4th Lancashire Artillery Volunteers

The 4th Lancashire Artillery Volunteers, later renamed to the 4th West Lancashire Brigade, known as 'The Old 4th', was a part-time unit of the British Army's Royal Artillery founded in Liverpool in 1859. It served on the Western Front during World War I, one of its members winning the Victoria Cross at Cambrai. Between the world wars the unit pioneered mechanical traction methods. During World War II it formed three regiments that saw action at Dunkirk, on Crete, at Tobruk (where one of its regiments was captured), in Burma, and in the final campaigns in Italy and North West Europe. It continued in the post-war Territorial Army until 1973.

Volunteer Force

Origin

The enthusiasm for the Volunteer movement following an invasion scare in 1859 saw the creation of many units composed of part-time soldiers eager to supplement the Regular British Army in time of need.Anon, ''History'', pp. 1–4. One of the first and largest such units was the 4th Lancashire Artillery Volunteers, raised by the Liverpool shipowner James Walter and drawing its recruits from clerks and office personnel of firms in that city. Six hundred Volunteers marched from Birchfield Barracks to St George's Hall, Liverpool, on 22 November 1859 to take the oath of allegiance. The unit officially came into existence on 5 December and its first headquarters (HQ) was at the Liverpool and London Insurance Company office in Dale Street, with a store in a private house at 51 Salisbury Street. The first commanding officer (CO) was Lieutenant-Colonel James Bourne (appointed 7 January 1860), a local merchant and colliery owner who was also Lt-Col Commandant of the Royal Lancashire Artillery Militia. The corps had an establishment of a brigade of eight companies, termed batteries from 1861.Anon, ''History'', Appendix I.Litchfield & Westlake, pp. 107–12.Beckett, Appendix VIII.Anon, ''History'', p. 11.''Army List''.Lancashire Record Office, ''Handlist 72''.
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By 1862 the 4th Lancashire AV had accepted 50–60 mechanics 'of the highest class' to supplement the middle-class clerks of the original recruits. In 1861 the unit's arms store was moved to 49 Mason Street, and by 1872 its HQ was at 52 Mason Street, where there was a large storage shed. In 1880 it was in Nos 21, 23 and 25 Mason Street and by 1890 at 22 Highgate Street, Edge Hill, Liverpool.

When the Volunteer corps were consolidated in 1880, the unit was offered a more senior number, but chose to retain the proud title of 'The 4th Brigade'.

Equipment

The 4th Lancashire AVC began their gun drill using chairs, a stove-pipe and mops, then graduated to wooden models. In September 1861 the War Office (WO) ordered that the unit should be issued with eight 24-pounder guns. These weapons were unserviceable and apparently did not arrive until a year later. The WO refused to supply traversing platforms, so Major George Melly (who became CO in 1863) had two guns mounted on sliding carriages and traversing platforms, and presented them to the unit. An organisation called the Mount Vernon Green Syndicate provided money for the unit to purchase four brass 9-pounder field guns, without carriages or limbers. Equipment varied during the corps' history: in 1878 it had eight 24-pdr and two 32-pdr smooth-bore muzzle-loading (SBML) guns on upright carriages, and one 40-pdr Armstrong rifled breech-loader (RBL). In 1885 it possessed an additional 64-pdr rifled muzzle-loader (RML) converted from a bored-out 8-inch gun and fitted with an inner 'A' tube.Anon, ''History'', pp. 5–6.

The AVCs were intended to serve as garrison artillery manning fixed defences, but a number of the early units manned semi-mobile 'position batteries' of smooth-bore field guns pulled by agricultural horses. However, the WO refused to pay for the upkeep of field guns and the concept died out in the 1870s. It was revived in 1888 when some Volunteer batteries were reorganised as 'position artillery' with 16-pounder RML guns to work alongside the Volunteer infantry brigades. The 4th Lancashire AVC was issued with four of these guns in 1889, and the experiment was so successful that within three years the corps had four such batteries.Litchfield and Westlake, pp. 3–6.

Royal Garrison Artillery

In 1882 all the AVCs were affiliated to one of the territorial garrison divisions of the Royal Artillery (RA) and the 4th Lancashires became part of the Lancashire Division. In 1889 the structure was altered, and the corps joined the Southern Division. In 1899 the RA was divided into separate field and garrison branches, and the artillery volunteers were all assigned to the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA). In 1902 their titles were changed, the Liverpool unit becoming the 4th Lancashire Royal Garrison Artillery (Volunteers), designated as heavy artillery. The following year the position batteries were redesignated as heavy batteries.

