Military
Glossop Detachment of the Cheshire Regiment
The following notes are by Robert Hamnett. Hamnett was a local historian and member of the local volunteer force in which he served as an NCO.
26th July 2020
An attempt was made to form a Volunteer Corps in Glossop in 1859. It failed but a second attempt, in June 1875, succeeded. The corps, called the 23rd Derbyshire Rifle Volunteers, was funded by the mill owning families (which provided the officers) and numbered around 250 men.
The Drill Hall was in the Town Hall complex next to the Market Hall. The corps had rifle ranges on Chunal and later Mossy Lea. In addition to regular weekly meetings, the volunteers went away to training camps and held shooting competitions against corps from other local towns.
On December 1st 1887, the name was changed to the Glossop detachment, 4th Volunteer Battalion Cheshire Regiment. Several local men fought in the Boer Wars.
The Volunteer Corps became part of the new Territorial Army in 1908.
Robert Hamnett wrote a detailed history of the volunteer corps in various articles
The following notes are by Robert Hamnett. Hamnett was a local historian and member of the local volunteer force in which he served as an NCO.