First time I have heard ‘Bantams’ mentioned in any of the diaries.
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2 Companies of 'Bantams' of the 17th Welch Regiment 40th Div. were later taken into the line for instruction as complete Companies. 8th Welch had 'Bantams' attached to them. A bantam, was a soldier of below British Army's minimum regulation height-5ft 3in. The 'Bantams' were very small but many appeared to be quite sturdy. Page Link: https://talk.operationwardiary.org/#/subjects/AWD0003n1q
Bantams in the British Army. A Bantam, in British Army usage, was a soldier of below the British Army's minimum regulation height of 5 ft 3 in (160 cm). During the First World War, the British Army raised battalions in which the normal minimum height requirement for recruits was reduced from 5 ft 3 in (160 cm) to 5 ft (150 cm). This enabled otherwise healthy young men to enlist.
Bantam units enlisted from industrial and coal-mining areas where short stature was no sign of weakness. The name derives from the former town of Bantam in Indonesia, from which a breed of small domestic fowl allegedly originated. Bantamweight was a weight category in boxing that had originated in the 1880s and had produced many notable boxers.
The first bantam battalions were recruited in Birkenhead, Cheshire, after Alfred Bigland, MP heard of a group of miners who, rejected from every recruiting office, had made their way to the town. One of the miners, rejected on account of his size, offered to fight any man there as proof of his suitability as a soldier, and six men were eventually called upon to remove him. Bantam applicants were men used to physical hard work, and Bigland was so incensed at what he saw as the needless rejection of spirited healthy men that he petitioned the War Office for permission to establish an undersized fighting unit. Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantam_(military)
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cyngast
moderator
Interesting, Marie. It kind of makes sense to put men of the same general size together in one unit.
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ral104
moderator, scientist
The bantam battalions really had their heyday as distinct units in the early years of the war. In the latter couple of years, there were fewer fit men joining them, so the earlier restrictions on height were reintroduced and the units had more of a mix of men in them.
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ral104
moderator, scientist
By the way, I think the bird from which the name Bantam comes was noted for its aggression. Somebody more familiar with wildfowl might know otherwise, of course.
But, whether it's anecdotal or not, inspiration for the first bantam battalions came after a man of short stature grew so incensed at not being accepted for service that he demanded to fight any man present who didn't think he could make it as a soldier. After he'd waded through six of them, the general consensus was that he was probably a battalion in his own right.
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