}
'White City' barracks
‘There is ample accommodation in the extensive Exhibition grounds for drilling purposes’
Bristol at War, 14 November 1914
The original 990 volunteers in ‘Bristol’s Own’ battalion lived and trained at the ‘White City’ and in the adjoining green spaces. The Bristol International Exhibition closed on 15 August and the Royal Engineers converted the buildings into headquarters for the new regiment. At first they trained in their own clothes, before supplies of uniform came through. They also had to train with dummy guns, until they were issued with Lee Enfield rifles. ‘Bristol’s Own’ left White City for further training in June 1915, before leaving for France in November 1915.
Of the original 990 men, 735 died and many others were wounded.
New recruits and conscripts, not necessarily from Bristol, were drafted in to rebuild the battalion, and it was no longer a fighting force of men from Bristol.
The original 990 volunteers in ‘Bristol’s Own’ battalion lived and trained at the ‘White City’ and in the adjoining green spaces. The Bristol International Exhibition closed on 15 August and the Royal Engineers converted the buildings into headquarters for the new regiment. At first they trained in their own clothes, before supplies of uniform came through. They also had to train with dummy guns, until they were issued with Lee Enfield rifles. ‘Bristol’s Own’ left White City for further training in June 1915, before leaving for France in November 1915.
Of the original 990 men, 735 died and many others were wounded.
New recruits and conscripts, not necessarily from Bristol, were drafted in to rebuild the battalion, and it was no longer a fighting force of men from Bristol.