74th (Yeomanry) Division in the Great War - The Wartime Memories Project -

74th (Yeomanry) Division

Divisional History  The 74th (Yeomanry) Division in 1914-1918
The history of 74th (Yeomanry) Division
This formation was created during the war. On 14 January 1917 the GOC Egyptian Expeditionary Force, Sir Edmund Allenby, gave orders for the reorganisation of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Dismounted Brigades of Yeomanry - at the time all were serving on Suez Canal defences - and for their conversion and redesignation as the 229th, 230th and 231st Infantry Brigades. These Brigades were organised as a Division, which began to assemble on 4 March 1917 near El Arish. It was, strictly, a Division of the Territorial Force. The Divisional artillery did not join until July, by which time the Division had already taken part in its first action, the Second Battle of Gaza. It remained in action in Palestine until April 1918, taking part in the following engagements:
1917

The Second Battle of Gaza (17 - 19 April 1917)
The Third Battle of Gaza (27 October - 7 November 1917, including the Capture of Beersheba on 31 October and the capture of the Sheria Position on 6 November)
The capture of Jerusalem (8 - 9 December 1917)
The Defence of Jerusalem (27 - 30 December 1917)

1918
The Battle of Tell'Asur (8 - 12 March 1918)
On 3 March 1918 the Division received a warning order to prepare to leave Palestine and move to France. It was relieved on 7-9 March and marched back to Lydda. Here the artillery was reorganised, a pioneer battalion joined and the machine gun battalion was formed. On 14 April Divisional HQ moved to Kantara, followed by the rest of the units.
Embarkation began at Alexandria on 29 April. The first units landed at Marseilles on 7 May 1918 and entrained for the north. Concentration was completed in the area of Rue (near Abbeville) by 18 May.
Training for unfamiliar operations, notably gas defence, was undertaken before, towards the end of May, the units moved to the Doullens - St Pol Area. In June a reduction to a nine-battalion format took place while training continued and the Division was held in GHQ Reserve. On 14 July, the Division took over a sector of front line near Merville and then remained in France and Flanders for the rest of the war, taking part in the following engagements:

The Second Battles of the Somme (Second Battle of Bapaume, 2-3 September 1918)
The Battles of the Hindenburg Line (Battle of Epehy, 18 September 1918)
The Final Advance in Artois and Flanders
The Division crossed the Scheldt on 9 November and two days later the advanced units crossed the Dendre (Dender) Canal. When the Arnistice came into effect they had occupied Ath. Five days later the Division moved to the area Rebaix - Herinnes - Tournai, with HQ being at Frasnes-les-Buissenal. Work was carried out on repairing the Tournai-Leuze railway.
King George V visited the Division on 7 December 1918.
Although demobilisation took place principally in the first months of 1919, Divisional HQ was kept in operation near Lessines until the 10 July 1919.
The Units forming the Divisional Order of Battle of the 74th (Yeomanry) Division

229th Brigade formerly 2nd Dismounted Brigade
16th Bn, the Devonshire Regiment
12th Bn, the Somerset Light Infantry
12th Bn, the Royal Scots Fusiliers left 21 June 1918
14th Bn, the Black Watch
4th Machine Gun Company moved to 74th Bn MGC 11 April 1918
229th Trench Mortar Battery

230th Brigade formerly 3rd Dismounted Brigade

10th Bn, the Buffs
12th Bn, the Norfolk Regiment left 21 June 1918
15th Bn, the Suffolk Regiment
16th Bn, the Royal Sussex Regiment
209th Machine Gun Company moved to 74th Bn MGC 11 April 1918
230th Trench Mortar Battery

231st Brigade formerly 4th Dismounted Brigade

24th Bn, the Royal Welsh Fusiliers left 21 June 1918
25th Bn, the Royal Welsh Fusiliers
24th Bn, the Welsh Regiment
10th Bn, the King's Shropshire Light Infantry
210th Machine Gun Company moved to 74th Bn MGC 11 April 1918
231st Trench Mortar Battery formed 27 June 1916

