Armistice Day: Check here to see if your relative is on the roll of honour

The factories of the industrial Midlands emptied their workforce in the direction of the seaside.

One draw for the holiday crowds would have been a flurry of naval activity in Portland Harbour.

Following the Spithead Naval Review, the 1st and 2nd Fleets of the Royal Navy, a mass of Dreadnought Class battleships, cruisers and destroyers had coaled and armed for action at Portland between July 23 and 27 as tension grew across the international community.

Then on July 29, the 1st Fleet, now known as the Grand Fleet, made a covert dash up the Channel at maximum speed and with all ships darkened to its war anchorage at Scapa Flow – whoever else was caught by surprise if hostilities were declared, it would not be the Royal Navy and the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill.

Portland was now left deserted except for a solitary battleship, the elderly Prince of Wales and a handful of minesweepers and destroyers.

The great Victorian harbours were thought to be vulnerable to enemy torpedo boats and experiments with torpedo nets had not proved successful. A partial solution was achieved with the sinking of the decrepit ironclad HMS Hood in the south ship channel as a 14,000-ton block ship.

Most of the shops and other businesses in Dorchester existed to service the surrounding farming communities, from saddlers to solicitors and land agents to Lott and Walne’s Foundry at Fordington – which turned out ploughs, rollers and fodder choppers. Although Tilley’s Garage at the bottom of South Street exhibited a limited range of motor cars, Dorchester was still very much a Hardyesque community, hardly surprising as the town’s most famous son was still very much alive and living at Max Gate.

The part of town where the events unfolding on the continent were most closely followed were the barracks, the gateway of which survives as The Keep Military Museum.

Dorchester had been the Depot of the Dorsetshire Regiment since 1879, when line infantry regiments finally lost their numbering and became firmly wedded to the counties from which most of their recruits would be drawn.

The 39th and 54th Regiments of Foot became the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Dorsetshire Regiment.

Following the usual practice of having one battalion at home and one abroad, the 1st were on garrison duty in Belfast and the 2nd stationed in Poona, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.

The depot itself was home to the training and administrative staff of the Regiment, although on mobilisation, the 3rd and 4th Battalions – Reserves and Territorials – would need to be rapidly equipped and dispatched to their war stations.

War was declared at 1pm.

The news was promulgated the following morning and within half an hour the first volunteer had walked through the barracks gateway in Dorchester. In Victoria Barracks, Belfast, the officers and men of the 1st Battalion prepared to move.

Lance Corporal Horace Collier, a native of Cerne Abbas, wrote a last letter to his sweetheart, Birdie Loder, back in Cerne, finishing it “Yours until Death”.

This was to prove prophetic as Horace was killed in action on October 13 in the fighting north of Bethune.

The 1st Battalion would have a long and eventful war – all of it on the Western Front. From the start, they were present when the BEF first encountered the German Army at Mons and through the long and exhausting retreat that followed, via another clash at Le Cateau.

In the following year, they experienced one of the first poison gas attacks at Hill 60, on the Ypres Salient.

They then suffered appalling casualties at Authuille Wood on July 1, 1916 – the notorious first day of the Battle of the Somme.

2nd Dorsets plagued by death and disaster

The experience of the 2nd Dorsets was arguably even worse than that of the 1st Battalion.

From Poona they were sent to Mesopotamia as part of 6th (Poona) Division under Maj. General Sir Charles Townsend.

As a result of poor generalship and a tendency to underestimate their Turkish opponents, some 8,000 British and Indian troops were besieged at Kut al Amara, south of Baghdad from December 1915 until April 1916.

On finally surrendering, the survivors were marched the huge distance from Kut to Aleppo in present day Syria. Some 70% died of disease or ill treatment. Of 240 Dorsets captured at Kut, only 70 would survive to return home.

Back in Dorchester, proof of the war arrived on August 14 in the form of German prisoners of war.

The prison camp, in the empty Royal Horse Artillery Barracks (now the Poundbury industrial estate) would eventually hold around 4,500 men, accommodated in 30-man wooden huts.

With the wave of patriotic fervour generated by the war, recruitment was intensifying at the Depot Barracks.

If any were undecided, the propaganda machine sprang into action as it was realised that a British Expeditionary Force of 100,000, even reinforced by Territorials and Reservists would not make much of an impression on a German Army of 2.8 million men.