In 1900 the 4th Lancashires found a permanent HQ at The Grange, on the corner of Edge Lane and Botanic Road, Liverpool. This was a large old farmhouse to which the unit added a large covered drill shed.

Territorial Force

When the Volunteers were subsumed into the new Territorial Force (TF) under the Haldane Reforms of 1908, the unit transferred to the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and as the senior West Lancashire unit it was offered the title of I (or 1st) West Lancashire Brigade. Once again it chose to be the IV (or 4th) West Lancashire (Howitzer) Brigade, with the following organisation:Litchfield, pp. 127–8.

IV West Lancashire (Howitzer) Brigade, RFA
* HQ: The Grange, Edge Lane, Liverpool
* 7th Lancashire (H) Battery
* 8th Lancashire (H) Battery
* 4th West Lancashire (H) Ammunition Column

The unit formed part of the TF's West Lancashire Division. Its batteries were each equipped with four 5-inch howitzers.Anon, ''History'', pp. 12–4.Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 133–9.55th Division at Long, Long Trail.
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World War I

Mobilisation

When war broke out on 4 August 1914 the IV West Lancashire Bde was at its annual practice camp at Larkhill under Lt-Col S.Heywood Melly, the fourth member of his family to command it. The brigade was immediately ordered to return to Liverpool to mobilise.Coop. p. 21. Mobilisation equipment was scarce for all units: the IV West Lancs solved its shortage of draught animals by requisitioning tram horses from the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway on the Isle of Man.

The TF was intended for home service, but on 10 August its members were invited to volunteer for overseas service. Almost the whole of the IV West Lancs brigade did so. On 15 August 1914, the WO issued instructions to separate those men who had signed up for home service only, and form these into reserve units. Recruits were also pouring in and on 31 August, the formation of a reserve or 2nd Line unit was authorised for each 1st Line unit where 60 per cent or more of the men had volunteered for overseas service. The titles of these 2nd Line units would be the same as the original, but distinguished by a '2/' prefix. In this way duplicate batteries, brigades and divisions were created from the recruits, mirroring those TF formations being sent overseas.Becke, Pt 2b, pp. 1–7.

1/IV West Lancashire Brigade

Immediately after mobilisation the brigade moved into camp at Allerton for training. On 26 October it went with the West Lancashire Division to Kent and was billeted in villages near Sevenoaks. Between November 1914 and April 1915 all the division's infantry units were posted away to reinforce the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) fighting on the Western Front. The Brigade Ammunition Columns were absorbed into a Divisional Ammunition Column at Ightham, which was then sent to reinforce the troops in Egypt. The rest of the divisional artillery then joined the 2nd West Lancashire Division, which was forming round Canterbury. The 1/IV Bde moved to Thanington Without in May.Coop, p. 22.

In September 1915 the brigade was re-equipped with modern 4.5-inch howitzers (handing the old 5-inch howitzers over to its 2nd Line unit) and ordered to proceed overseas with the rest of the 1st West Lancashire Divisional Artillery, which was to become the divisional artillery for the 2nd Canadian Division. The brigade embarked at Southampton on 28 September, the guns and horses aboard an Elder Dempster liner and the men aboard the Isle of Man packet boat SS ''Mona's Queen''. They disembarked at Le Havre the following day.

Western Front

The brigade took up old gun positions in the Kemmel sector of the line, with Bde HQ at Locre, 1/7th Bty at Vierstraat and 1/8th Bty at Lindenhoek at the foot of Mont Kemmel. The brigade fired its first rounds on 7 October, though ammunition was restricted to 50 rounds per battery per week. The brigade remained in this 'quiet' sector, suffering only a few wounded, until 12 December when it went into reserve near St Omer before moving to Pont-Remy in the Somme sector on 3 January 1916. The West Lancashire Division (now the 55th (1st West Lancashire) Division was being reformed in France, and its former units concentrated at Pont-Remy.

