Customer Reviews:
 Useful reference work June 8, 2008
After a few years of what seems a welter of minutely detailed studies of infantry battalions, this is more of an account of an entire infantry regiment, the King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment) . Well, not quite. During the war the regiment grew to include a total of 17 battalions: this work concentrates on four of them. They are the 4th, 7th, 8th and 11th Battalion, all of which had strong attachment to the Furness area.
The author, John Hutton, is the current Member of Parliament for the area where these units were raised (Barrow and Furness) and Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. Quite how he managed to find the time to craft a regimental history I do not know.
Of the battalions on which he has focused, three were raised for Kitchener's new armies in 1914 and one pre-existed the war in the shape of the 4th, a Territorial battalion. John narrates the history of each unit in turn, drawing, it seems, principally on the war diaries, official history and local material. I say "seems" as no references or sources are given, which is a pity. The stories are told in enough detail for the book to be a useful reference without the reader getting mired in the minutiae, although inevitably that means there is much less colour and personality than in, say, Terry Carter's "Birmingham Pals".
I was a little disappointed to find little of the author's own feelings expressed in the book, other than in the preface. There is no analysis, comment or reflection on their performance, morale, capabilities or development. This is a shame, for such insight from a man of Mr Hutton's eminence would surely be of interest to many readers. Perhaps that is another book, once he retires!
Overall, a useful addition to your bookshelf.
 The definitive work on The King's Own Royal Lancs in WW1 May 10, 2008
There is little doubt when you read this book that as an MP Hutton is connected to his constituents. This history of the Kings Own takes the reader directly to the front but threw the soldiers front room. Woven into, what has to be described as a detailed and knowledgeable work, are the human tales of the WW1 conflict. The reader gets a detailed description of both the fighting and the human sacrifice that is so often lost in historical accounts of the Great War. I am looking forward to my visit this summer to the Somme to see for myself the territory over which these brave men fought. Essential reading for anyone interested in WW1 and the Western Front.
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