Extract from essay by Tony Wainwright of the Liverpool Pals
August 1914, Europe is caught in a frenzy of War. The patriotic fervour in Britain is being roused by
the press, who are portraying the enemy as brutish, sausage eating buffoons who will not be able
to cope with the might of the British Empire. They confidently predict it will be all over by
Christmas.
However, one man was acutely aware that this was not the case. Lord Kitchener, Secretary of
State for War. Three days after war was declared on August 04th, he issued his recruitment
campaign aimed at getting, initially, a minimum of 100,000 men to enlist. This national campaign
had the attention of Lord Derby. He met with Kitchener in Liverpool to discuss the possibility of
raising one battalion of men(1050), drawn from the business community in Liverpool. Naturally,
Kitchener approved of the idea and left the responsibility for arranging this venture with Lord
Derby.
The process of recruiting began with Lord Derby writing to all of the major employers within
Liverpool asking them to release all eligible men in their employ for military service. He fully
recognised that these were professional men in well paid employment and therefore asked that
the employers should consider the offer of a minimum of 50% salary to be paid to the families of
these men whilst they were serving in the War. Their pay upon joining the ranks would be as little
as a shilling a day.
Entries in the Cotton Association minutes show the following:
“That while they are away in the army, those who went from the Office, Clearing House and
Exchange staff would receive two thirds of their present salary and the Estate Staffs half their
present salary”
The employers for their part called a meeting on 27th August to consider how they could best
support his lordship. They agreed to form a committee and drafted a message to be sent to all
staff in their employ urging them all to attend a meeting, which Lord Derby had notified them of,
on the evening of the 28th.
A notice was placed in the Liverpool Echo on 27th August under the header “City Soldiers” urging
all men interested in joining a battalion of comrades to report to the Headquarters of the 5th
Battalion on St Anne Street, Liverpool on Friday 28 August.
The response was overwhelming. There were so many in attendance that Lord Derby had to make
two addresses. The first address was given to a packed room upstairs and the second to an equally
packed downstairs audience. He made an impassioned speech during which he first used the
phrase Pals, which was to become synonymous with the Great War.
“This should be a battalion of Pals, a battalion in which friends from the same office will fight
shoulder to shoulder for the honour of Britain and the credit of Liverpool.
I don’t ask you to uphold Liverpool’s honour it would be an insult to think that you could do
anything but that, but I do thank you from the bottom of my heart for coming here tonight and
showing what is the spirit of Liverpool, a spirit that should spread through every City and Town in
the Kingdom.
You have given a noble example in coming forward. You are certain to give a noble example on the
field of battle”
On each occasion as he delivered the speech loud cheers broke out amongst the assembled men
and such numbers were in attendance that he knew that the promised first battalion could be
formed. Thus to loud cheers he advised that he would telegraph Kitchener that very evening to
advise that a second battalion would be formed. He invited all those in attendance to join him at
St Georges Hall on the following Monday morning 31st August, for attestation.
At St Georges Hall tables had been laid out in readiness. All of the larger employers in the city had
their own separate desk. These included the major shipping companies such as White Star and
Cunard. Other major players in Liverpool commerce were equally represented including the
Cotton Association and Corn Trade Association, the Sugar Trade and the Provision Trade to name
but a few. In essence it was a snapshot of Liverpool as a centre of world trade.
By 8:00 the area around the plateau of St Georges Hall was packed with thousands of men queuing
in their working finery to enlist. Photographs of large crowds along Dale Street and also at
Exchange Flags convey the sense of occasion. It was not confined to Liverpool either as men
queued in Wallasey to journey across to Liverpool together.
With Lord Derby and his brother Ferdinand Stanley (who was to be commanding officer of the
Pals) in attendance, accountants, bankers, shipping clerks, lawyers, gas board employees etc. all
happily waited their turn. By 10.00 the first 1000 men had been recruited and would form the first
Liverpool Pals Battalion the 17th Bn of the Kings Liverpool Regiment. Recruitment continued until
it was realised that a temporary halt was required in order to medically examine and process the
new recruits. Therefore all those still waiting were respectfully asked to return to the Hall on
Wednesday 02 September to continue the process.
By 07th September over 3,000 men had been recruited and Lord Derby now had three full
battalions of men, having initially promised Kitchener just one. These were the 17th, 18th and
19th Battalions.
With so many men recruited so quickly there was now the problem of ensuring they had adequate
training, equipment and somewhere to be billeted. Drill sergeants were recruited from the
Grenadier Guards and these would put the newly recruited Pals through their paces. Equipment
and uniform were in short supply initially with only 100 outdated rifles per 1000 men. Even with
Lord Derby’s considerable sway, uniforms were initially very hard to come by.
