Saturday, 8 October 2016

A Cheshire Bantam?: Private Arthur Gray, 16th (2nd Birkenhead) Cheshire Regiment

Holder's details:

Arthur Gray
Regiment or Corps: Cheshire Regiment, Welsh Regiment
Regimental Number: 29735, TR/4/31484

Arthur Gray
Military Year: 1914-1920
Rank: Private
Medal Awarded: British War Medal and Victory Medal
Regiment or Corps: Welsh Regiment
Regimental Number: TR/4/31484
Previous Units: 29735. 16th Ches R Pte, 29735. 10th Ches R Pte, 29735. 11th Ches R Pte

Notes on the battalions:

10th and 11th (Service) Battalions the Cheshire Regiment were both battalions in Kitchener's Third New Army raised at Chester on September 1914. The 16th (Service) Battalion (2nd Birkenhead) was formed at Birkenhead on 3 December 1914 by Alfred Bigland MP as a Bantam Battalion and adopted by the War Office on 15 August 1915, landing at Le Havre in January 1916. (A bantam, in British Army usage, was a soldier of below the British Army's minimum regulation height of 5 ft 3 in (160 cm) - the minimum height was reduced to 5 ft (150 cm) in Bantam regiments, although the required chest expansion was increased in consequence); the 16th was one of the original two Bantam battalions raised at the instance of Alfred Bigland.

Medal condition:

Extremely Fine. Original ribbon.

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