The 1/IV West Lancs Bde was brought up to a strength of three batteries on 9 February when B (H) Bty joined from LXXXV Bde ('Kitchener's Army' volunteers from 18th (Eastern) Division) to become C (H) Bty. Then the field artillery of the BEF was reorganised in May 1916: 1/IV West Lancs Bde was numbered CCLXXVIII Bde (278 Bde) and its batteries became A, B and C on 15 May. The three batteries were then distributed to the other brigades within the divisional artillery, so that each had a D (Howitzer) battery: A (1/7th Lancashire) went to CCLXXVI (1/II West Lancs), B (1/8th) to CCLXXV (1/I West Lancs) and C to CCLXXVII (1/III West Lancs). They were replaced in CCLXXVIII by the D batteries of the respective brigades, giving the following organisation:

CCLXXVIII Brigade, RFA
* A Bty – ''former D/CCLXXV''
* B Bty – ''former D/CCLXXVI''
* C Bty – ''former D/CCLXXVII''

These three batteries were recently formed within their respective brigades, and each was equipped with four 18-pounder guns.

Somme

From February, 55th Divisional Artillery had been deployed in the Crinchon Valley, a quiet sector, but on 20 July the brigades marched south to join in the Battle of the Somme. They went into action on 1 August around Maricourt Wood facing Guillemont village while the front line was under a heavy German bombardment. The batteries found themselves assigned patches of ground devoid of any cover or concealment, except a few captured German dugouts. For two weeks the firing was almost continuous, the gun detachments working in shifts relieved by gunners from the waggon lines. The observation posts (OPs) in the infantry positions were very dangerous and one Forward Observation Officer (FOO) was killed getting to his OP.

The 55th Division launched its first attack on Guillemont at dawn on 8 August, supported by the divisional artillery firing a new-style Creeping barrage. However, the centre of the attack was held up and the barrage had to be brought back. In the end the attack failed with heavy casualties, as did its renewal next morning, when the infantry advanced without a preliminary bombardment but protected by the creeping barrage. The division made a further failed attack on Guillemont on 12 August. The artillery was briefly rested on 15 August, but was back in action for the early September fighting on the Somme: the battles of Guillemont (4–6 September) and Ginchy (9 September). The latter was an afternoon attack after the field artillery had carried out a deliberate bombardment in the morning, followed by firing the now-familiar creeping barrage. The attack was only partially successful, but the division saw better results in its attack on Gueudecourt during the Battle of Morval (25 September). This time the infantry kept close to their barrage and took their first and second objectives with ease. They repeated the success two days later in taking some stubborn German strongpoints and the retreating enemy were caught in the open by the divisional artillery, which also broke up a German counter-attack. Casualties in the artillery brigade during August had been predominantly due to accidents such as premature explosions of faulty ammunition, and in September had been concentrated in the waggon lines, which were bombed nightly. The guns were relieved on 28 September and moved to the Ypres Salient.

There was a further reorganisation of the divisional artillery in October 1916: C Bty of the brigade was broken up between the other two to bring them up to six guns each; then A and B Btys were assigned to CCLXXV and CCLXXVII Bdes respectively. CCLXXVIII (formerly 1/IV West Lancashire) Bde then ceased to exist. The former 1/7th and 1/8th Lancashire Btys continued to serve with their new brigades for the rest of the war.

Victoria Cross

On 30 November 1917, Sergeant Cyril Edward Gourley of D (H)/CCLXXVI Bty (the former 1/7th Lancashire Bty) won a Victoria Cross (VC). Born in Liverpool and educated at Liverpool University he had joined the IV West Lancashire Brigade in May 1914, and transferred with his battery to CCLXXVI Bde in 1916. He had already won a Military Medal (MM) at Ypres, then on 30 November he was sent up to take over an advanced section of 4.5-inch howitzers at Little Priel Farm during the Battle of Cambrai. Although the enemy got within of the section's front and flank, and with snipers in their rear, Gourley managed to keep one gun in action all day, firing over open sights at enemy parties in full view. Every time his section were driven from their guns, he went back, carrying ammunition and laying the gun himself, assisted by first one and then another of the detachment. When the enemy advanced he pulled his gun out of its pit and engaged a machine gun at , knocking it out with a direct hit. He successfully withdrew his guns at nightfall. Gourley was awarded the VC and a number of the other gunners from his detachment won the MM.Litchfield, Appendix II.