Locally, the Dorset Regiment would expand from four to 13 battalions.

Others took it upon themselves to bang the drum in their own communities, including Mr Harry Pouncy, proprietor of the Dorset County Chronicle. In a handbill for a “Men’s Mass Meeting”, to be held on Fordington Green on Saturday, September 5, he is quoted as asking for volunteers to join “JOHN BULL & CO., General Purveyors, Branches in all part of the World, Business Managers: Kitchener, French, Jellicoe and Co.” He is later reported as putting on a “Patriotic Spectacle: Dorset in the War, illustrated by limelight pictures”.

Building the home front of Great War

Other preparations included the formation of a Dorset Volunteer Training Corps, a predecessor to the Home Guard of the Second World War.

Other appeals were for war service Special Constables as many regular police were ex-soldiers whose services would be needed elsewhere.

As the next four years wore on, Dorset men would find themselves in every theatre of war.

The county town would be the location for no fewer than five hospital and convalescent establishments to cope with the influx of wounded from the grim mincing machine of the Western Front.

Weymouth, devoid of tourists, would see an influx of Australians and New Zealanders – the Anzacs – now commemorated by a memorial on the promenade.

Blandford Camp would house the Collingwood Battalion of the Royal Naval Division – surplus sailors transformed into soldiers.

Perhaps the most important contribution of Dorset occurred at Bovington, where the men of the Tank Corps trained with and developed a new weapon which was to play a considerable part in the eventual breakthrough of the ‘Hundred Days’ in 1918.

Dorset’s own cavalry regiment, the Queen’s Own Dorset Yeomanry would win at Agagia in the Libyan Desert with one of the most successful cavalry actions of the war.

When it was all over, some eight thousand of Dorset’s sons would have lost their lives, and every community would have its own memorial, from the small cenotaph at the bottom of South Street to lych gates, tablets and memorial halls.

Rare indeed were the ‘Thankful Villages’, where all who went to war came back.

