The Staffordshire Rangers was a volunteer unit of the British Army from the 'Potteries' area around Stoke-on-Trent. It fought on the Western Front in World War I as the 5th Battalion of the North Staffordshire Regiment. In World War II, it served as a Royal Artillery searchlight regiment in Home Defence and was the first complete searchlight unit to land in North-Western Europe after the D-Day landings of 6 June 1944. Its successors continue to serve in the Army Reserve (previously the Territorial Army) as part of the Mercian Regiment.
Origins As a result of an invasion scare in 1859, Rifle Volunteer Corps (RVCs) began to be organised throughout Great Britain. The 2nd Staffordshire RVC was raised in Longton, near Stoke-on-Trent, on 30 September 1859, and was quickly followed by others. By May 1860, there were enough company-sized RVCs in the Stoke area to be formed into the 1st Staffordshire Administrative Battalion. Brevet Major Coote Manningham Buller, a half-pay officer who had served with the Rifle Brigade during the Crimean War, was appointed lieutenant-colonel to command the battalion.Frederick, pp. 312.Army Lists.Edinburgh Gazette, 30 December 1856.London Gazette 4 May 1860. On 1 June 1880, the administrative battalion was consolidated as the new 2nd Staffordshire RVC, with The Staffordshire Rangers permitted as an official title:Beckett, Appendix VII.Westlake, pp. 217–22. HQ at Stoke-on-Trent A Company at Longton (original 2nd Staffs RVC formed 30 September 1859) B Company at Hanley (3rd Staffs RVC formed 27 September 1859) C Company at Burslem (6th Staffs RVC formed 28 December 1859) D Company at Tunstall (9th Staffs RVC formed 4 January 1860) E Company at Stoke-on-Trent (10th Staffs RVC formed 19 January 1860), with an affiliated Cadet Corps from 1875 to 1884. F Company at Kidsgrove (13th Staffs RVC formed 26 February 1860) G and H Companies at Newcastle-under-Lyme (16th Staffs RVC formed at the Old Barracks at Newcastle-under-Lyme on 24 February 1860) J Company at Leek (28th Staffs RVC formed 26 April 1860) K Company at Hanley (36th Staffs RVC formed 18 June 1860) L Company at Stone (40th Staffs RVC formed 1 December 1860) M Company was formed later at Trentham
Localisation and mobilisation Under the scheme of 'localisation' introduced by the Cardwell Reforms, Regular infantry battalions became linked in pairs assigned to particular counties or localities, and the county Militia and Volunteers were affiliated to them. The populous county of Staffordshire was divided into two under this scheme, and from 1873 the 1st Admin Bn was attached to 'Sub-District No 19', headquartered in Lichfield and associated with the 38th (1st Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot and 80th (Staffordshire Volunteers) Regiment of Foot.Training Depots, 1873–1881.
The 1881 Childers Reforms took Cardwell's scheme a stage further, with the linked battalions converting into single two-battalion regiments. However, while the 38th and 80th became the South Staffordshire Regiment (the 'South Staffs'), the Staffordshire Rangers were instead affiliated to the Prince of Wales's (North Staffordshire) Regiment (the 'North Staffs'), formed from the 64th (2nd Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot and 98th (Prince of Wales's) Regiment of Foot. It was formally designated as the 1st Volunteer Battalion of the North Staffordshire Regiment in 1883. Previously, its uniform had been red with blue facings, but in 1886 it adopted the white facings of the North Staffs.
Under Childers, the Volunteers were assigned a place in the scheme of national defence, and the Staffordshire RVCs were expected to join the Portsmouth garrison in case of war. The Stanhope Memorandum of December 1888 proposed a more comprehensive Mobilisation Scheme for Volunteer units, which would assemble in their own brigades at key points in case of war. In peacetime, these brigades provided a structure for collective training.Beckett, pp. 135, 185–6.Dunlop, pp. 60–1. Under this scheme, the Volunteer Battalions of the 'North Staffs' and 'South Staffs' formed the Staffordshire Volunteer Infantry Brigade, whose place of assembly in case of war was at Wolverhampton.
Territorial Force On the formation of the Territorial Force in 1908, the 1st Volunteer Battalion became the 5th Battalion of the North Staffs, and the Staffordshire Brigade was assigned to the North Midland Division.Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 61–7. There were minor changes to the battalion's organisation:MacDonald, pp. 8–9. A Company at Portland Road, Longton B Company (former B & K) at the Drill Hall, Shelton (one of the battalion's main recruiting areas) C Company at Newcastle Street, Burslem D Company at The Armoury, Bath Street, Tunstall E Company at the Drill Hall, Hill Street, Stoke F Company (former L) at The Armoury, Town Hall, High Street, Stone G Company (former G & H) at The Barracks, Barracks Street, Newcastle-under-Lyme H Company (former M) at Trent Vale, Trentham
At the same time, the men of J Company at Leek mainly transferred to a newly formed 2nd North Midland Brigade, Royal Field Artillery.
