2nd Essex - New peacetime Battalion

After the end of the war the Battalion was run down In the spring of 1919 the 2nd Essex Regiment was demobilised with the men free to return to their peacetime lives.

Demobilised troops were given a months paid leave and a travel warrant.

If they were unable to resume their old job or find a new one there was a small unemployment benefit for six months and then they were treated like any other unemployed worker.

Life could be hard as the efforts of the past 5 years had cost the country badly with high unemployment rates and a soaring cost of living meant many old soldiers living in poverty.

The 2nd Essex were needed for peacetime duties in the eastern end of the Mediterranean so Major H H Bowen was instructed to reform the Battalion at Colchester Barracks in readiness for a deployment in September 1919.

Officers involved in stages of this reformation were

Majors

W J Maule ( Officer in Charge June-August 1919)

H R Bowen DSO ( Officer in Charge February-June 1919)

H E Crocker CMG, DSO

Brevet Major

P Pechell MC

Captains

A G de la Mare MC,

C C Spooner DSO

J V Atkinson MC

H S Doe MC

R E G Carolin

A H Blest

S Freestone MBE, MC

Lieutenants

W H Lawton

C J I F Hopegood

Deployment

By August 1919 the battalion was taking shape and Major A G L Pepys MC assumed command with the following supprt

Adjutant Captain H S Doe MC

A Company Capatain J V Atkinson

B Company Major H E Crocker CMG DSO

C Company Major H R Bowen DSO

D Company Brevet Major P Pechell MC

On 8 September 1919 20 officers, 7 warrant officers and 780 other ranks left Colchester for Dover as the first part of their journey to Malta