The 21st (Service) Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps (Yeoman Rifles), (21st KRRC) was an infantry unit recruited by Charles Duncombe, 2nd Earl of Feversham as part of 'Kitchener's Army' in World War I. It served on the Western Front, including the first tank attack at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette as well as at Messines and Ypres before moving to the Italian Front. It was disbanded early in 1918 to provide reinforcements to other units.

Recruitment and training

On 6 August 1914, less than 48 hours after Britain's declaration of war, Parliament sanctioned an increase of 500,000 men for the Regular British Army. The newly appointed Secretary of State for War, Earl Kitchener of Khartoum, issued his famous call to arms: 'Your King and Country Need You', urging the first 100,000 volunteers to come forward. Men flooded into the recruiting offices and the 'first hundred thousand' were enlisted within days. This group of six divisions with supporting arms became known as Kitchener's First New Army, or 'K1'.War Office Instructions No 32 (6 August) and No 37 (7 August).Becke, Pt 3a, pp. 2 & 8. The K2, K3 and K4 battalions, brigades and divisions followed soon afterwards. But the flood of volunteers overwhelmed the ability of the Army to absorb them, and the K5 units were largely raised by local initiative rather than at regimental depots, often from men from particular localities or backgrounds who wished to serve together: these were known as 'Pals battalions'. The 'Pals' phenomenon quickly spread across the country, as local recruiting committees offered complete units to the War Office (WO). While most of the 'Pals battalions' formed in 1914–15 by local initiative were based on single towns or professions, one of the last to be formed was the 21st (Service) Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps, known as the 'Yeoman Rifles' because it was raised from farmers across a wide area of rural Northern England.Hare, p. 95.

The battalion was raised by Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Duncombe, 2nd Earl of Feversham. 'Charlie' Feversham had gone to France in April 1915 in command 1/1st Yorkshire Hussars. When that regiment was broken up into divisional cavalry squadrons, he accepted the task of raising an infantry battalion from among the 'farming class' in the north of England. It was officially formed on 15 September 1915, and assembled at Feversham's country seat at Duncombe Park, Helmsley. It had two companies from Yorkshire, one from Northumberland and County Durham, and one from Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Norfolk. The battalion was completed by December, much of it by personal recommendations.Frederick, p. 245.James, pp. 95–6.KRRC at Long, Long Trail. One of the young men Feversham approached was the future Prime Minister Anthony Eden, an 18-year-old family friend who had just left Eton College. Eden began touring County Durham by car to visit potential recruits.Eden, pp. 60–4. He was commissioned as a Temporary Second lieutenant on 2 November 1915,London Gazette, 22 November 1915. later backdated to 29 September.London Gazette, 31 December 1915. The battalion second-in-command was Major the Hon Gerald Foljambe, a former Regular Army officer in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.London Gazette 2 December 1915.Eden, pp. 67–8.

The new battalion's early training was at Duncombe Park, then in January 1916 it moved from Helmsley to Aldershot to join 124th Brigade of 41st Division, the other battalions in the brigade being the 10th Queen's Regiment (Battersea), and the 26th (Bankers) and 32nd (East Ham) Battalions of the Royal Fusiliers (RF). While at Aldershot it was equipped with modern rifles, specialists such as Lewis gunners, signallers and 'bombers' were selected and trained, and route marches were carried out in full marching order. In February 1916 the division began its final battle training, for which 124th Bde was based at Stanhope Lines. On 1 May the units began moving to France. 21st KRRC left Aldershot early on 5 May and entrained for Southampton, where it embarked that evening with 10th Queen's aboard the SS Marguerite. The battalion disembarked at Le Havre the following morning.Becke, Pt 3b, pp. 109–15.41st Division at Long, Long Trail.Eden, pp. 68–71.21st KRRC War Diary May 1916–October 1917 (June 1917 missing except trench maps), The National Archives (TNA), Kew, file WO 95/2643/4.Wylly, pp. 252–8.

24th (Reserve) Battalion This Local Reserve battalion was formed at Skipton in North Yorkshire in April 1916 from the reserve companies of 21st KRRC. It was initially commanded by Capt J. Lesley of the 21st until Lt-Col H.P. Irby (formerly KRRC) arrived to take command in May. That month the battalion moved to Blyth, Northumberland, and joined 21st Reserve Brigade. Later in the month it was stationed across the River Blyth at Cambois. On 1 September 1916 the Local Reserve battalions were transferred to the Training Reserve (TR) and 24th KRRC was split up among the other battalions of 21st Reserve Bde.Hare, p. 96. Later the service battalion complained that it never received any drafts from its reserve battalion.Eden, p. 126.

