The 27th Division was an infantry division of the British Army raised during the Great War, formed in late 1914 by combining various Regular Army units that had been acting as garrisons about the British Empire. The division spent most of 1915 on the Western Front in France before moving to Salonika where it remained with the British Salonika Army for the duration of the war. In 1916 its commander Hurdis Ravenshaw was captured by an Austrian submarine whilst sailing to England. In 1918 in Salonika the division took part in the Battle of Doiran. It carried out occupation duties in the Caucasus in the post-war before being withdrawn from the region in 1919.
The division was composed of the following units:
80th Brigade
The infantry battalions did not all serve at once, but all were assigned to the brigade during the war.
2nd Battalion, King's Shropshire Light Infantry
3rd Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps
4th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps
4th Battalion, Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own)
Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry - Newly formed regiment in August 1914. No battalion number apparent from regimental sources. Served with the brigade from November 1914 until joining the 3rd Canadian Division in November 1915.
80th Machine Gun Company, Machine Gun Corps
80th Trench Mortar Battery
80th SAA Section Ammunition Column
81st Brigade
1st Battalion, Royal Scots
2nd Battalion, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
1st Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
2nd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment (to 82nd Brigade November 1916)
13th (Scottish Horse Yeomanry) Battalion, Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) (from October 1916)
The following battalions also served with the brigade for periods in 1915:
1/9th (Highlanders) Battalion, Royal Scots
1/9th (The Dumbartonshire) Battalion, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
82nd Brigade
2nd Battalion, Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry
1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment (until November 1916)
2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers (until November 1916)
1st Battalion, Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (until November 1916)
2nd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment (from 81st Bde. November 1916)
10th (Service) Battalion, Hampshire Regiment (from November 1916)
1/1st Battalion, the Cambridgeshire Regiment (from February 1915 to November 1915)
10th (Lovat Scouts) Battalion TF, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders (from October 1916 to June 1918)
19th Brigade (31 May 1915 to 19 August 1915)
2nd Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers
1st Battalion, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)
1/5th Battalion, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)
1st Battalion, Middlesex Regiment
2nd Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
The brigade joined the division in May 1915 from the 6th Division before joining the 2nd Division in August.
Artillery (on formation)
I Brigade, Royal Field Artillery
XIX Brigade, Royal Field Artillery
XX Brigade, Royal Field Artillery
When the division embarked for France in December 1914, the Divisional Ammunition Column was manned by IV Home Counties (Howitzer) Brigade of the Territorial Force (TF)
Engineers
1/1st Wessex Field Company, Royal Engineers – joined from the Wessex Division, TF, on 20 November 1914
1/2nd Wessex Field Company, RE – joined from the Wessex Division on 20 November 1914
1/1st South Midland Field Company, RE – joined from the South Midland Division, TF, on 4 December 1914; left 17 March 1915
17th Field Company, RE – Regular unit transferred from 5th Division on 24 March 1915
1st Wessex Divisional Signal Company, RE – joined from the Wessex Division on 20 November 1914
Commanders
During its existence, 27th Division had the following commanders:
19 November 1914 Major-General T.D'O. Snow
16 July 1915 Major-General G.F. Milne
13 January 1916 Brig.-General S.W. Hare (acting)
7 February 1916 Major-General W.R. Marshall
14 September 1916 Brig.-General H.D. White-Thomson (acting)
15 September 1916 Major-General H.S.L. Ravenshaw
30 November 1916 Brig.-General G.A. Weir (acting)
22 December 1916 Major-General G.T. Forestier-Walker (invalided, 9 March 1919)
10 March 1919 Major-General W.M. Thomson (temporary)
10 May 1919 Major-General G.N. Cory