Ammunition Column

While the West Lancashire Division was stationed in Kent in 1915 the Brigade Ammunition Columns were absorbed into the Divisional Ammunition Column (DAC), with the men of 1/IV West Lancs Bde forming 4th Section. In May 1915 the DAC was sent to Egypt where it was attached to 42nd (East Lancashire) Division but kept its original name. While in Egypt the DAC sent reinforcements to 42nd Division's batteries fighting at Gallipoli, with a detachment of 4th Section serving at Cape Helles on ammunition duties. The DAC's first active service as a whole was during the Turkish advance on the Suez Canal in July and August 1916, which was defeated at the Battle of Romani. When 42nd Division was sent to the Western Front in February 1917, the West Lancashire DAC remained in Egypt to form Eastern Force Ammunition Unit, organised for desert warfare, supporting 52nd (Lowland), 53rd (Welsh) and 54th (East Anglian) Divisions. It marched across the Sinai desert in time to join in the Second Battle of Gaza, and then served in this role for the rest of the war, though retaining its original title. Throughout, 4th Section was manned by its original IV Brigade men.

2/IV West Lancashire Brigade

The 2nd West Lancashire (later 57th (2nd West Lancashire)) divisional artillery suffered from a lack of arms and equipment, which seriously delayed its training. One of the field artillery brigades even had to borrow old Carbines from the Preston Church Lad's Brigade. The gunners trained as best they could at Weeton Camp. Eventually, in July 1915, each brigade received two 15-pounder Mk I guns (without sights). Finally, in September the 2nd Line batteries were able to join the rest of the division in Kent and the 2/IV Bde took over the 5-inch howitzers from its 1st Line who were embarking for France.57th Division at Long, Long Trail.
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Serious training could now begin, and was accelerated in January 1916 when the 2/IV Bde received modern 4.5-inch howitzers. In July 1916 the divisional artillery was reorganised on the same lines as those already in France: 2/IV West Lancs Bde was broken up before it had time to adopt its assigned number (CCLXXXVIII or 288) and 2/7th and 2/8th Lancashire batteries were dispersed among the other brigades.

Interwar

In the autumn of 1919, not long after the demobilised men had returned home, Maj Edward Hemelryk (one of the brigade's prewar officers) advertised for former members of the 'Old 4th' to attend a concert where their former CO, Lt-Col S. Heywood Melly, urged them to join the new Territorial Army (TA) when it was launched to replace the TF. On 21 May 1920, Hemelryk was asked by the commander of 55th (West Lancs) Division to form a new medium artillery brigade from the former 4th West Lancs howitzer brigade and the two heavy batteries of the former Lancashire Heavy Brigade, Royal Garrison Artillery. It was to be designated the 4th West Lancashire Medium Brigade, RGA, and consist of two horse-drawn batteries each of six 6-inch howitzers, and two tractor-drawn batteries, one of six 6-inch howitzers, and one of 60-pounders. Recruitment began well, but was disrupted when a Defence Force was formed in case of trouble during the coal strike of April 1921. Lieutenant-Col Hemelryk was asked to raise a 4.5-inch howitzer battery, which took over The Grange and the brigade's five permanent instructors. The Defence Force battery was stood down after its 90-day term of service, and recruitment and training for the TA brigade resumed.

In November 1921, as part of the renumbering of the TA, the brigade was officially designated 59th Medium Brigade, but after a year of representations from Hemelryk and the West Lancs TA Association over the loss of its 'Old 4th' title, it was changed to 59th (4th West Lancashire) Medium Brigade, RGA with the following organisation:''Titles & Designations'', 1927.
* RHQ at The Grange
* 233 (West Lancashire) Medium Bty
* 234 (West Lancashire) Medium Bty (Howitzer)
* 235 (West Lancashire) Medium Bty (Howitzer)
* 236 (West Lancashire) Medium Bty (Howitzer)

(Later, only 236 Bty was designated 'Howitzer'.) The brigade was designated 'Army Troops' in 55th (West Lancashire) Divisional Area. The RGA was subsumed into the Royal Artillery (RA) in 1924, and in 1938 the RA changed its standard unit designation from 'brigade' to 'regiment'. In 1933 the Springwood Cadet Battalion became the 59th (4th West Lancs) Cadet Battery, affiliated to the brigade and commanded by one of its officers.

