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- Warwickshire Yeomanry during the Great War -


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World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment

Warwickshire Yeomanry

Territorial Force:

  • 1/1st Battalion, Warwickshire Yeomanry
  • 2/1st Battalion, Warwickshire Yeomanry
  • 3/1st Battalion, Warwickshire Yeomanry

    4th Sep 1915 Reorganisation

    7th Sep 1915 Reliefs

    14th Sep 1915 Reliefs Complete

    18th Sep 1915 Under Fire

    If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.



  • Want to know more about the Warwickshire Yeomanry ?


    There are:6586 items tagged Warwickshire Yeomanry 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

    Warwickshire Yeomanry

    during the Great War 1914-1918.

    • Ashforth Jesse. Sgt. (d.21st Nov 1917)
    • Bennett Frederick. Pte. (d.22nd March 1918)
    • Doughty George Frederick.
    • Gent Albert Edward. Pte. 1/1st Sqd.
    • Phillips James Wilfred. Sgt/Obs. Aerial photographer

    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

    More Warwickshire Yeomanry records.


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    • 12th March 2024

          Please note we currently have a massive backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 263705 your submission is still in the queue, please do not resubmit.

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        World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great battalion regiment artillery
        Did you know? We also have a section on World War Two. and a Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations.






    222214

    Sgt. Jesse Ashforth Warwickshire Yeomanry (d.21st Nov 1917)

    I have recently acquired a death penny relating to the Warwickshire Yeomanry and I am trying to locate the family of Jesse Ashforth. I have been doing lots of research relating to this item but have hit a dead end and this site is my last chance, please help.

    Adam Wallis




    219713

    Pte. Albert Edward Gent 1/1st Sqd. Warwickshire Yeomanry

    With an unnamed friend - A E Gent on the right

    Albert Edward Gent, only son of Thomas and Rosa from the hamlet of Hill, near Broadwell in Warwickshire, enlisted in the Warwickshire Yeomanry in April 1915, aged 17 years and 11 months. He gave his year of birth as 2 years before it actually was (1895 rather than 1897). His mother watched him walk away across the fields heading for Warwick, and she didn't speak a word for the next two weeks. Despite being a country boy, he had never ridden a horse before but by this time this was not an impediment to joining a mounted regiment. He trained initially in Warwick before being sent to Tidworth Camp.

    In February 1917 he was posted to Egypt, arriving there at the end of the month, having travelled across France by train, then onwards by ship. By the middle of March 1917 he was in the thick of the action, along with his horse, Jess. One night when on picquet duty and very, very tired, he fell asleep and was caught by the Major. As he was told, he was lucky it hadn't been the Serjeant-Major or he might well have been shot, but the Major was a more tolerant man!

    In November 1917 he had reached within 20 miles of Jerusalem before being struck down with appendicitis, and was operated on in a field hospital before being sent to the Red Cross Hospital at Giza, having developed peritonitis. Somehow he managed to survive and after being in hospital for about 2 months was sent to convalesce in a corner of the big army camp in Alexandria called Mustapha Camp. He was reclassified B3, unfit for frontline service and transferred to the Royal Warwickshire Regiment at Port Tewfik, where soldiers who had become unfit were often sent to take on guard duties on the Suez Canal. In May 1918, he was again admitted to hospital, this time in Alexandria, with a UTI, and stayed there for 10 days. He was discharged on the day his former Yeomanry friends gathered at the docks to board the ship 'Leasowe Castle', heading for the Western Front, and appears to have visited them in their camp shortly before they set off. He was still in Alexandria when the news came that their ship had been torpedoed and sunk.

    He was now transferred again to the 644th (MT) ASC in Alexandria where he remained for the rest of the war. Here, he was involved in putting together the Model T Ford kits which came from the US. They tested the made-up kits for road-worthiness by driving them to a sand dune with a shallow slope on one side and a steep one on the other. They drove, foot to the boards, as fast as possible up the shallow slope, taking off at the top and landing with a 'bang' at the bottom. If the Model T still worked after this, it was classed as road-worthy. He also qualified as an electrician, 1st class during this time. At some point, after September 1918, he was based in Nazareth for a while. He remained in Egypt until June 1919, when he was sent home to be discharged. He was classed as 25% disabled and received a Silver War Badge.

