Rapid Growth Of The Regiment

By early September, the numbers of men arriving at the Depot to volunteer for service exceeded one thousand.
Thus in early September, a further two tranches of men left Suffolk to journey southwards, to be formed into two more new Battalions of The Suffolk Regiment.
The 8th (Service) Battalion was formed first at Shorncliffe under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel F. Graham, before moving in early October to Colchester to become part of 53rd Brigade, 18th (East Anglian) Division, under the leadership of the soon to be legendary, Sir Ivor Maxse C.V.O, C.B., D.S.O.
In parallel, the 9th (Service) Battalion was being formed at Shoreham camp, Sussex under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Stracey. Such were the numbers of men in this newly created camp that accommodation here was tented in the early days, with the men watching eagerly, the wooden huts being erected to house them. They would move in for just a few days in December before they moved east to Brighton just before Christmas, to carry on their training.
The men would still to arrive at the Depot in the days and weeks that followed and there would be other Battalions' formed soon...

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