Nominal Roll

N.C.O’s and OTHER RANKS’ who served in the 11th (Accrington) Battalion, EAST LANCASHIRE REGIMENT, 1914–1919 and incorporating a Roll of Honour.

Complied by Fergus Read (Member O.M.R.S. 1910)

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Sources: Official Medal Roll Returns, East Lancashire Regiment, British War Medal/Victory Medal.

Absent Voters Lists.

Soldiers Died in the Great War.

Registers of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Local Newspapers.

NOTES

The nominal rolls has been compiled primarily from the medal returns. Where possible details have been checked against the other sources.

It is believed that this is the first occasion on which a near-complete roll has been attempted for a wartime infantry battalion. The total number of individuals is over 3,600. The battalion therefore had to duplicate itself more than 3 times during the course of the war, to replace casualties — a classic illustration of the carnage of the First World War.

The ‘original’ pals, whom we might define as those who left for North Wales in February 1915 and who were listed by the Accrington Observer and Times of 23rd February 1915, were numbered in sequence 15,000–16,070, and approximately 17,830 to 18,080. Special emphasis was placed on tracing the eventual fates of these individuals. Several were found to have died later serving with other units; details of others will be gratefully received.

N.B.

The Medal Rolls are not always easy to interpret, especially with regard to ranks held in a particular battalion. For this reason, and given the wartime necessity for ‘acting’ and ‘temporary’ ranks, all ranks in this roll should be treated with flexibility. Many Privates had periods of being Acting Corporals, even Sergeants, but remained, in the official records, as Privates.

The compiler would like to thank Julia Marsh, Simon Baines and Maureen Wignall for their assistance with extracting and collating the information, and Colonel J.A.C. Bird, O.B.E. for granting access to the medal rolls.

All revisions, please, to Fergus Read,

c/o Lancashire County and Regimental Museum,

Stanley Street,

PRESTON,

PR1 4YP.

Please note that the medal rolls are not available for public access at present, but will be available shortly at the Public Records Office, Kew, and, for approved researchers, at Regimental Headquarters, Queen’s Lancashire Regiment, Fulwood Barracks, Preston.