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8th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment
8th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment was raised at Worcester in August 1914 and joined
the Gloucester and Worcester Brigade, South Midland Division. They moved Swindon but by the second week of August moved to Maldon in Essex. They proceeded to France on the 31st of March 1915, landing at Boulogne. The Division concentrated near Cassel and on the 15th of May the formation was renamed the 144th Brigade, 48th (South Midland) Division. In 1916 They were in action in the Battle of the Somme, suffering hevy casualties on the 1st of July in assaulting the Quadrilateral (Heidenkopf). They were also in action at The Battle of Bazentin Ridge, capturing Ovillers, The Battle of Pozieres Ridge, The Battle of the Ancre Heights and The Battle of the Ancre. In 1917 the Division occupied Peronne during the The German Retreat to the Hindenburg Line and were in action in the Third Battles of Ypres. On the 21st of November 1917 they entrained for Italy. In 1918 they were involved in the fighting on the Asiago Plateau. On the 17th of September the battalion returned to France and transferred to 75th Brigade, 25th Division seeing action in the Final Advance in Picardy.
5th Aug 1914 Return from Camp
5th Aug 1914 Billets
6th Aug 1914 Training
8th Aug 1914 The Colours
9th Aug 1914 Church Parade
10th Aug 1914 On the Move
11th Aug 1914 War Duty
13th Aug 1914 On the Move
14th Aug 1914 On the Move
17th Aug 1914 Route March
19th Aug 1914 Route March
20th Aug 1914 On the Move
22nd Aug 1914 On the March
24th Aug 1914 Into Billets
27th Aug 1914 Imperial Service
28th Aug 1914 Volunteers Required
29th Aug 1914 Imperial Service
30th Aug 1914 Church Parade
31st Aug 1914 Second Line Battalions
1st Sep 1914 Reorganisation
1st Sep 1914 Allowances
2nd Sep 1914 Inspection
5th Sep 1914 Field Excerise
7th Sep 1914 Training
8th Sep 1914 Inspection
8th Sep 1914 Recruitment
9th Sep 1914 Recruitment
10th Sep 1914 Night Exercise
12th Sep 1914 Route March
14th Sep 1914 Course
15th Sep 1914 Training
16th Sep 1914 On the Range
17th Sep 1914 Training
19th Sep 1914 On the Move
26th Sep 1914 Practice Trenches
27th Sep 1914 Uniforms to be Returned
15th Apr 1915 8th Worcesters in the trenches
27th Apr 1915 Reliefs 
29th May 1915 Men shelled while tending regimental graves
29th May 1915 Casualties for 8th Worcesters
31st May 1915 Under Fire
2nd Jun 1915 Tending Graves
4th Jun 1915 8th Worcesters in the trenches
9th Jun 1915 Brigade Reserve
12th Jun 1915 Somewhere on the Map
19th Jun 1915 Into the Trenches
28th Jun 1915 8th Worcs on the March
2nd Jul 1915 Relief
7th Jul 1915 On the March
8th Jul 1915 Kitchener's Visit
10th Jul 1915 Cricket Match
12th Jul 1915 No new draft for 8th Worcesters
13th Jul 1915 Gloucesters & Worcesters on the march
14th Jul 1915 Trench digging
15th Jul 1915 Trench digging by night
17th Jul 1915 Orders to move received by 8th Worcesters
19th Jul 1915 8th Worcesters entrain
21st Jul 1915 A Change of Scene.
