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1st Battalion, West Surrey Regiment (Queens)
1st Battalion, The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) were at in Bordon Camp serving with 3rd Brigade, 1st Division when war broke out in August 1914. They proceeded to France, landing at Le Havre on the 13th of August 1914. They were in action at The Battle of Mons and the subsequent retreat, The Battle of the Marne, The Battle of the Aisne, the First Battle of Ypres. On the 8th of November 1914 the Battalion transferred to the direct command of I Corps and were in action in the The Battles of Aubers and Festubert. On the 21st of July 1915 they transferred to 5th Brigade, 2nd Division and were in action at The Battle of Loos. On the 15th of December 1915 they transferred to the newly arrived 100th Brigade, 33rd Division to strengthen the formation. In 1916 they were in action in the Battles of the Somme. In 1917 they took part in the Arras Offensive, The actions on the Hindenburg Line, the Operations on the Flanders coast and the Third Battles of Ypres. on the 5th of February 1918 they moved to 19th Brigade still in 33rd Division and were in action in the Battles of the Lys, the Battles of the Hindenburg Line and the Final Advance in Picardy. At the Armistice the Division was in a peroid of rest in the Sambre valley near Leval Demobilisation took place throughout the first months of 1919.
26th Aug 1914 On the March
29th Aug 1914 At Rest
30th Aug 1914 On the March
31st Aug 1914 On the March
1st Sep 1914 Outpost Duty
2nd Sep 1914 Rear Guard
3rd Sep 1914 Advance Guard
3rd Sep 1914 Retirement
4th Sep 1914 In Action
6th Sep 1914 In Reserve
17th Sep 1914 Vicious Fighting & Dirty Tricks
19th Sep 1914 Reliefs Complete
24th Oct 1914 Withdrawl
25th October 1914 Ready to Move
29th Oct 1914 Hard Fighting
30th Oct 1914 Shelling
31st Oct 1914 Divisional HQ Hit
15th Nov 1914 Orders
18th Jan 1915 Movements Impossible
15th Feb 1915 Difficult Roads 
13th Oct 1915 1st Queens in Action
16th Oct 1915 The Derby Scheme
1st Dec 1915 Derby Scheme Armlets
11th Sep 1915 Last day of Derby Scheme Recruitment
15th Dec 1915 Training
17th Dec 1915 Instructions Issued
19th Dec 1915 Instructions
20th Dec 1915 Reorganisation
21st Dec 1915 Storm
22nd Dec 1915 Conference
23rd Dec 1915 Orders Issued
24th Dec 1915 Flooding
26th Dec 1915 Flooding
27th Dec 1915 On the March
28th Dec 1915 Reliefs
30th Dec 1915 Reliefs
31st Dec 1915 Shelling
10th Jan 1916 Group System Reopens
9th February 1916 Call Ups
31st Mar 1916 Report
16th of November 1916
4th Feb 1918 Reorganisation
19th Apr 1918 Relief
If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.
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| Want to know more about 1st Battalion, West Surrey Regiment (Queens)? There are:5273 items tagged 1st Battalion, West Surrey Regiment (Queens) 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 with1st Battalion, West Surrey Regiment (Queens) during the Great War 1914-1918. - Archer Sydney Gordon. Pte. (d.17th Feb 1916)
- Baynes William Henry. 2nd Lt. (d.12th October 1918)
- Baynes MM. William Henry. 2nd Lt. (d.12th Oct 1918)
- Blakelock Thomas William. Pte.
- Bowerman William. Pte. (d.24th Mar 1917)
- Butcher W.. Pte.
- Cox Walter Stanley. Cpl. (d.23rd April 1917)
- Crompton Thomas. 2nd Lt. (d.13th April 1918)
- Dean George Pocock Buxton. Sgt. (d.31st Oct 1914)
- Greenstreet Henry. Pte. (d.31st Oct 1914)
- Huggett Jasper.
- Judge Robert Charles. Pte. (d.23rd February 1915)
- Knight Harry James. Pte. (d.6th Oct 1918)
- Knight Harry John. Pte.
- Pope MM. Charles. Pte.
- Saxby George. L/cpl. (d.8th Nov 1916)
- Smith Frederick. Pte. (d.25th Sep 1915)
- Surman James. Pte. (d.14th February 1916)
- Taylor David. Pte. (d.23rd Oct 1918)
- Watts Henry. Pte. (d.31st October 1914)
- Wright Frederick. Pte. (d.28th Jan 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 1st Battalion, West Surrey Regiment (Queens) from other sources.
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- 1st of September 2024 marks 25 years since the launch of the Wartime Memories Project. Thanks to everyone who has supported us over this time.
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Did you know? We also have a section on World War Two. and a
Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations.
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L/cpl. George Saxby 1st Btn. The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment) (d.8th Nov 1916) George Saxby enlisted with the 17th Lancers.
He died of wounds 8th November 1916, received 3rd/4th/11/1916 and is buried in the St Sever Cemetery extension in France.
