Group    From 14/10/1915  To 15/7/1922

Machine Gun Corps

Categories: Armed Forces

A corps of the British army. It was formed in response to the need for more effective use of machine guns on the Western Front in World War I. It had four branches (Infantry, Cavalry, Motor and Heavy). The heavy branch was the first to use land tanks in combat, and subsequently became the Tank Corps and later, the Royal Tank Regiment. At the end of the war, the corps saw service in other conflicts, before being disbanded as a cost-cutting measure.

The corps served in France, Flanders, Russia, Italy, Egypt, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Salonica, India, Afghanistan and East Africa.  The last unit of the Corps to be disbanded was the depot at Shorncliffe.  The total number who served in the Corps was some 11,500 officers, and 159,000 other ranks of whom 1,120 officers and 12,671 other ranks were killed and 2,881 officers and 45,377 other ranks were wounded, missing or prisoners of war. That casualty rate, about a third, was very high and justifies the Corps' nickname: the Suicide Squad.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Machine Gun Corps

Commemorated ati

Boy David

Commissioned to create a WW1 memorial to the Machine Gun Corps Derwent Wood p...

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Machine Gun Corps memorial

The statue is of the boy David holding Goliath's sword (the clue is in the si...

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Other Subjects

P. Moore

P. Moore

Co-partner or employee of the South Suburban Gas Company. Served but did not die in WW1.

Person, Armed Forces

War served, WW1
1 memorial
O. B. Swain

O. B. Swain

Resident of Hendon who served and died in WW2.

Person, Armed Forces

War dead, WW2
1 memorial
Trooper Alexander Swan Jones

Trooper Alexander Swan Jones

Alexander Swan Jones was born on 1 November 1907 in Liverpool, Lancashire, the second of the three children of Oliver Parker Jones (1877-1940) and Ann Jones née Swan (1879-1956). His birth was regi...

Person, Armed Forces, Iran/Persia

War dead, WW2
1 memorial
S. J. Beavington

S. J. Beavington

Resident of the West Ward, Hendon who served and died in WW1.

Person, Armed Forces

War dead, WW1
1 memorial
Corporal Malcolm MacPhearson

Corporal Malcolm MacPhearson

See Farquar Shaw for the story of the Black Watch mutiny.

Person, Armed Forces, Execution, Scotland

1 memorial