Service By 8 May 1916 41st Division had completed its concentration between Hazebrouck and Bailleul in Second Army's area, with 21st KRRC billeted at Outtersteene. While continuing its training, particularly in anti-gas measures, parties were sent up to the line for instruction in trench warfare from experienced units. First to go were the battalion signallers, from 10 to 20 May, then other parties were attached to 8th Black Watch and 11th Royal Scots of 9th (Scottish) Division in Ploegsteert Wood ('Plugstreet Wood'). 41st Division then relieved 9th (S) Division in the Ploegsteert trenches and the battalion began the routine of two weeks in the trenches, one in support and one in reserve. While in the front trenches regular patrols went out into No man's land at night, and every man of 21st KRRC was given a turn at patrolling at some time. The battalion also had to supply working parties, and it began to suffer a trickle of casualties, particularly from chance shellfire or random machine gun fire, or during offensive raids.Eden, pp. 75–92.

Flers–Courcelette When 41st Division arrived on the Western Front the British Expeditionary Force was preparing for that summer's 'Big Push', the Battle of the Somme, which began on 1 July. On 23 August 21st KRRC entrained for Pont-Remy, where it undertook three weeks' special training at Francières before being called upon to participate in the offensive, at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette. The training included operating in a wood similar to the notorious Delville Wood on the Somme. On the afternoon of 14 September the brigade was guided to trenches north-east of Delville Wood, where orders were issued for an attack next day. 124th Brigade on the division's right formed up during the night, with 21st KRRC (left) and 10th Queen's (right) in eight waves, the leading waves in No man's land, the others stretching back to 'Brown Trench'. They were supported by 26th and 32nd RF respectively. The division had four objectives and the brigade was intended to take them in succession with the battalions in this formation, until they were beyond the village of Gueudecourt. For this its first attack, 41st Division had support from tanks, also making their first ever appearance on a battlefield. Ten Mark I tanks of D Company, Heavy Section, Machine Gun Corps, were assigned to the division, formed up behind the infantry.Eden, pp. 92–7.Miles, 1916, Vol II, pp. 299, 321.

The brigade moved forward at 06.20, following a Creeping barrage, the leading wave in extended order, those following in shallow columns. Seven tanks managed to cross the start line, and there was little resistance in the German front trench – 'Tea Support Trench' – which had been shattered by the 3-day British bombardment. Many of the surviving Germans ran from the tanks, though several machine gun teams stuck to their task and caused heavy casualties to the leading waves. By about 06.45 the first objective – 'Switch Trench' – had been captured, the infantry arriving about two minutes after the tanks, 21st KRRC finding 'practically no living enemy' in the trench. The work of consolidating this position began, and soon after 07.20 21st KRRC, 10th Queen's and the tanks moved on towards the second objective – 'Flers Trench' – closely followed by the two RF battalions. During the advance 21st KRRC followed the creeping barrage so closely that it suffered a number of casualties from its own fire. Uncut barbed wire held them up, but this was crushed by two of the tanks. The second objective was secured after about half an hour, 21st KRRC capturing a few prisoners but observing that the enemy 'showed little disposition to fight'. 124th Brigade had now got ahead of its neighbours, and it became difficult to sustain the advance because of the lack of flank support. Lord Feversham and Lt-Col Oakley of 10th Queen's now led parties of their men forward towards the third and fourth objectives, but casualties were heavy, particularly from enemy shellfire. They reached the next objective in front of Gueudecourt village – 'Gird Tench' – and withstood a number of counter-attacks, but Lord Feversham was killed and his adjutant seriously wounded, losing an eye. In the end this isolated party had to fall back to a line about in front of the second objective. (Anthony Eden later claimed that this fruitless final attack had been due to Feversham receiving a 'deplorably vague' message from 41st Division.) Between 17.00 and 18.00 the weak groups on this line were able to repulse with rapid fire two German counter-attacks made 'in splendid order but without a covering barrage'. At about 03.00 next morning the remnant of 21st KRRC was relieved by 123rd Bde and made its way back to 124th Bde HQ at 'Quarry Dump'. Its casualties had been 4 officers and 54 other ranks (ORs) killed, 10 officers and 256 ORs wounded, and 70 ORs missing.Eden, pp. 97–8, 102.Hare, pp. 166–9.Miles, 1916, Vol II, pp. 322, 327, 330, Sketch 37.O'Neill, pp. 135–7.Pidgeon, pp. 74–98, Map 15.'15 September 1916 - Supporting 41st Division' at Landships.

The battalion rested in camp at Dernancourt, where Maj Foljambe took over the command. Foljambe appointed 2/Lt Eden adjutant of the battalion – at the age of 19 he was possibly the youngest adjutant in the BEF. On 3 October he was promoted to Temporary Lieutenant. Given its casualties, for which it received few reinforcement drafts, the battalion did not expected to be in the first wave for the next attack, and while it was out of the line it practised being a support battalion, including establishing strongpoints in captured positions.Burke's: 'Earl of Liverpool'.Eden, pp. 99–102.Miles, 1916, Vol II, p. 355.London Gazette, 22 January 1917.

Transloy Ridges