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2nd Lt. Thomas Crompton 1st Battalion Royal West Surrey Regiment (d.13th April 1918) Thomas Crompton served with the 1st Battalion, Royal West Surrey Regiment Read More.
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Pte. Charles Pope MM. 1st Battalion Queens West Surrey Regiment Charles Pope was awarded the Military Medal but I don't know what for. He ended the war in Italy and was returned home to Southall Hospital in 1919
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Pte. Henry Watts 1st Btn. West Surrey Regiment (Queens) (d.31st October 1914) Henry Watts was born in 1891 and lived with his parents James and Rose Watts, four sisters and a brother, at Wrights Cottage, Acton Vale, London. His father was a labourer at a brickmakers. At some point his parents moved to Canada and were living in Richmond Street, Thorold Park, Thorold, Ontario, Canada.
He served with the 1st Battalion, West Surrey Regiment (Queens). He was killed in action on the 31 October 1914 aged 25 years during the Battle of Ypres. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Menin Gate, Ypres, Belgium. He is also remembered on the War Memorial, St Mary's Church, Acton, London.
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2nd Lt. William Henry Baynes MM. 1st Btn. Queens (Royal West Surrey) Regiment (d.12th Oct 1918) William Baynes was my Great Uncle. Unfortunately, I never met him
but have completed some research. William signed up for the war in 1914.
On 10th of November 1916 he appeared in the Gazette for London and Edinburgh as he had received the Military Medal, he was a Serjeant at the time. Later he was made a Second-Lieutenant.
He appears in the War dairies on 29th of June 1917 during the Battle of Arras. During an operation aiming to clear Kitten trench of the enemy. William and others began to move into their appointed places in Lump Lane ready for the action. Conditions included knee deep mud from heavy rain the evening before.
The ground between Lump Lane and the objective was nothing but a mass of shell holes. Only the right wave of the advance succeeded, a small party of bombers led by William. It became evident that the enemy was present in strength and the surprise attack had failed and it was decided not to proceed. William and the four men with him became isolated having run out of bombs or grenades. 2nd Lt. Ashpitel was sent with a party of picked men to cover Williams' withdrawal to Lump Lane which was successful.
Shortly after, during the Third Battle of Ypres 2nd Lt. Baynes was
listed as injured.
I have traced my Great Uncle to Netley Hospital, Southampton where he died on 12th October 1918.
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Pte. Robert Charles Judge 1st Btn. The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment) (d.23rd February 1915) Robert Judge died whilst being held as a prisoner of war.
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Jasper "Jack" Huggett 1st Battalion Queen's (Royal West Surrey) Regiment  My grandfather, Jasper Huggett, volunteered for the Army at the age of 19 on the 14th November 1914, enrolling into the 1st Battalion, The Queens Royal West Surrey Regiment. He arrived in France two months later on the 22nd January 1915 and was initially stationed at Le Havre base for a week before entering the trenches in the Cuinchy area.
He was present at the battalion's actions on 10th March (Neuve Chapelle); 9th May (Aubers Ridge) and 28th May (Festubert), before being wounded in action on the first day of the Battle of Loos (25th September 1915. The wound was sufficient for him to be invalided home on the 2nd October, from Le Havre to Southampton aboard the Asturius.
Jasper had recovered sufficiently to attend a Buckingham Palace garden party on 22nd March 1916. Between the 3rd July 1917 and January 1919 Jack served with the Labour Corps (Unit 326, HS Works Co.) as a carpenter. Jack Huggett was discharged to the Class Z Reserve on 14th March 1919.
During the Second World War, Jack served with the Royal Engineers as a Sapper (Reg. No. 1917269), he was abroad between the 13th May and 14th December 1940 in Iceland with the NWEF. He enlisted on 18th January 1940 and was discharged on 13th May 1941.
It is known that five of Jack's brothers also fought in the Great War; William (Joe) served with the 17th Royal Fusiliers and was killed in action on the Somme on 27 July 1916; Richard enlisted into the Army on 27th July 1915 and served during the Great War with the 6th Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. He was discharged (due to sickness) on the 19th February 1919; Leonard Huggett served with the 1st Battalion, Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in Mesopotamia; Percy served with the 12th (Bermondsey) Battalion, East Surrey Regiment and was awarded a DCM during operations at Flers, on the 15th September 1916 and John enlisted into the Army Cyclist Corps 22nd November 1915, giving his name as Jack and age as 19 years and 2 months, when in fact he was only 16 years and 5 months old. He went overseas on 19th December 1916 to Salonika and remained there for the nearly 3 years, returning to the UK on 2nd July 1919. John was discharged on 29th August 1919.
Jasper was born on the 4th November 1895 at 13 Oakwood Road, Thornton Heath, West Croydon to Daniel and Annie Huggett. He first went to Boston Road Infants School on 5th June 1899, before joining the Boys school from 6th April 1903 until 26th March 1909, when he left to become a labourer.
Daniel and Annie had 13 children in total (Daniel also having 6 children from previous marriages). By 1911 the family had moved to 72 Donald Road, West Croydon. Jasper became engaged to Hilda Emmeline Lane (born 2nd August 1896) on 21st May 1918 and they married in St. John's Church, Red Lion Square, Holborn, London on 9th January 1921. Jack and Hilda initially lived at 33 Lime Grove, New Malden, Surrey for ten years raising three children, Peggy, Peter and John.