24th Jul 1915 8th Worcesters Inspected
27 Jul 1915 Front Line Inspected
27 Jul 1915 Front Line Inspected
29th Jul 1915 8th Worcesters relieve 4th Ox & Bucks
30th Jul 1915 Reliefs
3th Aug 1915 Storm
4th Aug 1915 Trenches Flooded
4th Aug 1915 Man Wounded
6th Aug 1915 In the Trenches
7th Aug 1915 Reliefs
15th Aug 1915 Working Parties
15th Aug 1915 Reliefs
16th Aug 1915 Sentry Wounded
17th Aug 1915 Hearty Reception for Worcester DCM winner
17th Aug 1915 Reception
19th Aug 1915 Trench Work
23rd Aug 1915 Divisional Reserve
23rd Aug 1915 Reliefs Completed
29th Aug 1915 Working Parties
3rd Sep 1915 Plenty of Fruit
3rd Sep 1915 Snipers Active
5th Sep 1915 In the Trenches
6th Sep 1915 Patrols
7th Sep 1915 Wet Weather
8th Sep 1915 Shelling
10th Sep 1915 In the Trenches
12th Sep 1915 Instruction
26th Sep 1915 Weather Wet
1st Oct 1915 German Repair Parties Harried
13th Oct 1915 Trench Routine
16th Oct 1915 The Derby Scheme
29th Oct 1915 Familiar Billets
30th Oct 1915 Shell Damage
3rd Nov 1915 Collecting Rations
4th Nov 1915 In the Trenches
8th Nov 1915 Heavy Rain
12th Nov 1915 In Divisional Reserve
20th Nov 1915 Responsibility
26th Nov 1915 Under Shellfire
27th Nov 1915
28th Nov 1915 Working Parties
30th Nov 1915 Change of Commander
1st Dec 1915 Derby Scheme Armlets
1st Dec 1915 Excellent Medical Record
6th Dec 1915 Flooded Trenches
8th Dec 1915 16th Manchesters under Training
9th Dec 1915 Under Shellfire
10th Dec 1915 Bombing Party
11th Sep 1915 Last day of Derby Scheme Recruitment
10th Jan 1916 Group System Reopens
9th February 1916 Call Ups
13th February 1916 Relieved in the trenches by 1 / 6th Gloucester Regt.
27th Mar 1916 Trench Instruction
31st Mar 1916 Negligence Punished
31st Mar 1916 Bravery Under Fire
1st Apr 1916 Football Tournament
3rd Apr 1916 Into the Trenches
4th Apr 1916 Relief Completed
15th May 1916 New Rifles
15th May 1916 On the March
16th May 1916 Reliefs
17th May 1916 Rifle Grenades
18th May 1916 Under Fire
20th May 1916 Under Fire
21st May 1916 Enemy Approach
22nd May 1916 Under Fire
23rd May 1916 In the Trenches
26th May 1916 Communication Exercise
1st Jun 1916 On the March
2nd Jun 1916 On the March
4th Jun 1916 On the March
5th Jun 1916 Training
6th Jun 1916 Training
8th Jun 1916 Training
10th Jun 1916 Working Parties for Special Duties
12th Jun 1916 On the March
13th Jun 1916 On the March
14th Jun 1916 Working Parties
21st Jun 1916 On the March
23rd Jun 1916 Equipped to Fight
24th Jun 1916 Seething with Troops
24th Jun 1916 Men Addressed
25th Jun 1916 Bombardment Intensifies
26th Jun 1916 Trench Mortars
29th Jun 1916 Ready to Attack
1st Jul 1916 Early Morning Bombardment
12th Jul 1916 Great Sucess
19th Jul 1916 Under Fire
19th Jul 1916 Gas
21st Jul 1916 The Effects of Gas
22nd Jul 1916 Working Party
25th Jul 1916 Officers Transferred
27th Jul 1916 Relieved
31st Jul 1916 Difficult Conditions
31st Jul 1916 Effects of Gas
3rd Sep 1916 Recce
5th Sep 1916 Reliefs
6th Sep 1916 Changes in Command
10th Sep 1916 Inspection
11th Sep 1916 Men Wounded
13th Sep 1916 On the March
15th Sep 1916 Casualties Evacuated
18th Sep 1916 On the March
20th Sep 1916 Training
24th Sep 1916 Reinforcements
28th Sep 1916 Transfer
29th Sep 1916 Billets
30th Sep 1916 Reinforcements
14th October 1916 Draft of 42 O.R.
16th Nov 1916 Training
17th Nov 1916 In Camp
18th Nov 1916 Wounded
19th Nov 1916 Reliefs Completed
20th Nov 1916 Reliefs Completed
21st Nov 1916 Taken Prisoner
30th Dec 1916 Reliefs
31st Dec 1916 Under Shellfire
17th August 1917 Reports of Crew Commanders.
