6th Battalion, the Cheshire Regiment in the Great War

A Territorial Battalion on the Western Front 1914–1918

John Hartley

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9781473897588
• eBook ISBN:
  9781473897601
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

The 6th Battalion, the Cheshire Regiment, was a prewar Territorial battalion that recruited in the North Cheshire towns of Stockport, Hyde and Stalybridge, together with the Derbyshire town of Glossop. The majority of its part-time soldiers worked in the areas cotton mills and hat making factories. One of the first Territorial battalions to see action in the Great War, it went overseas in November 1914, taking part in the famous Christmas truce a few weeks later.In 1916, it saw major action during the Battle of the Somme. The following year, it suffered heavy casualties during the action around the Belgian town of Ypres, which is often known as the Battle of Passchendaele. In 1918 the Battalion fought to hold off German advances in the spring but, along with the rest of the BEF, was forced to retreat many miles. By the summer of that year the tide had turned and the Cheshire's took part in the final advances that ended the war in November.The story is told from the Battalions formation in 1908 to its disbandment in the 1920s and beyond with details of the Old Comrades Association. Official accounts are supplemented by the mens own words, taken from diaries, letters and newspaper reports.

CHAPTER 1

The Men of 1914

When the part-time soldiers of the 6th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment, were mobilized to report to their respective drill halls on 4 August 1914, it was the culmination of over a century of tradition of voluntary military service. Now that Britain was at war with Germany, their role was to defend the country against invasion.

For a few of the Battalion’s oldtimers, this was not the first time that they had put on their uniform with the intent to fight if need be. Colour Sergeant Frank Naden had seen service in South Africa during the Boer War and may well have thought ‘Here we go again’. He was born in 1878, at Hartington in Derbyshire, close to the border with Staffordshire. Details of his early life are uncertain but, by the closing years of the nineteenth century, he had moved to the Stockport area and joined the Cheshire Regiment’s 4th Volunteer Battalion. This was the unit that, a few years later, would become the 6th Territorial Battalion. The Regiment’s 2nd Battalion, part of the regular army, had sailed for South Africa on 7 January 1900. Reinforcements from the Volunteer Battalions followed six weeks later. Naden was part of this first contingent, which included another thirty eight of his comrades from the 4th Volunteers.

Sergeant Naden joined the Royal Marines from six to ten years back and was in the Ashantee and Brass expeditions. He also took part in the bombardment of Zanzibar. He subsequently joined the Bechuanaland Mounted Police and was in the famous Jameson raid, his horse being killed under him in the first battle. Sergeant Naden managed to effect his escape when many of his comrades in arms were taken prisoners. He is familiar with the country from Capetown to Bulawayo and speaks the Boer language, which should serve him in good stead.

(Cheshire Observer, 3 February 1900)

Frank Naden.

Naden wrote home in the spring, saying he had been in action on a number of occasions. He gave no details but the Cheshire Regiment is known to have been part of an attack on Boer positions at Karee Siding in March. There was another attack, on Boer defenders of a crossing point on the Zand River, in the May. He returned to Stockport in 1901, where he married Hannah Edge soon after arrival. His occupation at the time was given as police constable – believed to have been a position with the Johannesburg police force. He may have returned to South Africa at some point but, by 1914, he was carrying on business as a greengrocer on Wellington Road North. He was a skilled soldier and a brave man and both of these talents would be recognised over the four years of what was to become known as the Great War, with the award of several gallantry medals and promotion through the ranks to lieutenant colonel.

Over a hundred years before Naden went to South Africa, Stockport men had come together to defend against the possibility of an invasion. In 1794, they established the town’s Loyal Volunteers; the threat came from the French forces led by Napoleon. They paraded in January 1795, Captain Holland Watson receiving their new colours, a gift from Lady Warren. The Chester Courant reported that, The horrors of a foreign invasion and those arising from civil war, were portrayed in lively colours, the blessings from concord were also admirably depicted. It was a time of some considerable political unrest in Britain, with the government passing two bills, known as the convention bills – the Seditious Meetings Act, which restricted public gatherings to fifty people and the Treason Act which, amongst other things, made it a crime to even imagine doing harm to the King. The protests resulted in one member of Stockport’s Loyal Volunteers being drummed out, as reported by the Leeds Intelligence, in February 1796.

Not for exercising his opinions respecting war and the convention bills but upon his own declaration – that if necessity should require the exertion of the corps, he would march with it and the moment he had the opportunity he would quit the ranks and join the malcontents in their measures.

