4th Battalion Duke of Wellington Regiment at Wathgill Camp One

This fascinating film is one of a series made of the 4th Battalion Duke of Wellington Regiment at their annual training camps in the late 1930s. This is the first of two films of the Regiment at a training camp at Wathgill, near Catterick, showing their arrival, various exercises and games. There is also a mysterious (presumably Northern) Irish battalion, who have an equally mysterious competition with the 4th Battalion.

It isn’t known who took this film, or for what purpose. But we can be thankful for this glimpse into army life on the eve of the Second World War. The other films show them at camps at Scarborough, Redcar and Halton. The camp at Wathgill, used as a firing range, served as a prisoner of war camp during the war. The 4th Battalion, Duke of Wellington's West Riding Regiment were a Territorial unit with their HQ in Halifax, starting off as Rifle Volunteers. In 1908 they became the 4th Battalion (DWR) and in 1938 their name and role changed again to the 58th Anti-Tank Regiment (DWR) Royal Artillery. They were very active during WW1, including at the Battle of Aubers Ridge in May 1915 and the Battles of the Somme.