65th (2nd Lowland) Division
| 65th (2nd Lowland) Division | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1914–1918 |
| Country |
 United Kingdom
|
| Branch |
 British Army
|
| Type | Infantry |
| Service | World War I |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
Theodore Stephenson (1916) George Forestier-Walker (1916) Edward James Montagu-Stuart-Wortley (1917–18) |
The 65th (2nd Lowland) Division of the British Army was a second-line Territorial Force division, formed in 1914, which served on home defence duties during the First World War.
The division was formed as a duplicate of the 52nd (Lowland) Division in 1914, composed primarily of soldiers from central and southern Scotland, around half of whom came from Glasgow. It remained on home defence and training duties in Scotland and England until early 1917, when it was deployed to Ireland in order to free up another division for front-line service. It was disbanded in Ireland in early 1918, having not seen overseas service.
The division was created as the "2nd Lowland Division", a second-line formation of the Lowland Division at the end of August 1914. At this time, Territorial Force soldiers could not be deployed overseas without their consent and the Territorial units were accordingly split into a "first line", with men who had volunteered for overseas service, and a "second line", which was intended for home service only. The second line units also served to absorb the large number of new, untrained, recruits who had joined the Territorial Force following the outbreak of war.
As with the original Lowland Division, the 2nd Lowland was organised into three four-battalion infantry brigades. These were later numbered as the 194th, composed of the 2/4th and 2/5th Royal Scots Fusiliers and 2/4th and 2/5th King's Own Scottish Borderers; the 195th, composed of the 2/5th, 2/6th, 2/7th, and 2/8th Cameronians (Scottish Rifles); and the 196th, composed of the 2/5th, 2/6th, 2/7th, and 2/9th Highland Light Infantry. The 194th recruited from Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway, and the Borders; the 195th predominantly from Glasgow and Lanarkshire; and the 196th entirely from Glasgow. The division also raised second-line Territorial artillery, medical, signal and engineer units, almost all from southern and western Scotland, with one heavy artillery battery from Edinburgh.
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