Regiment with strong local connections

Before the army reforms of recent decades, most Bristolians tended to think of the “Glorious Glosters" as their local infantry regiment, but there was another one which had strong local ties as well. For Remembrance Day, Eugene Byrne looks at the story of the Somerset Light Infantry.

- 

the SLI fought their way across northern Europe after D-Day, here pictured in November 1944 at Geilenkirchen, just inside the German border

FROM late Victorian times until the later 20th century, a young man from Bristol who wanted to enlist in the army's “local” infantry regiment would probably sign up for the Gloucestershire Regiment.

The start of the First World War saw a flood of young men from civilian jobs, most of whom had never imagined they would ever “go for a soldier” rushing to enlist. A specific “Bristol's Own” battalion of the Gloucesters - the 12th - was formed.

But Bristol had another “local” infantry regiment which plenty of other men signed up for.

In both war and religion, Bristol was divided by the river. For much of its history, Bristol had not had its own bishop, being divided between Somerset and Gloucestershire. And so it was with the army. Men from south of the river, and those from anywhere in the city with family ties to Somerset, might opt instead for the Somerset Light Infantry (SLI).

During the Great War, of course, many men who enlisted, or who were conscripted, didn’t always have much say in the units to which they were directed. Some of the very first volunteers in Bristol in August 1914 ended up in Irish regiments. Others, given the choice, opted for other regiments, sometimes because of connections to other parts of the country. Others ended up in elite units. The Coldstream Guards, for example, were particularly keen on recruiting men from mining districts, of which Bristol and Somerset had plenty in 1914, because they assumed that they would be useful in trenches and tunnels.