3rd (Reserve) Battalion On the outbreak of
World War I in August 1914 the 3rd (R) Bn was in its training camp at Felixstowe. The Earl of Westmorland having retired on 31 July, the battalion was now under the command of Lt-Col George Champion de Crespigny. (The Earl of Westmorland was later 'dug out' from retirement and became CO of the
3rd (R) Bn, Lancashire Fusiliers.) The 3rd Northamptons returned to Northampton, where they mobilised on 5 August, reservists and special reservists flooding into the depot be equipped. The left half of 3rd (R) Bn had to be housed in St George's School because the barracks were overflowing. On the night of 8 August the battalion entrained and proceeded to its war station at
Portland Harbour. At Portland the battalion carried out its twin roles of coast defence and preparing reinforcement drafts of reservists, special reservists, returning wounded and new recruits for the regular battalions of the regiment serving on the
Western Front. The first draft of 200 men was prepared as soon as the 1st Northamptons embarked for France. At first the 3rd (R) Bn was billeted in local schools in
Weymouth and employed in digging trenches, while reservists and new recruits flooded in. On 8 October it was ordered to form a new 8th Bn from the surplus men (
see below). By mid-November the battalion had sent drafts of 1385 ORs to the fighting battalions. On 17 November the 3rd (R) Northamptons, together with the
3rd (R) Royal Scots and 3rd (R)
King's Own Scottish Borderers, entrained at Weymouth and proceeded to
Sunderland. The battalion was housed in a school that had been hurriedly cleared of pupils, and was put to work erecting sandbag defences. The brigade's two-part defence scheme involved firstly attacking any attempted landing in their own area, and secondly in case of a landing in strength to evacuate the south side of the river and docks, fall back to prepared positions at the 'Red House' and prepare a third line of defence on the north side. The troops practised taking up these positions. The vulnerability of the North East coast was emphasised a month later when the
Imperial German Navy carried out a
Raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby. The defenders at Sunderland were warned on 15 December, sentries were doubled and everyone was under arms at 06.30 next morning before the attacks began. The gun flashes of the ships bombarding
Hartlepool could be seen from
Seaham Point. On 7 January 1915 the militia brigade returned from Sunderland to Weymouth, where the battalion resumed training the recruits passing through its ranks. By 22 April the battalion had sent 1447 reinforcements to the 1st Bn and 1337 to the 2nd. On 21 May 3rd (R) Bn left Weymouth and moved to
Gillingham, Kent, and went under canvas at Twydall Camp. The area received a
Zeppelin raid on 3 June. The battalion remained in the
Thames and
Medway Garrison for the rest of the war, moving into winter quarters at
Strood in October 1915, before returning to Twydall Camp in March 1916. A series of German air raids on the Medway towns began in September 1917 and continued until the beginning of November; they then resumed in January 1918. During raids the troops were accommodated in the
casemates of
Fort Darland to avoid falling shrapnel from anti-aircraft fire. The Thames & Medway Brigade spent the early part of 1918 in a disused clay pit digging a replica of the mole at Zeebrugge so that the attacking force could practise on it before the
Raid on Zeebrugge on 23 April. After the raid 3rd (R) Bn moved from Fort Darland to Scrapsgate Camp near
Minster on the
Isle of Sheppey. Lieutenant-Col Champion de Crespigny retired from command of the battalion on 1 August 1918 and Maj Reginald Bentinck (a retired
Indian Army officer) assumed temporary command. Just before the
Armistice with Germany Lt-Col Herbert Metcalfe was appointed to the command. He was a former Regular officer of the Northamptons and Inspector of Musketry who had been
Chief Constable of Somerset before the war. He rejoined 3rd (R) Bn as a major in December 1914 and after carrying out duties in the rear areas was sent in December 1917 to take command of
21st (Service) Battalion, Middlesex Regiment (Islington) in France. He had no battle experience and his brigadier thought he was too old, but during the bitter fighting of the
German spring offensive he led the battalion with great distinction, winning two
Distinguished Service Orders before being wounded. After the Armistice, 3rd (R) Bn continued to send drafts to the Western Front as demobilisation of the
British Expeditionary Force got under way, and began education classes to prepare men for civilian life. In February 1919 it moved from Scrapsgate Camp to
Sunbury-on-Thames where it camped at
Kempton Park Racecourse. Then in March moved back to
Sheerness on Sheppey before going to the
Cannock Chase training area, first at
Rugeley and then
Brocton. The
Irish War of Independence had broken out in January and reinforcements were required there: in early April the battalion was placed on 12 hours' notice to move. This was carried out on 13 April, the troops going by train to
Holyhead and then by sea to
Kingstown, arriving at
Curragh Camp early the following morning. Lieutenant-Col Metcalfe was demobilised in May and the command went to Lt-Col Leonard Dobbin (a Regular officer of the Northamptons who had been the adjutant of 3rd (R) Bn 1908–12). The battalion, reduced by demobilisation to just 300 men, moved to
Richmond Barracks,
Templemore, on 3 July, where detachments were sent out to
Birr,
Cashel,
Nenagh and
Thurles to assist the
Royal Irish Constabulary in civil policing. Lieutenant-Col Dobbin handed command back to Maj Bentick. Finally, the cadre of 1st Northamptons arrived at Templemore from the depot and on 14 August absorbed the remaining personnel of 3rd (R) Bn who were not set for immediate demobilisation. The latter battalion was formally demobilised on 30 August, the cadre under Maj Bentinck arriving at Northampton on 7 September.
