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17th (Welbeck Rangers) Battalion, Sherwood Foresters
17th (Welbeck Rangers) Battalion, Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) was raised at Nottingham on the 1st of June 1915 by the Mayor and a Recruiting Committee. After initial training close to home they joined 117th Brigade, 39th Division at Aldershot in October. They moved to Witley for final training in November 1915 and proceeded to France on the 6th of March 1916, landing at Le Havre, the Division concentrating near Blaringhem. On the 30th June 1916 they were in action in an attack near Richebourg l'Avoue with the Sussex battalions suffered heavy casualties. They were in action during the Battles of the Somme, including, the fighting on the Ancre, The Battle of Thiepval Ridge, The Battle of the Ancre heights and the capture of Schwaben Reddoubt and Stuff Trench as well as The Battle of the Ancre. In 1917 they fought in The Battle of Pilkem Ridge, The Battle of Langemarck, The Battle of the Menin Road Ridge, The Battle of Polygon Wood and The Second Battle of Passchendaele. In early 1918 the army was reorganised and on the 12th of February the 17th Sherwoods were disbanded in France with the troops transferring to other units.
21st Jun 1915 Recruiting Slows
6th Mar 1916 On the Move
7th Mar 1916 On the Move
8th Mar 1916 On the Move 
9th Mar 1916 On the Move
10th Mar 1916 Training
11th Mar 1916 Training
12th Mar 1916 Church Parade
13th Mar 1916 On the March
14th Mar 1916 On the March
15th Mar 1916 In Reserve
16th Mar 1916 Inspections
17th Mar 1916 In Reserve
18th Mar 1916 Training
19th Mar 1916 Instruction
20th Mar 1916 Instruction
21st Mar 1916 Instruction
22nd Mar 1916 Instruction
24th Mar 1916 Instruction
25th Mar 1916 Baths
26th Mar 1916 Church Parade
27th Mar 1916 Attachment
28th Mar 1916 On the March
29th Mar 1916 In Billets
30th Mar 1916 In Billets
31st Mar 1916 In Billets
1st Apr 1916 Baths
2nd Apr 1916 Baths
3rd Apr 1916 Inspection
4th Apr 1916 Inspection
5th Apr 1916 Baths
6th Apr 1916 On the March
7th Apr 1916 Instruction
8th Apr 1916 Relief Complete
9th Apr 1916 Working Parties
10th Apr 1916 Re;iefs
11th Apr 1916 Trench Work
12th Apr 1916 Trench Work
13th Apr 1916 Bombardment
14th Apr 1916 Reliefs
15th Apr 1916 Baths
16th Apr 1916 In Reserve
17th Apr 1916 In Reserve
18th Apr 1916 In Reserve
19th Apr 1916 Working Parties
20th Apr 1916 Working Parties
21st Apr 1916 Church Parade
22ndApr 1916 In Reserve
23nd Apr 1916 On the March
24th Apr 1916 Working Party
25th Apr 1916 Working Party
26th Apr 1916 Working Party
27th Apr 1916 Reliefs
27th Apr 1916 Reliefs
28th Apr 1916 Gas
29th Apr 1916 Test
30th Apr 1916 Trench Work
1st May 1916 Reliefs
2nd May 1916 Working Parties
3rd May 1916 Gas Alarm
4th May 1916 Working Party
5th May 1916 Reliefs
6th May 1916 Trench Work
7th May 1916 Trench Work
8th May 1916 Trench Work
9th May 1916 Reliefs
10th May 1916 Training and Baths
11th May 1916 Training and Baths
12th May 1916 Training
13th May 1916 Training
14th May 1916 Training
15th May 1916 Training
16th May 1916 Training
17th May 1916 On the Move
18th May 1916 In Reserve
19th May 1916 Working Party
20th May 1916 Working Party
21st May 1916 Reliefs
22nd May 1916 Bombardment
23rd May 1916 Trench Work
24th May 1916 Trench Work
25th May 1916 Reliefs
26th May 1916 Working Parties
