Catalogue description 9TH (SERVICE) BATTALION

This Battalion was raised in 1914, and embarked for France in Jul 1915. It formed part of 72nd Brigade, 24th Division. It fought on the Western Front throughout World War I, including at the Battles of Loos, 1915, the Somme, 1916, Messines, 1917, Ypres, 1917, Rosieres, 1918, and Cambrai, 1918. In Mar 1919, it was transferred to the 122nd Brigade of the 41st Division of the Army of Occupation on the Rhine. It returned to England in Nov 1919, and was disbanded in Mar 1920. The playwright R C Sherriff (1896-1975) served with the Battalion and drew on his experiences in his celebrated play Journey's End. His papers, including his letters home from the Western Front, are held at Surrey History Centre under the references 2332 and 3813.