With peace being negotiated in 1801, the Volunteers disbanded. The officers met for a final dinner in February 1802, presenting their commander, now Major Watson, with a large and very elegant silver cup, lined with gold and richly ornamented, which the Chester Courant reported was inscribed as presented by the officers as a tribute of their esteem and to convey the high sense they entertain of his loyalty and patriotism. There was a further presentation to Watson from the rank and file Volunteers, although not until January 1803. These were four cups, similarly decorated and engraved. After the speeches, Watson ordered a hogshead of stout old ale to be tapped which was plentifully distributed among the volunteers.

The peace was shortlived and Britain and France were again at war (1803). A National Defence Act was promulgated which encouraged the formation of volunteer units and a number of these were created in north Cheshire. These remained in existence until Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated in 1815. His nephew, Napoleon III, would present the next perceived threat of invasion to Britain. Although France and Britain had been allies during the Crimean War, the French Emperor embarked on an expansionist policy in its aftermath. In 1859 the French defeated Austria, then in control of much of northern Italy, and the British government feared that the country might become his next target. Once again there was a call for volunteer infantry units to be created to defend the nation if invasion occurred.

A meeting in late November 1859 decided to form the Stockport Volunteer Rifle Corps.

The members who have signified their intention of joining this corps number about 300 and large bodies are waiting to see the uniform before following the example. The committee have decided upon the uniform; it is to cost about £4 and is to be made by Messrs Whitley & Roberts of Chester. It is of light grey and consists of a loose buttoned-up surtout, with dark braid on the collar, breast and sleeves, bronzed buttons on the coat, trousers bordering on the peg-top style, and a peaked cap. One employer has undertaken to equip 70 volunteers.

(Cheshire Observer, 24 December 1859)

In the early part of the nineteenth century, a volunteers group had been formed in the Glossop area and there had been a fine record of military service. A meeting was held in 1859 to form a Rifle Corps, as urged by the Government; but it was opposed by a number of men, including the pastor of Littlemoor Chapel. He was reported to have said,

Glossop in the early twentieth century.

The present system of the formation of Rifle Corps would be destructive of the morals of young men, and if the vast commercial establishments in Manchester were carried on by some who led semi-military lives they would wither and decay as fast as they have grown up. The proposal was defeated by 26 votes to 16.

Another attempt to form a Rifle Corps was made in 1875 and this now met with much approval from Glossop’s young men, over 150 registering their interest. Several months later a notice appeared in the local newspaper, asking men to attend the Town Hall on 10 January 1876 to be enrolled and on the following Saturday to take the oath of allegiance. They became the 23rd Derbyshire Rifle Volunteers. It had already been decided that the Glossop men would throw in their lot with the Cheshire Regiment units from Hyde, Stalybridge and Stockport, rather than their own county regiment. By agreement between the Regiment and the Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Regiment (the Sherwood Foresters), there would be a reciprocal arrangement whereby the Foresters would recruit in Whaley Bridge, then partially in Cheshire. It was, presumably, a simple matter of geographical convenience. After taking the oath, the men were formed up to receive their first drill under the direction of their instructor, Sergeant Major Hiney, assisted by his counterparts from the three Cheshire units.

The Cheshires’ drill hall at Stalybridge. Photo: Tameside MBC Image Archive

Stockport’s Armoury had been built in 1862 at a cost of £4000 and included a spacious drill hall, sixty yards long and twenty yards wide, with a separate band room, storage facilities for the rifles, offices, etc. The Hyde detachment had premises at Mottram Road, whilst the Stalybridge troops paraded at their drill hall, built in 1880, on the corner of Astley Street and Walmsley Street. In Glossop, the market hall had been divided and, by 1882, half of it had become a drill hall.

The close links between the part-time troops of the four towns were formalised and they became a single entity in 1880, with the official title of the 4th Cheshire (Cheshire & Derbyshire) Rifle Volunteer Corps. In 1887, it became the 4th Volunteer Battalion, Cheshire Regiment, and would remain as such until 1908.

The Battalion at the turn of the century reflected the class structures of Victorian and Edwardian society. The rank and file were working class men, mainly employed in the area’s cotton mills, hatworks and factories. Their sergeants, like Frank Naden, were the foremen or small business owners; whilst the officers exclusively came from the upper echelons of the community.

Herman Hesse.

