Halton update - with Army Camp Photographs.

While Halton is in Buckinghamshire there was a major army camp there during the First World War and there were strong connections with Tring. I recently acquired this card and in adding it to the web site I discovered other cards of the camp and the war which had not yet been posted online. I have therefore used the opportunity to restructure the Halton page - so there are now three linked pages - one deals with Halton House and the Church, the second with the canal, and the third had pictures of the army camp.

Is this a Hertfordshire Regiment Summer Camp?

Military

I am currently investigating some soldiers who were members of the Hertfordshire Regiment (Territorial Force) in the Waltham Cross area prior to the outbreak of war and fought through the war. This post card shows an army camp at Eastbourne and I suspect that it shows the Herts Regiment at their summer camp shortly in the early 1920s - (not 1920 when they were at Yarmouth). Does anyone know which year (if any) the Hertfordshire Regiment had a camp at Eastbourne.

The Ashridge Training Camp, 1914, and the Outbreak of War.

Military

When War was declared in August 1914 the Territorials in the Hertfordshire Regiment were at their annual training camp - which was being held at Ashridge. The latest Dacorum Heritage Trust Newsletter (Summer 2014) includes details of the the camps as published in The Gazette on 1st August 1914, and what happened using information published on 8th August, together with some contemporary pictures.

The newsletter also says that on August Bank Holiday (Monday 25th August) Dacorum Heritage Trust will have a WWI themed display at the Lions Fete at Berkhamsted Cricket Club ground. Come and visit us in the marquee.

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At Ashridge Camp - Summer 1914

Hemel Hempstead

For further information on what was happening in the Hemel Hempstead area when war broke out see my book, The London Gunners come to Town, and the many pictures at higher resolution at Military Camps - Ashridge Park July 1914. More of the background is included in my talk The Terriers in West Herts in World War 1.

Soldiers leaving Camp at Ashridge,  Summer 1914

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Click here for pictures of earlier camps.

Identifying WW1 post cards of soldiers in Hertfordshire.

The Military

Before Christmas I posted Something for you to do over Christmas to raise money for charity - the idea being to try and identify more soldiers who were in Hertfordshire from old post cards and other pictures. I report on three responses below.

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8th London (Howitzer) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery

The First is a post card showing soldiers grouped round a howitzer. Fiona tells me that the officer standing behind the gun is Eustace Nugent Fitz-George de Radcliffe Cooper. This confirms that the picture shows the unit which was based at Apsley, Hemel Hempstead between August 1914 and March 1915. As a result I have posted an old newspaper report from 1914 which mentions several soldiers who were members of the Brigade. Because a number of names are on record it should be possible to identify further officers and men who are in the picture - but I put this up as a challenge for visitors to this site.

More Information

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2/14th Battalion, London Scottish at North Mimms

Peter has kindly provided five digital images of the London Scottish on a musketry course at North Mimms in August 1915, Information on the back of one of the post cards allows the soldiers to be identified as part of the second line battalion, the first line battalion having been one of the first battalions to see action in October 1914. While there is not definite evidence it seems likely that the musketry course involved shooting on the Chalk Hill Firing Range..

More Information

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Jon has suggested that this picture of the Imperial Service Division at St Albans shows them on parade on the former St Albans School playing fields at Belmont Hill. The large house in the middle background with multiple chimneys would therefore be Torrington House - close to the site of Holywell House owned by the Marlboroughs/Spencers well into the 1800s. It would have been close to the White Hart HQ.

More Information

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Donate Here

I am still interested in any further information on troops who were based in Hertfordshire in the 1914-1919 period - and as promised in the earlier post I have made a donation of £20 to support the Mentally ill in Hertfordshire.

Military Training in Hertfordshire - 1905 to 1914

Herts Imperial Yeomanry Camp at Berkhamsted, May 1906

I have posted post cards (and some other photographs) of camps for volunteers and the Territorial Force  (later Territorial Army) troops under the headings:

At Ashridge in 1905

Various locations 1906-1913

At Lydd in 1909

Photo Album 1913-14

At Ashridge 1914

The Territorial Force Camp at Ashridge in 1914
The camp broke up prematurely due to the outbreak of the First World War

As part of a long term program to restructure the large number of military related pages I have started a "home page" for military pages relating to pre-1914 information - with links to battles and castles.

Can you supply details (preferably with pictures) of other camps your ancestor attended - as there would have been a summer camp every year?