As for accommodation the 17th Bn moved into the disused watch factory at Prescot. The 18th Bn
were sent to Hooton Park Racecourse and the 19th Bn were training at Sefton Park before
returning either to their homes or to rented accommodation nearby. Lord Derby knew this was
not the best way for his men to become a unit so he made plans for the construction of temporary
accommodation for the Pals in the grounds of his home at Knowsley Hall. His intention was to
allow the men to train and drill together and become one effective unit.
A diary entry of a Pal of the 17th Bn shows that he was measured up for his uniform on 24th
September. This was received on 01st October and consisted of the following:
Khaki trousers, putties, jacket, 2 shirts , 2 pair of underpants, 2 towels, 2 white hankies,
toothbrush, knife, fork, shaving brush, comb, good hollow ground razor, flax, holdall, housewife,
brown boots, 2 pair good heavy socks,.
On 14th October 1914 Lord Derby was given the honour of having the Liverpool Pals receive
permission from King George V to wear his family crest as their insignia. As service battalions of
the Kings Liverpool Regiment they ought to have worn the KLR insignia, the White Horse of
Hanover. From now on the Liverpool Pals would proudly display the Eagle and Child on their
uniforms. Lord Derby had silver cap badges struck for each of his men and from the 18th
November onwards these were individually handed out to the men by Lord Derby himself. Most of
these were subsequently given to wives, girlfriends, sisters or mothers in the form of sweetheart
broaches made from the badges themselves.
Also in October 1914 permission was granted for a fourth Pals battalion to be recruited. Lord
Derby again issued appeals in the local media and in November 1914 the 20th Battalion was
raised. They were initially based at Tournament Hall in Knotty Ash.
At Knowsley, construction of the new accommodation continued at great speed. Within one
month of a contract being placed the hutted accommodation was ready to take its first occupants.
The camp being purpose built it was naturally superior than most of the accommodation on offer
to regulars or territorials. It even had a purpose built theatre on site.
In November 1914 the 19th Bn left Sefton Park and settled into the new accommodation. In
December the 18th Bn left their home at Hooton Park, and also moved to Knowsley. By January
1915 the 20th Bn moved from Tournament Hall. The 17th Bn would remain billeted at Prescot but
would march to Knowsley Hall each day. This allowed the four Pals battalions to train together
and allowed the camaraderie to build.
Whilst at Knowsley one of the main parts of their training in readiness for action on the Western
Front was to practice digging. This was to cause much rancour and even at reunion dinners some
50 years later was the cause of debate. Effectively, the stalemate on the Western Front and the
construction of trenches led Brigadier Stanley to the conclusion that the Pals would need to be
trained in the practice of digging. All well and good, however the area selected for this digging was
a high bank of earth near to the house and which obscured the view of the lake. According to
some estimates there was as much as 15,000 tonnes of earth to move. Each battalion was ordered
to get to work on removing the earth. It was discovered that the earth was like clay and some Pals
had great fun with it as Corporal E G Williams of the 17th Bn explained.
“We removed mounds of clay, in levelling and landscaping the grounds, and had lots of fun with
trucks and light rail tracks, and with the clay too.
Some of it adorned the classical statuary, and not always in the best possible taste, giving rise to
hilarity among the troops, but not among the rightful owners”.
The Pals parodied the tune of Moonlight Bay with the ditty
“We were working all day, on Derby’s clay,
The picks and shovels ringing, they seemed to say,
If you don’t do any work, you’ll get no pay,
So we dug, dug, dug like hell, for a bob a day”
In fairness to Lord Derby, he had the cost of the work undertaken surveyed by an independent
valuer. This was costed at between £600-£700. Upon the end of the Pals stay at Knowsley, and
with the work still not completed, he paid £1,000 in the Comrades Fund which had been
established.
The Pals finally left Liverpool on 30th April 1915 for further training before sailing to France in
November 1915 . Many for the last time.
The history of the Liverpool Pals proudly shows that they distinguished themselves during their
service in France, Flanders and indeed Russia. They were the first of the Pals battalions formed
and the last to be stood down. Liverpool should be rightly proud of them.
Their memory will be recognised in Liverpool on 31 August 2014 when two friezes will be unveiled
in Lime Street station telling the story of the Pals. This will be one hundred years to the day of the
very first volunteers signing up at St Georges Hall. I am sure you will agree that they are deserving
of this memorial.
Donations are still required to help to pay for the Memorial and its subsequent upkeep. Details of
how to donate can be found at www.theliverpoolpalsmemorialfund.com
Tony Wainwright
July 2014