The 4th (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers) was a Volunteer unit of Britain's Territorial Army (TA) recruited from East London. During World War I it raised four battalions, which carried out garrison duty in Malta and Egypt, served at Gallipoli and against the Senussi, and saw a great deal of action on the Western Front, notably in the Attack on the Gommecourt Salient in 1916, at Bullecourt in 1917 and at Oppy Wood and Chipilly Ridge in 1918. During World War II it served as an anti-aircraft regiment in the Battle of France and during the Blitz in 1940 and in North West Europe in 1944–45. It continued in the TA until 1961.
Volunteer Force An invasion scare in 1859 led to the creation of the Volunteer Force and huge enthusiasm for joining local Rifle Volunteer Corps (RVCs).Beckett. The Tower Hamlets area of East London was no exception. The first RVC in the area was short-lived, but the 2nd (Hackney) Tower Hamlets RVC formed on 6 April 1860 at Dalston soon had seven companies:Frederick, p. 286.Westlake, Rifle Volunteers, pp. 238–239.Beckett, Appendix VII.H.R. Martin, pp. 2–5.4th City of London at Regiments.org No 1 Company at Hackney No 2 Company at Dalston No 3 Company at Bow Nos 4, 5 & 6 Companies at Poplar and Limehouse No 7 Company at Clapton By the end of the year the HQ had moved to South Hackney. One of the original officers was Captain Joseph d'Aguilar Samuda, a Thames-side shipbuilder.
Similarly, the 4th Tower Hamlets RVC was formed in June 1860 at St Leonard's, Shoreditch, initially with five companies, and the 6th Tower Hamlets RVC at Dalston in September 1860, with eight companies by the end of the year (many recruits probably coming from the failed 1st Tower Hamlets RVC).
The 4th Tower Hamlets RVC moved its HQ to Robert Street, Hoxton in 1864, and in 1868 merged with the 2nd Corps to form the 1st Tower Hamlets Rifle Volunteer Brigade (THVRB), with 15 companies (seven from the 2nd, eight from the 4th), adopting Robert St as its HQ. The 6th Corps adopted the title of North East London Rifles in 1865, and on 1 January 1874 it too merged its 12 companies into the 1st Tower Hamlets, initially giving 27 companies, soon reduced to 16 and later 12. By now the unit had moved its HQ to the former 6th Tower Hamlets RVC HQ at 112 Shaftesbury Street, off City Road in Hoxton. Its regimental badge was the White Tower of the Tower of London and it adopted scarlet uniforms (in place of the grey of many early Volunteer units).Anon, Old 2/4th, pp. 1–2.Barnes, Appendix III.Grimwade, p. 1.
When the Cardwell Reforms introduced 'Localisation of the Forces' in 1873, the THRVB was brigaded, together with several other Volunteer and Militia battalions in the London area, in Brigade No 53 & 54 under the Rifle Brigade.Army List, various dates. As part of the Childers Reforms in 1881, the THRVB became a Volunteer Battalion of the Rifle Brigade, but without changing its title or its scarlet uniform faced with blue. When the Volunteers were assigned a role in the mobilisation scheme outlined by the Stanhope Memorandum of 1888, the Tower Hamlets RVCs formed part of the East London Brigade, together with the City of London RVCs and the Middlesex RVCs formed by employees of the Customs and Post Office. The brigade was administered by the Scots Guards.
The THRVB formed a Machine Gun Battery in 1886, and this became the nucleus of the MG section of the City Imperial Volunteers (CIV) that served in the 2nd Boer War. One officer and 38 other ranks (ORs) of the battalion served with the CIV, and a further two officers and 61 ORs with other units. This service gained the battalion its first Battle honour, South Africa 1900.Anon, Old 2/4th, p. 3.4th Londons at Stepping Forward London. After the Boer war the Volunteer Infantry Brigades were reorganised and the THRVB was posted to the 2nd London Brigade, administered by the newly-formed Irish Guards.
The THRVB transferred from the Rifle Brigade to the Royal Fusiliers (The City of London Regiment) on 7 May 1903 when its title changed to the 4th Volunteer Battalion, Royal Fusiliers. Subsequently, it became part of the Royal Fusiliers Brigade in the mobilisation scheme.