4th Nov 1918 Attack Made
If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.
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| Want to know more about 8th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment? There are:5407 items tagged 8th Battalion, Worcestershire 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 with 8th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment during the Great War 1914-1918. - Andrews Henry Edmund. Pte.
- Benson Henry Walker. Pte. (d.19th Aug 1917)
- Burton Reginald John. 2nd Lt. (d.15th April 1918)
- Clark William George. Pte.
- Harrell Herbert. Pte. (d.27th November 1917)
- Hickman Bertram John. L/Cpl.
- Lazenbury Ernest George. Pte.
- Mason John Edward. Pte. (d.9th Aug 1918)
- Mason John Edward. Pte (d.9th August 1918)
- Morris Thomas Edwin. Pte. (d.1st June 1918)
- Phillips William Henry. Pte.
- Potter Francis George. 2Lt. (d.24th Apr 1917)
- Rastall Frank. Pte (d.19 Oct 1918)
- Willoughby Thomas. Pte. (d.24th April 1917)
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, Worcestershire Regiment from other sources.
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2Lt. Francis George Potter 1/8th Btn. Worcestershire Regiment (d.24th Apr 1917) I understand that the 1/8th Worcestershire Regiment was involved in the attack on Guillemont Farm on 24th of Apr 1917, where Francis Potter lost his life. There is no known grave and he is remembered on the memorial at Thiepval.
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Pte John Edward Mason 1/8th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment (d.9th August 1918) John Mason (known as Jack) was in the Worcestershire Regiment. He was an enlisted soldier prior to the outbreak of war in 1914. His allocated regimental number in 1914 was 4833, he was discharged from the army by a doctor in 1914 but then re-enlisted into the 1st/8th Battalion of the Worcesters. He lost his life in Italy near to Val Di Portule on the WW1 Italian Front on Friday 9th August 1918 aged 27 years and is buried at Barenthal Military Cemetery. He was my great uncle and brother of my great granny,
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L/Cpl. Bertram John "Unk" Hickman 1/8th Btn, C Coy, 9 Plt. Worcestershire Regiment My great uncle Bertram Hickman, known to all as Unk, served in the Great War with the Worcester Regiment. His army service record was lost in the Blitz in 1940, so I'm having to piece together his war record from medal rolls, regimental rolls and other documents I can find or that already in the possession of the family.
He joined the Worcester Regiment, according to the records I have found, in November 1916 and left the colours in Nov 1919. He served overseas on active service with the 1/8th Btn, the 17th Btn and I have also found reference to him serving with No.3 Chemical School at GHQ, whether he was undergoing a course or on the staff is unclear. He was promoted to L/Cpl and completed an NCO Cadre in 1919.
He survived the war and was awarded the Victory Medal and the War Medal.
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Pte. Henry Edmund Andrews 1/8th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment The 8th Battalion was a Territorial Force unit of part-time soldiers. They had joined the Army on home defence terms of engagement which meant they could not be sent for service overseas. The Battalion was at its annual summer camp in Minehead when war was declared. The CO invited men to volunteer for immediate service overseas. Those that did became the 1/8th Battalion those that didn't became the 2/8th Battalion. Harry Andrews joined the 1/8th Battalion and went out to France in March 1915.
The large expansion of the Army meant that by 1917 the service numbering system was a mess because each unit was responsible for its own numbers, so across the army as a whole many soldiers could have the same service number. Therefore, the army centralised service numbers for the Territorial Force units, renumbered serving troops and issued blocks of numbers for future recruits to each unit. The new numbers were all six-digit and he was re-numbered from 3336 to 240986 as shown in the Absent Voters List, 1917 Casualty List and in the Machine Gun Corp register.
Harry was reported wounded on the 27th. October, 1917 in the War Office Weekly Casualty List dated 30th. October, 1917.
After being wounded in 1917 he transferred to the Machine Gun Corps (probably early in 1918) and was given another number of 162036 and returned to active service. Again either here or some point prior he changed his name usage to Harry rather than Henry.
According to the MGC Roll he was demobilised on 10th of January 1919. What became of him after this date is not known.