27th May 1916 Working Parties
28th May 1916 Working Parties
29th May 1916 Reliefs
30th May 1916 Holding the Line
31st May 1916 Holding the Line
1st Jun 1916 Holding the Line
2nd Jun 1916 Holding the Line
3rd Jun 1916 Reliefs
4th Jun 1916 In Reserve
5th Jun 1916 Baths
6th Jun 1916 Reliefs
7th Jun 1916 Cleaning up
8th Jun 1916 Training
9th Jun 1916 Training
10th Jun 1916 Training
11th Jun 1916 Reliefs
12th Jun 1916 Trench Work
13th Jun 1916 Trench Work
14th Jun 1916 Trench Work
15th Jun 1916 Trench Work
16th Jun 1916 Line Adjusted
17th Jun 1916 Baths
18th Jun 1916 Reliefs
19th Jun 1916 Routine
20th Jun 1916 Reliefs
21st Jun 1916 Baths
22nd Jun 1916 Into the Line
23rd Jun 1916 Quiet
24th Jun 1916 Quiet
25th Jun 1916 Quiet
26th Jun 1916 Artillery Active
27th Jun 1916 Artillery Active
28th Jun 1916 Holding the Line
29th Jun 1916 Holding the Line
30th Jun 1916 Holding the Line
1st Jul 1916 Holding the Line
2nd Jul 1916 Holding the Line
3rd Jul 1916 Trench Raid
4th Jul 1916 Holding the Line
5th Jul 1916 Artillery Active
6th Jul 1916 Holding the Line
7th Jul 1916 Holding the Line
8th Jul 1916 Holding the Line
9th Jul 1916 Holding the Line
10th Jul 1916 Holding the Line
11th Jul 1916 Holding the Line
12th Jul 1916 Trench Raid
13th Jul 1916 Inspection
14th Jul 1916 Reliefs
30th Sep 1916 Reliefs
30th Jun 1917 Reliefs
19th Aug 1917 Reliefs
20th Sep 1917 Attack Made
21st Sep 1917 Reliefs
24th Oct 1917 Reliefs
If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.
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| Want to know more about 17th (Welbeck Rangers) Battalion, Sherwood Foresters? There are:5368 items tagged 17th (Welbeck Rangers) Battalion, Sherwood Foresters 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 with17th (Welbeck Rangers) Battalion, Sherwood Foresters during the Great War 1914-1918. - Bee George William. Pte. (d.8th Apr 1917)
- Browne Laurence Archibald. Pte.
- Clarke Stephen. Pte. (d.8th Oct 1916)
- Coney Cecil Greenfield. Pte. (d.3rd September 1916)
- Crawley Albert Edward. Pte. (d.20th Oct 1916)
- Fraser Robert Henry James.
- Granger Richard James Shaw. Pte. (d.1st Aug 1916)
- King Thomas. Pte. (d.22nd May 1916)
- Lawton G. H.. Pte. (d.30th Jul 1916)
- McCubbin Bertie. Pte. (d.30th Jul 1916)
- Orr Frank James. Pte. (d.3rd September 1916)
- Pritchett William. Capt.
- Pritchett William. A/Cpt.
- Springford Joseph. Pte. (d.15th February 1918)
- Starbuck Charles. Pte. (d.5th Sep 1916)
- Thompson Albert. Sgt. (d.2nd Jan 1918)
- Topliss Leslie. Pte. (d.31st Jul 1917)
- Wheatcroft Hosea. Pte. (d.10th October 1916)
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 17th (Welbeck Rangers) Battalion, Sherwood Foresters from other sources.
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Pte. Laurence Archibald Browne 17th (Welbeck Rangers) Btn. Sherwood Foresters Laurence Browne served with the 17th (Welbeck Rangers) Battalion, Sherwood Foresters.
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Pte. Frank James Orr 17th Btn. Sherwood Foresters (d.3rd September 1916) Frank Orr was my great uncle. He is remembered at Thiepval. He was only 16 when he died, his brother John aged 20 also died as did his uncles Frank Harris (aged 16), James Harris (aged 28), Charles Orr (aged 29).
I have no photos of Frank or John. My grandmother Charlotte was left orphaned by the war as her mother died very young.