Roll of honour: Weymouth

ARTER, P C; ADAMS, L S; ADAMS, W; ALLEN, J F; ALDERTON, C; APSLEY, I; ATKINSON, J C; ATKINSON, L C M; AYLES, F P; BAGGS, A J; BANKS, A G; BANKS, A J; BARFOOT, J F; BARNES, H; BARTER, A J; BARTLETT, A; BARTLETT, F; BASCOMBE, W H; BATEMAN, F; BAUGH, L R; BAXTER, T; BEARING, G P; BEER, P; BELL, T H; BENNETT, D G; BENNETT, G R; BETS, E; BISHOP, F J; BLOMFIELD, T C A; BOLT, F; BOWERING, J R; BOWN, A S; BRANSON, C H; BREWER, A J; BRINKLEY, W G; BROOKE, H J; BROOKE, M L; BROOKES, C; BROWN, F C; BROWN, H M; BROWN, N N; BROWN, R T; BRUFORD, A J; BUGLER, H; BULL, J; BURT, C W; BURT, F G; BURT, G T; BURT, R W; BUTLER, B C; CADDY, A; CANTERBURY, W; CARPENTER, F C; CARPENTER, H A; CARTER, W A; CHAPMAN, C; CHAPMAN, F; CHICK, J C; CHICK, W A; CHIPP, E E; CHIVERALLS, W E; CLARK, A G; CLARKE, M E; COLE, W L S; COLEMAN, W F; COLES, F; COLLINS, A; COLSON, D F; COLTART, A S; COOK, A; COOMBES, B C; COOP, F; COOPER, J M; CORBETT, A J; CORBIN, L; CORNICK, E; CORNICK, W H; COSSENS, I W; COX, W F; CRABB, G D; CREECH, G; CROAD, W J; CROFT, H C; CROFT, I W; CROSS, S O; CROUCH, P; CROXFORD, L H; CRUMPLIN, W J; CURLING, S; CURTIS, F G; CURTIS, F J; CUTLER, F J; DAMEN, E W S; DANIELS J; DAVIES, J W; DENCH R M M; DAVIDSON, R G; DIXON R A; DOBSON, J; DODGSON, D S; DOWELL, E L; DOWN, E H; DOWNER, S W; DRAKE, A J; DRAKE, J D; DRUITT, G; DUDLEY, J T; DUDLEY, S; DUNFORD, C H; DUNFORD, S A; DUNN, A V; EAST, L W P; EAVIS, H H; EDE, R J; EDMONDS, A G; EDWARDS, F E; ELLIS, T; EMINSON, G; EYERS, A G; FIDLER, H; FISH, A B; FLEMING, E W; FOOKS, E L; FOORD, P; FOX, E I; FRAMPTON, A G; GARDNER, R D; GARRETT, A L; GALE, L; GEDDES, R L; GEFEALL, G; GIBBS, H J; GIBSON, W S; GILCHRIST, S C; GILL, W H; GILLIM, S J; GLOVER, A I; GLOVER, W; GODDARD, E H; GODDEN, F L; GRANT, W J; GREEN, W E; GREENMAN, L L; GROVES, G E; GROVES, F; HALL, A W; HALLETT, A; HALLETT, A M; HANSFORD, E; HANSFORD, P C; HARDING, J C; HARDY, J C; HARRIS; HARRIS; HARRIS; HART, F; HATTON, F G; HAWKER, T H; HAWKES, G A; HAWKINS, G A; HAWKINS, H; HAWKINS, J C; HAYMAN, S; HEBBERN, W; HERRIDGE, T G; HIGGINS, J; HILLIER, A E; HILLS, E F; HILLS, J C; HOBBS, W I H T; HOCKLEY, S W I; HOLLAND, F A; HOLLAND, G W; HOLLOWAY, W I; HOOPER, T G; HOOPER, W I; HOPKINS, C J; HOSKINS, I; HOSKINS; HOULTON, W C; HOUSE, S I; HULLETT, L I; HUMPHREY, S P; INGLIS, A; IRONSIDE, C W; JACKETT, B C; JACKETT, C J; JACKETT, W T; JACKSON, A F; JARVIS, A C; JARVIS, T F; JEFFERY, C W F; JOLLIFFE, H