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12th (The Rangers) Battalion, London Regiment
12th (The Rangers) Battalion, London Regiment were a unit of the Territorial Force with their HQ at The Drill Hall, Chenies Street, Holborn. They were serving with 3rd London Brigade, 1st London Division when war broke out in August 1914. They moved on mobilisation to Bullswater, moving in September to Crowborough. In October, they were employed in guarding the Waterloo-North Camp railway at Aldershot railway. In December they moved to Roehampton to prepare for deployment overseas. On the 25th of December 1914 they left the Division and proceeded to France, landing at Le Havre. They joined 84th Brigade, 28th Division on the 8th of February 1915 who were concentrating in the area between Bailleul and Hazebrouck. In 1915 they were in action in The Second Battle of Ypres and on the 20th of May the battalion transferred to GHQ Troops and formed a composite unit with the 1/5th and 1/13th Londons, resuming identity on the 11th of August. On the 12th of February 1916 the 12th Londons transferred to the reforming 168th Brigade, 56th (London) Division who were concentrating in the Hallencourt area in February. In 1916 they were in action on The Somme taking part in the diversionary attack at Gommecourt on the 1st of July. Also The Battle of Ginchy, The Battle of Flers-Courcelette, The Battle of Morval in which the Division captured Combles and The Battle of the Transloy Ridges. In 1917 they were in action during The German retreat to the Hindenburg Line and the Battles of Arras in April, then The Battle of Langemarck in August, then the Cambrai Operations in November. On the 31st of January 1918 they transferred to 175th Brigade, 58th (2/1st London) Division and absorbed the disbanding 2/12th Londons. They were in action in The Battle of St Quentin and engaged in other actions on the Somme, The Battle of the Avre, The Battle of Villers-Bretonneux, The Battle of Amiens, The Battle of Albert, The Second Battle of Bapaume, The Battle of Epehy and the Final Advance in Artois. At the Armistice the Division had crossed the River Scheldt with the advanced units being south of Ath. They remained in the Peruwelz area until demobilisation.
11th Nov 1914 Joining Up
23rd Dec 1914 On the Move
24th Dec 1914 Horses
25th Dec 1914 On the Move
26th Dec 1914 Working Parties
27th Dec 1914 Working Parties
28th Dec 1914 Working Parties
29th Dec 1914 On the Move
30th Dec 1914 On the Move
31st Dec 1914 Route March
1st Jan 1915 Training
2nd Jan 1915 Poor Weather
3rd Jan 1915 Route March
4th Jan 1915 Training
5th Jan 1915 Exercise
6th Jan 1915 Training
7th Jan 1915 Horses
8th Jan 1915 Exercise
17th of January 1915 Quiet Day 
23rd of February 1915
23rd Feb 1915 Reorganisation
24th of February 1915 Snipers Checked
26th of February 1915 Patrol Encountered
27th Feb 1915 Signal Message
27th of February 1915 Brigade Relief
28th of February 1915 Artillery Reorganised
2nd of March 1915 Patrols
2nd of March 1915 Machine Guns
3rd of March 1915 Enemy Fire Silenced
4th of March 1915 Enemy Nervous
6th of March 1915 No Hostile Patrols
7th of March 1915 A Searchlight Hit
10th of March 1915 POW Taken
11th of March 1915 Mortar Shells
15th Mar 1915 Hardships
16th March 1915 Information
16th of March 1915 No Hostile Patrols
19th of March 1915 Patrols
22nd of March 1915 Quiet Night
30th of March 1915 Hostile MG Damaged?
31st of March 1915
31st March 1915 Working Parties
31st of March 1915 Staff
1st of April 1915 Orders
4th of April 1915 A White Flag
6th Apr 1915 Snipers
7th of April 1915 Mostly Quiet
7th Apr 1915 Reorganisation
24th April 1915 Gas
30th Apr 1915 Digging In
8th May 1915 Shelling
22nd May 1915 Composite to be formed
25th May 1915 Inspection & Presparations
23rd Dec 1915 Guard Duty
30th Jun 1916 Attack Made
1st July 1916 Attacks Made
7th Sep 1916 Line Consolidated
9th Sep 1916 Attack Made
26th Sep 1916 Combles Captured
Patrol
Oct 1916 A Quieter Sector
7th Oct 1916 Attack Made
Explosives
Dec 1916 Infantryman
1917 Pals
17th February 1917 Reliefs
25th February 1917 Reliefs
27th February 1917 Reliefs
1st Apr 1917 Reliefs
2nd Apr 1917 Relief Complete
3rd Apr 1917 Reliefs
4th Apr 1917 Relief Complete
5th Apr 1917 Working Parties
6th Apr 1917 Recce
7th Apr 1917 Reliefs
8th Apr 1917 In the Line
9th Apr 1917 Attack Made
Aug 1917 Battered Landscape
Oct 1917 In Action
24th Nov 1917 In Action
25th Dec 1917 In the Trenches
21st March 1918 The Sergeant's Intuition
28th March 1918 Retreat
29th March 1918 News
27th June 1918 Quandray
30th June 1918 Chaos
Jul 1918 Pluck
8th Aug 1918 Attack
Aug 1918 Clothing Issues
If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.
