Leeds Pals Memorial at ColsterdaleWar memorial in Leeds
The Leeds Pals were a First World War Pals battalion of Kitchener's Army raised in the West Yorkshire city of Leeds. When the battalion was taken over by the British Army it was officially named the 15th Battalion (1st Leeds), The Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment).
The battalion was formed in September 1914 by a committee led by Lord Brotherton, politician Francis Martineau Lupton and his brother Arthur G. Lupton. The brothers' brother, Lord Mayor of Leeds Sir Charles Lupton, was filmed in 1915 inspecting the Leeds Pals at a camp near Colsterdale in the Yorkshire Dales where the battalion underwent training. The Lord Mayor's brothers were also present at the event.[1] The three sons of Francis Martineau Lupton - all educated at Rugby and Cambridge University - were killed during the Great War.[2][3][1]
The battalion became part of the 93rd Brigade of the 31st Division, along with the two Bradford Pals battalions (16th and 18th Battalions, The West Yorkshire Regiment). In December 1915 the Leeds Pals were deployed to Egypt to defend the Suez Canal from the threat of the Ottoman Empire.
In March 1916 the battalion landed in France, joining the British build up for the Battle of the Somme. On the first day on the Somme, 1 July 1916, the 31st Division attacked towards the village of Serre and the Leeds Pals advanced from a line of copses named after the Gospels. The battalion was shelled in its trenches before Zero Hour (7.30 am) and when it advanced, it was met by heavy machine gun fire. A few men got as far as the German barbed wire but no further. Later in the morning the German defenders came out to clear the bodies off their wire, killing any that were still alive. The battalion casualties, sustained in the few minutes after Zero, were 24 officers and 504 other ranks, of which 15 officers and 233 other ranks were killed.
"The name of Serre and the date of 1st July is engraved deep in our hearts, along with the faces of our 'Pals', a grand crowd of chaps. We were two years in the making and ten minutes in the destroying." (Private A.V. Pearson, Leeds Pals)[4]
In December 1917 the Leeds Pals were amalgamated with the 2nd Leeds battalion (17th Battalion, The West Yorkshire Regiment, a Bantam battalion) to form the 15th/17th Battalion, The West Yorkshire Regiment.
^ ab"Ancestors of Kate Middleton Found On Film". British Pathe. 10 July 2013. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
^Memorials of Rugbeians who fell in the Great War. Rugby School. 1918. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
^Milner, L. (31 December 1990). Leeds Pals. Pen and Sword. p. 21. ISBN 9780850523355. Retrieved 27 November 2018. Brotherton's committee was composed of the following City dignitaries: Alderman F. M. Lupton....Mr Arthur G Lupton
^Martin Middlebrook, The First Day On the Somme, Penguin Books, 1984, p 270
The LeedsPals were a First World War Pals battalion of Kitchener's Army raised in the West Yorkshire city of Leeds. When the battalion was taken over...
2020. Leeds Rifles LeedsPals 51st (2nd Yorkshire West Riding) Regiment of Foot Leeds United FC 1967–74: 4 December 2019. List of people from Leeds "Figure...
Accrington Pals were accompanied by pals battalions drawn from Sheffield, Leeds, Barnsley, and Bradford. Of an estimated 700 Accrington Pals who took part...
Loidis, from which Leeds, Yorkshire derives its name, was anciently a forested area of the Celtic kingdom of Elmet. The settlement certainly existed at...
Mayor Lord Brotherton announced that the Leeds City Council would be raising a new battalion: the LeedsPals. His committee was composed of "City dignitaries"...
1932 (after being used during World War I for troop transport to the LeedsPals camp at Breary Banks just north of Leighton) but is still evident on the...
Colsterdale was the site of a training camp for the LeedsPals. There is now a memorial to the LeedsPals in the dale, erected in 1935. The camp later became...
Blackman Lane in Leeds. In September, 1914, he enlisted in the 15th Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment also known as the LeedsPals Battalion. Sen...
and Cheerful Companionship': Leeds Association of Girls' Clubs and the Girls' Clubs Era (1904–1944 )" (PDF). LeedsPals Volunteer Researchers. Second...
at Breary Banks was commandeered by the army to house training for the LeedsPals, and in 1915, work on the reservoir stopped completely, although the railway...
Electrical Engineering at the University of Leeds. He volunteered to fight in September 1914 and joined the LeedsPals. A plaque outside the church observes...
gallery. A blue plaque adorns the side of the good shed commemorating the LeedsPals, who arrived by train at Masham station in September 1914 and marched...
the 'Mothers, Wives & Sweethearts' of the LeedsPals, which was read aloud at a thanksgiving dinner at Leeds Town Hall. Dorothy had a deep love for the...
Independent Labour Party in Bradford in 1893. The Bradford Pals were three First World War Pals battalions of Kitchener's Army raised in the city. When the...
The Barnsley Pals were two 'Pals battalions' formed as part of 'Kitchener's Army' during World War I. Raised by local initiative in the town of Barnsley...
The Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Retrieved 5 June 2010. "The soldiers". leeds-pals.com. Retrieved 5 June 2010. "Discovering UK Collections". Cornucopia....
Q2-Apr-May-Jun "History spotlight ... Dalton". The Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Retrieved 5 June 2010. "The soldiers". leeds-pals.com. Retrieved 5 June 2010....
the West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Own), also known as "The LeedsPals". He was followed a short while later by another wave of soldiers among...
Leeds raised two battalions for Kitchener's Army: the 15th West Riding (1st Leeds) was known as the 'LeedsPals', and the 17th West Riding (2nd Leeds)...
alongside his county colleagues, Roy Kilner and Major Booth, with the LeedsPals but returned to Yorkshire's ranks in 1919, and enjoyed his most successful...
at Leeds City Varieties Music Hall and tells the story of a group of men from a Leeds-based brass band who sign up to fight as part of the LeedsPals battalion...
This is a list of pals battalions (also called "service" or "locally raised" battalions) of the British Army during the First World War. Pre-war Territorial...
Global Information
