914 On the March
13th Oct 1914 Enemy Closes
14th Oct 1914 On the March 
15th Oct 1914 Hostile Column
16th Oct 1914 Line Advanced
17th Oct 1914 Enemy Active
18th Oct 1914 Planning
19th Oct 1914 Hard Fighting
20th Oct 1914 Defensive Line
21st Oct 1914 Hard Fighting
22nd Oct 1914 Bombardment
23rd Oct 1914 Under Fire
24th Oct 1914 Enemy Break Through
25th Oct 1914 Enemy Break Through
26th Oct 1914 Forced Back
27th Oct 1914 Orders Received
28th Oct 1914 Artillery Active
29th Oct 1914 Hard Fighting
30th Oct 1914 Hard Fighting
31st Oct 1914 Hard Fighting
21st Sep 1915 Orders
24th Sep 1915 The Biggest Cannonade
25th Sep 1915 8th Devons Attack
3rd Oct 1917 Attack Made
4th Oct 1917 In Action
4th Oct 1917 In Action
26th Oct 1917 Attack Made
If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.
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| Want to know more about 8th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment? There are:5266 items tagged 8th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Great War.
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Those known to have served with8th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment during the Great War 1914-1918. - Aplin Noah. Pte. (d.25th Sep 1915)
- Bladon Frederick Charles. Pte. (d.24th May 1916)
- Coles John. Pte. (d.10th Dec 1916)
- Davey Charles. Pte. (d.10th April 1917)
- Harris MM Henry Percy. Sgt. (d.17th November 1917)
- Helps S. R.. Pte. (d.5th April 1919)
- Johns William. Pte. (d.4th October 1917)
- Jones Arthur Frank. Cpl. (d.4th October 1917)
- Litton Jack. Pte. (d.5th Oct 1917)
- Manning Ernest Charles. Cpl. (d.8th May 1917)
- Martin William James. Pte. (d.27th March 1917)
- Morgan James. L/Cpl.
- Morrish Frederick Triggs. Pte. (d.9th May 1917)
- Oliver William Percy.
- Snell Frederick. Pte. (d.9th May 1917)
- Tregelles Geoffrey Phillip. Capt. (d.1 July 1916)
- Windle Michael William Maxwell. Lt. (d.25th Sep 1915)
All names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed,
please Add a Name to this List
Records of 8th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment from other sources.
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Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations.
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Pte. Charles Davey 8th Battalion Devonshire Regiment (d.10th April 1917) Pte Charles Davey was my Great Uncle Charlie. He is buried in Etaples Military Cemetery in France.
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William Percy Oliver 8th Btn. Devonshire Regiment My grandfather, William Oliver, was in the 8th Devonshire Regiment during the First World War. He arrived in France on 27th of July 1915. He survived the war and was demobbed on 21st January 1919.
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Pte. Noah Aplin 8th Btn. Devonshire Regiment (d.25th Sep 1915) The story is that Noah Aplin was fighting on the front line with the 8th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment in Loos.
There was a break in firing, Noah stood and removed his helmet to take his gas mask off and was shot in the forehead by a German sniper.
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Cpl. Ernest Charles Manning 8th Battalion Devonshire Regiment (d.8th May 1917) Ernest Charles Manning was my paternal Great-Uncle.
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Pte. Frederick Triggs Morrish 8th Btn. Devonshire Regiment (d.9th May 1917) Private Frederick Morrish served with the 8th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment.
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Pte. William James Martin 8th (Service) Btn. Devonshire Regiment (d.27th March 1917) The full story of Will Martin and his fiancee, Emily Ellen Chitticks has been the subject of books and as part of a television drama-documentary The Great War - the People's Story.
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Pte. S. R. Helps 1st/6th Btn. attd. 8th Reserve Btn. Devonshire Regiment (d.5th April 1919) Private Helps is buried in the Poonamalee Cemetery in India, Row 13, Grave 46.
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Sgt. Henry Percy Harris MM 8th Btn. Devonshire Regiment (d.17th November 1917) This is an extract from the book "For Our Tomorrow" about Combpyne-Rousdon in the First World War.
Henry Harris was born in Combpyne in the spring of 1893, the first child of Eli and Amelia (Minnie) Harris, who went on to have a further ten children together. The Harris’s were long time residents of Combpyne having been in the village since at least the beginning of the nineteenth century. The family lived at Little Bulmoor Farm where Eli was a carter. By 1911 Henry had left home and lodged with coachman Charles Honeybun and his family in Chard Street, Axminster, working as a farm labourer. At some point Henry moved to Rose Cottage in Whitford and began work on the Rousdon Estate (39). No record of a marriage has been found but between 1911 and 1914 Henry decided to become a regular soldier and joined the 1st Battalion the Devonshire Regiment. He was with his battalion in Jersey when war was declared and entered the ‘theatre of war’ on 22 August 1914. His regimental number, 9430, suggests he joined up in 1912, possibly initially as a territorial.
The 1st Devons landed at Le Havre on 22 August, where they joined ‘lines of communication’ defence troops, part of the BEF. Henry was rapidly in combat however as the battalion took part in the Battle of Le Cateau on 26th August, helping to hold up the German advance into France, and the Battle of the Marne in the second week of September which pushed back the Germans from the outskirts of Paris. Later in the autumn the battalion saw action at La Bassée and took part in the stand at Festubert.
My research has found that he received the Military Medal for gallantry on the Western Front where he was wounded, repatriated to England to recover, which was when he died.
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Cpl. Arthur Frank Jones 8th Btn. Devonshire Regiment (d.4th October 1917) Arthur Jones died at the age of 21 at the Battle of Broodseinde.
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Lt. Michael William Maxwell Windle 8th Btn. Devonshire Regiment (d.25th Sep 1915) Lieutenant Michael Windle was killed in action on 25th of September 1915. He was the eldest son of the Reverend W. H. Windle, Vicar of All Saint’s Church at Prince’s Park in Liverpool, Michael had been educated at Blundell’s School and Exeter College, Oxford, and was aged 22 when he died. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Loos Memorial.
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Pte. Frederick Charles Bladon 8th Battalion Devonshire Regiment (d.24th May 1916) My Great Uncle Freddie Bladon was born in Berkhampsted in 1898 and enlisted at St Albans, Hertfordshire in 1915. He only survived six months and was killed at Flanders at only 18 years of age.
I would like to know why when he enlisted in Hertfordshire and ended up in a Devonshire Regiment way down in the south.
Editor's Note: Only men who were already serving in the army when war broke out, or who joined a pals battalion in the first months of the war or those attested via the Derby Scheme served in their local regiments. All others were allocated to which ever unit needed additional men.
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Pte. Jack Litton 8th Btn. Devonshire Regiment (d.5th Oct 1917) Jack Litton has no known grave and is remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial.
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