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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 with12th (The Rangers) Battalion, London Regiment during the Great War 1914-1918. - Aldridge MM. Frederick William. L/Cpl. (d.27th Sep 1917)
- Appleby John. Rfn. (d.2nd Dec 1917)
- Back George Henry. Rflmn. (d.1st Jul 1916)
- Barrett Frederick Alfred. Rflmn. (d.7th Oct 1916)
- Bennett Roy Douglas. (d.1st July 1916)
- Benns MiD. Herbert Edward. Pte.
- Bland Herbert Arthur Edwards. Rflmn. (d.19th September 1916)
- Botcher Albert Frederick. Rfmn. (d.12th May 1917)
- Brill Walter Arthur. Rflmn. (d.22nd Sep 1916)
- Brown Frederick William. Rfmn.
- Cable David Albert.
- Clack Phillip. Rifleman (d.8th Nov 1917)
- Clarke Percy. Rflmn. (d.7th October 1916)
- Clayton Walter. Pte
- Cook Herbert. Pte. (d.9th Apr 1917)
- Crawshaw Lewis. Rfmn. (d.25th Jul 1918)
- Cross Albert James. Rflmn. (d.7th October 1916)
- Dobbs Ernest George. Rflmn. (d.7th April 1917)
- Edmans Harry Ubert. L/Cpl. (d.14th Sep 1916)
- Evans Reginald Ernest Kenneth. Rflmn. (d.1st July 1916)
- Fresco Moses. Rfmn. (d.7th April 1917 )
- Green Henry John. (d.24th August 1918)
- Griffith William Key. 2nd Lt. (d.26th Sep 1917)
- Hains Thomas Noel.
- Hibbard Edmund John. 2nd Lt. (d.9th April 1917)
- Hinds Harold Manning. Pte.
- Holder A. S.. Pte.
- Holder Arthur Stanley. Pte. (d.26th Aug 1918)
- Hoyle William. Rfmn. (d.26th Sep 1917)
- Hughes Frederick Percy. Pte. (d.27th April 1918)
- King Harold Vincent. Cpl. (d.9th April 1917)
- Kinsman Frank Victor. Rfmn. (d.24th Aug 1918)
- Lewis Robert.
- Martin John Godfrey. Rflmn (d.1st July 1916)
- Mason MM. Reginald John. Sgt.
- Mason Stanley. Sgt.
- Mead Fred. Pte. (d.10th May 1917)
- Millson Sidney Charles. Rflmn. (d.27th Nov 1917)
- Pardew Frank Arundel. Cpl. (d.9th Sep1918)
- Petiifor Edward Daniel. Rflmn
- Phippen Francis J.. Pte. (d.21st Jul 1916)
- Pool Leonard Rossiter. Pte. (d.1st July 1916)
- Portch Stanley George. Pte.
- Ridout Hedley. Rflmn.
- Seaborne John Stanley. L/Cpl (d.24 Aug 1918)
- Shephard Herbert W.. Pte.
- Staples Albert Charles. Rflmn. (d.10th May 1917)
- Tasker Albert John. Cpl.
- Titcomb Edward John.
- Titcomb Ernest James. Rflmn. (d.7th Oct 1916)
- Turner Hermann. Pte. (d.24th Aug 1918)
- Voice James Albert . Rfmn. (d.29th Sep 1918)
- Warlow William.
- White Charles Cecil. L/Cpl. (d.8th May 1915)
- Wilkinson Thomas William. Rflmn. (d.21st October 1916)
- Woplin Frederick Harvey. Sgt. (d.12th April 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 12th (The Rangers) Battalion, London Regiment from other sources.
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Sgt. Frederick Harvey Woplin 12th Bn (The Rangers) London Regt (d.12th April 1915) Frederick Woplin was born in 1877 and joined up early in 1914. He must have had some earlier military training because he appears to have been inducted as a sergeant and there is a photo of him as a young man in an unidentified uniform. He and one of his 5 brothers each married sisters. Frederick and his wife had one child by the time Frederick arrived in France just one day before Christmas 1914.
By April of 1915 The Rangers (12th Bn London Regt) were attached to the Canadian Division defending the area around St Julien close to Ypres. It was here that he was killed, probably by shell-fire as his body was not found. He is commemorated on the Menin gate.
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David Albert Cable Royal Engineers David Cable enlisted aged 19, he served with the 12th Battalion, London Regiment and the Inland Waterways & Docks Section, Royal Engineers.
