The Staffordshire Brigade (later 137th Brigade) was a volunteer infantry brigade formation of the British Army from 1888 to 1936. It saw active service on the Western Front in World War I, including the attacks on the Hohenzollern Redoubt and the Gommecourt Salient, and the assault crossing of the St Quentin Canal, 'a most remarkable feat of arms'.
Origins
The Staffordshire Brigade had its origin in the Stanhope Memorandum of 1888. This proposed a Mobilisation Scheme for units of the Volunteer Force, which would assemble by brigades at key points in case of war. In peacetime the brigades provided a structure for collective training. Under this scheme the Volunteer Battalions of the South Staffordshire Regiment and the Prince of Wales's (North Staffordshire Regiment) would assemble at Wolverhampton. The brigade commander and his Aide-de-Camp were retired Regular officers on the Reserve list, while the other staff were Volunteer officers drawn from the constituent battalions. The Staffordshire Brigade was organised as follows: Brigade Headquarters at Wolverhampton, later at The Friary, Lichfield 1st Volunteer Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment at Handsworth 2nd Volunteer Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment at Walsall 3rd Volunteer Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment at Wolverhampton 1st Volunteer Battalion, North Staffordshire Regiment at Stoke-on-Trent 2nd Volunteer Battalion, North Staffordshire Regiment at Burton-upon-Trent Supply Detachment, later designated an Army Service Corps Company Bearer Company, later part of the Royal Army Medical Corps
The brigade formed part of Northern Command, and was commanded by the following officers: Colonel (Hon Maj-Gen) Frederick Edward Sotheby, a retired former officer in the Rifle Brigade, was appointed Brigade Commander on 11 July 1888. He had seen active service in the Crimea, Indian Mutiny, China War and Ashanti War. Col Hon Francis Bridgeman, MP, retired former officer in the Scots Guards, appointed 17 Aug 1892. Charles Pierrepont, Viscount Newark (later 4th Earl of Manvers), a former officer in the Grenadier Guards and later Major in the 4th VB of the Sherwood Foresters, was appointed on 15 January 1899, and reappointed on the reorganisation of the brigades in 1906.
Territorial Force
Under the Haldane Reforms, the former Volunteers were subsumed into the Territorial Force (TF) in 1908. The 1st VB of the South Staffordshires was converted into the North Midland Divisional Engineers, the remainder of the brigade were renumbered 5th and 6th battalions in sequence after the Regular and Special Reserve battalions of their parent regiments. The Staffordshire Brigade was assigned to the North Midland Division of the TF.
World War I
On the outbreak of World War I, the North Midland Division mobilised immediately, and soon afterwards the men were invited to volunteer for foreign service. This was accepted by the majority, and the division moved to Luton to train for deployment overseas. It began landing in France in late February 1915 and by 8 March had completed its concentration – the first complete TF formation to arrive on the Western Front. Shortly afterwards the TF formations were numbered, the North Midland Division becoming the 46th (North Midland) Division, and the Staffordshire Brigade was designated 137th (Staffordshire) Brigade on 12 May 1915.
Meanwhile, duplicate or 2nd-Line TF forces were being organised in the United Kingdom from Home Service personnel and new recruits who came flooding in, with 176th (2/1st Staffordshire) Brigade forming in 59th (2nd North Midland) Division, after which the original units were distinguished by a '1/' prefix.
The 137th Brigade served on the Western Front for the whole of the war, with the exception of a few weeks in Egypt.