It went on to spin off a unit of fortress engineers and provided a signals training centre during the First World War.

Its successor units provided signal support for West Lancashire Territorial Army (TA) formations in the early stages of the Second World War, and for Eighth Army HQ during the Second Battle of El Alamein, the advance to Tunis, invasion of Sicily and through Italy, ending the war in Austria.

[1] One such unit was the 1st Lancashire Engineer Volunteer Corps (EVC) formed at Liverpool on 1 October 1860.

[2][3][4][5] The unit ranked 4th (later 3rd) in the list of precedence of EVCs, and by 1866 it consisted of eight companies, with its headquarters at 44 Mason Street, Edge Hill, Liverpool.

[3][9] Again, when Clarke needed engineers for railway construction at the Red Sea port of Suakin for the British force engaged there in 1885, he sent a detachment of Volunteers to assist the Regulars.

[6][14] When war broke out in August 1914 the TF was mobilised and the Western Signal Companies were quickly recruited up to full strength.

Almost the whole unit volunteered for overseas service, and it was quickly called upon to provide two cable telegraph sections and two motor air line telegraph sections to join the British Expeditionary Force serving on the Western Front.

The Army Troops signal units of the five Home Commands were concentrated in Bedfordshire, and the officers and men were transferred to the Regular RE for the duration of the war.

The unit had to establish a complete depot in the park, with roads, huts, and electricity and water supplies.

During the war some 2,000–3,000 officers and 20,000 NCOs and men from across the UK, together with thousands of horses and mules, were trained at Haynes Park.

Mrs Cortez-Leigh took charge of a detachment of women of Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps at the park, which released men for active service.

[5][6][11][22][23][a] The new unit was based at Mason Street, with No 2 Company at Prescot, and was commanded by Colonel J. Tennant.

In 1937 a new drill hall named Signal House was opened at Score Lane, Childwall, Liverpool, and HQ moved in with Nos 1 and 3 Companies.

[11][22][23][33] The unit served with Eighth Army HQ at the Battle of Alamein, the advance to Tunis, the Allied invasion of Sicily, and the whole of the Italian campaign.