Like another member I have found little information about the group I am trying to research. I am a family history researcher from Fordham in Essex and member of Fordham History Society. This photo was taken in front of the John Owen Barn in Fordham Essex, (no date as yet.) The photo was taken for the newspaper, so luckily we have all the surnames with the men's initial and now I am trying to research the men with help of our history society members and older village members. I did find an interesting article about the Wakes Colne viaduct which mentions the pillboxes being manned by the Homeguard. I found a photograph online of the 8th Battalion Colchester and some of the men look like the ones in the Fordham photograph. I have an article by Fred Nash which is also useful. But I would welcome any information or comments about Essex Homeguard. http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk...t_Reports/DA72_TEXT_-_WAKES_COLNE_VIADUCT.pdf
Welcome Wendy, and thanks for the link – there was a recent thread on the spigot mortar that may be of interest. I’ve done a search of TNA catalogue which flags-up a number of holdings at the Essex Records Office which you may already be familiar with, including: Papers of EN Farrar as an officer of the 8th Battalion, Essex Home Guard Wormingford 'G' Company, 8th Battalion, Essex Home Guard, corresp, parish invasion scheme, plans and list of members. TNA seems to have little on topic themselves but I was struck by the number of Essex men in the Durham battalions.
Many thanks for the two links Roberto. I have a visit to the Record Office booked, so will check these out. When I was project manager for our community WW1 project funded by the Heritage Lottery, I thought the Essex Regiment would be my main focus of our 30 men who died. But in fact, they were from 16 different regiments. Also whilst I was on holiday in Campbeltown Inverness, I was drawn to look at the town war memorial only to find one casualty from the Essex Regiment remembered on it.
Hi Wendy I am researching G Battery (Mercers Troop) 5 Royal Horse Artillery who manned pillboxes on the GHQ (defence0 Line in 1940 Just a mention of the Homeguard a bit further south in Little Waltham. 5 RHA did mention manning pillboxes in Colchester area but I am unable to identify the positions.. I would be very interested if during your research If you do find mention of 5 RHA The part of the GHQ line manned by 5 RHA stretched from Saffron Walden to Wickford (37K) and had pillboxes around 300 meters apart over the whole distance. Many are still intact they were, Type FW3 Machine gun group FW3/24 Infantry Section FW3/28A 6 Pounder A/T Gun I believe it fair to assume that G Battery manned the type FW/28A boxes that mainly covered river crossings and approaches. The infantry boxes were manned by 6th Battalion Home Guard. Those in the area (Little Waltham) occupied by C Troop G Battery (Mercers Troop) were manned by the Broomfield and Springfield Home Guard Companies. A Troop G Battery also manned pillboxes in Colchester as part of the General Defence Line. So far it has not been possible to locate which ones, but geographically the ones at Chappell Viaduct 8K NW of Colchester would seem a possibility.
Wendy, 1) Insignia on the two photos indicate they both were taken between summer 1941 and before February 1944. 2) The book you need is Warmen Courageous: The History of the Essex Home Guard 1940-1944, by Major Peter Finch, published by John H. Burrows (1951) - it has a whole chapter, 11 pages, in great detail, purely about the 8th Battalion, with names, places etc. The book is very rare - it sells secondhand for £150! - but it can be found at your local record office, which I believe is in Colchester. Hope that helps, Austin