The WO had decided on horse-traction only for TA medium artillery in peacetime, but Lt-Col Hemelryk had other ideas, and by the annual camp at Larkhill in 1923 the batteries were all towed by Fordson agricultural tractors. The Ford Service Depot at Edge Lane demonstrated that two of these tractors could recover a badly ditched gun without assistance. By 1927 the brigade was also hauling its General Service wagons by tractor. The following year the 60-pdrs were hauled by Latil tractors and the 6-inch howitzers by six-wheeled Morris lorries, and in March 1929 the brigade was fully mechanised, with a saving in manpower requirements.

The brigade's batteries regularly excelled in shooting at practice camps and in the biennial King's Cup competition of the National Artillery Association. This culminated in 1935 with 236 Bty under Captain Philip Toosey winning the cup with its 6-inch howitzers despite competing in the fire-and-movement finals against field batteries armed with the handy 18-pounder. 59th (4th West Lancs) was the first medium brigade to win the King's Cup, and it retained the cup by a record margin in 1937.

World War II

Mobilisation

The TA was doubled in size following the Munich Crisis of 1938, with existing units splitting to form duplicates before the outbreak of World War II. 59th Medium Regiment reorganised in May 1939 as follows:Western Command 3 September 1939 at Patriot Files.
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59th (4th West Lancashire) Medium Regiment, RA59 Med Rgt at RA 1939–45.
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* RHQ at The Grange, Lt-Col H.C. Servaes (CO since December 1936)
* 235 (West Lancashire) Med Bty
* 236 (West Lancashire) Med Bty

68th (4th West Lancashire) Medium Regiment, RA
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* RHQ at Green Lane, Liverpool, Lt-Col H.K. Dimoline, MBE, (previously officer commanding (OC) 233 Bty)
* 233 (West Lancashire) Med Bty
* 234 (West Lancashire) Med Bty

By now, batteries consisted of eight 60-pdrs or 6-inch howitzers.Ellis, ''France and Flanders'', Appendix I.
/ref> Both regiments mobilised in Western Command.

59th (4th West Lancs) Medium Regiment

The efficient 59th Med Rgt had been selected as one of the first units in the new British Expeditionary Force. The TA was mobilised on 26 August and the regiment concentrated at Tarporley, and was joined by a detachment of the Royal Corps of Signals (RCS) and a Light Aid Detachment (LAD) of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps by 2 September, the day before war was declared. As well as modern Scammell gun-tractors for its iron-wheeled 1918-vintage guns, it was supplied with a collection of requisitioned civilian trucks and vans. An advance party set out for France on 24 September, and two days later the transport and equipment went to Newport to embark on the Isle of Man packet boat SS ''Ben-my-Chree''. On 3 October the personnel entrained for Southampton. On 5 October the regiment concentrated under Lt-Col Servaes near Laval where it came under II Corps and moved up to the Lille area.

Battle of France

On arrival, RHQ and 235 Bty occupied Herrin and 236 Bty was in Chemy; they stayed in these villages throughout the winter of 1939–40, sending working parties to dig gun pits at Ascq near the Belgian frontier, and continuing with training. On 1 March the regiment moved to the suburb of Fives Lille, and replaced its steel gun wheels with solid rubber tyres. There was a ''Luftwaffe'' air raid on Lille on the night of 9/10 May and the Battle of France began the next day with the German invasion of the Low Countries. The BEF responded by executing the pre-arranged Plan D, advancing into Belgium to take up defences along the River Dyle. By 15 May the regiment was with II Corps on the Dyle Front, preparing positions at Bethem to cover Louvain.

However, the ''Panzers'' of the ''Wehrmacht's'' Army Group A had broken through the Ardennes and threatened the BEF's flank, so on 16 May it began to withdraw to the River Escaut, before the regiment had the chance to occupy the Berthem positions. On 20 May, 59th Med Rgt came into action at Templeuve-en-Pévèle, where the batteries were shelled and suffered their first casualties. On 22 May they pulled back to previously constructed gun pits covering the River Marcq at Flers. On 26 May the regiment retreated along roads jammed with refugees through Ploegsteert to Neuve Eglise, then next day to Killem-Linde. Here it came under the command of 1st Division (Maj-Gen Harold Alexander) and was ordered to destroy unwanted vehicles, and to spike the guns if they could not be got across the canal into the BEF's perimeter round Dunkirk

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