Territorial Force On the formation of the Territorial Force (TF) in 1908 as part of the Haldane Reforms, the Volunteer units in and around London were formed into a new London Regiment, with the 4th Volunteer Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers becoming the 4th (City of London) Battalion, the London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), conveniently shortened to '4th Londons'. At the time of the transfer to the TF, the 4th VB had 47 officers, 71 sergeants and 1230 ORs. Of these, 32 officers and 452 non-commissioned officers and ORs transferred to the new 4th Londons, many of the others transferring to new TF units of the Army Service Corps and Royal Army Medical Corps or to mounted units being formed.Anon, Old 2/4th, p. 4.H. Martin, pp. 6–7.Barnes, Appendix IV.London Gazette 20 March 1908 The 1st–4th Bns London Regiment (formerly the 1st–4th VBs Royal Fusiliers) remained brigaded together as the 1st London Brigade of the 1st London Division of the TF.Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 141–147.56 Division at Long, Long Trail56 Division at Regimental Warpath
World War I Mobilisation The 1st London Division left by train from Waterloo station on Sunday 2 August 1914 for its annual training camp, which was to be held at Wareham, Dorset. No sooner had the 4th Londons reached camp than it received orders to return to London for mobilisation. This process had been carefully planned, and was completed on 3 August, the battalion entraining again shortly after midnight, so that before war was declared on 4 August the battalions of the 1st London Brigade were already at their war stations, guarding the vital London and South Western Railway line between Waterloo and Southampton. The 4th Londons were assigned the length from Waterloo to Farnborough, Hampshire, and the branch line to Alton and Bordon Camp. The Transport Section remained at Hoxton to complete mobilisation.Anon, Old 2/4th, p. 5.Grimwade, pp. 2–4.D. Martin, pp. 4, 7.London Rgt at Long, Long Trail
On the night of 31 August/1 September the 1st London Bde was ordered back to its peacetime headquarters to mobilise for garrison duty overseas. On 4 September the 4th Londons entrained at Waterloo for Southampton, there to embark on HM Transport Galician bound for Malta. Four officers and a small number of NCOs and men ruled medically unfit for overseas service were left at Hoxton to begin recruiting a reserve battalion. Shortly afterwards this was designated the 2/4th Londons, after which the parent unit became the 1/4th Battalion. Later the 3/4th and 4/4th Battalions were also raised (see below).Grimwade, pp. 5–7, 14.London Rgt at Regimental Warpath
1/4th Battalion Malta 1914 The battalions of the 1st London Bde were the first TF units to go on service overseas. The 1/4th Londons disembarked in Malta on 14 September and began coastal defence and guard duties as well as training the 250 recruits in its ranks. On 2 January 1915 the 1/4th Bn was relieved by the 2/4th Bn (leaving its obsolete rifles and equipment for the newcomers) and embarked on HMT Avon for Marseille in France.Grimwade, pp. 8–14.Overseas Garrisons at Regimental Warpath
Neuve Chapelle After re-equipping with charger-loading Long Lee-Enfield rifles and 1914 pattern webbing equipment, 1/4th Londons joined GHQ Reserve at Saint-Omer for further training on 25 January. The battalion joined the Ferozepore Brigade of the 3rd (Lahore) Division on 20 February.Grimwade, pp. 18–23.Perry, pp. 50–52.3 Indian Division at Regimental WarpathMacDonald, p. 53.
At the beginning of the Battle of Neuve Chapelle on 10 March the Ferozepore Brigade was in Army Reserve, but it moved up on 12 March, the 1/4th Londons relieving the 41st Dogras of the 7th (Meerut) Division after an exhausting approach march: 'This position was perhaps not an ideal one for the first introduction of a raw battalion to trench warfare'.Grimwade, pp. 26–33. The planned attack did not materialise, and the 1/4th Londons returned to billets, having suffered 14 wounded. The battalion then entered the round of spells of trench duty alternating with periods in reserve.Grimwade, pp. 33–39.
2nd Ypres The Germans launched an attack preceded by poison gas at Ypres on 22 April. On 23 and 24 April the 1/4th Bn force-marched towards the Ypres Salient and went into the firing line on 26 April, digging new assembly trenches on a reverse slope. At 14.30 the battalion moved up in support of a British counter-attack, but the attack had failed, and the Londons marched across open ground under shrapnel shell fire to a sunken lane where the remnants of the attackers were sheltering. Here they dug a new temporary line. The following day the attack was renewed, the battalion coming under fire as it crossed the crest line. Heavy casualties were suffered in the valley beyond, until the battalion was withdrawn into brigade reserve after nightfall. The Ferozepore Brigade was relieved on 30 April and withdrew under shellfire. Between 26 and 30 April the 1/4th Londons had lost 365 out of 600 men; while withdrawing it was joined by a draft of 50 from the 3/4th Londons.Grimwade, pp. 40–57.
The weak Ferozepore Brigade immediately went into hastily dug support lines behind the Meerut Division's attacks on Aubers Ridge (9 May) and Festubert (15/16 May), where it was shelled but was not involved in the disastrous attacks. The 1/4th Londons also suffered a large number of casualties from sickness in its shallow trenches.Grimwade, pp. 58–61. After this, the reinforcement problems meant that the Indian Corps was not used offensively for the rest of the year, and 1/4th Londons spent the summer of 1915 taking turns in holding sections of trench in the La Bassée Road area and providing working parties while suffering a trickle of casualties.Grimwade, pp. 62–71.
The Lahore Division was transferred to Mesopotamia in November 1915, but its British battalions remained in France. 1/4th Londons were briefly attached to the 46th (North Midland) Division but almost immediately joined 140th (4th London) Brigade in 47th (1/2nd London) Division.Maude, p. 43.Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 63, 71.Grimwade, p. 72. The division spent the next month in training, before re-entering the line in the very active Hohenzollern redoubt sector. Being still weak in numbers, the 1/4th Londons were kept in reserve, but their bombing parties did go into the front line to reinforce other units under pressure from trench raids.Grimwade, 73–81.
56th (1/1st London) Division In February 1916 the battalion returned to the 1st London Division, which was being reformed in France as the 56th (1/1st London) Division, with the battalion assigned to the 2nd London Brigade numbered as 168th (2nd London) Brigade.MacDonald, pp. 56–59.Ward, pp. 3–10. On 7 May the battalion received a large draft of veterans of Gallipoli and Egypt from the 2/4th Bn which was being disbanded (see below). Further drafts were received from the 2/4th and 4/4th Bns in May and June, bringing it up to strength.MacDonald, pp. 78, 95.Grimwade, pp. 148–149, 152.
56th Division was scheduled to undertake its first operation in the Attack on the Gommecourt Salient at the start of the Battle of the Somme. On the night of 25/26 May the 1/4th Bn dug a new jumping-off trench half-way across No man's land. Over following days and nights this position was enlarged and linked with communication trenches, during which the battalion suffered a trickle of casualties.MacDonald, pp. 80–83, 89, 110.Grimwade, pp. 145–148.