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Blue Badge Guide Martin served in the band of the Scots
Guards for thirteen years, playing clarinet in the band and
violin in the orchestra. His interest in the history of the
Guards has never faulted since and combined with his
personal experience brings a very special flavour to our
Great War anniversary tour: Bearskin & Blighty: London
in the Great War. Here he dips into the vast story of the
Guards in the Great War.
On August Bank Holiday 1914, Great Britain declared
war on Germany. Immediately there was an outbreak
of patriotic fervour, and a rush of volunteers to get to
France, in order not to ‘miss’ the war that everyone
thought would be over by Christmas. The Guards
Regiments – including the Household Cavalry – were
immediately mobilised to be sent off with Sir John
French’s ‘British Expeditionary Force’, the BEF. Has
ever a better name been devised for what was a relatively
small standing army compared to the millions of men
massing on mainland Europe? It smacks of ‘Boys Own’
bravery and sounds as through the troops are being sent
off to darkest Africa – not a few miles over the Channel.
Kaiser Wilhelm had his own name for the BEF –
‘The Contemptible Little Army’ – which was soon
paraphrased and became the title of a stirring march
composed by the Bandmaster of the Argyle and
Sutherland Highlanders – ‘The Great Little Army’.
It is still the tradition that for the annual British Legion
Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall, the
Guards always march on to the arena with ‘The Great
Little Army’.
On mobilisation, the four Regiments of Guards
prepared to sail. The Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots and
Irish Guards. Now, the eagled amongst you may have
noticed that only four regiments of guards are mentioned.
The reason? Because, perhaps surprisingly, there was no
Welsh Guards regiment in 1914 and the Irish Guards having
only been formed in 1900 were yet to win their first battle
honour.
The Welsh Guards were formed at the request of the people
of Wales and King George V ordered the Secretary of State
for War, Lord Kitchener to raise “ a Welsh regiment of foot
guards”. It was the 6th February 1915. The then Major
General Household Division London District Lieutenant
General Sir Francis Lloyd, accepted this challenge and
promised to achieve this task so confidently that he said
the fifth regiment of foot guards The Welsh Guards would
muster on the 27th February and would mount Kings Guard
Buckingham Palace on their national day of St. David two
days later.
Welshmen from the other Guards Regiment were
encouraged to transfer, in particular the Grenadiers who
had always recruited from Wales and who transferred 300
trained NCO’s and Guardsmen in one fell swoop. The first
commanding officer was Lt. Col. Murray-Thriepland from
the Grenadiers and the first R.S.M. Stevenson was from the
Scots. As promised the Welsh Guards mounted Kings
Guard Buckingham Palace on March 1st 1915 still wearing
the uniforms of their old regiment.
The Regiment was raised in a remarkably short time and
paraded with a full military band under their Bandmaster
Mr Andrew Harris. The money to purchase the instruments
was given by the City of Cardiff and the Regiment adopted
‘Men of Harlech’ and ‘The Rising of the Lark’ as their
continues on page 14
The Guards in the Great War
A Christina Broom photograph
from the collection of the Museum
of London and on display there
until September 2014
