Harold Butler

15th Bn Cheshire Regiment Harold Butler attested at Nottingham and formerly served (23955) with the Sherwood Foresters. Standing 5 feet tall and weighing 115 lbs, he was posted to 15th Battalion (a bantam unit see below). He embarked from the UK 28/1/1916 before transferring to 15th Battalion Cheshire Regiment, another bantam unit, on 19th May 1916. Following training as a bomber, Butler was wounded on July 18th 1916 but recovered to rejoin the battalion on August 3rd. By March 24th 1918, 15th Battalion Cheshire Regiment was, like most Western Front British units, falling back in the face of Kaiserschlacht, Ludendorff's massive final attempt to secure outright victory which had been launched three days earlier. Butler's unit was at Bray on the Somme. Their war diary (TNA WO95/24871/1) records 'the bn was engaged in active operations against the great enemy offensive... never had our officers and men shown better form. At no time was any sign of retirement shown... large numbers of the enemy were killed. Our losses although heavy were very small in overall proportion to those inflicted on our opponents and generally the fine reputation of the battalion was enhanced.' Fifty-five men from 15th Battalion Cheshire Regiment, including Harold Butler, were killed on March 24th 1918 (CWGC Debt of Honour Register). Harold has no known grave and is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial, France (Panel 35 and 36).

Bantam Battlions A bantam, in British Army usage, was a soldier of below the minimum regulation height of 5 ft 3 in (160 cm). During the First World War, the British Army raised battalions in which the normal minimum height requirement for recruits was reduced from 5 ft 3 in (160 cm) to 5 ft (150 cm). This enabled shorter but healthy young men to enlist. Bantam units enlisted from industrial and coal-mining areas where short stature was no sign of weakness. The name derives from the town of Bantam in Indonesia, from which a breed of small domestic fowl allegedly originated. Bantamweight was a weight category in boxing that had originated in the 1880s and had produced many notable boxers. The first bantam battalions were recruited in Birkenhead, Cheshire, after Alfred Bigland, MP, heard of a group of miners who, rejected from every recruiting office, had made their way to the town. One of the miners, rejected on account of his size, offered to fight any man there as proof of his suitability as a soldier, and six men were eventually called upon to remove him. Bantam applicants were men used to physical hard work, and Bigland was so incensed at what he saw as the needless rejection of spirited healthy men that he petitioned the War Office for permission to establish an undersized fighting unit. When the permission was granted, news spread across the country and men previously denied the chance to fight made their way to Birkenhead, 3,000 successful recruits being accepted for service into two new "Bantam battalions" in November 1914. The requirement for their height was between 4 ft 10 in (147 cm) and 5 ft 3 in (160 cm). Chest size was one inch (2.5 cm) more than the army standard. The men became local heroes, with the local newspaper, The Birkenhead News, honouring the men of the 1st and 2nd Birkenhead Battalions of the Cheshires with enamel badges - "BBB" - "Bigland's Birkenhead Bantams". Soon renamed the 15th and 16th Battalions, Cheshire Regiment, they undertook gruelling training and served in some of the hardest-fought battles of the war, such as the Battle of Arras in 1917. Another bantam battalion was the 14th Battalion (West of England), the Gloucestershire Regiment, raised in 1915 and sent to France in 1916. Eventually two whole divisions, the 35th and the 40th, were formed from "Bantam" men, who were virtually annihilated during the Battle of Bourlon. Heavy casualties, transfers to specialized Army tunnelling companies and tank regiments, the introduction of conscription, and replacements by taller men, eventually led to Bantam units becoming indistinguishable from other British divisions. (Wikipedia) Industrial Schools Following the death of his father in 1918, Harold's youngest brother Willie was sent to Holy Trinity Industrial School, Grafton Street, Liverpool. Industrial Schools were intended to help children under 14 years old who were found to be homeless or begging. The idea was to remove the child from bad influences, give them an education and teach them a trade. Grafton Street Industrial School Liverpool seems to have been enlightened and progressive with, by 1893, a swimming pool, gym, joinery shop and boys making their own bread. In 1911, the school became local cricket champions. Research by David Nunn. Thanks to Harold Butler's great nephew (Thomas's great grandson) Simon Allison for this identification.