Most British Army Regiments began the First World War with two Regular Battalions. Since Victorian times it had usually been the norm for one of a Regiment’s Battalions to be serving overseas – particularly in India – and for the other Battalon to be based at home.
The 2nd Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment began the war in India. They quickly returned to England, however, landing at Plymouth on 22 December 1914. They spent the next four months moving between Romsey, Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwick. On 29 March 1915 the Battalion sailed from Avonmouth, bound for Galipoli, via Egypt. Landing at Helles on 25 April 1915, they were eventually evacuated in January 1916.
There were commonly family links in the pre-war regular Army. Private Frederick Denyer, 22 and from 66 Maitland Street in Landport, was killed on 28 April 1915. He is buried at Redoubt Cemetery, Galipoli. His Brother Private Edwin Denyer, 24, was killed on 6 August 1915. He has no known grave and is remembered on the Helles Memorial, Galipoli.
After being evacuated to Egypt the 2nd Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment landed in Marseille on 20 March 1916, and saw out the rest of the War in France and Belgium, seeing action at Arras and Passchendaele.
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