Wigan Album

Kitted out for the Dardanelles evidently. Half a million casualties. Thanks a lot Winnie. Hope he survived Bet.

He did survive Ozymandias and there is further evidence of him being kitted out again about 20 years later. Don't know the regiment these men served in, but Ted was living in Widnes before they left and would have signed up from there.

Doomed youth to be shipped and then slaughtered by the Turks...Churchill's folly repeated 20 odd years later on a bridge in Holland...Nothing changes: the politicians are still sending the working man to his death in the mountainous provinces of the east...

Great photograph to cherish, Bet.

I only experienced the bitterness felt by the older generation when Winston Churchill's funeral was filmed on TV in 1965. I sensed the history involved in his dying from all the old newsreels during the war with his resounding speeches (which I loved) and the Victory sign and could not understand why some people were genuinely saddened and others ,lets say,impatient at all the pomp and ceremony of the funeral. It was only then when I was told about Galipolli and my grandfather's survival and the tragic loss of many others due to Churchill's mistakes. I don't think there was much admiration for him in Scholes at any rate. You could say it was too near home for any kind of sentiment at his passing.

Somewhere there would have been a young lad not long out of school whose first impressions of becoming part of the armed forces (a noble intention) would be to see the world, wear a spanking brand new uniform, eat better food ..., but it's heartening to know that upon joining he would have been prepared, and, 'hopefully', with some knowledge of what might lay ahead. My grandmother's youngest sibling was killed in France during WW1 when he was 19 year's-old. Her family later moved to another area of the village where during the 1950s my brother and I found plenty of romping space. A favourite game of ours' was to hide our grandmother's giant cast iron backdoor key, leaving the other person to discover its whereabouts, but we often wondered why she became so agitated during what was a seemingly harmless game; on one occasion screaming "Leave it where it is!". We were told some time later she never really got to grips with losing her brother, and that she sometimes left her backdoor unlocked at night ... .

Although they are sporting their Wolseley Pith Helmets they have not yet received their lightweight tropical uniforms. If they are the Manchesters? they would be on their way to Egypt (Mustapha Barracks) or have just arrived to be re kitted, Sept 1914. Looking at the age of this group they look to be regular soldiers rather than young conscripts, some maybe volunteers from the territorials. In the October they were training at Sidi Gaber Barracks, by the 3rd of May they were landing at Gallipoli on W and V beaches. Terrible casualties resulted on them taking the Turkish third line but they were successful in their objective, the other units didn't manage and they had to withdraw causing yet more casualties. I can't tell if they are the Manchesters from the photo.

Phillip...I cried while reading your comment.

It wasn't only the young men who were casualties of war ...but the families left behind as well as Philip's sad story shows. I often think this is when close knit communities sprang up as very few families were left untouched by both wars.

when threatened with foreign powers its our duty to respond for our homeland and family,these men obviously must have thought so.
i remember the queue to the army recruiting office on bridgeman terrace in 1982,it must have been three hundred yards long,all volunteering.

I do believe this is the South Lancashire Regiment,6th Service Battalion, Prince of Wales Volunteers. K1 of the new army.Recruits came from Widnes, Warrington, St helens Leigh, Wigan and other places.
http://www.prescot-rollofhonour.info/Documents/SLR_6Bn_WarDiaryV1.pdf

An incredibly touching and totally understandable story from Phillip - just makes you wonder how many thousands must have had those very same thoughts and feelings for the rest of their lives - hoping against hope their loved and lost ones might just return.

Thanks to everyone for your very moving and informative comments, I did not know my great uncles regiment, but have now discovered the army pension record of his brothers enlistment into the South Lancashire Regiment 6th Battalion, signed in Widnes and stamped Warrington. Their fathers name and address is recorded as next of kin. Most likely Ted took the oath with his brother on that sunny Monday morning in the first week of September 1914, along with the other 100,000 volunteers on the first wave of patriotism, following Kitchener’s call to arms in the previous month.
South Lancashire Regiment
6th (Service) Battalion of the new army.
Formed at Warrington in August 1914 as part of K1 and moved to Tidworth, under command of 38th Brigade in 13th (Western) Division. Moved to billets in Winchester in January 1915 before going next month to Blackdown.
Sailed from Avonmouth in June 1915. Landed at Cape Helles (Gallipoli) 7-31 July then moved to Mudros. Landed at Anzac Beach 4 August 1915.
20 December 1915 : evacuated from Gallipoli and went to Egypt via Mudros.
February 1916 : moved to Mesopotamia.