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6th Battalion, Dorsetshire Regiment
The 6th (Service) Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment was raised at Dorchester on 6 September 1914 through the Kitchener Scheme. After initial training close to home, the battalion joined 17th (Northern) Division as Army Troops and moved to Wareham. In March 1915 they transferred to 50th Brigade still with 17th (Northern) Division and moved to Romsey in May. The division had been selected for Home Defence duties, but this was reversed and they proceeded to France, landing at Boulogne the 14th of July 1915, concentrating near St Omer. They moved into the Southern Ypres salient for trench familiarisation and then took over the the front lines in that area. In the spring of 1916 they were in action at the Bluff, south east of Ypres on the Comines canal then moved south to The Somme seeing action during The Battle of Albert in which the Division captured Fricourt and The Battle of Delville Wood. In 1917 they moved to Arras and saw action in The First and Second Battles of the Scarpe and The Capture of Roeux. In late summer they moved to Flanders and fought in The First and Second Battles of Passchendaele. In 1918 they were in action in The Battle of St Quentin, The Battle of Bapaume, The Battle of Amiens, The Battle of Albert, The Battle of Bapaume, The Battle of Havrincourt, The Battle of Epehy and The Battle of Cambrai followed by The pursuit to the Selle, The Battle of the Selle and The Battle of the Sambre. At the Armistice the Division was south east of Maubeuge and was quickly withdrawn to the area west of Le Cateau. On the 6th of December they moved back behind Amiens and went to billets around Hallencourt. Demobilisation of the Division began in January 1919.
15th Aug 1915 Reliefs
4th October 1915 New Orders Received 
16th Oct 1915 The Derby Scheme
1st Dec 1915 Derby Scheme Armlets
11th Sep 1915 Last day of Derby Scheme Recruitment
10th Jan 1916 Group System Reopens
9th February 1916 Call Ups
11th March 1916 Relief
7th Jul 1916 Into Position
8th Jul 1916 Attack Made
1st Nov 1916 Preparations
2nd Nov 1916 Working Parties and Reliefs
6th Nov 1916 Reliefs
10th Nov 1916 On the March
27th Sep 1917 Instructions
29th Sep 1917 Instructions
3rd Oct 1917 Instructions
3rd Oct 1917 Instructions
3rd Oct 1917 Instructions
3rd Oct 1917 Instructions
5th of March 1918 Recce Made
21st Mar 1918 6th Dorsets hold the line
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 with6th Battalion, Dorsetshire Regiment during the Great War 1914-1918. - Allen MM. Reginald Hercules. Sgt.
- Bateman Henry Ernest. Pte. (d.4th Nov 1918)
- Crabb Francis Frederick. Pte. (d.19th November 1917)
- Darch Albert. Pte. (d.15th April 1918)
- Dart Herbert. Pte. (d.5th Nov 1918)
- Farnham Charles. Cpl (d.3rd April 1918)
- Fawn William Thomas. RQMS. (d.22nd Apr 1917)
- Fisher Ernest Edwin. Cpl. (d.13th Apr 1917)
- Gawler Sidney Ernest. Pte. (d.9th Nov 1916)
- Gibbon Oswald Frank. Sgt. (d.25th Mar 1918)
- Gibson Thomas William. Pte.
- Goodwin Henry James. Pte. (d.7th July 1916)
- Hainsworth Arthur. Pte. (d.15th April 1918)
- Hawkings Fred. Pte. (d.27th August 1918)
- Hazell Albert Charles. Cpl. (d.11th October 1918)
- Hooper Francis Henry. Pte. (d.30th Sep 1918)
- McIntosh Colin McKenzie. Pte. (d.3rd Oct 1918)
- Packe Edward Alexander. Capt.
- Paul Levi. Pte. (d.12 April 1917)
- Pinel MM. Raymond St.John. Cpl. (d.9th Sep 1920)
- Shaw DSO. Donald Patrick. Mjr.
- Smith Hugh Deane. Pte. (d.1st Sep 1918)
- Talbot Frederick James. (d.24th August 1918)
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 6th Battalion, Dorsetshire Regiment from other sources.
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Cpl. Raymond St.John Pinel MM. 6th Battalion Dorset Regiment (d.9th Sep 1920) Raymond Pinel was a relative of my husbands side, he died a year after his son's birth in 1920.
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Sgt. Oswald Frank Gibbon 6th Btn. Dorsetshire Regiment (d.25th Mar 1918) Oswald Gibbon died during WW1 along with his brothers Albert and Thomas.
Oswald came home on leave from the war and his daughter Beatrice age 4 refused to hug him because of his itchy soldier overcoat.
She never saw him again and regretted her childish actions for the rest of her life.
Oswald is buried in Lebucquiere Communal Cemetery in France.
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RQMS. William Thomas Fawn D Coy. 6th Btn. Dorsetshire Regiment (d.22nd Apr 1917) William Fawn, my great uncle was part of D Company, 6th Dorsets. Whilst in rear support, They left Wellington Quarry caves for the trenches at 11.50 pm.
Whilst the Battalion were filing out of the caves, a shell fell just at the head of the exit, killing 6 and wounding 6 which included several important members of Quarter Master's Staff.
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Pte. Thomas William Gibson 8th Btn. East Yorkshire Regiment Thomas Gibson was my grandfather, he was born at Moorside Farm on Kingsley Moor, Staffordshire in 1899.
We know that he lied about his age and joined up at the age of 15 and he was sent to France early in the War and carried out duties as a despatch rider, carrying information between command posts on his bicycle.
