The Public Schools Battalions were a group of Pals battalions of the British Army during World War I. They were raised in 1914 as part of Kitchener's Army and were originally recruited exclusively from former public schoolboys. When the battalions were taken over by the British Army they became variously the 16th (Service) Battalion (Public Schools) of the Middlesex Regiment and the 18th–21st (Service) Battalions (1st–4th Public Schools) of the Royal Fusiliers. However, Kitchener's Army was faced with a dire shortage of officers and so 'young gentlemen'— public schoolboys and university graduates, including many of those who had enlisted in the Public Schools Battalions — were encouraged to apply for commissions. The battalions' depleted ranks were made up with ordinary volunteers (and later conscripts) and although they retained the Public Schools titles, their exclusive nature was doomed. Two battalions remained to serve on the Western Front: the original battalion was all but destroyed on the first day of the Somme. After hard service both battalions were disbanded in February 1918 before the end of the war.
Recruitment
On 6 August 1914, less than 48 hours after Britain's declaration of war, Parliament sanctioned an increase of 500,000 men for the Regular British Army, and the newly appointed Secretary of State for War, Earl Kitchener of Khartoum issued his famous call to arms: 'Your King and Country Need You', urging the first 100,000 volunteers to come forward. This group of six divisions with supporting arms became known as Kitchener's First New Army, or 'K1'.Becke, Pt 3a, pp. 2 & 8. The flood of volunteers overwhelmed the ability of the army to absorb and organise them, and many of the units were organised under the auspices of local organisations up and down the country. The concept of a 'battalion of pals' serving together originated with the 'Stockbrokers' Battalion' of the Royal Fusiliers raised in the City of London and was taken up enthusiastically as the 'Pals battalions'. These local and pals battalions formed Kitchener's Fifth New Army, or 'K5', authorised on 10 December 1914.Becke, Pt 3b, pp. 31–9; Appendix 2.Middlebrook, pp. 9–11.
One of the most prominent of these units was raised by Major (and self-promoted) Lieutenant-Colonel J.J. Mackay and a committee of businessmen meeting at Harrow-on-the-Hill in Middlesex. They decided to raise a battalion exclusively from former public schoolboys and university men. They established a recruiting office at 24 St James's Street, London SW, and began recruiting on 4 September 1914. Membership was by application only; over 1,500 applications were received including from retired officers who wished to serve in the ranks. Such was the spirit of adventure that many men wished to serve as private soldiers alongside their comrades, rather than as officers. Amongst the recruits were enough former international players for the battalion to field two rugby union and one football team. This became the 16th (Service) Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own), but was often referred to by its members as the 'PSB'.Hurst, pp. 12–7, 23–4.Middlebrook, p. 14.Wyrall, Vol I, pp. 211–2.Frederick, pp. 215–6.James, pp. 93–4.Middlesex Regiment at Long, Long Trail.WO Instruction 59 of July 1915, Appendix IX.
The volunteers were summoned to Waterloo Station on 15 September and boarded a special train for Kempton Park Racecourse where they were to go into camp and begin their training.Hurst, pp. 17–9. Such was the success of the original recruitment drive that four further Public Schools battalions were raised by the Public Schools and University Men's Force of 66 Victoria Street, London, beginning on 11 September. These gathered at Epsom Downs Racecourse and were the battalions that joined the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment).Frederick, pp. 287–9.James, p. 50.Royal Fusiliers at Long, Long Trail.
16th (Service) Battalion, Middlesex Regiment (Public Schools)
Training The battalion was initially issued with blue uniforms and old Long Lee-Enfield rifles due to the shortages of khaki and modern Short Magazine Lee-Enfields (SMLE Mk III). However, a number of the recruits were already familiar with the older rifle from service in their school Cadet Corps. A Regular officer, Lt-Col J. Hamilton Hall, took over command. In January 1915 the battalion was marched to a hutted camp at Woldingham, Surrey, with kit being moved by private cars and hired removal vans. By the end of 1914 the battalion had provided 360 candidates for officer training, many of them replaced by volunteers arriving from different parts of the British Empire. Unfit men were weeded out and posted to the reserve companies, E and F under Maj Mackay (later 24th (Reserve) Battalion see below).Hurst, pp. 30–5, 47–9.
On 10 December 1914 the 16th Middlesex was assigned to 119th Brigade in 40th Division, but the War Office (WO) then decided to convert the K4 battalions into reserve battalions to train reinforcements for the earlier K1–K3 units. So on 27 April 1915 the K5 divisions were renumbered to take up the designations of the K4 formations. The short-lived 40th Division thus became 33rd Division, and 16th Middlesex was in 100th Brigade.33rd Division at Long, Long Trail.
On 1 July 1915 the battalions were formally taken over by the WO and on 9 July the 16th Middlesex moved to Clipstone Camp in Nottinghamshire where all the infantry of the division were concentrated by 13 July. On 3 August they went to Salisbury Plain for final battle training, with 100th Bde at Perham Down.Hurst, pp. 51–2.
