The 65th (2nd Lowland) Division of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

was a second-line

Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry ...

division, formed in 1914, which served on home defence duties during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. The division was formed as a duplicate of the

52nd (Lowland) Division The 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army that was originally formed as the Lowland Division, in 1908 as part of the Territorial Force. It later became the 52nd (Lowland) Division in 1915. The 52nd (Lowl ...

in 1914, composed primarily of soldiers from central and southern Scotland, around half of whom came from

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

. It remained on home defence and training duties in Scotland and England until early 1917, when it was deployed to Ireland in order to free up another division for front-line service. It was disbanded in Ireland in early 1918, having not seen overseas service.

History

The division was created as the "2nd Lowland Division", a second-line formation of the Lowland Division at the end of August 1914. At this time, Territorial Force soldiers could not be deployed overseas without their consent and the Territorial units were accordingly split into a "first line", with men who had volunteered for overseas service, and a "second line", which was intended for home service only. The second line units also served to absorb the large number of new, untrained, recruits who had joined the Territorial Force following the outbreak of war.Chris Baker
The British Army in the Great War: The 65th (2nd Lowland) Division
/ref> As with the original Lowland Division, the 2nd Lowland was organised into three four-battalion infantry brigades. These were later numbered as the 194th, composed of the 2/4th and 2/5th

Royal Scots Fusiliers The Royal Scots Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that existed from 1678 until 1959 when it was amalgamated with the Highland Light Infantry (City of Glasgow Regiment) to form the Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Ma ...

and 2/4th and 2/5th

King's Own Scottish Borderers The King's Own Scottish Borderers (KOSBs) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Scottish Division. On 28 March 2006 the regiment was amalgamated with the Royal Scots, the Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Margaret's O ...

; the 195th, composed of the 2/5th, 2/6th, 2/7th, and 2/8th

Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) was a rifle regiment of the British Army, the only regiment of rifles amongst the Scottish regiments of infantry. It was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 26th Cameronian Re ...

; and the 196th, composed of the 2/5th, 2/6th, 2/7th, and 2/9th

Highland Light Infantry The Highland Light Infantry (HLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1881. It took part in the First and Second World Wars, until it was amalgamated with the Royal Scots Fusiliers in 1959 to form the Royal Highland Fus ...

. The 194th recruited from Ayrshire,Chris Baker
The British Army in the Great War: The Royal Scots Fusiliers
/ref> Dumfries and Galloway, and the Borders;Chris Baker

/ref> the 195th predominantly from Glasgow and Lanarkshire;Chris Baker

/ref> and the 196th entirely from Glasgow.Chris Baker

/ref> The division also raised second-line Territorial artillery, medical, signal and engineer units, almost all from southern and western Scotland, with one heavy artillery battery from Edinburgh. Command of the division was given to the Conservative peer Lord Erroll, a retired cavalry officer, in April 1915. Through the next two years, the 2nd Lowland, numbered as the 65th Division in 1915, provided trained men for its parent unit as well as carrying out home defence duties. The division was grouped around the Stirling-Dunfermline area of central Scotland, where it would remain until 1916. In mid-1915 the strength of its infantry battalions was set at a minimum 600 men, with any more than this being transferred overseas; later that year, all the infantry battalions were renumbered and several were amalgamated, with four additional battalions of the

Royal Scots The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment), once known as the Royal Regiment of Foot, was the oldest and most senior infantry regiment of the line of the British Army, having been raised in 1633 during the reign of Charles I of Scotland. The regime ...

joining from the Lothian coastal defences. The old unit numbering was reinstated in January 1916 but the amalgamations remained. During 1916, the division was commanded by Major-General

Theodore Stephenson Major-General Theodore Edward Stephenson CB (1856–1928) was a British Army officer who commanded 2nd Division. Military career Educated at Marlborough College, Stephenson was commissioned into the 56th Regiment of Foot in 1874. He served ...

, who had previously served in a senior post during the

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...

, and from September onwards by George Forestier-Walker, who had commanded a division at the

Battle of Loos The Battle of Loos took place from 1915 in France on the Western Front, during the First World War. It was the biggest British attack of 1915, the first time that the British used poison gas and the first mass engagement of New Army units. Th ...

. In 1916 the division howitzer brigade was broken up and its heavy artillery battery sent to France; this was the only unit of the original division to see service overseas. In May of that year the division was transferred to Southern Army in south-east England, then in January 1917 relieved the

59th (2nd North Midland) Division The 59th (2nd North Midland) Division was an infantry division of the British Army during World War I. It was formed in late 1914/early 1915 as a 2nd Line Territorial Force formation raised as a duplicate of the 46th (North Midland) Division. A ...

in Ireland. Here, it was dispersed, with units of the division based throughout central Ireland from Dublin to Galway. At around the time the 65th arrived in Ireland, the command was given to Major-General

Edward James Montagu-Stuart-Wortley Major General The Honourable Edward James Montagu-Stuart-Wortley, (31 July 1857 – 19 March 1934) was a senior British Army officer. He saw extensive active service in many parts of world, including Afghanistan, South Africa, Egypt, Turkey, Ma ...

, who had been controversially sacked by General Sir Douglas Haig after the

46th (North Midland) Division The 46th (North Midland) Division was an infantry division of the British Army, part of the Territorial Force, that saw service in the First World War. At the outbreak of the war, the 46th Division was commanded by Major-General Hon. E.J. Mont ...

, under his command, had failed in its attack during the

first day on the Somme The first day on the Somme, 1 July 1916, was the beginning of the Battle of Albert the name given by the British to the first two weeks of the 141 days of the Battle of the Somme () in the First World War. Nine corps of the French Sixth ...

. A second wave of reorganisation took place whilst in Ireland, with the division absorbing three "graduated battalions"—training units based at

the Curragh The Curragh ( ; ga, An Currach ) is a flat open plain of almost of common land in County Kildare. This area is well known for Irish horse breeding and training. The Irish National Stud is located on the edge of Kildare town, beside the ...

—and two of the original battalions disbanding. This was a precursor to larger changes and in January 1918 the division was ordered to disband. It effectively ceased to exist on 18 March, when the headquarters closed but some units remained active until May. The division was not reformed during the Second World War and the numbers for the subsidiary brigades were also not reused.

Order of battle

The order of battle was as follows (organisation details are taken from ''The British Army in the Great War'' unless otherwise noted):

General officer commanding

* Lord Erroll (April 1915) *

(1916) * George Forestier-Walker (September 1916) *

(1917–1918)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:65 Infantry Division Infantry divisions of the British Army in World War I Military units and formations established in 1914 Military units and formations disestablished in 1918 Military units and formations of Scotland

History

Order of battle

General officer commanding

See also

References