Provisional Battalions & Home Service Territorial Divisions
Provisional Battalions were formed in 1915 from Territorial Army soldiers who were not eligible to serve overseas and so not on the front line.
These men usually had medical conditions or were to old to be conscripted and had not volunteered to serve abroad.
The main duty of the Provisional Battalions was home defence, to patrol the coats and installations and to defend the country against any invading enemy force.
The number of Battalions varied in size and number with regular amalgamations.
In 1917 the Provisional Battalion were renamed as Home Service Territorial Divisions and Mixed Brigades with a primary duty of coastal protection.
They were disbanded at the end of the war when the Territorial Army Battalions returned to the UK to resume their part time role.
In the Great War the below Provisional Battalions were known to be based in Essex.
29th Provisional Battalion - Tendring Peninsula
32nd Provisional Battalion - Clacton on Sea
65th Provisional Battalion - Barking (later 15th Battalion Essex)
66th Provisional Battalion - (later 16th Battalion Essex)
67th Provisional Battalion - (later 17th Battalion Essex )
70th Provisional Battalion - Leigh on Sea ( later 15th Battalion Royal Sussex )
81st Provisional Battalion - Southminster ( later 18th Battalion Royal Warwickshire)
82nd Provisional Battalion
83rd Provisional Battalion - Burnham on Crouch ( later 10th Oxford & Buckinghamshire Battalion)
107th Provisional Battalion - Clacton on Sea ( later 31st Battalion London Regiment)
108th Provisional Battalion - Tendring Peninsula ( later 32nd Battalion London Regiment)
Click here for names of some members of the 29th, 67th and 82nd Provisional Battallions