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Pte Walter Clayton 12th (The Rangers) Btn. London Regiment Walter Clayton served with the 12th Battalion London Regiment in WW1. I
purchased his and his son's medals from the family.
Walter's son, also Walter, served in the Royal Navy in WWII then in the Police Force. I have no other information.
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Rfmn. Frank Victor Kinsman 2/12th Btn. London Regiment (d.24th Aug 1918) Frank Kinsman was killed in action near Albert. He was originally buried north west of Bray Sur Somme and South East of Albert. He was later moved and rests at Bray Veil British Cemetery north of Bray Sur Somme.
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Pte. Stanley George Portch 12th (The Rangers) Btn. London Regiment My great uncle Stanley Portch was only 17 when he joined up in 1914 making out he was 18.
He was in the 12th Battalion London Regiment and the Machine Gun Corps and served throughout the war and was demobbed in Feb 1919.
His army records were destroyed in the WW2 London blitz. He refused throughout his life to discuss his service in WW1.
He died aged 76.
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Rflmn. Thomas William Wilkinson 12th (Rangers) Battalion London Regiment (d.21st October 1916) Tom Wilkinson was the fourth of nine children and the youngest to go to war. He began army life in D Company, 2/9th Middlesex Regiment but seems to have later moved to the London Regiment. He died at home from injuries sustained in the war aged 18.
He is buried in London. Headstone reads: "6311 Rifleman T.W. Wilkinson, 12th Bn. Lond. Regt. Rangers, 21st October 1916 age 18, He died a hero beloved by all."
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Rflmn. Ernest George Dobbs 12th Battalion London Regiment (d.7th April 1917) Ernest Dobbs was my great uncle, and the younger brother of my grandfather. My father was born about 6 months after Ernest George died and my father must have been given his middle name Ernest in his memory and I never knew this or heard of Ernest George before I started looking into my heritage for the 100th Memorial in 2018.
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Rflmn. Reginald Ernest Kenneth Evans 12th (The Rangers) Battalion London Regiment (d.1st July 1916) Reginald Evans was killed on the 1st July 1916 during the first day of the Battle of the Somme. He fell at Gommecourt and is buried in Gommecourt British Cemetery Number 2. He was the son of Hugh Houston Percy Evans and Florence Eliza Rebecca Evans (nee Martell) of 9 Rochester Rd., Carshalton, Surrey.
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Rflmn. Herbert Arthur Edwards Bland 12th (The Rangers) Btn. London Regiment (d.19th September 1916) I bought the death plaque of Rifleman Herbert Bland.
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Rflmn. Albert James Cross 1/12th (The Rangers) Btn. D Coy. London Regiment (d.7th October 1916) Albert Cross was killed in action during The Battle Of The Somme in the Battle Of The Transloy Ridges in the area of Dewdrop Trench.
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Roy Douglas Bennett 12th (the Rangers) Btn. London Regiment (d.1st July 1916) Roy Bennett is my great uncle. I knew of him but never knew him. I am pleased to add his name to these other honorable gentlemen.
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Henry John Green Kings Royal Rifle Corps (d.24th August 1918) Henry Green was my great great grandfather. I am looking through old documents and have started my family tree. He served with the King's Royal Rifle Corps and was attached to 12th (The Rangers) Btn. London Regiment at the time of his death.
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Robert Lewis 12th (Rangers) Btn. London Regiment My grandfather was born Boris Pokotilow on the 7th of January 1898 in Kiev, Ukraine. His mother died in 1900 giving birth to his younger sister Ruth and his father was murdered by Russians in 1906. He was put up for adoption by the Jewish Board of Deputies and brought to England with one of his sisters (Diana Pokotilow) in 1906. His young sister Ruth went to Denmark. My grandfather Boris was adopted by Harry Wilson but the Jewish Board governors took my grandfather from him (as Mr Wilson had became an atheist and married a Christian). The Rev Lewis of Tamby Hall, Whitechapel had been appointed his guardian. But as he was not married they placed him in the care of the Cowen family.
In 1914 my grandfather was 16 yrs old but when the Cowen brother joined up my grandfather changed his name to Robert Lewis and lied about his age so he could join up with them. Robert Lewis age 18 in 1914 joined The 12th London Rangers an infantry Regiment. He became a corporal. Mills bomer: wounded twice first-time beneath the chest. The second time in 1917 seriously wounded by exploding in the shell. I'm so intrigued to find out what battles his regiment was in to learn the horrors he had to live through to make better world for all of us. He was sent home for hospital treatment and during his convalescence he was allowed to visit his sister Diana. The Cohens had moved to Becon in Wales and opened a jewellery shop. I like to think what a lovely moment this must have been for them. What an award for a hero! I hope they stayed in touch.
