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13 November 2014

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You are in: Stoke & Staffordshire > History > Local History > The Staffordshire Regiment

Dave Cooper

Dave Cooper

The Staffordshire Regiment

By Dave Cooper

More than three hundred years ago - on July 29th 1705 - the long history of The Staffords came into being. Local man Dave Cooper has put together a history of the regiment, almost up until its merger into The Mercians. Here he tells us more...

I became fascinated and absorbed with all aspects of military history over 30 years ago, but in particular, aspects focusing on the county of Staffordshire, especially the Imperial Regiments of Staffordshire up until the end of the Great War.
The regular Staffordshire Regiments, since their formation, have served all over the world, taking part in nearly every war in which British Forces have been engaged since 1700.

I was continually disappointed that there was not a detailed reference book in just one volume.  So I decided to write one!

Prince of Wales

There were quite a few early manifestations of the regiment - the Volunteer Regiments. and then the later county regiments, either as the North Staffordshire Regiment (The Prince of Wales’) or the South Staffordshire Regiment, who both, after the Second World War, themselves merged into one Staffordshire Regiment.

Staffordshire Soldiers

Soldiers from the Staffordshire Regiment

The photos of known casualties, funerals, pictures of war-weary survivors of the remnants of decimated Staffordshire Regiments in the 1914-1 War are in stark contrast to those of fresh faced raw conscripts and recruits who would be initiated by a baptism of shot and shell on the Western Front in particular, and to which many would inevitably and eventually succumb.

The Staffords also served in many other theatres of operations: the 2nd North Staffs on the North West Frontier of India, the 7th Battalions of both the North and South Staffords in the Middle East for some of their Great War service, and the Staffordshire Yeomanry in Mesopotamia fighting the Turks.

It is even more poignant now that the amalgamation of the Staffords with other regiments has taken place.
The Staffords disappeared; to become part of the Mercian Regiment.

Sir John Fortescue, a famous Army historian, once said of the South Staffords: "One could not help reflecting that if this Regiment wore the kilt, the whole British Army would ring with its fame".

Staffordshire regiments

The Staffordshire Regiments 1705-1919

Labour of love

The compilation of my initial book 'Knotted Together' was a long and demanding task involving many hours of study, reflection, writing and re-writing.

Over seven years of research and compilation went into "Knotted Together", and it has been a labour of love, and my self-imposed task for many years, preceding my initial published articles in the Armourer Magazine, and will continue long after the publication of the first edition of this work.

I consider myself in no way an expert, only a knowledgeable student. It is certain that I have not got everything correct, and experts in particular fields will wish to differ from my assumptions and findings.

Other works

It is over 300 years since Colonel Luke Lillington formed his Regiment of Foot at the Kings Head public house, in Bird Street, Lichfield in 1705, that went on to become the 38th Foot (1st Staffordshire Regiment), and it was decided to commemorate the  tri-centenary of the first Staffordshire Regiment (in 2005) with a volume "The Staffordshire Regiments: Volume II, "The Scrap Book".

This is more of a visual book than my first volume - "The Staffordshire Regiments: Imperial, Regular & Volunteer, 1705-1919 - Knotted Together".
Through the illustrations, the pride of Georgian and Victorian soldier comes to life visually.
An insight into the Staffordshire soldiers' Boer War reveals itself. Pre-Great War uniform, camps, and the pomp and ceremony of the proud Staffordshire soldier, along with a very real sense of comradeship, are clearly evident.

In the initial months of the Great War of 1914-1918 the group photographs convey the relaxed feeling of the officers and men of the various Staffordshire Regiments, confident in the fact that "it will all be over by Christmas 1914", totally oblivious to the ordeal, death and destruction to come!

The photographs recording the initial bravado and enthusiasm of Staffordshire soldiers going to the front lines, although they melt into photographs illustrating the stark reality that The Great War was going to be a long, drawn out savage reality.

The 1st and 9th Battalions of the South Staffords were eventually ordered to the Italian front and some unique photos show the stark difference of terrain between the Italian Alps and the featureless, desolate shell torn muddy morass that was often the Staffordshire soldiers home and tomb on the Western Front of France and Flanders.

Future

A special thankyou is owed by me to H.R.H. The Duke Of York (Prince Andrew), Col. The Staffordshire Regiment (The Prince Of Wales’s) for his foreword.

But, it is a continuing task of work, and I urge anyone to contact me if they have any material relevant to the Staffordshire regiments.

Dave Cooper

**

Related sites: please copy these links into your web browser address bar.

Dave's book is available through bookshops or from the publishers Churnet Valley: http://leekbooks.tbpcontrol.co.uk

If you have any information you wish to pass on you can email Dave at: davercooper@antique-armoury.freeserve.co.uk

last updated: 02/07/2009 at 08:18
created: 26/03/2008

Have Your Say

Your thoughts on the Staffords?