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Pte. Joseph Springford 17th Battalion Sherwood Foresters (d.15th February 1918) Joseph Springford served woith 17th Battalion Sherwood Foresters in 117th Brigade, 39th Division. Formerly he had served with The Cambridgeshire Regiment
Joseph was one of a large local family. He first registered for school at Eton Porny on the 21st October 1895 and left school in December 1902. In all probability he attended the infants' school in Eton Wick for two years before going to Eton. The family home in 1895 was recorded as 6, Bell Cottages, Alma Road, Boveney Newtown. Later the family moved to No. 4, Hope Cottages, Common Road, and some years later to 3, Victoria Place, a terraced house about eight doors along the same road from Hope Cottages.
By the beginning of 1918 there were six Springford brothers serving in the armed forces. Two were destined to die before the November armistice, although Albert and Harry who enlisted early in the war, returned safely.
It is not known when Joseph enlisted in the Army at Oxford, or what work he pursued before joining the 17th Battalion Sherwood Foresters, also known as the Welbeck Rangers. It was 1st of June 1915 when the Battalion was raised by the Mayor and recruiting committee of Nottingham. It was not unusual, at this early stage of the Great War, for Battalions to be raised by local dignitaries, towns, cities and even sporting associations. In October 1915 the 17th went to Aldershot as part of 117th Brigade, 39th Division. The following month they moved to Witley, and on December 10th were taken over by the War Office.
On 6th of March 1916 the Battalion arrived in France. The Battle of the Somme started at 7.30 a.m. on July 1st 1916, but not until the end of August would the 17th Sherwood Foresters become involved. From the 24th August until the 28th they were being moved towards the front, and on September 2nd went into trenches near Beaumont Hamel. At 5.10 a.m. on the 3rd, 650 men and 20 officers of the Battalion advanced through No Man's Land and by 6 a.m. had taken the German front line. In attempting to advance further they met strong machine gun fire. At 1.50 p.m. they withdrew, having suffered many casualties.
That evening they fell back to Mailly Maillet Wood having sustained 454 killed and wounded of the original 670. The Battalion's first day of action was a bitter experience. Further Somme action followed at the Serre sector front line on 20th of September 1916, at Bertrancourt on 30th of September and at the Thiepval sector of the front line on 5th of October 1916. It was here that the enemy attacked using flamethrowers before being driven back. The 17th Battalion were again in on the front line at Thiepval River sector on the 16th October. Subsequent action involved more hard combat near Senlis and Martinsart Wood.
On 14th of November 1916, with Somme battles drawing to an inconclusive end, the Battalion was relieved and sent to Warloy, three days later they entrained at Candas for St Omer. In July 1917 the Battalion, still part of the 117th Brigade, 39th Division, were in the XVIII Corps of the Fifth Army and involved in the Battles of Pilkem Ridge (July 31st) and at Langemarck; the Merlin Road Ridge; Polygon Wood and Passchendaele (in the Third Ypres) between August and November of that year. At this time they were with X Corps, Second Army.
The atrocious conditions of the Passchendaele offensive effectively ended in November when the German defence of the ridge was overcome. Three months later The Windsor & Eton Express reported
Springford, Joseph, Private 17th Sherwood Foresters died 15th of February 1918 at No. 3 Stationary Hospital, Rouen aged 30.
On March 9th, 1918 the same paper reported:
Springford, Joseph, Private Sherwood Foresters son of Mr. T Springford of 3, Victoria Place, Eton Wick, died of kidney disease on 15th of February 1918 while in No. 3 Stationary Hospital, Rouen, France.
Joseph was the first of two Springford fatalities. His younger brother Isaac died 4 months later as the result of severe gassing and was buried in Eton Wick. Joseph is buried in the St. Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen and his grave is No 73, Row K, Plot 6, Block P. The cemetery extension is two miles south of Rouen Cathedral and records 8,356 burials with a further 3,083 in the main St. Sever Cemetery to which the Extension is part. All these burials are of the 1914-18 war. The Extension contains 6,600 U.K. soldiers, 783 Australian, 311 Canadian, 271 Indian, 134 New Zealand, 88 British West Indian, 84 South African, 11 Newfoundlanders, three from Guernsey, one Bermudan, six unknown, one Egyptian, 44 Chinese labour force, 18 Italian and one Portuguese. The large number of different nationalities is due to the fact that the cemetery was for men dying of wounds or sickness in the No. 3 Stationery Hospital.