33rd Division landed in France to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in November 1915. Advanced parties of the 16th Middlesex arrived at Le Havre on 14 November and the main body of the battalion left Perham Down on 17 November. In December 33 Division took over the trenches on the La Bassée front from Givenchy to 'Mad Point', just north of the Hohenzollern Redoubt, scene of bitter fighting the previous autumn, but now considered a 'quiet' sector suitable for newly arrived formations to learn the routines of trench warfare. 16th Middlesex was introduced to the trenches by 1st Middlesex of 19th Bde, a Regular Army brigade that had been transferred into 33rd Division to exchange experienceHurst, pp. 57–72, 78–82.Seton-Hutchinson, pp. 2–5.Wyrall, Vol I, p. 200.
In its first tour of duty at the Annequin North trenches on 2–14 January the battalion suffered its first casualties, losing one officer and 11 other ranks (ORs) killed, with 24 ORs wounded by a single shell. The next tour (27 January–2 February) was responsible for more serious casualties: first the frontline and support trenches were heavily bombarded on 28 January, then the battalion was ordered to carry out a trench raid on 'Mad Point'. Although the raid was cancelled, the patrol sent out that night to reconnoitre suffered casualties. Then when the battalion was in brigade reserve on the night of 3/4 February, it was ordered to make a bombing attack on three craters at Mine Point. D Company (140 men plus 32 battalion bombers) went out but the attack was a failure; a second attempt next night also failed, with mounting casualties. On 16 February the Germans exploded a large mine; a party of 16th Middlesex held the lip of the crater until relieved by 21st Royal Fusiliers (4th Public Schools).Hurst, pp. 97–105, 109.Wyrall, Vol I, pp. 235–7.
On 25 February the public schools battalions were withdrawn from 33rd Division and assigned to GHQ Troops at Saint-Omer while their best men were selected for officers' commissions; 16th Middlesex supplied 250 candidates. The rest of the battalion was then quarantined at Saint Omer due to an outbreak of German Measles, and it was not until 24 April that it entrained for Doullens, made up to strength with raw recruits. At Doullens it joined 86th Bde in 29th Division, replacing an Irish battalion of the Regular Army that could not get enough reinforcements from Ireland.Becke, Pt 1, pp. 117–24.29th Division at Long, Long Trail.Hurst, pp. 109–15, 123–8.Gillon, pp. 77, 256.Middlebrook, pp. 28, 105, 161.
Somme
29th Division had recently taken over a section of the line in front of Beaumont-Hamel and was preparing for the 'Big Push' (the Battle of the Somme) scheduled for 29 June 1916. The division's objective was to cross of open ground and penetrate the German front line to Beaumont-Hamel, taking the Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt with the assistance of a large mine. The 16th Middlesex, like other battalions, had to provide working parties to carry away the chalk excavated by the tunnellers. The plan hinged on a five-day artillery bombardment to destroy the enemy trenches and barbed wire. Bad weather obscured the targets, patrols (including one from 16th MiddlesexHurst, p. 178.) reported much of the wire still uncut, and the bombardment was extended for two extra days, with Z day put back to 1 July. The 16th Middlesex was in support, behind the 2nd Royal Fusiliers attacking towards the Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt and the 1st Lancashire Fusiliers advancing from a sunken lane in No man's land towards The Copse a few hundred yards further north. Controversially, the Hawthorn Ridge mine was blown at 07.20, 10 minutes before Zero hour, which allowed the Germans time to recover before the infantry went 'over the top'. The explosion was caught by cameraman Geoffrey Malins and later shown worldwide in his film The Battle of the Somme.Cave, pp. 25–30, 49–54.Edmonds, 1916, Vol I, pp. 303–5, 426–32, Sketch 32.Hurst, pp. 131–4, 143–5, 149–55, 164–6, 169–170, Map 8.Gillon, pp. 77–80.Middlebrook, pp. 75–6, 87–8, 119.
Before dawn on 1 July 16 Middlesex under Lt-Col Hall moved up to assembly trenches named Cripps Cut and Cardiff Street, where they waited while the first wave went forward into No man's land five minutes before Zero. Both the Royal Fusiliers and Lancashire Fusiliers were caught by a cross-fire of machine guns from the 'Bergwerk' to the right of Hawthorn Ridge and from the Copse, and by the artillery barrage that the Germans laid down on the British start line. The barrage was so intense and the number of returning wounded so great that the second wave, including B and D Companies of the 16th Middlesex, could not leave their trenches until 07.55. A and C Companies followed, but all were caught by the same fire. The 16th Middlesex just about reached the wire in front of the crater, with heavy loss, but could get no further. Malins' film shows a distant group of men, believed to be from the 16th Middlesex, reaching the crater, then retreating in smaller numbers. 16th Middlesex's adjutant, Captain F.S. Cochram, went forward to reorganise the men of B and D Companies in front of the crater, but was wounded. Following up at 09.15, the Newfoundland Regiment in 88th Bde were cut down, and 29th Division's attack was halted, having achieved nothing. Lt-Col Hall worked to reorganise the survivors and bring up the battalion reserve to hold the front trench. Many of the men remained pinned down among the wounded in front of the wire and were taken prisoner later in the day.Cave, pp. 20–2, 42–6, 57–64.Edmonds 1916, Vol I, pp. 434–6.Hurst, pp. 167–8, 171–205.Gillon, pp. 80–2.Middlebrook, pp. 160–1, 237.Wyrall, Vol I, pp. 247, 260–2.