Viscount Grey de Wilton was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant on 19 February 1860 and by the following month the unit had adopted the additional title of 1st Manchester Rifles.

On 20 August, having volunteered for overseas service, the division moved into camps for training, and on 9 September it entrained for Southampton to embark for Egypt.

Derfflinger missed her intended landing spot at Cape Helles, and so the Manchesters arrived late on 6 May, after the rest of the division had gone into action.

The 1/6th Bn bivouacked above 'W' Beach ('Lancashire Landing') and during the night of 7/8 May was moved, with ammunition, rations and entrenching equipment, but no blankets or baggage, to the Krithia sector, where the men went into the firing line for a 10-day period.

42nd Division delivered its main attack at 09.45 on 7 August, but despite the bombardment and assistance from machine guns and trench mortars, 127 Bde could make little progress.

1/6th Manchesters, described by the divisional commander as 'that fine battalion', seized a Turkish redoubt in Krithia Nullah and held it 'until they were practically annihilated'.

After a short rest and receiving a few drafts and returning casualties, the division was put back into the line on 19 August, still badly under strength and suffering from sickness.

[37] The Gallipoli Campaign was shut down at the beginning of January, but 42nd Division remained on Mudros until the middle of the month before returning to the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) and the Suez Canal defences.

In July, 42nd Division became part of a Mobile Column (under Maj-Gen Hon Herbert Lawrence, former brigadier of 127 Bde) formed to counter a threatened Turkish thrust across the Sinai desert before it reached the canal.

The Battle of Romani opened early on the morning of 4 August, and the rest of 127 Bde was rushed up, passing through 1/6th Manchesters to support the Anzac Mounted Division, which was heavily engaged.

That night the 1/6th Manchesters escorted the camel transport carrying vital water and supplies up to the front line troops, and then rejoined 127 Bde.

During 5 and 6 August the brigade pursued the defeated Turkish force, suffering badly from extreme heat and lack of water, with many men falling out through exhaustion, until it reached Qatiya.

[18][38] During the Autumn the railway and water pipeline were pushed forward, and 42nd Division participated in the EEF's Advance to Wadi el Arish, which began in late November 1916 and completed the Sinai Campaign in January 1917.

The troops were concentrated at Pont-Remy, near Abbeville, and re-equipped; the Short Magazine Lee-Enfield rifle was issued in place of the obsolescent long model with which the battalions had gone to war.

[18][41] After 18 days in the Salient, the division was relieved and moved to the Nieuport Sector on the Belgian coast, where it remained under constant shellfire until November.

This action gave time for reinforcements to stop the enemy advancing beyond Bihucourt to Achiet-le-Grand, which the CO of 1/6th Manchesters was ordered to prevent at all costs.

The German advance was held in front of Bucquoy, despite heavy shellfire, and on the night of 27/28 March 1/6th Manchesters sent an aggressive patrol back into Ablainzevelle, which caused casualties and disruption.

Assisted by morning mist, the Manchesters took their first objective, and then cleared the ravine in which the Beaucourt–Puisieux road ran, the men getting to close quarter fighting with the defenders.

On 2 September 127 Bde put in an attack on Villers-au-Flos with support from tanks, aircraft, mortars and a creeping barrage, 6th Bn on the left making good progress as the village was enveloped and cleared.

Although the leading company of 6th Manchesters suffered casualties from machine gun nests, these were successfully cleared out and the battalion captured the village of Marou.

The Germans massed for a counter-attack at midday, but this was broken up by artillery and machine gun fire and 127 Bde captured its final objective that afternoon.

[55][56][57] When the German Spring Offensive opened, 66th Division had recently been moved from Ypres to Fifth Army and was holding a line among the undulating valleys of the River Somme's tributaries.

Here, under the command of Maj John Whitworth and joined by some dismounted cavalry, they held on doggedly until 14.00 on 22 March before falling back under cover of fog to the 'Green Line' at Hébécourt, where 50th (Northumbrian) Division was hurriedly digging in.

The bridge was then demolished at 18.00 by 180th Tunnelling Company, RE, and the retreat continued to Rosières, where the division narrowly escaped being surrounded, until Germans were halted by a new defence line on the River Luce.

This regiment was involved in a defence scheme codenamed 'Bovril' to defend roads leading inland from possible invasion sites on the South Coast and was also reconnoitring the area for future AA gunsites.

Lacking effective radar cover the HAA gunners had difficulty engaging their targets against strong dazzle from the sun but claimed a number of 'kills'.

[94] In March 1943, 65th HAA Rgt sailed with 181, 183 and 196 Btys to join Middle East Forces, and by May it was with 8 AA Bde at Tahag in Egypt.

[14] On 12 June 1921, a memorial was unveiled at the Stretford Road drill hall comprising dark oak panels bearing the names of 1057 officers and men of the 6th Manchesters who died during the First World War.

[22][108] A brass plate bearing the names of the members of 1/6th Bn who died in Egypt and Gallipoli was installed in the Chapel of Mustapha Barracks, Alexandria.

[22][26] There is an elaborate marble memorial plaque in Eye Parish Church in Leominster to the three sons of Lord and Lady Cawley who were killed in the First World War, including Capt H.T.