The BBC reserves the right to edit comments submitted.

Pauline Simcock
I only recently discovered I had a great uncle who served with 8th battalion North Staffords,J.W.Simcock, I feel incredibly proud of himHe died on his birthday 30th December 1917, FlandersJ.W. has become something of an obsession, I really would like to know more about him but have hit a brick wall,but I must say I have had a lot of help from the Lichfield Museum for which I am very greatful

Chrissi Shaw
I am trying to trace my grandfather's history in the North Stafford Regiment. I was told that he was on active service in Eire (Buttevant Co. Cork) in 1913 WWI he was posted to France. How do I go about finding out more???

Richard Yates
I noticed that a previous poster said that the Staffs were only in Korea after the war/fighting ended well not so. My father fought in Korea and was in the regiment. He was sent over from Hong Kong and attached to the Middelsex Regt. I'm still researching the exact details so any info would be welcome.

MRS L BLAKE
I HAVE JUST BEEN GIVEN A SILVER TANKARD WHICH BELONGED TO MY GREAT GRANDAD.WHICH WAS PRESENTED TO HIM BUY THE MEMBERS OF THE SERGEANTS MESS OF THE Q.O.R.R. STAFFORDSHIRE YEOMANRY AND IS DATED 1924I AM NOT SURE IN WHICH WAR HE FORT IN BUT MY GRANDMA TOLD ME HE CAUGHT A FEVER OUT IN EGYPT AND DIED NOT LONG AFTER ARRIVING BACK HOME.I AM NOW INTERESTED IN VISITING THE STAFFS REGIMENT MUSEUM TO SEE IF I CAN FIND OUT ANY MORE INFORMATION REGARDING MY GRANDAD.I CAN NOT BELEIVE WHAT I AM READING. WE SHOULD MOST DEFINITELY NOT LOOSE THIS REGIMENT ITSTANDS FOR SUCH ALOT OF HISTORY WHICH NEEDS TO BE CHERISHED AND KEPT ALIVE.AND SO FUTURE ARMED FORCES WILL BE HONOURED TO SERVICE IN THE FINE REGIMENT.

Staffs Regt Museum
The best place to find out about the regiment is at the Staffs Regt Museum near Lichfield
The museum is not quite what you expect, being not in some grand baronial hall, but in a temporary building in the grounds of Whittington Barracks. Also, it’s smaller than I expected – if there were more than thirty visitors at any one time it would be quite crowded, being only the size of the floor space of a decent terraced house.
Still...... it was warm, and comfortingly old-fashioned. Outside is the really impressive bit – the re-creation of a first world war trench. You can wander the lines, and peer over the “top” to see the sickening sight of masses of barbed wire – which the soldiers had to get through well before they could charge enemy lines. Many never made it of course – at the Battle of the Somme, for instance, the Allies were not able to blow apart the barbed wire and men simply had to thrust their way through it. If they could.
I never realised until afterwards that there were sound effects in the trench too if you requested them; this wasn’t made clear.
The Staffords, and the ancestor regiments to them, have been everywhere. From the Zulu War to the Crimea to South America to the two world wars and Northern Ireland they seem to have been at every battle front. The only fight they seemed to have missed was the Korean war where the regiment was not posted until after fighting was over.
The letters and photos are the most interesting to someone like me who couldn’t care less what the regimental badge was in the 1890s. They outlined the amazing lengths to which duty took many ordinary men. To read about Coltman VC, the most decorated ordinary soldier ever in the British Army, was a sobering experience.
And indeed, What I found fascinating was the invisible hand of the curator. This could have been a history of the glory and great men of the regiment and its battle honours, but in fact many of the exhibits are designed to remind us of the horror and hellishness of soldiering, and of its all to frequent end. The life and privations of the ordinary soldier – and you wonder sometimes how they could have stood what they stood – is my abiding memory of this visit.
Harry

Staffs Regt to disappear
I read the news with horror. To think that so much history is wiped away with the stroke of a pen is shocking.There is much to share with the Cheshires, but a "Mercian" regiment? I for one was saddened.
John Taylor, Rugeley

Disbanding of The Staffords
I served 12 years with the Staffords. I joined in 1978 at Lichfield Barracks as a junior. Joined the rear details of the regiment at Colchester before flying out for an 18 month tour of Londonderry. All my family have served in the armed forces, and I am proud of the fact that a direct decendent of mine served in the defeat of the Spanish armada.
I think that its an outrage and complete folly to have disbanded a Regiment such as this. As with all these sort of decisions, by the time it has been proven it will be to late. The nameless civil servents will have moved on to their next monumental mistake! You only have to see the sterling service the Regiment has always deliverd, in whichever circumstances it has been asked to serve in to realise you have a Regiment that is, to borrow from my fathers old Regiment "SECOND TO NON!"
Andrew Stuart-Thompson,Telford

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