8th (Reserve) Battalion After
Lord Kitchener issued his call for volunteers in August 1914, the battalions of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd New Armies ('K1', 'K2' and 'K3' of '
Kitchener's Army') were quickly formed at the regimental depots. The SR battalions also swelled with new recruits and were soon well above their establishment strength. Each SR battalion was ordered to use the surplus to form a service battalion of the 4th New Army ('K4'). Accordingly, the 3rd (Reserve) Bn at Weymouth formed the
8th (Service) Bn, Northamptonshire Regiment on 16 September, which became part of 103rd Brigade in 34th Division and began training for active service.
Brevet Col Edward Hartigan, a retired Indian Army officer was appointed CO on 8 November. By January 1915 the battalion was at
Penzance in
Cornwall. In the spring of 1915 the WO decided to convert the K4 battalions into 2nd Reserve units, providing drafts for the K1–K3 battalions in the same way that the SR was doing for the Regular battalions. On 10 April 1915 the 8th Northamptons became
8th (Reserve) Battalion, and in May it went to Colchester Garrison where
6th Reserve Brigade was assembling. 8th (R) Battalion trained drafts for the 5th, 6th and 7th, 8th (Service) Bns of the regiment serving on the Western Front. (In January 1916 it also sent a draft of 300 ORs to the
10th (Service) Battalion, Queens (Royal West Surrey Regiment) (Battersea)). In March 1916 the battalion moved to
Sittingbourne in Kent. Lieutenant-Col Edward Sharpe from the
Middlesex Regiment took over as CO on 17 June 1916. On 1 September 1916 the 2nd Reserve battalions were transferred to the Training Reserve (TR) and the 8th Northamptons was redesignated as
28th Training Reserve Bn in 6th Reserve Brigade. The training staff retained their Northampton badges. On 4 July 1917 it was redesignated
254th (Infantry) Bn, TR, and joined
208th Brigade in
69th (2nd East Anglian) Division at
Thoresby Camp in
Nottinghamshire. On 27 October 1917 it became
51st (Graduated) Bn of the
Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment). By January 1918 it was in winter quarters at
Sheffield in
Yorkshire. In April it left 69th Division and briefly moved to
192nd Bde in
64th Division at
Norwich in
Norfolk before moving on again. By July 1918 it was in
204th Bde,
68th Division, at
Bury St Edmunds in
Suffolk, where it remained until after the Armistice. Early in 1919 the training battalions were converted into service battalions to replace demobilising troops in the
British Army of the Rhine. On 8 February the battalion became 51st (Service) Bn, Queen's and went to Germany where on 1 April it was absorbed into 10th (Service) Battalion, Queens (Royal West Surrey Regiment) (Battersea) in
101st Brigade of
Eastern Division (the same battalion that had been reinforced by the 8th Northamptons in January 1916).
Postwar The SR resumed its old title of Militia in 1921 and then became the
Supplementary Reserve in 1924, but like most militia battalions the 3rd Northamptons remained in abeyance after World War I. Lieutenant-Col Metcalfe was officially in command as late as 1924, but by the outbreak of
World War II in 1939 no officers remained listed for the battalion. (However, the Northamptonshire Regiment did have a number of Supplementary Reserve officers Category B attached to it.) The Militia was formally disbanded in April 1953. ==Commanders==