Home Guard Northumberland Fusiliers "C" Company

Hello All

For anyone who can help me with my search for information, pictures or are able to put me in touch with any surviving members or their descendants of "C" Company Northumberland Fusiliers Home Guard.
Take a look at my website "C" Company Northumberland Fusiliers Newcastle Home Guard .
Most of the men will have lived in the Heaton, Jesmond and Gosforth areas of Newcastle upon Tyne.


Regs Peter

 

Hello Peter, Welcome and Well Done with the web site. I wish I could help but it's a long way from my part of the world !

 

Peter, its people like you that proves the internet is a wonderful and informative place. Great site and a worthy cause. I wish you well in your project!

 

Welcome, Peter. A Septic here, but still enjoyed the page.

 

My maternal grandfather, Donald McNeil (1892-1965) was born in Scotland but then after being invalided from service in the later stages of WW1 he settled in Newcastle, living first in Jesmond and then during WW2 in Gosforth. He does not appear in the book about C Company by Capt Browne but I have photos of him in Home Guard units such as one I have attached here taken at the Armstrong Memorial. The only oral history I have ref his time in WW2 was my mother's recollections that he had a number of foreign men (maybe Czech or Polish) because he was a linguist! Also that he and others would take over the dining room for planning and other meetings especially in the cold and dark of winter. She would have been around ten at the time.

Any clues as to the Home Guard unit would be much appreciated. I have not yet requested his HG records officially but may do so.

PXL_20220905_142741464 by Steve Marsden posted Sep 10, 2022 at 1:22 PM

He is third from left in the front row.

 

Hello Steve welcome to the forum
It would be a good idea to request his records it takes a lot of guessing out his service


regards
Clive

 

Very often, these HG group photos can prove frustrating and reveal little, because things such as the shoulder title badges do not face front! However, in this case, although the exact detail on the badges cannot be seen, their layout might provide an answer for you.

HG shoulder titles were normally just the 'Home Guard' badge then the county title and battalion number badges below. However, there appears to be an extra badge below. Northumberland HG also wore the red and yellow St Oswald shield formation badge, but photos show they wore it between the HG shoulder title and county/battalion titles.

I believe the badge *below* the HG badging in your photo is the red Anti-Aircraft Command badge (as shown in my photo).

AA sites required a lot of manpower as they operated on shifts. As the regular army who manned these sites were moving on to the offensive abroad, from 1941/42, Home Guards were drawn from local battalions to provide the manpower.

This could well explain why your grandfather did not appear in the local history - he may have started in the regular HG battalion, but was drawn or volunteered to serve at the local HG AA battalion - hence him pictured standing with colleagues wearing the AA Command badge.

 

Thank you very much for these suggestions. I am attaching two further photos, both of larger groups and it looks like both taken at the same location (but different from the location of the original photo). The one with the middle sized group is a bit clearer in terms of the shoulder titles. Especially the two NCOs at the right hand side (who look like people in the original photo) - I think they have the county title and battalion number below that extra badge as you mention.

Would the position of my grandfather on front bench of the middle sized group indicate he was an officer?

I am in the process of applying for MOD records but of course that will take time and they are likely to be very limited.

PXL_20220905_142913278 by Steve Marsden posted Sep 13, 2022 at 9:53 PM

Donald McNeil Home Guard by Steve Marsden posted Sep 13, 2022 at 9:55 PM

 

If he is wearing a tie and has an open battledress collar, he was an officer.

However, in the middle sized group - it does not look like the AA Command badge but the Home Guard shoulder title, with the St Oswald Sheild badge and then the County and Battalion titles. This probably means my original hypothesis was wrong.

However, one thing for sure is that these photos were taken at the Home Guard stand down in late 1944.

Either way, it is worth getting his HG personnel records and they should clear up the matter.

 

Thanks again. Looking closely at the mid sized group photo, I am pretty sure that the battalion number is 9 which would fit as Newcastle (Central).

I see his lower right arm also has the chevrons which I believe depict the years of his earlier service (which was in WW1, resulting in being invalided out with serious wounds to neck and right shoulder).

 

The small chevrons on his right cuff are called service chevrons - one was awarded for each year of service in WW2. They were introduced in February 1944, so we know the photo was taken after that date i.e. stand down in late 1944.

 

Thanks. Also, from another source I have found confirmation of Northern Command, Northumberland, 9th Northumberland (Central Newcastle) Battalion. Service from 1 Feb 1941. Rank Lieutenant (he had also been a 2nd Lieutenant in KRRC in WW1).

 

As a Lt, he would have been in charge of a Home Guard platoon of around 35 men.