The Manchester Pals .............. lives from the Great War revealed

Men of the First City Battalion, the 176h Manchester's in Heaton Park, 1914

I have wondered about the fate of these eight men sitting in Heaton Park in the September of 1914.

They were part of the First City Battalion which was the 16th Manchester’s and was the first of the Manchester Pals’ battalions formed at the outbreak of the Great War.

In all there were eight such battalions which were created during August and November of 1914 and which  had already been preceded by three service battalions raised at the Regimental Dept at Ladysmith Barracks in Ashton-Under-Lyne.*

Now much has been written about the rush to enlist at the beginning of the war and the sheer speed and enthusiasm is reflected in the completion of the first four city battalions by mid September.

Lord Derby had reiterated his call for the formation of a “Pals Battalion” in Liverpool on August 27th and the following day leading Manchester industrialists and local figures met in the city’s Town Hall and resolved to raise a battalion of men drawn from the clerks and warehousemen of the city and to carry the name of the Manchester Clerks and Warehousemen’s Battalion.

Embroidered postcard, date unknown

The rest can be read in that excellent account of the Manchester Pal’s Regiments by Michael Stedman along with a brief summary in  The Manchester Regiment, at the Long Long Trail**

Suffice to say that 10,000 men enlisted in the Manchester Pals of whom 4,776 were killed.

And so instead I want to return to two who survived.

One of these was 36 years old Cyril Hopwood Bowman who enlisted on September 3rd and was a bank clerk with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank at their Portland Street branch.

We have his full military records, a photograph of him with C Company of the 17th Manchester’s and much more.  But despite knowing that he settled down in Didsbury after the war where he died in 1954 followed by his wife four years later I have drawn a blank with finding his family.

Not so young James Callaghan of the 8th City Battalion who also survived the war and was the father of one of my friends.  His son Joe has eight photographs of Mr Callaghan in uniform and a collection of stories his father told him of active service during and after the war.

Mr Callaghan of the 8th City Battalion, date unknown

Together the stories of these two men not only provide a vivid account of their experiences but also personalise a conflict which with the passage of time often just becomes focused on those who died on the battlefields.

Perhaps in time I might yet get to discover the identities of the eight in Heaton Park and and their stories but in the meantime I shall return to Mr Bowman and Mr Callaghan.

And not long after I posted the story Tim contacted me with this, "Hi Andrew, The camping party isn't 16th Bttn in Heaton Park. Shoulder tab may be 7th. Also dress uniform wrong and they had navy uniforms in Sept 14.  Cheers Tim."
.

Which is one in the eye for the chap who put the caption on the orginal postcard.

Pictures; First City Battalion, the 16th Manchester’s in Heaton Park, from the collection of Bob Potts, embroidered postcard of the Manchester Regiment from the collection of David Harrop, and Mr Callaghan courtesy of Joe Callaghan

* The First City Battalion, the 16th Manchester Regiment, the 2nd City Battalion, 17th Manchester Regiment, the 3rd City Battalion, 18th Manchester Regiment, the 4th City Battalion, 19th Manchester Regiment, the 5th City Battalion, 20th Manchester Regiment, the 6th City Battalion, 21st Manchester Regiment, the 7th City Battalion, 22nd Manchester Regiment, the 8th City Battalion, 23rd Manchester Regiment, the 11th 12th, 13th Manchester’s

**Manchester Pals, 16th, 17th, 18th,30th, 21st, 22nd & 23rd Battalions of the Manchester Regiment A History of the Two Manchester Brigades, Michael Stedman, 2004,  The Manchester Regiment at the Long, Long, Trail, http://www.1914-1918.net/mancs.htm

***Manchester Pals, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Manchester%20Pals