WW1 info please

[Dave Angus]

Can anyone help with this email query from Robert Shepherd, copied below....

This is Hugh Gallagher between 1902 and WW1 when he served with the3rd Garrison (Home Defence)Battalion, perhaps some one will recognise the cap badge, I think it is that of the 8th(cyclist)Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers which was formed as the Northern Cyclist Battalion in Sunderland c1908. Can anyone confirm this and if so where were they based in the town?

[IanT]

Dave, I'm pretty sure the badge is a cyclist's with the wheel at centre. I can't find one on the net specifically for the Northern Battalion, though there are references to other counties. Some brief information about the cyclists is on the 1914-1918 web site here: http://www.1914-1918.net/cyclistbns.htm

There is a photo of my gr uncle James Thirlwell in the Family History forum with an Army Cyclist Corps cap badge which also has the bicycle wheel and crossed rifles, but with a scroll beneath.

Ian

[Lucy]

I think this is the badge that man is wearing and it is the Northumberland Cyclist badge

[Lucy]

8th (Service) Battalion
Formed at Newcastle in August 1914 as part of K1 and attached to 34th Brigade, 11th (Northern) Division.
Moved to Gallipoli in July 1915. Went to Egypt in January 1916 and thence to France in July 1916.
http://www.1914-1918.net/northfus.htm