The family later moved to 16, Ebbisham Road, Worcester Park but were forced to move from there to rented accommodation in 1935 when they moved to 4, Carlton Crescent, North Cheam, Surrey, the house that became his home for the rest of his life. Jasper died at home on the 17th February 1957 of chronic bronchitis and cardiac failure at the age of 61 years. He was buried in Cuddington Cemetery, Worcester Park.
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2nd Lt. William Henry Baynes 1st Btn. Queens Royal West Surrey Rgt. (d.12th October 1918) William Henry Baynes is my great uncle. He lost his mother when he was only 11 years old and was one of six children. His father Henry went on to look after the children who had not left home, one of whom was my grandad. I found William while reserching my family history. Although my mother knew of him and told me the family did not want him to sign up, he did and was in France by October 1914.
William is mentioned twice in the WW1 war diaries of the Queen's Royal (West Surrey) Regiment. He was a bomber trying to take enemy trenches at Lump Lane (Somme). These trenches were in places nearly knee deep in mud and water from the heavy rain of the previous evening and the going was very heavy. This was not a successful attack and William and four men became isolated in a shell hole having run out of bombs or grenades, but luckily they were covered by a small party sent to help and made a withdrawal.
He was later wounded at Menin and sent to the Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley, Southampton where he died on the 12th October 1918.
He received the 1914 star and British War Medal and Victory Medal. William is named on the Great War Memorial outside Canterbury Cathedral.
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Pte. W. Butcher 1st Btn. Royal West Surrey (Queen's) Rgt. Private Burrows was a POW at Gustrow POW camp in Mecklenburg. He was punished by the guards for stealing a loaf of bread. The punishment consisted of tying him to a post for three hours in the snow. This led to frostbite and amputations.
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Pte. Harry John Knight 1st Btn. Queens Royal West Surrey Regt.  My Grandfather Harry Knight served with the Royal West Surrey Regiment in the 1st Battalion.
I know no details of his Service other than that he was a Prisoner of War, he escaped at least twice, was re captured and tortured.
He was missing in action but later my grandmother was at the cinema one day & on the Newsreel a film was being shown of British POW's in Germany. She thought she saw him on the film.
She told family members who then went themselves to see the film, they agreed it was him so they then went to see the cinema manager who showed then the film privately, when the film reached the point where they thought they saw my Grandfather the film was stopped. It was agreed by all that indeed it was him.
Subsequently he was traced via the Red Cross.
Harry returned home but sadly he was a very sick man, by 1921 he was admitted to St. Cadocs Psychiatric Hospital in Caerleon Monmouthshire where he died in 1960.
Originally from Croydon, Surrey Harry had moved to Newport Monmouthshire around 1905/6. He met & married my Grandmother there. He had been in the West Surrey Regiment for a while around 1902/3.
Although on his birth cert. His name is Harry John Knight, officialdom has recorded him as Henry which is confusing.
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Pte. Frederick Smith 1st Battalion West Surrey Regiment (d.25th Sep 1915) My uncle gave me Fred Smith's campaign medals, dog tag and a picture of him when he was convalescing after his first injury in the 1st Battle Ypres.
Sadly Fred was blown up at Loos so there is no known grave for him. He did write back to a friend at home that got printed in the Bermondsey Times where he wrote "it would have done your heart good to see our chaps advancing under deadly fire without flinching".
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Sgt. George Pocock Buxton Dean 1st Btn. Royal West Surrey Regiment (d.31st Oct 1914) My Grandfather, George Dean, husband of Ann Dean of 61 Sherwood St, Reading. He was an ambulance driver in Chiswick before the war. He served with the 1st Battalion, Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment during WW1 and died on the 31st October 1914. A memorial tablet in the shape of a shield was installed in the Fire Station & unveiled by the Vicar of Chiswick on 24 May 1921. Inscribed "In honoured memory of the following members of the Chiswick Fire Brigade who gave their lives in the Great War 1914-1918" - the 2 names on it were G.P.B. Dean and H. MacDonald.
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Pte. Frederick Wright 1st Btn. Royal West Surrey Regiment (d.28th Jan 1917) Frederick Wright was executed for desertion 28/01/1917 and buried in Suzanne Military Cemetery No 3, Suzanne, France.
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Pte. Harry James Knight 1st Btn. The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment (d.6th Oct 1918) Harry Knight served with The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment 1st Battalion. He was executed for desertion on 6th October1918 and is buried in Fins New British Cemetery, Sorel-le-Grand, France.
He was the son of Mrs. Ellen Elizabeth Knight, of 2, Lower Addiscombe Road, West Croydon, Surrey.
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Pte. William Bowerman 1st Btn. Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment (d.24th Mar 1917) William Bowerman was executed for desertion on 24/03/1917, aged 38 and his name is on the Loos Memorial in the Dud Corner Cemetery, Loos, France.
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