Like Naden, Captain Herman Hesse had served as a part time soldier for a considerable time, having been commissioned as a second lieutenant in December 1896. As his name suggests, he was born to two German immigrants, in 1869, who were then living in Chorlton-cum-Hardy. It is possible that, as a young man, he spent time in Germany, as he does not appear on census returns for the latter part of the nineteenth century. If so, he had returned to the Manchester area by 1894, when he married Beatrice Heginbotham. In a sign of his growing financial success, the couple moved to Cheadle Hulme, living on Station Road and, later, at 16 Queens Road. The 1901 census suggests the family had all the trappings of middle class life, including the employment of a live-in servant. At that time Hesse was in business as a button manufacturer and, later, as a manufacturer’s agent dealing in lace.

For men such as Hesse and Naden, life in the early twentieth century was relatively comfortable. Conditions for the majority of the population were also improving. Like Stockport, the smaller towns of Glossop, Hyde and Stalybridge were industrial in their nature and the dominant industry was cotton. It was hard work and conditions were often hazardous. The north west was the centre of the worldwide industry and Manchester was affectionately called Cottonopolis, with many of the major traders having offices and warehousing in and around what is now known as the Northern Quarter. Although trade would take place in the city centre, the actual production of cloth was in mills in the outlying towns. There were also the thriving associated factories – companies who would bleach and then dye the cloth. There had been setbacks to the growth of the industry, most notably the ‘cotton famine’ of the 1860s when, during the American civil war, the ports of the Confederacy were blockaded by Union ships to prevent trade. The industry’s heyday was reached in the 1890s, when Stockport alone had over fifty cotton mills. Some of them were relatively small scale operations, with no more than a few hundred spindles – a rotating spike fitted to the machines used to twist the cotton fibres into yarn before weaving it into cloth. For example, Peter Crossley Ltd operated just 516 spindles at premises at Hope Carr Mills. The company made wicks for candles and lamps. At the other end of the scale there were several very large scale operations with over a hundred thousand spindles. Stockport’s largest was probably Palmer Mills; at the time of the war it had about 180,000 spindles and employed several hundred.

William Bennett, from Stockport. Mortally wounded and taken prisoner in July 1917.

William Bennett worked at Palmer Mills, in Portwood, as a piecer. It is a precise job title. Bennett would have worked with the man in charge of minding the spinning mule, which usually operated over 1000 spindles. Both of them would be keeping their eyes open for breaks in the cotton thread. Bennett would then go underneath the machine to ‘piece’ together the fibres – a potentially hazardous task underneath moving machinery. It was the work of seconds but, with several breaks occurring every minute, he must have been exhausted after a day’s work. But, in spite of this, he found time to train with the Cheshires, which he had joined in about 1911. At that time he was living at home at 30 Hanover Street, Portwood – a short walk from work. His father, John, worked as a cotton spinner and it is very probable that William worked with him. His older brother, John, had been a regular soldier but, in early 1914, he returned to the Stockport area. He had been working as a nursing orderly at an army hospital in India and this, no doubt, helped him get a job at Cheadle Royal Hospital. As an army reservist, he was recalled to the colours in August 1914. The oldest brother, Herbert, married in 1909 and was now living at Peak Street, also working at the mill as a piecer.

All three brothers would die during the war. John was wounded in July 1916 and, returning home for treatment, died on 1 September. He is buried in the graveyard of St Paul’s Church, Portwood. Herbert died of pneumonia in 1918, probably after catching the Spanish Flu – a worldwide pandemic which killed millions. He is buried at Basra, in Iraq. At some point after 1911 William married and the couple are believed to have lived at 23 Ratcliffe Street. He was badly wounded during the 6th Cheshires’ attack on 31 July 1917 and was taken prisoner. He died on 28 August 1917 and is buried in Hamburg.

Stockport’s second industry was hat making. The town had had a skilled workforce for centuries but this was on a small scale. Industrialisation brought in larger companies with Christy’s, a well known London firm, opening a factory in the town in 1826. By the 1840s it had become the world’s largest hat making factory. In 1890, it employed around 4,500 people and was exporting over six million hats a year, as well as very many sales within the UK. The Mad Hatter is a popular character in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and there is a factual basis for the phrase ‘mad as a hatter’. Men working in the industry would use a mercuric nitrate solution in making fur felt hats and, of course, would breathe in the fumes. Over time this could cause a range of problems – slurred speech and loss of co-ordination, as though a man was drunk, as well as memory loss, depression and anxiety attacks. In 1899 pois...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1 The Men of 1914
• 2 Mobilization
• 3 Into Action
• 4 Back Home
• 5 Out of Harm’s Way
• 6 Givenchy
• 7 Thiepval
• 8 St Julien
• 9 The Final Year
• 10 The Men of 1919
• Notes