Divisional Troops

1/12th Bn, the Loyal North Lancashire Regt joined as Divisional Pioneer Bn 10 April 1918
261st Machine Gun Company joined 5 March 1918, moved to 74th Bn MGC 11 April 1918
212st, 262nd, 264th, 271st and 272nd Machine Gun Companies MGC joined May 1917, left to form Fourth Army Troops MG Battalion on arrival in France
74th Battalion MGC formed 11 April 1918

Divisional Mounted Troops
A Sqn, 1 /2nd London Yeomanry joined 5 April 1917, left for XX Corps Cavalry Regiment 23 August 1917
Divisional Artillery

XLIV Brigade, RFA
CXVII Brigade, RFA
CCLXVIII Brigade, RFA broken up at Lydda 31 March 1918
527 (Howitzer) Battery, RFA attached 7 - 24 March 1918
16th Mountain Battery, RGA attached 7 - 9 March 1918
Hong Kong & Singapore Mountain Battery RGA attached 31 October - 4 November 1917
74th Divisional Ammunition Column RFA
X.74 and Y.74 Medium Mortar Batteries, RFA joined at Houvin 12 June 1918

Royal Engineers

439th (2/1st Cheshire) Field Company joined at Ramle 9 April 1917
496th (1/2nd Kent) Field Company joined at Rafa 12 April 1917, left 25 May 1917
5th Royal Monmouth Field Company joined at Deir-el-Belah 12-19 April 1917
5th Royal Anglesey Field Company joined at Deir-el-Belah 14 April 1917
74th Divisional Signals Company

Royal Army Medical Corps

229th Field Ambulance
230th Field Ambulance
231st Field Ambulance
87th Sanitary Section joined at Deir-el-Belah 22 April 1917, left for Fourth Army 25 may 1918

Other Divisional Troops

74th Divisional Train ASC 447, 448, 449 and 450 Companies ASC, formerly
42nd (East Lancashire) and 53rd (Welsh) Divisional Train
59th Mobile Veterinary Section AVC joined at Deir-el-Belah 13 April 1917
985th Divisional Employment Company formed 18 May 1918

4th Mar 1917 Reorganisation

7th Apr 1917 Reliefs

11th Apr 1917 Reliefs

19th Apr 1917 In Reserve

20th Apr 1917 Attack Made

6th May 1917 For Communication

5th July 1917 52nd Division Order No.62.

6th July 1917 Information

7th July 1917 Operational Order No.10.

8th July 1917 Brigade Operation Order No.10 received,

12th July 1917 Report

24th Dec 1917 Reorganisation

21st Jan 1918 Course

5th Feb 1918 Course Ends

13th Feb 1918 Personnel

21st Feb 1918 Reorganisation

8th Mar 1918 Hard Fighting

9th Mar 1918 Difficult Ground

10th Mar 1918 Counter Attacks

10th Mar 1918 In Action

May 1918 On the Move

15th of July 1918 Slight Shelling

22nd of July 1918 Quiet Time

2nd of October 1918 Orders

2nd of October 1918 Orders

5th of October 1918 Orders

16th Oct 1918 Orders

17th Oct 1918 Advance

25th Oct 1918 Patrols

24th January 1919 Operational Orders No.1.

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Want to know more about 74th (Yeomanry) Division?

There are:33 items tagged 74th (Yeomanry) Division available in our Library

These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Great War.

Those known to have served with
74th (Yeomanry) Division
during the Great War 1914-1918.

Bolsom J. H.. Pte. 12th Btn. (d.6th Nov 1917)
Gardner David Milne.
McCririck George. Pte. 12th Btn. (d.27th Dec 1917)
Smith Sidney Charles. Pte. 15th Btn.
Suthon John Richard. Pte. 10th Btn. (d.30th Nov 1917)
Taylor John Richard. Sgt. 337th Brigade, 340th Bty.