In 1919 he was discharged from the Army. He returned to Rev Lewis who arranged with the Board of Guardians that Robert Lewis now be trained as an engineer at Cadby Hall by J.Lyons.
He met my grandmother in 1920 at a dance. They married and had four children, two boys and two girls and lots of us grandchildren and even more great grandchildren. He died in 1957. Sadly for me I never got to know him in person as I was born in 1965.
Did you know that Boris means fight or fighter and he certainly was.
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Rflmn. Sidney Charles Millson 12th (The Rangers) Btn. London Regiment (d.27th Nov 1917) Sidney Millson is my maternal grandfather. His daughter Eleanor (Nellie) was my mother. As was the style in those days, he or information on my mother's upbringing was not talked about. But I do know that Sidney's death left his wife, Florence, my mother's older sister Marjorie, in dire circumstance. War widows received a pittance on the death of their husbands.
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Rflmn. Frederick Alfred Barrett 7th Btn. London Regiment (d.7th Oct 1916)  Following my uncle's death, information has been found on his step brother's Dad, Frederick Barrett.
He first entered France as Private 5332 with the 7th Battalion, London Regiment on 6th of June 1916, and served with it until 13th of June 1916. This short period of time means that he remained at the base depot and was never posted to the field with that unit.
After which he transferred to the 12th Battalion (where he was renumbered to 7904) date given was on the 14th July 1916 and remained in the 12th until his death on 7th October 1916.
CWGC has his name placed in stone at the Thiepval Memorial, France. Information found shows that he lived in Kensington, which together with Soldiers' Effects and Results show that he was killed in action and indicates that he left a widow, Elizabeth and a child (Elizabeth who I knew as my Nanny Nicholls, The Old Lady) and the child as (Big Fred) from her first husband Frederick Albert Barrett.
The war diary only records entry, that at 1:45 pm they attacked Dewdrop Trench, and references a report attached. 1/12th Rangers were in 56th Division and were fighting near Les Boeufs on the Somme on 7th October 1916.
On the 7th of October 1916 the XIV Corps objective was a trench line from 100 - 500 yards away and on the right flank the 56th Division (Major-General C. P. A. Hull) attacked with two brigades. On the right, in the 168th Brigade area, the 1/14th Battalion, London Scottish found it difficult to maintain contact with the French on the right, who advanced eastwards rather than north-east. The Scottish captured a southern group of gun pits and pushed on to the south end of Hazy Trench 200 yards (180 m) beyond. The 1/4th London was stopped by machine-gun fire from the northern gun pits and tried to outflank them on the right.
On the left, the 1/12th Londons advance was stopped short of Dewdrop Trench to the north-east of Les Boufs,
I have located a memorial to his unit in London, The Rangers, 12th County of London Regiment War Memorial, is in Chenies Street, London
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Edward John Titcomb 12th (The Rangers) Battalion London Regiment Ed Titcomb was my Grandfather. He volunteered in WW1 at the start. He was in The Rangers, eventually, he fought in the Somme. He was severely injured and I have the original letter from the Matron of the hospital on the Somme and then again when he was repatriated for recovery and recuperation in the UK. I have another original letter from the Matron telling us when he was going back for repatriation, and to his mother, and again sending him back to the Fighting Fields. My Grandfather survived WW1 and then again signed up for ARP and Home Guard for Whiteleys Store back in 1939. He did once put out a fire, strangely enough he met a mate on the roof when Firefighting, with whom he served in WW1. They became best mates and loved each other. My Grandad told me all about the battles as a little girl, he fought the Somme, Ypres, etc and I learnt so much from him. Without him in my life I would not have visited the graves of Ypres, The Somme, Paschendale etc. I will be always be grateful with total love for my beloved Grandad being in my life.
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2nd Lt. Edmund John Hibbard 12th (The Rangers) Btn. London Regiment (d.9th April 1917) My great uncle Jack Hibbard died on 9th April 1917 leading attacks against Neuville-Vitasse just outside Arras. He led his men over the top three times and was wounded each time; the last one was fatal. He's buried in the London Cemetery at Neuville-Vitasse and I had the honour of lunching with him there in May 2014. The CWGC do a wondrous job maintaining these memorial cemeteries.
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Rflmn. Hedley Ridout 12th (The Rangers) Btn. London Regiment Hedley Ridout was my maternal grandfather. Sadly, he had died before I was born. I remember my mum telling me that he had been gassed during the war and as a result completely lost his sense of smell.
Would love to know more if there's anyone who has a story.
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Sgt. Reginald John Mason MM. 12th (Rangers) Btn. London Regiment Reginald Mason served with the 12th Btn. London Regiment.
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Sgt. Stanley Mason 12th (Rangers) Btn. London Regiment My father, Stanley Mason served with the 12th Btn. London Regiment.
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