164th (North Lancashire) Brigade

The 164th (North Lancashire) Brigade was an infantry brigade of the Territorial Force of the British Army. The brigade was raised in 1908 when the Territorial Force was created and was originally formed as the North Lancashire Brigade attached to the West Lancashire Division, later the 164th (North Lancashire) Brigade and the 55th (West Lancashire) Division respectively. During World War I, in April 1915, the brigade joined the 51st (Highland) Division and was re-designated the 154th Brigade. It returned to the 55th Division in January 1916 and served with it for the rest of the war on the Western Front in battles at Passchendaele, Cambrai and Estaires in 1918. In 1916, 2nd Lieutenant Edward Felix Baxter of the 1/8th (Liverpool Irish) Battalion, King's Regiment (Liverpool) was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.

Both the brigade and division were disbanded after the war in 1919 but later reformed in 1920 in the Territorial Army as the 164th Infantry Brigade and the 55th (West Lancashire) Infantry Division respectively. The brigade again served in World War II with the division throughout the war and, in October 1941, no longer was an operational formation to be sent overseas. In January 1942 it was reduced to a Lower Establishment yet it was not reduced to a training division as most others were. In December 1943, with the division, it was sent to Northern Ireland and was raised to a Higher Establishment in May 1944, before returning to the United Kingdom in July. It served there until the war finally ended in 1945 and the division was disbanded in 1946 and was not reformed.

World War I formation

The infantry battalions did not all serve at once, but all were assigned to the brigade during the war.

• 1/4th Battalion, King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment)
• 1/5th Battalion, King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment)
• 1/4th Battalion, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment
• 1/5th Battalion, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment
• 2/5th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers
• 1/8th (Liverpool Irish) Battalion, King's (Liverpool Regiment)
• 164th Machine Gun Company
• 164th Trench Mortar Battery^[1]

World War II formation

• 9th Battalion, King's Regiment (Liverpool)
• 1/4th Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment
• 2/4th Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment
• 9th Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment
• 9th Battalion, Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment)
• 4th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment
• 5th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry
• 1st Battalion, Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry

References