Saturday 8 February at 11am, the Dulwich Society will unveil an information board about the Dulwich Volunteer Battalion. Please join us at the war memorial at the junction of Lordship Lane and the South Circular (near the Grove Tavern).
The Dulwich Volunteer Battalion, the first of its kind, was formed almost immediately after the outbreak of war in 1914. Its two objects were to encourage recruiting for the Regular Army, and to train its own members to take part, if necessary, in the defence and protection of their country. It appears to have been started by members of the Dulwich and Sydenham Golf Club who formed a Training Corps affiliated to the National Defence League. It eventually had a roll of over 1000 local men, a number of whom died on active service.
The memorial was listed Grade II in 2017 by Historic England as part of their war memorial listing programme to mark the 100th anniversary of the First World War.
