The 1st Manchester Rifles, later the 6th Battalion, Manchester Regiment, was a unit of Britain's Volunteer Force and Territorial Army recruited in and around Manchester. It served as infantry at Gallipoli, fighting with distinction at the Third Battle of Krithia, and in some of the bitterest battles on the Western Front in the First World War. After conversion into an anti-aircraft unit of the Royal Artillery between the wars, it defended Manchester, Scapa Flow and Ceylon during the Second World War and continued in the air defence role until 1955.
Volunteer Force The enthusiasm for the Volunteer movement following an invasion scare in 1859 saw the creation of many Rifle Volunteer Corps (RVCs) composed of part-time soldiers eager to supplement the Regular British Army in time of need.Beckett.Rupert Bonner, 'The Development of the Rifle Volunteer Movement in Manchester', Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, 2008, Vol 86, No 347, pp. 216–35.Spiers, pp. 163–8.Westlake, Rifle Volunteers. One such unit was the 6th Lancashire RVC raised at Manchester following a public meeting on 20 May 1859. The first 60 volunteers were sworn in on 7 June and began drilling at the Militia Barracks under staff sergeants of the 6th Lancashire Militia. The unit was formally accepted by the Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire, the Earl of Sefton, on 25 August 1859. A number of large Manchester firms such as J.P. & E. Westhead (3rd Company) and J. & N. Philips (8th Company) provided whole companies from their employees, others came from the Manchester Cotton Exchange (4th Company) and from the Athenaeum Gymnastic Club (5th (1st Athenaeum) Company under Captain William Romaine Callender). Volunteers from the townships of Hulme, Moss Side, Cornbrook and Stretford, including groups from the Commercial Mills at Hulme and from T.G. Hill & Co, formed a 7th (Old Trafford) Company. The 6th Lancashire RVC soon had a strength of 12 companies. Viscount Grey de Wilton was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant on 19 February 1860 and by the following month the unit had adopted the additional title of 1st Manchester Rifles. The 2nd and 3rd Manchester Rifles and the Ardwick Artizan Rifles (numbered as the 28th, 40th and 33rd Lancashire RVCs respectively) also appeared at this time, making up an unofficial Manchester Brigade at the Volunteer reviews.Beckett, pp. 59, 70 and Appendix VIIFrederick, pp. 131–2.Westlake, Rifle Volunteers, pp. 141–2, 149.Lancashire Record Office Handlist 726th Manchesters at Regiments.org.
The 1st Manchester Rifle Volunteers opened its headquarters (HQ) in Hopwood Avenue and its members drilled in various warehouses, in Carpenter's Hall, the Bazaar in Bridge Street, at Salford Dyeworks, and at the Cavalry Barracks in Hulme. The Old Trafford company paraded at Pomona Gardens and later at the Infantry Barracks at Salford, where they drilled under Regular Army staff sergeants of the 96th Regiment. The majority of volunteers enrolled in the unit were warehousemen and clerks. The uniform was scarlet with yellow facings.Army Lists
In October 1860, No 12 Company, based at Eccles, transferred to the 46th Lancashire RVC at Swinton but the following year the 6th absorbed the 43rd Lancashire RVC, originally raised on 11 February 1860 at Fallowfield. In March 1865 the 1st Manchesters moved their HQ to an office at 1 Brown Street, and then in July the following year to Wolstenholme's Court, Market Street, Manchester, where it stayed for a number of years. Drills were carried out at Barker's Riding School in Greenheys. From the 1880s the HQ and drill hall was at 3 Stretford Road, Hulme.
Under the 'Localisation of the Forces' introduced by the Cardwell Reforms, the 6th was linked with other Manchester-based RVCs, Militia regiments and the Regular 63rd and 96th Foot into Brigade No 16 (Lancashire). When the 63rd and 96th were amalgamated to create the Manchester Regiment in 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms, the 6th Lancashire RVC was formally attached to it as a Volunteer Battalion on 1 July, and changed its designation to 2nd Volunteer Battalion, Manchester Regiment on 1 September 1887. Under the mobilisation plan introduced by the Stanhope Memorandum in 1891,Dunlop, Appendix A.Spiers, pp. 228–9. the five (later six) Volunteer Battalions of the regiment constituted the Manchester Brigade.
Between 1887 and 1908 the 2nd VB maintained a Mounted infantry company. Volunteers from the battalion served in a Service Company alongside the Regulars of the regiment during the Second Boer War, gaining the battalion its first Battle Honour South Africa 1900–1902.Leslie. According to their memorial, 157 men of the 2nd VB served during the war, of whom six died on active service.IWM War Memorials Register Ref 3286.
Territorial Force When the Volunteers were subsumed into the new Territorial Force (TF) under the Haldane Reforms of 1908,Dunlop, Chapter 14.Spiers, Chapter 10. the 2nd Volunteer Battalion became the 6th Battalion, Manchester Regiment, except 'N' Company at Manchester University, which became part of the Officers' Training Corps and was the forerunner of today's Manchester & Salford University OTC. The Manchester Brigade became part of the East Lancashire Division of the TF.Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 35–41.42 Division at Long, Long Trail.42 Division at Regimental Warpath.