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Pte. Thomas Willoughby 1/8th Btn. Worcester Regiment (d.24th April 1917) Tom Willoughby was my great uncle - an ordinary man, who was an agricultural labourer, but he joined the war to do his duty.
My mother, aged 3 in 1916, could remember rolling his puttees for him when he was due to return after leave.
He was killed in 1917 and is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial, having no known grave. My husband and I are the only relatives to have visited the site. A very impressive place and an extremely emotional day.
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2nd Lt. Reginald John Burton 8th Btn. Worcestershire Regiment (d.15th April 1918) Reginald Burton was posted as wounded/missing on 14th April 1918 during, I believe, the Battle of Bailleuil (probably at or near Neuve Eglise/Nieuwkerke on the French/Belgian border). He died of abdominal wounds, aged 25, the following day as a PoW in a German field-hospital near Kortrijk/Courtrai, Belgium. Reginald is buried in Kortrijk/Coutrai (St.Jan/St.Jean) Communal Cemetery, at the junction of Meensesteenweg and Zwingelaarsstraat.
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Pte. William Henry Phillips 2/8th Btn. Worcestershire Regiment My great grandad William Phillips was captured while serving with the 2/8th Worcestershire Regiment at Fayet on 21st of March 1918. He was held at Stendal POW camp until the end of the war.
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Pte. William George Clark 1/8th Btn. Worcestershire Regiment William George Clark was born on 5th January 1889 in Reading, Berkshire. In the 1911 Census, he was living with his parents, brothers and sisters in Willesden, London NW. His date of attestation is 13th February 1916 at just one month before his 27th birthday. His first regimental number was 24144 with the 7th Norfolk Regiment and then he was transferred to the Worcestershire Regiment, 1/8 Battalion and his regimental number was changed to 260029.
The book that I have is a record of his pay dating from 16th June 1917. The first pays are 5 or 10 shillings per week and the place given is “in the field†and then on 5th December 1917 they change to lire in varying amounts, still “in the fieldâ€. This continues until the last two payments in the book, which are 15 francs on 24th September 1918 and 10 francs on 14th October 1918 when the book is full. Pencilled in the back of the book is Date of Embarkation June 15, 1917 and “Leave – Nov 3, 1918. From the UK, WW1 War Diaries (France, Belgium and Germany), 1914-1920, the typed note at the top of the front page is: 25th Division, 75th INFY BDE, the centre of the page shows 1/8th BN Worcestershire Regt, Sep 1918 – Feb 1919. Also, there is a pencilled notation on the front page (from 48 Div. 144 Bde, Italy) and (1915 Apr – 1717 Oct France, same Div and Bde). There are very detailed day-to-day descriptions of the activities including “improving trenches, programme of training, tactical exercises as well as Battalion movements, tactical plans, operation orders in detail, secret orders and reports of the operations, including lists of dead, wounded, prisoners.
After the war, he continued to live with his parents in Willesden and worked with his father as a master plumber until he married Elsie Millicent Breed on 30th April 1922, when they lived in Paddington. Soon after the birth of their daughter, Will went to stay at the Douglas House Convalescent and Holiday Home for Ex-Service Men in Southbourne. He continued to stay there on and off, especially during the winters and the damp days of spring, until shortly after the birth of his son in 1933, he passed away from tuberculosis, contracted as a result of the poor sanitary conditions in the trenches in WW1.
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Pte. Thomas Edwin Morris 2nd/8th Btn. Worcestershire Regiment (d.1st June 1918) Thomas was the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Sarah Morris, Gwylfa, Castle Hill, Denbigh.
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Pte. Henry Walker Benson 1/8th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment (d.19th Aug 1917) Henry Walker Benson died on 19th August 1917 at the age of 41 whilst serving with the 1/8th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment. He was formerly 242289 Norfolk Regiment. Born in Jarrow, son of William and Mary Ann Benson (Anderson) of Southampton, he lived Brighton and enlisted in Southampton.
Henry is buried in Brandhoek New Military Cemetery No. 3.
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Pte Frank Rastall 1/8th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment (d.19 Oct 1918) Frank Rastall was the youngest son of Elisha and Harriett Rastall, born in Broadway in 1890.
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