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UK Military Sherwood Foresters
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Introduction
The Sherwood Foresters were a "Territorial" unit of the British Army, somewhat like the various "National Guard" units in the United States which are set up by each state. The philosophy was that these units would have a common bond because the men would all be from neighboring parishes or counties. But in reality, a man from any county could join as long as they could travel to participate in drills. During time of war, all such ideas of restrictions in origin were set aside.
Did men from abroad serve in British Regiments and vice versa? Yes. Many men who had emigrated to Canada for instance, came home and joined their local regiment. Usually because the men saw it as a cheap way of getting home to visit relatives. Sadly many never got back to their adopted countries again.
One advantage of "Territorial" units is that the local civilian population often "adopted" the unit and took up collections to buy the troops Wool caps or Macintosh capes or even, in more than one case, to buy them a machine gun. Some of the larger towns would even adopt a warship if it had some local lads assigned to it.
The Newark War Bulletin for February 22nd, 1915, notes that a horse-drawn Field Kitchen had been funded for the 8th Battalion Sherwood Foresters.
Although at least one battalion was already at the front, the rest of the Division (four battalions) of the Sherwood Foresters shipped out for France at the end of February, 1915.
Prisoner of War (WWI) List
This list is copied from the "Great War Bulletin" for Newark, 18th January 1915. Their source was a Ministry of Defense list given to them by the German government. Please note the date of the list - it is not a complete list from WWI. As such, errors are probably frequent. I cannot correct the original document or the copies (as they are historical documents), but I can post a list of "errata" at the end of this list if you should spot an error.
Rank Serial inits surname Pte 9822 C Allen Pte 9168 Altoft Sgt 10874 C Astill Pte 8685 J Attenborough Pte 8528 J Bailey Pte 10000 W Barber Pte 8877 R Barnett Pte 5317 G Blakeway Pte 9185 H Bland Pte 12161 H Bond Pte 8568 C Bowley Cpl 6280 T Bradshaw L-Cpl 1258 D Bray Pte 8884 A Brentnall Pte 12258 W Brett Dr 10798 W Brittle L-Cpl 8514 W Burburry Pte 9780 A Burman Pte 12156 A Burrows Pte 11899 C Burton Pte 10076 G Clarke L-Cpl 12046 H Clay Pte 12126 F Coleman Pte 12115 A Coles Dr 11320 W Collins Pte 9330 T Colson Sgt 5621 H T Cragg Pte 8625 T Cunningham Pte 9494 W Cutts Pte 9792 B Davenport Pte 8797 C Davis Pte 9383 C Dickenson L-Cpl 11774 B Dickson Pte 9638 A Dove Pte 9547 W Drury Dr 11682 F Else Pte 9880 A Fisher Pte 8668 A Giddings Pte 8622 Gill Pte 9771 W Glasson Pte 12122 W Grigg Pte 7194 J Grimwood Pte 8709 Hackett Pte 8844 J Harding Pte 9803 H Heard Pte 10015 T Hemsley Pte 12524 O Kee L-Cpl 9852 G Keeley L-Cpl 9142 W Kelly Pte 12685 H Knowles L-Cpl 8871 W Langham Pte 9319 S Leigh Pte 9319 S Leigh Pte ?290 W Lester Pte 9290 W Lester Pte 16090 B Lewis Pte 10089 J Ley Pte 10278 C Lyons Pte 9374 L Marsh L-Cpl l11855 F Marshall Pte 8730 J May Pte 11149 T Mee L-Cpl 9819 W Merry Pte 9840 A Miller Pte 12168 T Mullins Pte T Newbold Pte 99999 H Newborn Pte 2111 W Newton Pte 10638 A Pacey Cpl 1148 G Parrish Pte 9322 W Parry Pte 4210 R Pear Pte 8428 T Pearson Pte 9061 B Perry Pte 9501 A Peyton Sgt 8834 P Phillips Pte 8918 W Pint Cpl 11765 W Pykett Pte 12054 A Reaney Pte 8785 Redford Pte 9620 B Redgate Pte 9137 G Reid Pte 10775 J Richardson Pte 12296 C Rick Pte 9496 L Rippon Pte 9711 F Roberts Pte 9650 C Rockley Pte 10128 T Rollett Pte 9249 J Rowbottom Pte 9283 W Sheppard L-Cpl 9211 H Shillock Pte ?931 E Sibert Pte 9835 C Singleton Pte 9635 H Smeeton Pte 8462 E Smith Pte 14162 B Smith Pte 1267 W Smith Pte 861 W Smith Pte ??98 J South Pte ?961 W Spencer Pte 9180 G Stedman Pte 9628 E Stevenson Pte 10963 J Taylor Pte 9415 E Theobold Sgt 11562 S Thompson Pte 9997 F Tombs Pte 8934 G Toole Pte 9684 J Topham Pte 12353 W Tulley Sgt 9921 A Walden Pte 9408 E Welsh Pte 9418 F Whitehead L-Cpl 11628 W Wilkes L-Cpl 9912 J Williamson Pte 12458 G Wilson Pte 10693 H Wilson Pte 10304 P Wood Pte 958 C Woodhous
Errata
None so far.