C; JONES, H M; JONES, W V; KEATS, A V; KEELEY, E; KELLAWAY, T; KING, H G; KING, L F; KNIGHT, F E; KNIGHT, G W; LANGDON, W I; LANGFORD, W G; LEGG, B G; LEGG, W F; LEGG, W I; Le MESURIER, A C; LEWIS, E C; LEWIS, F C; LEWIS, G A D; LOADER, R W; LONG, A E; LOWE, A; LOWE, T G; LUCAS, G A; LUCAS, H W; LYONS, A; MADDEN, F H; MARSH, R S; MARSHALL, J T; MARTIN, G H; MARTYN, W J; MAYO, P A; McKELVEY, F G; McLAUGHLIN, J; MEARS, W J; MEECH, A G; MEECH, W J; MELLISH, F; MENDENHALL, C; MENZIES, A; MERCER, A A; MILLER, C E; MILLER, H E J; MILLINGTON, A; MILLS, A R H; MOGG, P G; MONKS, W; MOORE, J M; MORRIS, A C; MULHOLLAND, G E; MULLINS, M F; NASH, F C; NEW, C I; NEWBERRY, A J; NEWBERRY, E A; NEWTON, H; NICKSON, F E; NIX, P K; NOBBS, J F; NOLAN, I J; NORMAN, J C; NORRIS, R W; NORTHOVER, W E; ORCHARD, A F; ORMONDE, W; OSWALD, W D; OZZARD, E E; PALMER, F; PALMER, F; PALMER, F S; PALMER, T C S; PARKER, R C; PARRY, G L; PATON, E C; PATTERSON, E I; PATTERSON, W G; PAVEY, W L; PENDER, F W; PERCY, E; PHILPOTT, F G; PITMAN, A J; PITMAN, F; PITMAN, F J C; PITMAN, G W; PITMAN, H E; POPLAR, J A; POWELL, J M; PRESCOTT, W C; PRINCE, A; PRINCE, B; PRITCHARD, A E I; PROUDLOVE, H; PROWSE, A S; QUIGLEY, J; RATCLIFFE, S C; READ, G; REAH, R W; RICE, A G; RIGGS, W; ROGERS, D; ROPER, A J; ROPER, A S; ROPER, W H; RUDMAN, E H; RUFFELL, H C W; RUSSELL, A J; RUSSELL, F J; SALISBURY, W R; SALTER, F W; SANDERS, S A F; SANSFORD, A R J; SARTIN, E F; SCHOFIELD, A T; SCOVELL, S W; SCRIVEN, F; SCRIVEN, J; SCRIVEN, R; SCRIVEN, S; SCRIVEN, T; SCRIVEN, Y G; SHARPELY, J S; SHETTLER, H S; SHIPTON, F; SIDDONS, W; SIMMONDS, E S; SIMS, W; SLADE, W; SMALE, S A; SMITH, A R; SMITH, W G; SMYTH, R A N; SNELL, F; SQUIBB, A T; SQUIBB, W C; STACEY, E H W; STEVENS, F J; STEVENS, S E; STEVENS, S W; STEVENS, W; STEWART, E D; STOTE, H E; STYLES, S J; SWANN, B D; SWANNIE, F; SYMES, A C; SYMES, B R; SYMONDS, A G; TALBOT, E R; TARRANT, F H E; TAYLOR, W E; TETT, R G; THOMPSON, A G H; THOMPSON, A H; THORNE, G W; TIDBURY, L; TISDALE, G W; TOMLINSON, P E; TOWNSEND, W R; TRASK, I; TRASK, T; TUCKER, J E; TURNER, G W; VICKERY, E G; VINCE, J V; VINE, A J; VININING, W; WALBRIN, J H; WALDEN, W J; WALLIS, J; WARREN, A F; WELLS, C A; WELLS, C J; WENLOCK, W; WEST, A J; WHEELER, A E; WHETTAM, F C; WHETTAM, H E; WHITE, A E; WHITE, E J; WHITE, H W; WHITE, R J; WHITE, T L; WHITE, W E; WHITTLE, G W; WHITTLE, W C; WIFFEN, C E; WILLIAMS, J F; WILSON, H; WILSON, H R; WINTOWE, C J; WOODCOK, S V; WRIGHT, H;

