Wandsworth & Battersea Battalions in the Great War

The service and sacrifices of two London boroughs are chronicled in dramatic detail in this WWI military history.

In 1915, the Mayors of the London Metropolitan Boroughs were each urged to raise a unit of local men for active service overseas. The responses from Wandsworth and Battersea, two neighboring boroughs in Southwest London, could not have been more different. Mirroring their different political leanings, Battersea raised a full infantry battalion for the Queens (Royal West Surrey) Regiment, while Wandsworth sent double the men needed for an infantry battalion to the East Surrey Regiment.

Wandsworth’s 13th East Surreys and Battersea’s 10th Queens both served with honor and distinction. But they, and the communities from which they came, also suffered thousands of men wounded and killed. This sacrifice cemented links with France, Belgium and Italy that continue today. From the early tragic death of an adventurous boy of just 15, to the heroic deeds of a dustman who won the Victoria Cross, this book describes the pain and the glory of the volunteers of Wandsworth and Battersea on the Western Front.