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

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1206539

Pte. Sidney Charles Smith 15th Btn. Suffolk Regiment

Sidney Charles Smith was born at Darsham, Suffolk, son of Abraham Smith and Charlotte (Nee Hambling). He married Rose Ann Norman in 1904. He enlisted in the Suffolk Regiment on the 4th May, 1915. Served in France and was wounded three times. He was discharged on the 8th February, 1919. His name is on the Roll of Honour inside All Saints Church, Darsham. After the war Sidney learned the shoe trade under Messrs Ives at Halesworth under the government's rehabilitation scheme. He became a boot repairer. In 1923 he became the village Postman at Darsham. He served as the village Postman for the ext 34 years. He died at Darshamon the 11th May, 1960.
Mary Felgate

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255726

David Milne Gardner Royal Welsh Fusiliers

David Gardner was my Father. He told me very little about the war, only that he was gassed and he was bayoneted and did receive a pension for it. He had three medals which he lost.
Avril Lebeau

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228645

Sgt. John Richard Taylor 337th Brigade, 340th Bty. Royal Field Artillery

Jack Taylor and Miss Petrie: A Love Recalled
When I began to research my mother's family, the Taylors of Joseph Street, Bow, I was asked by various relatives who was Miss Petrie? The question was always posed with a smile. I learned from them that Miss Petrie, a society lady, had nursed my wounded grandfather, John Richard (Jack) Taylor, during the Great War. For some years after she visited his home and helped his family. Contact had been lost almost ninety years ago, and as the older members of the family had passed, there seemed to be little chance of finding an answer to the question. But in 2013, a chance reading of a family history magazine told me that the National Archives had recently made available records of army nurses from the First World War. I was fortunate that the nurse I was seeking had a less common surname and I soon found a Miss Susie Constance Petrie in the medal card index. Could this be the one? Some cross-checking against census and probate records showed that this Miss Petrie was from a wealthy family. And there was even better news when I found that a descendant was researching the Petrie family. After an exchange of e-mails and contacts with the wider Petrie family, they confirmed that Susie had indeed taken care of my grandfather in 1916, now exactly 100 years ago.
John Richard Taylor had been born on 18 April 1887, the second oldest of the nine known children of John Taylor and Sarah Berry at 15 Crown Place, Mile End Old Town. Over the next decade the family moved to Dunk Street, Whitechapel and then back to Ernest Street, Stepney. Jack was just 17 when he married Mary Ann Maud (Polly) Wright, who was four years older, on 26 February 1905 at St Johns, Halley Street, Limehouse. The marriage was timely as Polly gave birth to Mary Ann Eugenie four months later, the oldest of up to thirteen children born or still born over the next 25 years (nobody is quite sure of the actual number). Sadly daughter Mary only survived for four months before succumbing to tubercular meningitis.
In his civilian life Jack worked as a packer or wholesaler at a glass and china warehouse in Houndsditch. At the outbreak of the Great War he enlisted with the Royal Field Artillery at Canning Town. He was promoted from Driver to Sergeant on 26 August 1915, just before his first overseas assignment. Military records show that he initially served in France, where the family recalls that he had a horse called Polly. According to a recurring family joke, it is not certain if the horse was named after his wife, or his wife was named after the horse.
He fought on the Somme, the largest battle of the First World War, where more than one million were wounded or killed. Jack was one of the casualties. He was hit by gunshot on Sunday 30 July 1916 at a place listed as HiM, although the Royal Artillery Museum could not decipher or find the exact location.
Jack was treated in the field before being evacuated to England on 2nd August 1916 on HM Hospital Ship St David. Jack is recorded as being admitted to the 5th Northern General Hospital in Leicester on 3rd of August 1916 with GSW (gunshot wounds) to the left side of his face and head. He remained at the hospital until 5th of October 1916.
Jack made sufficient recovery to be pictured with his Battery at Canterbury in March 1917. He embarked from Southampton for Alexandria in April 1917, arriving in Egypt in June 1917. He was to spend over a year in the Near East, fighting in Palestine, Gaza and Jerusalem with the 74th Division known as the Broken Spurs. He fought again in France in 1918 before being discharged in 1919.
Jack applied for a disability pension and was examined in November 1919 at the Medical Board, 62 Conduit Street, London W1. Jack complained of headaches and general nervousness. The Doctor considered the wounds, including the gunshot wounds to the head, to be superficial, saying that scars on the back of the left side of head had healed. He said that while Jack had suffered impairment during his service, he had recovered, continuing that there were no bone injuries, no tremors and he had found the heart and lungs to be normal. His application for disability benefit was rejected.
But Jack never did fully recover; his daughter Hetty remembered small pieces of shrapnel emerging from the side of his head for many years after the end of the war. And the family remembers that this was when Jack started drinking heavily; there was no recognition of post-traumatic stress in 1919.
Susie Constance Petrie had been born in Hampstead in 1889, the daughter of an affluent Marine Insurance Broker. When her father retired the Petrie family first moved to Margate in Kent, but by the time he died in 1906 the family had moved to Westbury-on-Trym, where Susie was baptised in 1907, aged 17, shortly after her father's passing. In spite of great wealth within the family, which was confirmed by her father's will, Susie chose to work as a Governess to a private family and this is shown on the 1911 census. Soon after war broke out in 1914, Susie volunteered to be part of the Territorial Force Nursing Service as a Special Military Probationer. Her aim was primarily to care for her serving brothers, although in the end their paths did not cross. She served at the Northern General Hospital and was awarded a medal at the end of her service.
Miss Petrie spent months caring for Jack who might otherwise have died. Both families recall that during this time Susie became very fond of her patient. Her niece thought that she had probably fallen in love with Jack as she spoke about him for decades afterwards. At this point life might have taken quite a different course. Jack could have abandoned his relatively poor family in the East End for a wealthy woman, who was in love with him. Susie, disappointed in love, might simply have walked away and forgotten him. Instead, and after discovering that he was a married man with a family, Susie became determined to help Jack and his children. Miss Petrie married a man twelve years her senior in 1920, but kept in contact with the Taylor family for many years. She made frequent visits to the East End, sometimes with her brother Lionel, who would also call at the family home at Joseph Street.
Soon after the war, Susie was able to get Jacks two oldest boys, John Henry and Albert Edward, into service with families she knew and in 1928 Susie arranged a job for daughter Hetty (Harriet Lilian) at a French couturier in Bond Street, where she was a customer. But Polly, worried about her fourteen year-old daughter travelling up west by herself, found Hetty a less glamorous job locally as a radio assembler. The reasons for the visits to the East End by Susie and Lionel remained a mystery to the Petrie family until our exchange of correspondence in 2013. But they say this would have been typical of Susie; her niece recalls that Susie was one of the kindest and most generous women she knew.
So Jack remained with his family and continued to work as a packer, until retirement after which he picked up occasional work as a night watchman or as a garage attendant. In later life, Jack suffered from chest complaints exacerbated by the Great Smog of December 1952. On the last day of that year he was again taken ill and passed away shortly after on 1 January 1953 at Mile End Hospital, just a few yards from where he had been born. He was 65. Polly was to die two years later in June 1955. And Susie passed away in 1966 at Clevedon in Somerset. All three are fondly remembered by the Taylor family.
Kevin Carter

