| Description | Official group photograph of The Manchester Regiment (battalion not known) featuring Col. Sgt. William H. Naylor. The photograph shows soldiers in uniform with rifles outside a tent/camp area and is First World War era. The photographer's stamp printed on the front reads; W. Parton, High Street and Hassell Street, Newcastle, Staffs.
The men in the photo are named as follows from left to right:
Top Row: Ansley, Hopkinson, Nusley, L/C Toplis, Pugh, Grimes, Wheaton, Evans, Crompton, Owen, Whalley, Bird.
2nd Row: Gray, Southern, Smith, Knight, Gardner, Moses, Fowles, Pocock, Goulding, Derbyshire, Cpl. Littlewood.
3rd Row: Lynch, Wheawell, C. Walton, Sgt. Naylor, C.S.M. Seedman, Lieut. Bleakley, Lieut. Nicholls, Lieut. Powell, Lieut. Hannaford, Lieut. McCowan, Sgt. Earle, Needham.
4th Row: Nixon, Ashton, Shuttleworth, Holt, L/C Wrigley, L/C. G. Fearnley, Cpl. Lord, Clark, Holt, Edwards.
Col. Sgt. William H. Naylor enlisted for service as a Private in November 1914 and was promoted to Corporal in December 1914 and subsequently to Sergeant in February 1915 for securing a distinguished at the Northern Command School of Musketry; he was one of only seventeen N.C.O.'s and Officers out of six hundred to do so. He was promoted to Colonel Sergeant Instructer of Musketry in 1916 ans C.S.M in 1918. He was then placed in charge of the Battalion Education Staff (Young Soldier's Battalion) in December 1918. He was refused demob by the Commanding Officer in February 1919, a decision which he appealed and was eventually granted demob in May 1919. The Commanding Officer at the time was Lieutenant Colonel Thomas MacGregor Greer and the Musketry Officer Captain A. MacMullen. William H. Naylor's army number is not known. |