    His discharge medical may indicate early signs of a heart problem, possibly caused by his service. In the Second World War he joined the Home Guard, initially carrying his recently retired ex-Scotland Yard cousin's truncheon. According to him, 'Dad's Army' was remarkably accurate! He was forced to retire in 1954 due to his on-going heart problems He lived until 1972, finally succumbing to his 5th heart attack. His ashes were interred, as per his wishes, at the fairly new Oakley Woods Cemetery - where he had once exercised the Warwickshire Yeomanry horses.

    Lilias Odell




    213185

    Sgt/Obs. James Wilfred Phillips Aerial photographer

    Father said that he joined the Warwickshire Yeomanry at the age of 24 on the day war broke out, claiming that he could ride. He couldn’t. His first job was to collect a string of remounts from Leamington station, which broke away and caused havoc on The Parade. The following day he was down at Chatham with the Royal Engineers. There he was billeted on the families of old regular nco’s and was well regarded by them because he discovered a peacetime regulation - not repealed - which entitled said NCO’s to one shilling (5p) per recruit for marking kit. With the throughput of new recruits at that time, they made a small fortune before the authorities cottoned on!

    Recruits were also entitled to an extra 5/- a week if they brought their own motorcycle.

    All good things come to an end. Because of a professional knowledge of photography he was seconded to the Royal Flying Corps in June 1915 and helped to pioneer aerial photography (his CO was Lord Brabazon. He organised photographic sections in reconnaissance squadrons for aerial mapping - so vital in trench warfare.

    He made aerial maps of various sectors of the Front, for the Zeebrugge raid, East Coast and London defences. As a Sergeant Observer, he was posted to Lincolnshire to set up a camp in the depths of a winter so bitter that their boots froze to the duckboards in the tents. Administration had not caught up with expansion - and he had to arrange a personal overdraft facility with the local Lloyds bank, so that HE could pay the men!

    He flew as observer in RE8 twin seater biplanes - Harry Tates' - possibly one of the most vulnerable models of WWI. His pilot was Alex Irving, a farmer’s son from Dumfriesshire.

    Father left a substantial collection of aerial photos, including some pretty nasty crashes, plus his old flying helmet. All but the personal photos were given by me in the mid-eighties on permanent loan to the RAF Museum at Cosford.

    During WW2, he was in the 44th Warwickshire Battalion of the Home Guard - the Joseph Lucas battalion - where rank was by position in the company rather than military prowess. As Advertising Manager, he was a Lt. - the MD was the Colonel, of course. Father was also involved in tank design, planning war savings promotions and helped set up the Whitehall war rooms.





    208334

    Pte. Frederick Bennett 17th Batn. (d.22nd March 1918)

    I am researching Frederick Bennett of the 17th Kings Royal Rifle Corps for our Village Archives. He lived in Marton, Warwickshire for many years. We know that he was a farm labourer, and was in the Warwickshire Yeomany and the Army Service Corps prior to the Kings Royal Rifles. Would love more information about him and his family's life.

    Ann Gregory




    641

    George Frederick Doughty Warwickshire Yeomanry

    George Frederick Doughty

    My Great Grand Father was enlisted into the Warwickshire Yeomanry in 1916. The picture included is of him George Frederick Doughty. He never made it into battle, during his training he was kicked in the head by his horse. He was medically discharged "unfit for duty". Seven years later he died of Brain paralysis. He fathered six children, three after his accident. The distress he must have felt knowing all his mates and colleagues were suffering those conditions. I often think of the horse, although my Great Grandad never entered battle, did the horse? Did the horse get through the ordeal or was it one of the many that got slaughtered? I feel that George.F.Doughty was still a casualty of that Bloody conflict.

    David H.Doughty








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