The 99th Brigade was a formation of the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
during the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. It was raised as part of the new army also known as
Kitchener's Army and assigned to the
33rd Division. The brigade served on the
Western Front. In November 1915, the brigade was transferred to the
2nd Division.
Formation
The brigade was initially formed of four war-raised Service Battalions from the
Royal Fusiliers, primarily recruited from London.
*17th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (Empire)
*22nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (Kensington)
*
23rd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (1st Sportsmen's)
*
24th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (2nd Sportsmen's)
The 17th was formed by the
British Empire Club, a recruiting organisation chaired by General
Sir Bindon Blood,
Herbert Nield
Sir Herbert Nield PC, KC, DL (20 October 1862 – 11 October 1932) was a barrister and Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom.
Biography
Born in Saddleworth, Yorkshire, Nield was admitted a solicitor in 1885, called to the bar ...
, the Conservative MP for Ealing, and Major-General
Lionel Herbert. The Club was authorised to raise a battalion on 30 August; they had completed recruitment and moved into camp by 12 September, under the command of Colonel
George Robert Harland Bowden MP. The 22nd was raised by the Mayor of Kensington,
William Davison, and included two companies of volunteers from the borough as well as two of colonial volunteers from the
King Edward's Horse
King Edward's Horse (The King's Overseas Dominions Regiment) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1901, which saw service in the First World War.
Early history
The regiment was originally formed as part of the Imperial Yeomanry ...
. The 23rd and 24th "
Sportsmen's Battalions" were raised by Mrs Cunliffe-Owen, daughter of Sir
Philip Cunliffe-Owen, who offered to raise "a complete battalion of upper and middle class men, physically fit, able to shoot and ride, up to the age of forty-five"; in the event, she provided a second as well. The men of the 23rd and 24th were a varied group of British and Colonial adventurers, including engineers, fur trappers, big-game hunters, and athletes.
[O'Neill, pp. 19-21]
During training in England, the brigade was reinforced with the
1/5th Battalion,
King's (Liverpool) Regiment, and the 1st Battalion,
Royal Berkshire Regiment.
The 99th Brigade was sent to France in November 1915 as part of 33rd Division, but was quickly transferred to the 2nd Division in exchange for a veteran brigade of regular and territorial troops.
Many of its units were rotated out to other brigades at this point, and by the end of 1915 it consisted of:
*17th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (Empire)
*22nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (Kensington)
*
23rd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (1st Sportsmen's)
*1st Battalion,
King's Royal Rifle Corps
The brigade remained on the
Western Front with 2nd Division for the remainder of the war.
References
*{{cite book, title=The Royal fusiliers in the great war, last=O'Neill, first=H.C., year=1922, publisher=W. Heinemann, place=London, url=https://archive.org/details/royalfusiliersin00onei
**Harvey, Trevor G. (2017) An Army of Brigadiers.UK: Helion & Co
**Harvey, Trevor G. (2015)‘An Army of Brigadiers’ British Brigade Commanders at the Battle of Arras 1917. A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of History and Cultures College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham August 2015. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/6503/1/Harvey16PhD.pdf
Infantry brigades of the British Army in World War I
Pals Brigades of the British Army