5th Regiment of Foot

Also known as The Northumberland Fusiliers.

Chronology

• 1674 raised as the Irish Regiment or Viscount Clare's Regiment
• 1751 became 5th Regiment of Foot
• 1782 became HM 5th (Northumberland) Regiment of Foot
• 1836 became the 5th (Northumberland Fusiliers) Regiment of Foot
• 1881 became the Northumberland Fusiliers
• 1935 became the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers
• 1968 became the 1st Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers

2nd Garrison Battalion. WW1

Garrison Battalions were made up of soldiers unfit for front line duty, see First World War-Garrison Battalions
History
Formed at Newcastle in October 1915. Went to India in February 1916 and joined the Sialkot Brigade, 2nd (Indian) Division.
Sialkot Brigade. March 1916 - March 1917. To the 6th Poona divisional area.
Poona Brigade. March 1917 - October 1917. Remained with the Division but at Ahmednagar.
Attached Troops. October 1917 - May 1918. To the Ahmednagar Brigade.
Ahmednagar Brigade. (Formed in May 1918). May 1918 - 11 November 1918.
Disbanded in UK 18/1/1920. Advised in a Forum post by ‘keith 9351’

Additionally, or in contrast to the above, Alan Greveson advised
"Men of the 2nd Garrison Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers served in Mesopotamia from March 1917 until 1919. Whether this was the whole battalion, or elements of it, is not clear but the Battalion lost 179 men during the First World War and the majority died from sickness in Mesopotamia… It seems certain that all or part of the 2nd Garrison Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers arrived in Basra in late February or early March 1917. The deaths in Mesopotamia appeared to be from sickness including one from smallpox… The Garrison Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers appears to have remained in Mesopotamia until the winter of 1918/1919 as the last recorded death there was on January 4th 1919 at Amara. Amara was further North than Basra and was the headquarters from where the 13th Division started demobilisation in February 1919. The final death in the 2nd Garrison Battalion was recorded in India on March 21 1919. The 2nd Garrison Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers returned to England and was disbanded on January 8th 1920."

Regimental Journal

A regular regimental journal can be a valuable source of information. St. George's Gazette was published from 1883 to 1968. The British Library has this publication in its catalogue, but it is not clear how many editions it holds. Another source may be the National Army Museum. The library at the Museum (refer below) has copies according to this link

FIBIS resources

• "A Northumberland Fusilier in India 1886-1896" by Ruth Sear FIBIS Journal Number 28 (Autumn 2012) pages 47-48. See FIBIS Journals for details of how to access this article.

External Links

Historical Books Online

• The Northumberland Fusiliers by Walter Wood (1901) Archive.org. Indian service commences page 112 in 1857, and continues page 138, in Afghanistan in 1878.

Other

• Royal Northumberland Fusiliers Wikipedia
• The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers from British Armed Forces & National Service. Includes deployments.
• The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers including deployments: 1st Battalion, 2nd Battalion Regiments.org, an archived site.
• Museum of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers Northumberlandfusiliers.org
• Northumberland Fusiliers Dickinsons-of-whitfield. org. Includes a list of Indian Mutiny medals.
• "A rock epic". An article by Ali Jan about a 1909 regimental rock carving at Murree (now Pakistan) from The News on Sunday(jang.com.pk)