Overview

"This book is a study of the importance and significance of community identity to a fighting unit in the First World War. In this case the unit in question is primarily 7th King's Regiment and more widely the 55th West Lancashire Division, 1914-18. The book is based upon the author's own PhD thesis ""The 1/7th Battalion King's Liverpool Regiment and the Great War – the experience of a Territorial battalion and its Home Towns"". It is an analysis of the relevance of the local communities to the battalion and its division and its combat effectiveness; the role played by the army in the local communities' involvement in the War; and the post-War ramifications of this relationship. In focusing on 1/7th Battalion Kings Liverpool Regiment, a Territorial battalion based in Bootle, Southport and the surrounding area of south west Lancashire, the thesis follows a typical Territorial unit and its home towns from recruitment and establishment to demobilisation and beyond. A wide range of primary sources have been examined including local newspapers, local Council records, official War Diaries of the various units, battle reports and private papers of several of the combatants in an extensive compilation of research. New perspectives are presented on several aspects of the First World War including the Lusitania riots; the battles of Festubert, 1915, and Givenchy, 1918; and the role of charities in post-War reconstruction work. It also raises general issues about the role of the Territorial Force and draws attention to several gaps in the social and military historiography of the War.The conclusion of the book is that local and community identity contributed significantly towards the 1/7th Kings' morale, organisation and hence battle effectiveness. This contribution initially stemmed from the local recruits themselves but was actively nurtured and encouraged by commanders at Battalion, Brigade and Divisional level throughout the War. It also establishes that by putting the local Battalion at the centre of its concerns, the rather disparate communities were able to organise, coalesce and maximise their War effort and support. Finally, it demonstrates in the post-War years, that, despite the fluctuations in this mutually important relationship, the local identification with the Battalion was maintained in memorialisation, remembrance and reconstruction. 28 b/w ills., 6 b/w maps, 5 charts, 12 tables"

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9781911512165

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Adrian Gregson grew up on the Fylde coast in Lancashire and then studied firstly History and then Archives at Leicester and Liverpool Universities. His PhD thesis “The 1/7th Battalion King’s Liverpool Regiment and the Great War – the experience of a Territorial battalion and its Home Towns” was awarded in 2004 from the University of Worcester (Coventry). Adrian is also a local politician, twice being elected Leader of Worcester City Council. Adrian has written articles on the 55th West Lancashire Division and also on the British League of Help for Devastated Areas of France. He is currently Archives Policy and Collections Manager for Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service, and Worcester Diocesan Archivist, based at the Hive in Worcester. In 2014 he co-authored the book Worcestershire’s War, with Dr Maggie Andrews and Dr John Peters, Amberley Publishing 2014.Adrian contributed a chapter to the 2015 volume Courage without Glory: The British Army on the Western Front 1915, edited by Spencer Jones, Helion 2015. From 2013-2019 Adrian is Project Manager for the Heritage Lottery Funded Project Worcestershire World War One Hundred www.ww1worcestershire.co.uk This is his first book.

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