5th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment marching through Peterborough …. exact date and location unknown.
Category: Military
RAF Peterborough (1937)
VE Day Parade (1945)
V-Bomber, RAF Wittering (1964)
Discharged Soldiers, Westgate (1918)
Great War Procession (1914)
The Peterborough Greys (c.1895)
Two wonderful 1895 images showing men from the 1st Battalion Northamptonshire Regiment known locally as the Peterborough Greys.
The Northamptonshire Regiment 1st Battalion was formed in July 1881 out of the old 48th (Northamptonshire) Regiment of Foot. The 1st Battalion was among the first to go overseas in the Great War, arriving in France on 13th August 1914 where they subsequently saw action at Mons, the Marne, the Aisne and First Ypres.
Whitsed’s Light Infantry at Peterborough North
The caption on this excellent Great War postcard reads “Whitsed’s Light Infantry – Leaving For The Front” and shows volunteers awaiting departure from Peterborough North in September 1914.
Whitsed was local councillor Isaac Whitsed who was instrumental in pulling together young recruits from major city employers of the time including Werner Pfeiderer (later Baker Perkins) and Perkins Westwood Works.
The Whitsed’s went on to form part of the Northamptonshire Regiment’s 7th Batallion who, after training in the south of the country, landed at Boulogne in September 1915 where they made up part of the 73rd Brigade, 24th Division who went on to see action at Battles of Loos, Hooge, Guillemont, Vimy Ridge, Messines, Battlewood, Pilkem Ridge, Cambrai and Mabeuge.