World War I
Mobilisation On the outbreak of war in August 1914, the battalion mobilised at Hanley and soon afterwards was invited to volunteer for foreign service. This was accepted by the majority of the men, and the North Midland Division moved to Luton and later to Bishop's Stortford to train for deployment overseas. On 1 November, a 2nd-Line TF battalion designated the 2/5th was formed at Hanley from the Home Service men and new recruits, the original battalion becoming the 1/5th. The North Midland Division began landing in France in late February 1915 and by 8 March had completed its concentration – the first complete TF formation to arrive on the Western Front. It was numbered the 46th (North Midland) Division in May, when the Staffordshire Brigade was numbered 137th (Staffordshire) Brigade.James, pp. 98–9.North Staffs at Long, Long Trail
1/5th Battalion
Hohenzollern Redoubt
The battalion was not involved in the 46th Division's first action (the German flamethrower attack at Hooge in the Ypres Salient on 30–31 July 1915), but was in the forefront of the attack on the Hohenzollern Redoubt in October that year. This was an attempt to restart the failed Battle of Loos, and the division was moved down from Ypres on 1 October for the purpose. The Germans recaptured the Hohenzollern trench system on 3 October, and the new attack was aimed at this point, the actual objective for 1/5th being 'Big Willie' trench followed by 'The Dump' behind the Hohenzollern trenches. It went in at 14.00 on 13 October behind a gas cloud, two companies of 1/5th North Staffs led, the other two being in the second line, followed by bombing parties to clear enemy dugouts. The men of 1/5th Bn are recorded as shouting 'Forward the Potters' and 'Up the Potters' when they attacked. Things did not go according to plan: the British bombardment had been ineffective while the German artillery brought down a barrage on the division's jumping-off trenches. Charging towards 'Big Willie' trench on the flank of the Hohenzollern, the 1/5th North Staffs came under enfilade fire and lost 20 officers and 485 other ranks in the first few minutes of the attack, the highest casualty rate of any battalion in the 46th Division. The killed included the commanding officer, Lt-Col John Knight, who had been a Volunteer since 1883. Only a handful of the battalion got as far as Big Willie, and there they held on desperately against prompt German counter-attacks. The British attack was quickly called off.Cherry, pp. 247–8, 257–8, 266–7, 271, 286–92, 296–7.Rawson, pp. 122–4.MacDonald, pp. 41–4.
In December 1915, the division was ordered to Egypt, and 137th Brigade arrived there by 13 January. A week later, the move was countermanded and the troops re-embarked for France, concentrating near Amiens by mid-February. The only result of this move was an outbreak of infectious disease (Paratyphoid fever and Diphtheria) that weakened units and men for months to come.MacDonald, pp. 50–52, 106–7.
Gommecourt The 46th Division went back into the line in the Vimy sector, suffering a steady trickle of casualties over the coming months. In May, however, it moved south to take part in the forthcoming offensive on the Somme. The division was ordered to assault the north side of the Gommecourt Salient on 1 July 1916. The operation, in conjunction with the 56th (1/1st London) Division attacking from the south, aimed at cutting off the salient, but was in fact a diversion for the main attack a few miles south that opened the Battle of the Somme.MacDonald pp. 57–65.Middlebrook, Somme, p. 73.Edmonds, 1916, Vol I, pp. 252–9, 308. During the preparations for this attack, the 1/5th North Staffs dug practice trenches behind the line for the division to rehearse.MacDonald, p. 109.
This time, 1/5th North Staffs and 1/5th South Staffs were supporting the attack of 137th Brigade, with bombing parties accompanying the 2nd, 3rd and 4th waves, while the rest of the battalions in the 5th–8th waves were to set off from the Support Line and further back, carrying heavy loads of trench equipment for consolidating the anticipated captures.MacDonald pp. 293–4. But the attack was another disaster, the first wave being cut down almost on the start line. The jumping-off and communication trenches were completely inadequate,MacDonald pp. 229–33. and the following waves were badly delayed, completely mixed up, and suffering casualties from German shellfire.MacDonald pp. 338–41. The brigadier tried to organise a second attack by 1/5th North Staffs and 1/5th South Staffs, but the 1/5th North Staffs now had only 200 men present, and their commanding officer was wounded. After several delays they were told to 'sit tight' and abandon an attack that the Official History says 'would have been a mere waste of life'. Even though they had not been in the leading waves, the 1/5th North Staffs lost 219 officers and men out of a strength of about 600. The battalion's commander, Lt-Col W. Burnett, died of his wounds later,Middlebrook, Somme, pp. 171, 193, and Appendix 3.Edmonds, 1916, Vol I, pp. 465–70.MacDonald, pp. 496–8/ and Major A.E.F. Fawcus of the Manchester Regiment was appointed CO in his place.MacDonald p. 555.
Bucquoy
Early 1917 saw the 46th Division still holding the line in the same area. However, at the beginning of March, patrols found that the Germans were beginning to retreat from the Gommecourt defences. The division followed up slowly and cautiously, but on the night of 14 March an attack on Bucquoy Graben (trench) by the 1/5th North Staffs and 1/6th South Staffs led to heavy casualties. The rushed attack had been ordered by V Corps headquarters despite the protests of the divisional commander. The battalions had been on the training grounds practising for the attack when it was brought forward. Although 'the assault was gallantly pressed' (Official History), it was a complete failure. Among the dead from 1/5th North Staffs was Capt Arthur Felix Wedgwood of the famous pottery family.MacDonald, pp. 556-7.Campbell-Johnson, p. 9.Falls, pp. 108–9.Accounts of attack on Bucquoy at Buxton War Memorials
The Germans eventually retreated as far as their new Hindenburg Line defences well beyond the Somme battlefields, but 46th Division was withdrawn from the pursuit on 17 March. It spent some time clearing the battlefield of 1 July 1916 and burying the dead who had been lying in No Man's Land for almost 10 months. The men buried in these small battlefield cemeteries were later re-interred in Gommecourt Wood New Cemetery.MacDonald, pp. 559–6.Gommecourt New Wood CWGC Cemetery
Lens