The Hull Rifles, later the 4th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment, was a unit of Britain's Volunteer Force first raised in Kingston upon Hull in 1859. During the First World War it served on the Western front, seeing a great deal of action at Ypres, the Somme (where it was one of the first infantry units ever to cooperate with tanks), Arras, and in the German spring offensive, when it was virtually destroyed. Its 2nd Line battalion garrisoned Bermuda for much of the war. During the Second World War the 4th Battalion was captured at the Battle of Gazala, but its wartime duplicate unit fought on through the Western Desert, Tunisia and Sicily, and then landed in Normandy on D Day. The battalion served in the postwar Territorial Army until 1960, and its successors in today's Army Reserve continue in Hull.
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.Spiers, pp. 163–8. A public meeting to form an RVC in Kingston upon Hull (Hull) in the East Riding of Yorkshire was held in February 1859, but the proposal was defeated by an active minority on political grounds. However, another meeting held on 21 May resolved to raise the East Yorkshire Rifle Volunteers, and 10 independent company-sized RVCs were quickly formed, their officers receiving their commissions the following year. In March 1860 these were formed into two battalions: the 1st (Consolidated) Battalion, known as the 'Hull Rifles' comprised all the RVCs in Hull, while the 2nd (Administrative) Battalion incorporated those outside the town. The 1st (Consolidated) Bn was organised as follows:Army List, various dates.Beckett, Appendix VII.Frederick, p. 181.Norfolk, pp. 35–40, 56.Westlake, pp. 253–4. 1st Yorkshire (East Riding) RVC, raised 9 November 1859, became A Company 2nd Yorkshire (East Riding) RVC, raised 24 November 1859, became B Company 3rd Yorkshire (East Riding) RVC, raised 24 November 1859, became C Company 4th Yorkshire (East Riding) RVC, raised 5 January 1860, became D Company 7th Yorkshire (East Riding) RVC, raised 3 March 1860, became E Company 9th Yorkshire (East Riding) RVC, raised 12 May 1860, became F Company
The first commanding officer (CO) of the 1st (Consolidated) Battalion, appointed on 11 August 1860, was Lieutenant-Colonel) Joseph Walker Pease, who was an enthusiastic Volunteer despite his Quaker beliefs. He had an interest in the Cyclops Foundry, the premises of which the unit used for drills. By the end of 1860 the battalion had eight companies.Beckett, p. 29. In 1864 the battalion opened a dedicated drill hall, named Londesborough Barracks after its Honorary Colonel, the Earl of Londesborough.Hull at Drill Hall Project.East Riding at Great War Centenary Drill Halls.
Under the 'Localisation of the Forces' scheme introduced by the Cardwell Reforms of 1872, Volunteers were grouped into county brigades with their local Regular and Militia battalions – Brigade No 6 (East Riding of Yorkshire) in Northern District with the 15th Foot for the two East Riding Battalions.Spiers, pp. 195–6. The Childers Reforms of 1881 took Cardwell's reforms further, when the 15th Foot became the East Yorkshire Regiment and the Volunteers were formally affiliated to it. The Consolidated and Administrative battalions of East Yorkshire RVCs were redesignated as the 1st and 2nd Volunteer Battalions (VBs) of the regiment on 1 May 1883.
While the sub-districts were referred to as 'brigades', they were purely administrative organisations and the Volunteers were excluded from the 'mobilisation' part of the Cardwell system. From the 1870s to the 1890s the two East Yorkshire VBs organised their own annual training camps, usually at Bridlington. Higher formations for the Volunteers were lacking, but following the Stanhope Memorandum of December 1888 a comprehensive mobilisation scheme was introduced 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. The two East Yorkshire VBs did not at first form part of the East Yorkshire Brigade, whose designated place of assembly was Doncaster, but were attached to it by the end of the 1890s when its headquarters was at Scarborough. By 1902 they were brigaded with the VBs of the Green Howards as the Yorkshire Brigade at Richmond, Yorkshire, and later formed the Humber Brigade based at Beverley, together with battalions from the West Riding of Yorkshire and from Lincolnshire across the Humber.
The late Victorian era saw a craze for cycling and the Volunteer Force took a leading role in developing the new bicycle for military use. In 1893 the two VBs raised a cyclist section that proved so popular that it was enlarged into a full company.Beckett, pp. 135, 200–1. Hymers College in Hull formed a Cadet Corps in 1900, which was affiliated to the 1st VB until 1908, when it joined the junior division of the Officer Training Corps.
South Africa After Black Week in December 1899, the Volunteers were invited to send active service units to assist the Regulars in the Second Boer War. The War Office decided that one company 110 strong could be recruited from the volunteer battalions of any infantry regiment that had a regular battalion serving in South Africa. The two VBs accordingly raised a service company under Major Mortimer to serve with the 2nd Battalion. This earned both VBs the Battle Honour 'South Africa 1900–01'.4th Bn East Yorkshires at Regiments.org.
