The British 30th Division was a New Armydivision that was originally made up of battalions raised by public subscription or private patronage. The division was taken over by the British War Office in August 1915 and moved to France in December. It served on the Western Front for the duration of the First World War.
Formation
On 28 July 1914, the First World War started. Seven days later, on 4 August, Germany invaded Belgium and the United Kingdom entered the war to uphold the Treaty of London (1839).[2] Britain faced a continental war it was not prepared to fight, and while the Expeditionary Force was dispatched to France and Belgium, the country lacked the forces required for the protracted war envisioned by the military leadership.[3][a]
On 5 August, Herbert Kitchener was appointed Secretary of State for War. This position allowed Kitchener a largely independent role within the war cabinet.[4] His first act, the next day, was to request parliamentary approval to increase the strength of the British Army by 500,000 men. Over the following days, the Army Council laid out plans for Kitchener's proposed expansion: traditional recruitment would be used to expand the regular army, bypassing the county associations and thus avoiding expanding the Territorial Force. The first wave, originally termed the New Expeditionary Force, became the First New Army.[5] Historian Peter Simkins wrote that Kitchener held the Territorial Force in disdain, calling it an ill-trained "Town Clerk's Army", and this was partially why he set up a parallel recruitment system. Simkins noted that it would be a "gross oversimplification to ascribe Kitchener's decision merely to prejudice and ignorance". Had the Territorial Force been used as the basis for expansion it would have been "swamped" and "rendered temporarily incapable of carrying out any function at all", when a "viable home defence force" was needed due to the threat of a German invasion.[6]
On 10 December 1914, the formation of the Fifth New Army was authorized and consisted of the 37th Division with the 110th, the 111th, and the 112th brigades. Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby was instrumental in raising pals battalions for the King's Regiment (Liverpool) and the Manchester Regiment, which formed the basis of these newly formed brigades and the division. In April 1915, the Fourth New Army was broken-up to provide reinforcements for other new army divisions. This resulted in a series of number and name changes, with the Fifth New Army becoming the Fourth; the 37th Division was renumbered as the 30th Division; and the 110th and 111th Brigades became the 89th and 90th Brigades. The 112th Brigade was transferred to the 35th Division, and was exchanged with the 126th Brigade that was renumbered as the 91st when it joined the 30th.[1][7]
The division started to assemble, as a single formation, in April 1915 near Grantham and the first general officer commanding (Major-GeneralWilliam Fry) was appointed on 4 May 1915. The final elements of the division did not join until August, owing to equipment shortages. On 14 September, the division departed Lincolnshire for Larkhill in the Salisbury Plain Training Area to undergo final training before being deployed to France. This lasted until 31 October, when the order for deployment was received. While advance parties left for France the next day, the rest of the formation was reviewed on 4 November by Edward Stanley. Two days later, a move to Southampton and Folkestone took place. Troops sent to the former were transported to Le Havre, while those sent to the later were dispatched to France via Boulogne. By 12 November, the division had finished its move and was located at Ailly-le-Haut-Clocher, northwest of Amiens.[8] While some sort of insignia was displayed on the helmet and worn on the uniform sleeves once deployed, little is known of what they consisted of.[1]
Service during the First World War
During 1916, the division fought in the Battle of the Somme, specifically: the Battle of Albert (including the First day on the Somme and the capture of Montauban), the Capture of Trônes Wood, and the Battle of Le Transloy. In 1917, it took part in the First and the Second battles of the Scarpe, which formed part of the larger Battle of Arras; this was followed by the Battle of Pilckem Ridge later in the year. The final year of the war saw the division engaged in the 1918 First Battle of the Somme, including the Battle of St. Quentin, actions at the crossing of the Somme, and the Battle of Rosieres. This was followed by the Battle of the Lys.[9] Following these battles, the remnants of the infantry were withdrawn rendering the formation a division in name only. In July, it was reconstituted as a fighting formation.[10] Around this time, a variation of the crest of the Stanley family–an eagle standing above a swaddled infant–was adopted as the divisional insignia.[1] The formation then went on to take part in the culminating offensive of the war, the Hundred Days Offensive. The division's total losses during the war amounted to 35,182 killed, wounded, or reported as missing.[9]
Following the armistice of 11 November 1918, the division moved back away from the frontline area until it reached the vicinity of Blaringhem, with the HQ based at Renescure, on 4 December. Towards the end of the month, the formation was tasked with supporting efforts at the army's supply ports at Dunkirk, Calais, Boulogne, and Étaples and relocated to them in January. By the middle of the following month, it was only supporting the ports at Boulogne and Étaples. Meanwhile, demobilization had started although the division's first troops did not return to the UK until May and the process had finished by 1 September when the division ceased to exist.[11]
17th (Service) Battalion, King's Regiment (Liverpool) (left June 1918)
18th (Service) Battalion, King's Regiment (Liverpool) (transferred to 21st Brigade December 1915, returned from 21st Brigade February 1918, left June 1918)
19th (Service) Battalion, King's Regiment (Liverpool) (reduced to cadre left 19 June 1918)[12]
20th (Service) Battalion, King's Regiment (Liverpool) (disbanded February 1918)
2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment (joined from 21st Brigade 20 December 1915, transferred to 90th Brigade February 1918)
89th Machine Gun Company (joined 13 March 1916, moved to 30th Battalion M.G.C. 1 March 1918)
89th Trench Mortar Battery (joined by 16 June 1916)
125th Heavy Battery, R.G.A. (raised with the Division but moved independently to France on 29 April 1916)
30th Divisional Ammunition Column R.F.A.
V.30 Heavy Trench Mortar Battery, R.F.A. (joined by 7 October 1916, left by 11 February 1918)
X.30, Y.30 and Z.30 Medium Mortar Batteries, R.F.A.(joined April 1916, 11 February 1918, Z broken up and batteries distributed among X and Y batteries)
Becke, Major A.F. (1945). Order of Battle of Divisions Part 3B. New Army Divisions (30–41) & 63rd (RN) Division. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. ISBN978-1-871167-08-5.
Cook, Chris; Stevenson, John (2005). The Routledge Companion to Britain in the Nineteenth Century, 1815–1914. Oxon: Routledge. ISBN978-0-415-34582-8.
Davies, Frank; Maddocks, Graham (2014) [1995]. Bloody Red Tabs: General Officer Casualties of the Great War 1914–1918. Barnsley: Leo Cooper. ISBN978-1-78346-237-7.
