A
Silver Medallion.
The medallion pictured below bears the unit title ‘No.4 Batt Machine Gun Corps’ over the two crossed Vickers Mk.1 machine guns. While it has been in the Group’s collection for a little while, it was only very recently that some research on the unit named has been undertaken. This research has been expanded upon to take a brief look at the history of the Machine Gun Corps. A number of men from Goole were to be posted to the M.G.C., some of whom were also part of the battalion MG Sections that preceded them.
Throughout the First World War a number of units were formed that only existed for the duration of the War and for a few years after hostilities ceased.
A large number of these units were the Service Battalions that were formed after January 1916 when conscription was brought in. These battalions would go on to supplement the Regular and Territorial battalions, as well Kitchener’s New Armies following the surge of enlistment in the weeks after the commencement of hostilities, all of which would be formed into Brigades and then assigned to a specific Division. Prior to November 1917 a Division was formed of four brigades, each with four infantry battalions – these in turn, if at full strength would number approx. 1025 officers and men.
After the above date and through to January 1918 a re-organisation of the Divisions led to the number of brigades and battalions each being reduced to three. The table below shows a simplified version of how a Division was organised, and where it fit into the overall organisation of the Army to which it was assigned within the BEF as a whole.
In addition to the infantry units, each division was also assigned ‘Divisional’ troops. The ‘Divisional’ troops were individual units and companies which were part of other Army units at a higher Corps level – being from the Royal Engineers; Royal Army Medical Corps; Army Service Corps and Royal Field Artillery. Unlike the infantry units, which were on occasion re-assigned to another Division (dependent on battles then in progress and the casualties caused to it, or indeed to the one being replaced), to a large degree the ‘Divisional’ troops would remain with their division for the duration of the War. There were times though when a Division was moved from one Corps to another – the Corps formed the basis for an Army.
Prior to February 1915 each infantry battalion had a Machine Gun Section, being formed of two subsections – a gun each and manned by six privates under the command of a Sergeant (1 Section) and Corporal (2 Section). Each gun was transported by a limbered wagon hauled by one or two draught horses. The men of the MG Section were from and would still be a part of their respective battalions.
A limbered Maxim machine gun of an MG Section, of an unidentified Battalion of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light
Infantry,
date and location unknown. (Group collection)
In February 1915, and as a result of the experiences of the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front and as Kitchener’s New Armies were being trained in England the number of MG sections was increased to four. As with the previous statement, the men were from the battalion itself, with no increase of the established number to allow each company to have the full complement of around 250 officers and men.
Army Order No.414, dated 22nd October 1915 authorised the formation of the Machine Gun Corps, being formed to bring an overall command structure to allow the British Army Divisions in France to have an organised structure of machine gun units to each Division and the men to man them; as such, a machine gun battalion was assigned to each Division.
One such battalion, No.4 Batt. Machine Gun Corps was assigned to 4th Division. It was formed on 26th February 1918 and comprised of the 10th, 11th, 12th and 234th Machine Gun Companies – the table below shows how these companies were formed. The men from the constituent MG Sections were all transferred to the Machine Gun Corps; there numbers supplemented by other men transferred from other units or by newly enlisted men.
|
4th
Battalion, Machine Gun Corps |
|
|
Machine Gun
Company |
MG
Sections from - |
|
10th |
1st
Bn Royal Warwickshire Regiment |
|
|
2nd
Bn Seaforth Highlanders |
|
|
2nd
Bn Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment) |
|
11th |
1st
Bn Somerset Light Infantry |
|
|
1st
Bn Hampshire Regiment |
|
|
1st
Bn Rifle Brigade |
|
12th |
1st
Bn King’s Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment) |
|
|
2nd
Bn Lancashire Fusiliers |
|
|
2nd
Bn Essex Regiment |
|
234th |
Joined
4th Div. on 16th July 1917 |
The four companies were each formed of 150 officers and men (including two from the Army Service Corps) being equipped with 64 Vickers Mk.1 machine guns, 52 horses and four bicycles. While the 10th, 11th and 12th MG Companies were assigned to their respective battalions, the 234th MG Company was held as Divisional Reserve.
A Vickers Mk.1 Machine Gun, from 1917, during the display at Boothferry Primary School, 6th November 2023.
After the formation of the MGC and the attachment of No.4 Batt. MGC, the 4th Division, which was classed as a ‘Regular’ Division based on the battalions within, though very few of the men who left England in August and September 1914 were still serving with it. In early April 1918 the 4th Division was transferred from XVII Corps Third Army to I Corps First Army. Prior to 28th August it was again transferred, this time to Canadian Corps First Army; in October it was again transferred, to XXII Corps First Army, with which it remained at the time of the Armistice. Following the Spring 1918 German Offensive, Operation Michael (Kaiserschlacht or ‘Kaiser’s Battle) it went on to take part in a number of battles that became part of the ‘Advance to Victory’.
On 11th November 1918, the 4th Division was acting as XXII Corps Reserve, being concentrated to the south-east of Valenciennes. In the days and weeks following the Armistice, the division did not proceed to the Rhine to form part of the Army of Occupation. Instead, it moved to Valenciennes, where on 4th December it was visited and inspected by King George V. On 6th January 1919 the division moved to the Binche-le-Louviere area, from where the process of the demobilisation of the men was started.
The reverse of the medallion is stamped with the characters ‘J W T’ – being the letters of the person who sponsored the casting of the medallion. Next to these are three shield marks that show an Anchor, denoting that it was manufactured in Birmingham; a Lion – showing that it is of sterling silver; and the character ‘S’ – showing that it was assayed in 1942. The individual links on the chain are also stamped with the Lion mark.
One local man is recorded as having served with 4th Battalion MGC. Millson Burkitt was born in Luddington in September 1887. He was living in Edinburgh Street at the time of his marriage in March 1910 to Beatrice Gamewell. Millson’s war service took him from the Royal Navy (as a fireman onboard a ‘Q’ ship) to the K.O.Y.L.I., before being posted to the MGC, firstly to 61st Coy. in December 1916 and then to 11th Coy. in September 1917, which in turn joined 4th Batt. on its formation in February 1918.
Millson Burkitt pictured with his wife Beatrice and their daughter Mary Agnes (Courtesy Jay Whittaker)
Official records that survive show some 60 or so men from Goole served with various battalions and companies of the Machine Gun Corps, some of whom were killed while serving with the Corps. By the very nature of the weapon they were tasked with using on the enemy, the MGC were in turn heavily targeted, and not without cause, with typical Army humour, were the MGC referred to as ‘The Suicide Club’. Around 170,500 officers and men served with the M.G.C. during its brief wartime existence, they suffered nearly 17,000 thousand men killed; died as a result of wounds; accidents; drownings and unknown causes, with another 6,600 being wounded while almost 43,000 were reported as ‘missing’ – with a large number later to be recorded as ‘Prisoners of War’.
The Machine Gun Corps was disbanded in 1922, partly to save money but also to bring the army back to a pre-War level of manpower. A different approach to how machine guns equipped, and the organisational structure of the units, was in place prior to the Second World War, which is beyond the scope of this text.
Sources
Published
Crutchley,
C.E.; Machine Gunner 1914-18: Personal Experiences of the Machine Gun Corps
Pen
& Sword; 2013.
Russel,
Arthur; The Machine Gunner
Roundwood
Press; 1977.
Online
Vickers
MG Collection & Research Association