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218331

Pte. John Richard Suthon 10th Btn. Kings Shropshire Light Infantry (d.30th Nov 1917)

John Richard Suthon served with the 10th Battalion, Kings Shropshire Light Infantry during WW1. He was killed in action on the 30th November 1917 and is buried in the Jerusalem War Cemetery.
S Flynn

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218310

Pte. J. H. Bolsom 12th Btn. Somerset Light Infantry (d.6th Nov 1917)

Private JH Bolsom served with the 12th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry during WW1 and was killed in action on the 6th November 1917. He is buried in Beersheba War Memorial in Israel.
S Flynn

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216913

Pte. George McCririck 12th Btn. Royal Scots Fusiliers (Ayrshire Yeomanry) (d.27th Dec 1917)

George Mc Cririck served with the 12th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers. He was killed in action on the 27th December 1917 aged 22 years. From the extract of the history of this unit it is likely that he was killed in action during the Defence of Jerusalem. He is buried in Jerusalem, Plot d28, Yerushalayam District, Israel. George was born in Old Cumnuck, Ayrshire on the 7th July 1895.
Nicola Gibson

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74th (Yeomanry) Division

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74th (Yeomanry) Division

Want to know more about 74th (Yeomanry) Division?

Those known to have served with74th (Yeomanry) Divisionduring the Great War 1914-1918.

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If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.

Announcements

Recomended Reading.

Links

The Wartime Memories Project
- 74th (Yeomanry) Division during the Great War -

Those known to have served with
74th (Yeomanry) Division
during the Great War 1914-1918.