Roll of honour: Dorchester

ADAMS, F; ADAMS, J G; ADAMS, T; ALBUTT, G; ALLEN, J T;
AMEY,H; ANDREWS, C G W; ANDREWS, F J; ANGELL, H S; ANSELL, F J;
ARCHER, L R; ASHTON, A E; ATHERTON, H J; ATKEN, J; AYRES, E J; BAGG, W C; BARBER, S W T; BARBY, A H; BARNARD, W E; BARTHOLOMEW, J J B; BASCOMBE, R J; BASCOMBE, W A; BATES, P; BATTEN, J H S; BECK, H; BELL, A C; BENGER, C J; BENJAFIELD, F A; BENJAFIELD, W J; BIGGS, J M; BISHOP, P J; BLACKBURN, E J; BLANDAMER, P F; BOWRING, W A G; BRIEN, W J; BRIGHT, R C; BRIGHTON, J; BROWN, R; BROUGH, J; BUDDEN, C E; BULL, H; BULLOCK, T W; BURDEN, B L; BURT, F R; BUSSELL, W; CAKE, W C; CARUTHERS-LITTLE, A W P; CHADWICK, F J; CHADWICK, R M; CHAPPLE, C F;
CHARLES, W; CHILCOTT, R S; CLARKE, E; CLENCH, W G; COLENSO, J; COLLIER, B; COLLIER, E S; COLLIER, H A; COLLINS, W G; COOK, H; COOK, S J; COTTELL, W F; CURTIS, C J; CURTIS, E; CURTIS, W S; DABINETT, R B; DAMEN, A J; DART, H; DAVIS, R W; DAWE, F W E; DEAN, W C M; DIAMOND, S B; DODGE, G B; DOWD, F E; DOWDEN, T W; DOWNTON, W J; DUNFORD, W H;
DYER, Pte B S; EADY, H C; EARLY, W E; EASLEY, P H; ELLIOTT, H; ETHERIDGE, A C; FALLS, E W; FARNHAM, A; FICKUS, F W; FICKUS, L F; FITCH, C J; FORD, A T; FORD, G T; FORD, W F; FOSTER, R H; FRAMPTON, B A; FRAMPTON, H N; FROST, H R; GEARD, W A; GIBBS, G; GILL, W A; GOLDRING, F W; GOSLING, W E; GREEN, T G; GREEN, J S; GROSSE, J; GROVES, F; HAIG-BROWN, A R; HAMER, J W; HAND, P; HANHAM, D B; HANHAM, H E; HARDY, F S; HARE, J R; HAWKES, G A; HELLARD, A W; HELLIER, W; HILL, W E; HISCOCK, H; HODDINOTT, R B; HODGES, M; HOLLAND, A W; HORNSBY, A L; HOSKINS, C J; HOSKINS, J; HOWE, E W; HUGHES-ONSLOW, D; HUNT, E H; HURST, A E; HYDE, K F; JAMES, E; JAMES, L R; JEFFERY, C W; JOHNSON, J F; JOLIFFE, J T; JONES, F; KEATS, A V; KING, A J; KING, R B; KINGMAN, W J; KNIGHT, G J; LACEY, G; LAIRD, R; LAKE, J; LAMB, E; LEE, S J; LEGG, C A; LOADER, H M; LOCK, J H; LOVELESS, M M; LOVELESS, W; LUCAS, R J; LUGG, J; MacDONALD, K; MAHAR, W G; MAJOR, B; MALE, S; MANELS, W T; MARRABLE, D H; MARRABLE, E D; MARTIN, A E; MARTIN, T; MARTIN, A V; MAYO, H; McSWINY, C; MEADER, W; MEADWAY, A J; MEAGHER, T; MEMBURY, W P; METHUEN, P T; MILLEDGE, S J; MILLS, E H; MILLS, R J; MOGGERIDGE, J D; MOODY, H; MOORE, H F; MOULL, W F; MOWLEM, T J; NEILD, R; NEWBERRY, W R; O'BRIEN, S; ORCHARD, S E; O'SULLIVAN, G R; OWERS, E J; PAINTER, W A; PARSONS, S A W; PARSONS, W E; PAULL, W R; PAYNE, A L; PAYNE, D; PAYNE, O G; PEARCE, A; PEARCE, F G; PEASLEY, H T; PECKHAM, W; PHELPS, R C; PIDDEN, F; PINK, A; PITFIELD, J W; PITMAN, G E; POPE, C A W; POPE, C H; POPE, E A; POPE, P P; PRINCE, R L; PROWSE, A E; PROWSE, B; RAWLES, H G; RENDELL, A J; RHODES, H; RIGBY, J R A; RIGLAR, J J; ROBERTS, J H C; SAMWAYS, J G; SARGEANT, J F; SARGENT, M H; SAWYER, C H; SCOTT, R W; SCRIVEN, R; SEAL, A C; SEAL, W N; SHARPE, F J; SHIRLEY, H; SHORTO, B; SHORTO, H W; SMITH, A T; SMITH, A H C; SMITH, F H; SMITH, W J; SPICER, L B; SPRAKE, H; SQUIBB, W G; STAINER, A H; STALLARD, H; STANDFIELD, E J; STANLEY, G P; STEIRN, B D; STURMEY, T; STURMEY, W H; SWINNERTON, J S; SWYRE, H J; SYMES, W; TATTERSHALL, L W; TAYLOR, A B; TEVERSHAM, P T; TEVERSHAM, W R; THOMAS, G W; THOMPSON, W J; THOMPSON, L S; TIBBS, F; TIZARD, A V; TOMKINS, H J; TOOGOOD, F; TOOLEY, M; TOPPER, G H; TREVETT, C B; TREVETT, W T; TREW, W P; VALLAR, A J; VALLARD, R J; VINCENT, W T; VINE, P; VINE, W H; VOSS, E R; VOSS, F G; VOSS, T; VOSS, W T; WALLIS, F W; WATTS, H J; WEBB, R B H; WEBBER, E W; WEST, C E; WEST, W J; WHALE, W J; WHEATCROFT, F; WHITE, W G; WILLIAMS, A E; WILLIAMS, G; WILLIS, G H; WILLS, F; WINWOOD, T R O; WINZAR, C R; WOOD, H; WOOLSTON, C F; WRIGHT, N S; WYNARD, D; YARD, J; YARD, T E; YOUNG, G; YOUNG, H E;