6th Battalion

The lost letters of the 6th Battalion were discovered when clearing out the house of a relative, by Robert Swan, a friend of Hive Storyteller John Caffery’s Daughter. The letters were passed to John, who took on the task of researching the story of the battalion, the soldiers and the letters themselves.

The 6th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers were one of the first territorial battalions to be sent into action in the Great War 1914-1918, It has taken over 100 years for this collection of letters to come to light and give a unique insight into the thoughts and experiences of the soldiers of the battalion.

Captain George Francis Bell placed an article in the Evening Chronicle, November 9, 1921, requesting information from surviving soldiers and their families regarding the events of the Battle of St Julian.

After further research John Caffery discovered that the plans to produce a history of the battalion had been thought of much earlier, when a request was made in the Newcastle Journal on 7th May 1915 which states that there was a plan to compile the ‘Doings of the 6th Battalion at the conclusion of the war’ and asked that copies of letters containing details of the action in which the battalion had been engaged be sent to Captain Brewer, St George’s Drill Hall Newcastle. Some of the discovered letters appear to have been in response to this request.

There was a further piece published on 25th April 1923 in the Newcastle Evening Chronicle which requested support in the form of subscription to raise funds for the completion of the planned book, the estimated cost at the time was £2700.  Captain Bell did acquire letters containing soldiers’ first-hand accounts and from family of those who were bereaved. We can only assume that they were unsuccessful in raising the funds and unfortunately, the book and letters have never been published.

The battalion went into action for the first time at The Battle of St Julien. This was the first battle the Germans used gas. 1050 members of the Battalion left Seaton Sluice on April 20th1915, by 26th April 1915 they only had 400 soldiers that were uninjured.