During an invasion scare in 1859, large numbers of part-time Rifle Volunteer Corps (RVCs) were formed throughout Great Britain, eager to supplement the Regular British Army in case of need.

[5][6][7] The unit was large enough to function as an independent battalion, and the smaller 39th West Riding RVC (formed at Bingley in 1861, later at Saltaire), was attached to it until it was fully absorbed in the 1870s.

[9][10] Henry Sagar Hirst (1829–99), a member of a prominent family from nearby Clayton, was commissioned into the unit as an ensign when it formed, but after only three years he became its lieutenant-colonel commandant, a position he held from 1862 until 1890.

The Stanhope Memorandum of December 1888 proposed a more comprehensive Mobilisation Scheme for Volunteer units, which would assemble in their own brigades at key points in case of war.

By 8 August the battalion was already up to its war establishment, including about 100 Class II National Reservists – old soldiers who would be invaluable for training the mass of recruits who were coming forward.

On 15 August 1914, the War Office issued instructions to separate those men who had signed up for Home Service only, and form these into reserve units.

On 22 November half of the battalion was sent to Redcar to dig defences along the North Sea coast; it returned to York on 10 December, having handed over to the reserve companies furnished by the 2/6th Bn.

[19][20][26][30][31] On 15 April the battalion entrained for Folkestone, where it embarked and landed at Boulogne the same night to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).

[19][26][31][34] For the next nine months the 49th Division took part in no major operations but was almost continuously engaged in day-to-day trench warfare, much of it in the Ypres Salient, with the considerable casualties that this entailed.

[39][40][41] By 14 July the British had taken Leipzig Redoubt on the Thiepval Spur; 1/6th West Yorkshires relieved 1/7th (Leeds Rifles) Bn in the line that night.

[42] While the offensive continued, 49th Division remained holding the area round the Leipzig salient, with a number of small actions and suffering a good deal of shelling, while preparing trenches and dumps for a renewed attack in that sector.

In the early hours of 25 April this position was heavily bombarded with smoke and gas shells, followed at 05.00 by an infantry attack shielded by morning mist.

The frontline companies having been overrun, the rest of the brigade fell back through Vierstraat Cross to Ouerdom, where the enemy advance was halted.

At Ouerdom on 27 April, the remnants of the brigade were temporarily formed into a composite battalion under the command of Major R. Clough of 6th Bn and placed in divisional reserve.

During the pursuit to the River Selle, 49th Division was ordered to attack on 12 October, but patrols found that the enemy had disappeared, so the barrage was cancelled and zero hour was brought forward.

146th Brigade reached the Villers-en-Cauchies railway before 13.00 and after a second advance the division established a line along the edge of the high ground overlooking the Selle, the opposite bank of which was strongly held.

Some Lee-Enfields were then received, but these were withdrawn in May, and until the beginning of 1916 the 2nd Line Territorials had to make do with .256-in Japanese Ariska rifles, keeping their ammunition in their pockets until 1914 pattern webbing equipment arrived.

In May 1915 the Home Service men of 185th Bde were withdrawn to form 26th Provisional Battalion serving in coast defence in North East England.

The division was then shifted to the line opposite Bullecourt in the southern part of the Arras sector, with 2/6th West Yorkshires at St Leger in brigade reserve.

Three hours later Brigade HQ accepted the situation and ordered Hastings to withdraw his patrols and relieve 2/7th Bn holding the front line trenches.

No man's land was 990 yards wide and swept by machine gun fire from the right (in a gap between the 62nd and the Australians): in the smoke and confusion the 2/6th Bn sheered off to the left and lost touch with the rest of the division.

Large numbers of the battalion's men were lying dead and wounded in the wire, and a company of 2/7th Bn went forward to try to make contact but were driven back.

On the night of 1 September, C Company of 2/6th Bn successfully raided Ostrich Avenue and Sunken Road, destroying dugouts and taking prisoners.

It was holding the Apex, a captured section of the Hindenburg Line near Riencourt, when a force of German Stormtroopers raided the position with orders to destroy all the dugouts and inflict as much damage as possible.

31 AA Bde reported that out of 1000 recruits sent for duty, '50 had to be discharged immediately because of serious medical defects, another 20 were judged to be mentally deficient and a further 18 were unfit to do any manual labour such as lifting ammunition'.

The regiment supplied a cadre of experienced officers and men to 234th S/L Training Rgt at Carlisle where it provided the basis for a new 549 S/L Bty formed on 16 January 1941.

[119][120] Although it remained within 5 AA Group, 50 LAA Bde was earmarked for a role in the Allied invasion of Normandy (Operation Overlord), with searchlight regiments specially trained to defend the bridgehead.

The War Office began reorganising surplus AA units in Home Forces into infantry battalions for duties in the rear areas.

It went to North West Europe and did Line of Communication duty with Second Army, including service in Antwerp while that city was under attack by V-1 flying bombs.

[105] The following officers served as Honorary Colonel of the unit:[8] A three-light stained glass window commemorating the dead of the 6th West Yorkshires was unveiled in Bradford Cathedral on 17 July 1921.