Preston Pals?

[Jean McGurn]

Grandfather born and living in Liverpool enlisted Liverpool into 7th (Service) Btn, Loyal North Lancs Regiment.

Searching online for anything to do with the 7th Bn I have come up with Preston Pals. Which, from a photo online,  I think was only 'D' Company or did the title apply to the whole Regiment?

Question is why would a Liverpool man join the Loyals and not say 5th Kings Regiment which was a Liverpool Regiment or even the Liverpool Irish Regiment as he was 3rd generation Irish family?

Jean

 

[scrimnet]

7th bn North Lancs were part of 19th Western Div and were formed at Preston, one of whom T/Lt TOL Wilkinson gained the VC at La Boisselle on 5th July 1916.

"Pals" battalions were formed of friends, work colleagues or the town football teams (Sportsmans Bns) etc. They were encouraged to do thus by a sense of duty to ones "mates" so the could all go in the army together and train together, and indeed by the government who plied the idea as a sense of togetherness

Unfortunately this meant that they often died together, hence the heavy losses within individual streets and towns.

He would have joined them as he wanted to be with his mates, and not "strangers"

Because of the losses in WW1 the idea was not continued into WW2, and although losses were s high in some Regts, they were spread over a wider populace, and not so "noticeable"

Pals Battalions usually meant the entire bn and not individual coys.

[Jean McGurn]

Thanks Scrimnet, I wasn't sure if it would have been just a Company or not.

You say a man would join a 'Pals' battalion so as not to be with strangers brings up a possibility I hadn't thought much of before.

Grandfather Charles McGurn was a tobacco packer and Preston is quite a distance from Liverpool, however there was a family of McGurn's living in Preston and I wonder if they are connected with my Liverpool branch after all?

Thanks again
Jean


 

[scrimnet]

Thanks Scrimnet, I wasn't sure if it would have been just a Company or not.

You say a man would join a 'Pals' battalion so as not to be with strangers brings up a possibility I hadn't thought much of before.

Grandfather Charles McGurn was a tobacco packer and Preston is quite a distance from Liverpool, however there was a family of McGurn's living in Preston and I wonder if they are connected with my Liverpool branch after all?

Thanks again
Jean


 

Actually, bns formed at the various towns across the counties at various times...It might also have been "his time" and decided to join the next tranche which formed at Preston...Happily his mates probably did as well, aided and abetted by the fact that there was family with whom to lodge whilst the accommodation was sorted, as did many!