Joseph is commemorated on the Eton Wick Memorial and on the Eton Church Gates.
This is an extract from Their Names Shall Be Carved in Stone and published on www.etonwickhistory.co.uk with grateful thanks to the author Frank Bond.
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Pte. Thomas King 17th Btn. Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment) (d.22nd May 1916) Thomas King was killed on the 22nd of May 1916. He was 32 years old, son of Thomas and Eliza King of Keyworth, Nottingham, husband of Lydia H. King of 10, Allen St., Hucknall, Notts.
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Sgt. Albert Thompson 17th Btn., B Coy. Sherwood Foresters (d.2nd Jan 1918) Sgt. Albert Thompson served with B Coy., 17th Btn. Sherwood Foresters
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Pte. Leslie Topliss 17th Btn. Sherwood Foresters (d.31st Jul 1917) Pte Leslie Topliss 17th Sherwood Foresters, aged 19 and from Church Gresley, South Derbyshire was killed in action at the Battle of Pilckem Ridge. I am lucky enough to own his Memorial Death Plaque. Visiting the area next week.
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Pte. George William Bee 17th Battalian Notts and Derby Regiment (d.8th Apr 1917) George Bee was my Great uncle he was born on 16th February 1899 at Brougham Street, Sneinton, Nottingham, the youngest child of George and Alice Bee. George served with the Notts and Derby Regiment (Sherwood Foresters) 17th Battalion. He was killed in action on 8th April 1917 aged 18 when serving at Ypres, Belgium and is buried at Viamertinghe Military Cemetery,VI,E 16,.Belguim.
I do not have a photograph of George but would love one, if anyone does have any more information on George Bee could you please contact me.
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Pte. Bertie McCubbin 17th Btn Sherwood Foresters (d.30th Jul 1916) Bertie McCubbin served with the Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derby Regiment) 17th Battalion. HE died on Sunday 30th July 1916, ageD 22, and was buried in Brown's Road Military Cemetery, Festubert, Pas de Calais, France in Plot 5. B. 16.. He was one of the 306 British Soldiers "shot at dawn" - found guilty of cowardice during a court martial and sentenced to death by firing squad.
Bertie McCubbin was executed at dawn after disobeying orders to man a listening post in no-man's land. 'I cannot do so,' he told the officer. 'My nerves won't let me; if I go over I shall be a danger to the other man who is out there, as well as to myself.'
In June 2001, a National "Shot at Dawn" Memorial was unveiled at Alrewas, Staffordshire, which takes the form of 306 stakes driven into the ground which resemble the posts to which men were tied before being shot. Each stake bears a metal plaque bearing the deserter's name, age, rank and date of death.
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Pte. G. H. Lawton 17th Btn. Sherwood Foresters (d.30th Jul 1916) G.H. Lawton served with the Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derby Regiment) 17th Battalion. He was executed for cowardice on 30th July 1916 and is buried in Brown's Road Military Cemetery, Festubert, France.
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A/Cpt. William Pritchett 17th Batt. A Company Sherwood Foresters My Grandfather William Pritchett was made acting Captain on 20/3/1918. He was captured on the first day of 'Die Kaiserschlacht'. In a diary he kept as POW in Mainz he drew a map of the immediate area and described what happened - it follows closely the unit diary's description of that fateful day. The Sherwood Foresters suffered more killed than any of the other 200 plus British battalions that fought that day. After the war he kept a chest of momentoes, German pickelhaube, bayonets, pistols etc brought home from leave periods, but at some stage he threw them into the Trent River, near Beeston. I wish he had kept them. There are some less warlike items of his in the regimental museum.
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Capt. William Pritchett 17th Btn. Notts and Derbys Regiment (Sherwood Foresters) William Pritchett went out into no mans land, leading a squad, with orders to blow up a knocked out tank the Germans were using for artillery ranging. Looking inside the tank he saw it'd been caught in a gas attack, as the interior was yellow, and the remains of the crew and their uniforms were broken down by the mustard.
He lost his rank as Acting Captain when the 17th Sherwood Foresters were disbanded but regained the rank on 21/3/18 with the 7th Robin Hoods, only to be captured that very day. The day of The disaster at Bullecourt.
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