First World War Mobilisation
On the outbreak of war, the division was at its annual camp when the order to mobilise was received at 05.30 on 4 August. The units returned to their drill halls to mobilise, the men being billeted close by. On 20 August, having volunteered for overseas service, the division moved into camps for training, and on 9 September it entrained for Southampton to embark for Egypt. 6th Manchesters were under Lt-Col G.G.P. Heywood, who had been commanding officer (CO) since 1 September 1911.Manchester Rgt at Long, Long TrailManchester Rgt at Regimental Warpath.'Territorial Force 1914–1919' at Museum of the Manchester Regiment.Gibbon, pp. 4–7.
On 31 August 1914, the formation of Reserve or 2nd Line units for each existing TF unit was authorised. Initially these were formed from men who had not volunteered for overseas service, and the recruits who were flooding in. Later they were mobilised for overseas service in their own right. From now on, the original battalion was designated the 1/6th Manchesters, and the 2nd Line was the 2/6th; later a 3rd line battalion was formed.Becke, Pt 2b, pp. 67–74.
1/6th Battalion The East Lancashire Division began to disembark at Alexandria on 25 September and the 6th Manchesters went into garrison at Mustapha Barracks in that city. At first the division's role was simply to relieve Regular troops from the garrison for service on the Western Front, but on 5 November Britain declared war on Turkey and Egypt became a war zone. While the East Lancashire Division went to guard the Suez Canal, the Manchester Bde was detached to garrison Cairo.Gibbon, pp. 7–13.IWM War Memorial Register Ref 18575.
Gallipoli On 3 May 1915 the battalion (under the command of Major C.R. Pilkington, Lt-Col Heywood being unfit) embarked at Alexandria on the SS Derfflinger, a captured German Norddeutscher Lloyd shipping line vessel that had just arrived with a cargo of wounded from the initial landings at Gallipoli. Derfflinger missed her intended landing spot at Cape Helles, and so the Manchesters arrived late on 6 May, after the rest of the division had gone into action. The 1/6th Bn bivouacked above 'W' Beach ('Lancashire Landing') and during the night of 7/8 May was moved, with ammunition, rations and entrenching equipment, but no blankets or baggage, to the Krithia sector, where the men went into the firing line for a 10-day period. On 12 May the brigade made a feint attack to attract attention away from a movement elsewhereWestlake, Gallipoli, pp. 185–6.Gibbon, pp. 17–28.
On 25 May, the East Lancashire Division was formally designated 42nd (East Lancashire) Division, and the Manchester Brigade became 127th (Manchester) Brigade.Gibbon, p. 33.
During another spell in front of Krithia beginning on 25 May, the 1/6th and 1/5th Manchesters advanced their line between 50 and . The lines were now within assaulting distance of the nearest Turkish trenches, and a new attack (the Third Battle of Krithia) was launched on 4 June. After a bombardment starting at 08.00, the assault was launched at noon. The Manchester Brigade led 42nd Division's attack, with half of 1/6th Bn on the left, and in this sector all went well to begin with: despite intense rifle and machine gun fire the brigade took all its first objectives, the second wave passing through and parties advancing up to into the Turkish fourth line. The Official History records that 'The Manchester Territorials, fighting like veterans, were all in high fettle'. There was almost nothing between them and Krithia, and beyond that the ultimate target of Achi Baba. However, things had gone disastrously wrong for 127 Bde's neighbours, and the Turks were counter-attacking both flanks. C Company of 1/6th Bn, which had advanced furthest, was cut off and practically wiped out. Although the Manchesters held on to the first Turkish line they had captured, casualties had been severe, and only 160 out of 770 men of 1/6th Bn answered evening roll-call. The Manchesters consolidated their position on 5 June before being relieved that night and going into reserve.Aspinall-Oglander, pp. 41–54.Carver. pp.49–50.Gibbon, pp. 35–9.
On 12 June the Manchester Brigade was withdrawn from the Gallipoli Peninsula and went to the island of Imbros for rest. It returned to Cape Helles on 22 June and 1/6th Bn went up to the firing line in the Krithia Nullah sector on 24 June. They held the Turkish trench they had captured while the formations on either flank attempted to improve their positions. The sector was given trench names reminiscent of home: 'Stretford Road', 'Greenheys Lane', 'Ardwick Green', etc. The 1/6th Manchesters then spent the next six weeks alternating in the line with 1/5th and 1/8th Bns, taking casualties steadily.Sergeant Harry Hopwood, 1/6th Manchesters, 1 July 1916, quoted in Carver, pp. 53–4.Gbbon, p. 41.
A new attack at Helles (the Battle of Krithia Vineyard) began in August. 42nd Division delivered its main attack at 09.45 on 7 August, but despite the bombardment and assistance from machine guns and trench mortars, 127 Bde could make little progress. 1/6th Manchesters, described by the divisional commander as 'that fine battalion', seized a Turkish redoubt in Krithia Nullah and held it 'until they were practically annihilated'. By 19.15 that evening the Manchesters were back in their old positions. 127th Brigade was temporarily unfit for service and its total strength was only that of a single battalion, though it relieved 125th (Lancashire Fusiliers) Brigade on 8/9 August and continued the fight, with 1/6th Bn doing good work in defending a trench near Krithia Vineyard. After a short rest and receiving a few drafts and returning casualties, the division was put back into the line on 19 August, still badly under strength and suffering from sickness. The 1/5th and 1/6th Manchesters were temporarily combined under the command of Lt-Col Pilkington.Aspinall-Oglander, p. 173.Gibbon, pp. 43–9.