Territorial Force When the Volunteers were subsumed into the new Territorial Force (TF) under the Haldane Reforms of 1908,Beckett, pp. 247–53.Dunlop, Chapter 14.Spiers, Chapter 10. the 1st VB formed the 4th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment, based in Hull. Battalion HQ and A to F Companies were at Londesborough Barracks, G & H Companies in East Hull. (The 2nd VB and the joint Cyclist Company together formed 5th (Cyclist) Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment, which was considered a new unit.) Conrad. The 4th East Yorkshires formed part of the York & Durham Brigade of the TF's Northumbrian Division.East Yorkshires at Long, Long Trail.Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 93–100.50th (N) Division at Long, Long Trail.
First World War Mobilisation The 4th East Yorkshires under the command of Lt-Col G.H. Shaw left Hull for their annual training on 26 July 1914. They went into camp at Deganwy in North Wales but on 3 August they were hurriedly called back to Hull and dismissed their homes to await mobilisation. War was declared on 4 August and the battalion mobilised next day at Londesborough Barracks, taking only 11 hours to complete the process. That night the battalion marched out to its designated war stations, occupying defensive positions in South Holderness. Its strength was 840 men, to which 150 members of the National Reserve were quickly added, equipped and clothed.Bilton, Hull in the Great War, p. 31.James, p. 59.Wyrall, East Yorkshires, p. 20.
Shortly after the outbreak of war, TF units were invited to volunteer for Overseas Service: 84 per cent of 4th East Yorkshires volunteered. On 15 August 1914, the War Office issued instructions to separate those men who had signed up for Home Service only, and form these into reserve units. On 31 August, the formation of a reserve or 2nd Line unit was authorised for each 1st Line unit where 60 per cent or more of the men had volunteered for Overseas Service. The titles of these 2nd Line units would be the same as the original, but distinguished by a '2/' prefix, and would be filled up with the recruits who were flooding in. Later 3rd Line units were formed to supply drafts to the others.Becke, Pt 2b, p. 6.Bilton, Hull in the Great War, p. 35. However, the 4th East Yorkshires had to compete with other units being formed in Hull, particularly the 'Hull Pals', a full brigade of whom were raised for 'Kitchener's Army' by Lord Nunburnholme.Bilton, Hull in the Great War, pp. 37–8.Bilton, Hull Pals, pp. 26–40.
1/4th Battalion The Northumbrian Division became part of Central Force in Home Defence, tasked with manning the Tyne Defences, so after some days digging trenches in South Holderness 4th East Yorkshires moved to Hummersknott Park, near Darlington to join the York & Durham Brigade. In mid-October it moved again, to Newcastle upon Tyne. It was not until November that the Home Service and unfit men were separated into the 2/4th Battalion, and that battalion's staff returned to Londesborough Barracks to begin training the recruits.Wyrall, East Yorkshires, p. 21.
While working on the Tyne Defences, the Northumbrian Division was also undergoing battle training. In April 1915 it was warned for overseas service with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), and on 16 April its units began to entrain for the embarkation ports. 1/4th East Yorkshires landed at Boulogne the following day.
Second Battle of Ypres The Northumbrian Division completed its concentration in the Steenvoorde area on 23 April, and went into action the very next day during the Second Battle of Ypres. The York and Durham Brigade went by motor bus to Poperinghe, where they debussed and marched to camp at Vlamertinghe. They were turned out at 01.00 on 24 April and marched to take over trenches astride the Yser Canal, where they came under shellfire at first light, 1/4th East Yorkshires losing their first casualties of the war. During the morning the battalion was shifted again, to a position near Potijze Château, where they dug in again. Meanwhile, the Canadian Division were coming under heavy pressure (the beginning of the Battle of St Julien). Finally, at 15.00 the tired battalion was ordered out to support a counter-attack by the Canadians and the 1/4th Green Howards of the York & Durham Bde (the Canadians were not informed of these two battalions' involvement). The battalion moved up into a small wood and waited alongside the Canadian artillery under shellfire while the attack developed. Shortly after 17.00 the battalion was ordered to attack towards St Julien and advanced in 'artillery formation', with two platoons of D Company in front, led by Lt-Col Shaw. On reaching Bridge House the battalion swung north towards St Julien; it now came under heavy rifle and machine gun fire and was swept by Shrapnel shells and heavy howitzer shells. Eye-witnesses described the tired and hungry battalion behaving 'as if they were doing an attack practice in peace'. At and again at the men opened rifle fire on the enemy, with little apparent effect. Coming upon a road the battalion could advance no further against the hostile fire, and took cover. Lieutenant-Colonel Shaw had been killed by a rifle bullet during the advance, and the CO of the Green Howards took over both battalions. The East Yorkshires were ordered to stay where they were until nightfall; they saw no sign of the Canadians who were supposed to be in St Julien, but their rifle fire combined with the Canadian artillery broke up a German attack from the village, and neither side held it at the end of the day. 1/4th East Yorkshires was permitted to withdraw after dark; in its first action the battalion had lost three officers and 12 other ranks killed, 66 wounded and 17 missing, of whom 10 were known to be wounded.Bilton, Hull in the Great War, pp. 71–2.Edmonds & Wynne, 1915, Vol I, pp. 220, 228–30.McWilliams & Steel, pp. 141–4.Wyrall, East Yorkshires, pp. 50–3.Wyrall, Fiftieth, pp. 5, 9, 13–9.