LIVERPOOL SCOTTISH 1900-1919

The Liverpool Scottish was the 10th Battalion of the King’s (Liverpool) Regiment, a Territorial battalion, and this history was written to help ex-members keep fresh the memory of what they had been through during the Great War, and secondly as an example to encourage new members to uphold the high reputation inherited from those who had gone before. Although it was the 10th (TF) Battalion of a line regiment the author has treated it as a regiment in its own right (like the London Scottish) with a 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalion (actually 1/10th, 2/10th and 3/10th); all three battalions are covered in this very full account.The battalion landed in France on 3rd November 1914, one of the earliest to join the BEF, and later that month it joined the 9th Brigade, 3rd division, a regular army formation of the original BEF, remaining with it to the end of 1915. All this time was spent in the Salient. In January 1916 it joined the 166th Brigade in France in the re-formed 55th West Lancs Division with which it served for the rest of the war. This division claimed the highest number of VCs in a non-regular division, among them the only VC and bar to be awarded in the Great War, Noel Chavasse RAMC, who was the Liverpool Scottish battalion Medical Officer until dying of wounds received winning his second VC in the Salient in August 1917. The 2nd Battalion (2/10th) was the second line battalion, formed in October 1914 in Liverpool. It went to France in February 1917 with 172nd Brigade, 57th Division and fought with that formation till April 1918 when it was transferred to the 55th Division where it was absorbed by the 1st Battalion, and from this point the history records the doings of the combined battalions. The 3rd Battalion (3/10th) was formed at the end of May 1915 but did not go overseas. Appendices give the nominal roll of the 1st Battalion when it embarked for France, including attached personnel; the list of Honours and Awards; and the Roll of Honour in which name are listed alphabetically without any reference to rank or date of death. In all the Liverpool Scottish lost just over 1100 dead. This is a very good history.