bedford

A LONG WAY from TIPPERARY

The rush of men to enlist especially as the enthusiasm for coming to grips with the threat from Germany was a cause for excitement and offered the chance of adventure, but the would be soldiers took time to be processed through training. There was a degree of preparedness in the run up to the outbreak of war, although the mobilisation of the regular army and reservists took time; the lessons of the Boer War, reflecting tactical lessons learned the hard way meant that the regular army was prepared for war. The onrush of volunteers, some of whom had been part of the Voluntary Force and others that had been members of the Territorial Force which replaced the former meant that their was a cadre of men that had some experience of military training. However, that level of training was nothing like the proficiency of serving regular soldiers and men in the reserve (7 years with the colours and 7 years with the reserve).

The outbreak of the war meant that the relatively small British Army would be hard pressed to match the sheer numbers of the French and German Armies. The initial response by the British Expeditionary Force (B.E.F.) was limited, and whilst units serving soldiers were brought back to reinforce the B.E.F. there was a lag between the organisation and training of reservists. The total strength of the Regular Army in July was 125,000 men in the British Isles, with 75,000 in India and Burma and a further 33,000 in other overseas postings. The initial Battles were almost exclusively fought by regulars and reservists, whilst volunteers coming forward were hastily fed into training. It was the case however that volunteer training fell well short of the level of proficiency of regulars and reservists. The numbers of volunteers meant that there were difficulties managing these new recruits, and it would be at least six months for volunteer recruits would be able to be brought up to scratch.

The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were the local regiment for Stirlingshire, consisting in normal times of two battalions, one “home Battalion” in Britain and the other an “overseas battalion”, somewhere in the Empire and more often than not in India. The depot for the Argylls was Stirling, where the initial training took place and where additional individual recruits would be concentrated and sorted out. The first volunteers accepted would mostly have had some training through the Volunteers and through the Territorial Force. After the newly formed 7th Battalion, (Princess Louise’s Own) Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders had formed at Stirling, the Battalion moved with other Scottish formations to Bedford where they remained for more intensive training. Bedford was used also as a concentration point because of concerns in the early part of the war about a possible invasion of the East Coast by the German Army . And it was closer to the front.

As a result, on Sunday 16th August 1914 nearly 20,000 soldiers marched into town to undergo further training before being sent on for final training and orientation at the front and as a precautionary force protecting England which reflected concerns about possible invasion of the East Coast by the German Army. Units of highland brigades passed through Bedford and made a fine impression on the Bedfordians. The people of Bedford had fond memories of the Scots, including “B” Company, 7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, with highlanders billeted in and around Bedford. Training was carried out in Ampthill Park, a large parkland, 10 miles south of Bedford

The Argyll and Sutherland Infantry Brigade which inluded1/6th, 1/7th, 1/8th and 1/9th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders was in the area within the roughly defined perimeter of Castle Road, Newnham Avenue, Goldington Road and The Embankment

Odd, that.

In April 1915, the Highland Division was reinforced with two battalions of Royal Highlanders (the ‘Black Watch’). These men of either the 6th, or 7th Black Watch pose for the camera in Coventry Road, Bedford where they were billeted.
Coventry Road is in the Queens Park area which had been the main billeting district for the Gordon Highlanders during the first couple of months of the Division's occupation of the town.

On 8 August 1914, four days after war was declared, James Huskie enlisted in the Territorial Battalion of the 7th Battalion, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders. The battalion had begun formation at Stirling on 4th August as part of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders Brigade of the Highland Division. By this time, the fighting in Belgium and France was escalating and the small B.E.F. were manoeuvring alongside their French and Belgium allies to block the German advance toward Paris. On 23rd August the initial clashes between British soldiers took place at Mons.

On Sunday 16th August 1914 nearly 20,000 Highlanders arrived by train and marched into Bedford to undergo necessary further training before being sent to the front.

The 1911 Census gave the population of Bedford as 39,183 so the impact of such a large number of soldiers arriving in the Town was tremendous. The 7th Argylls were one of the first Battalions to leave for France, but they still had time to enjoy the warm welcome to the Scots by Bedfordians. Some unfortunately some stayed longer: unhabituated to common diseases such as measles a number of Scottish soldiers succumbed to disease and rest in a memorial plot in the Foster Hill Road Cemetery in Bedford.

The 7th Argylls remained in Bedford until December 11th and continued with training around Bedford before entraining for the sea passage to France where they joined the 4th Division.