We believe he transferred to the 6th Dorsets some time in 1918. At some point, Tommy was wounded by flying shrapnel but appears it was not serious enough to be sent home.
After the War, Tommy took apprenticeship as a carpenter and wheelwright before inheriting the farm from his father. In later life Tommy was plagued by the experiences and injuries from his time in France.
Although he handed over the running of the farm to his youngest son, he continued his carpentry work up to the period just before his death in 1979.
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Cpl. Albert Charles Hazell 6th Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment (d.11th October 1918) Albert Hazell served with 6th Battalion, Dorsetshire Regiment.
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Cpl. Ernest Edwin Fisher 6th Btn. Dorset Regiment (d.13th Apr 1917) Ernest Fisher was born in 1895 in Melbury Abbas. He was the son of a stonemason. At the outbreak of the Great War in 1914 he was living in Hardings Lane, Melbury Abbas, Shaftesbury. He enlisted in his local Dorsetshire Regiment and at the time of his death held the rank of Corporal. He served in France and Flanders and was posthumously awarded the Victory and British War medals. He died on 13th of April 1917 and was buried at Duisans British Cemetery in Etrun. He is remembered on the Cann War Memorial, Shaftesbury.
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Pte. Francis Frederick Crabb 6th Btn. Dorsetshire Regiment (d.19th November 1917) Frank Crabb served with the 6th Btn. Dorsetshire Regiment. He was my great uncle. He died on 19th of November 1917, aged 22, killed in action at Langemarke, Belgium.
He is buried at Cement House Cemetery, Belgium.
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Pte. Henry James Goodwin 6th Btn. Dorsetshire Regiment (d.7th July 1916) Henry Goodwin is remembered at Thiepval, pier and face 7 B.
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Pte. Henry Ernest Bateman 6th Btn. Dorsetshire Regiment (d.4th Nov 1918) My great uncle Henry Bateman was a private in the 6th Btn Dorsetshire Regiment. He was killed in action on 4th of November 1918. He was 19 years old.
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Sgt. Reginald Hercules Allen MM. 6th Btn. Dorsetshire Regiment Reginald Allen was the unknown grandfather of my husband, who died watching Birmingham play in Sheffield 1956. Reginald served with the 1st and 6th Battalions, Dorsetshire Regiment, received the MM and was clearly a brave man, but sadly nothing is known about his war nor what happened to his medals. His son, my husband's father, never talked about him nor his own experience of army life in the Second World War. There is no family surviving who would know. However, Reginald deserves to be remembered for his part in that terrible war.
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Pte. Arthur Hainsworth 6th Btn. Dorsetshire Regiment (d.15th April 1918) Arthur Hainsworth was born in Leeds on 17th August 1893, the eldest of four children of Fred and Ethel Hainsworth. After school, he became an apprentice compositor in the printing industry. He married Alicia Jupp from Burley in Leeds on 27th November 1915.
During the war, Arthur enlisted in the 16th Btn West Yorkshire Regiment. He was transferred to the 12th Btn West Yorks and served with them in France until the battalion was disbanded after suffering heavy casualties on the Somme during the German counter-offensive of March 1918. He was transferred again to the 6th Dorsetshire Regiment and served with this unit until 15th April 1918, when he was killed, aged 24, by a German gas attack in the vicinity of Englebelmer. He is buried at Martinsart British Cemetery.
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Pte. Albert Darch 6th Btn. Dorset Regiment (d.15th April 1918) Albert Darch was born in September 1899 in Yarnscombe, Devon. His was the son of Albert and Emily Ethel (nee Denford). He is remembered on the Pozieres Memorial in France.
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Mjr. Donald Patrick Shaw DSO. 6th Btn. Dorsetshire Regiment  Donald Patrick Shaw, born 29th August at Melcombe Regis, was the eldest son of Dr A E Shaw, headmaster of Lord Williams’s School, Thame, from 1899 to 1920. Educated at that school, where he was head boy for his last two years, and at Balliol College Oxford, where he gained an Honours degree in history, he taught at Weymouth and Westminster schools before enlisting, in 1914, in the Dorsetshire Regiment.
He was seriously wounded in the neck in 1915 while serving in France and nearly drowned when the hospital ship Anglia was mined off Dover in the Channel. He returned to France, promoted to Major and was awarded the DSO in 1918 for gallantry in the attack across Ancre. In 1918-1919 he commanded the 6th Battalion of the Dorsets as Lieut. Colonel, leading them in the Victory Parade. In 1919 he returned to Westminster School where he became a housemaster and commanded the Officer Training Corps. He died of his war wounds in 1924 and was buried on 14th of October with full military honours. His coffin was borne on a six-horse gun-carriage to Westminster Abbey and at his grave in Norwood cemetery the Last Post was sounded by soldiers of the Grenadier Guards.
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Pte. Francis Henry Hooper 6th Btn. Dorsetshire Regiment (d.30th Sep 1918) Harry Hooper served with 6th Btn. Dorsetshire Regiment
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Pte. Hugh Deane Smith 6th Btn. Dorsetshire Regiment (d.1st Sep 1918) Hugh Smith was killed in action on 1st Sep 1918, aged 21 and is commemorated on the Vis-en-Artois Memorial in France.
He was the son of Frederick and Mary Smith, of 32 Roundstone St., Trowbridge, Wilts.
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Pte. Sidney Ernest Gawler 6th Batalion Dorsetshire Regiment (d.9th Nov 1916) Sidney Gawler was my grandfathers' brother who was killed in action.
As a family we know little about him, but he will be mentioned on the Roll on Honor reading at the Tower of London on 25th September 2015
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