This image shows the Right Section of the 2nd Home Counties Brigade, Royal Field Artillery leaving Hastings for service in the war. The original photograph appeared in the Hastings & St Leonards Pictorial Advertiser on 17th August 1914. The 2nd Home Counties Brigade was a Territorial Force. They left Hastings for Canterbury, before being moved overseas. It’s not clear where the Brigade was sent. It seems that in the early part of the war Territorials were sent out to relieve the regular army units from their duties in places like Gibraltar and India. This would free up the regulars for service in Europe.

If anyone can provide any further information about the 2nd Home Counties Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery please do so via the comments area below.

The two photographs used to create the image are below. You can view the top image full size on my Flickr page by clicking on it.

This image is part of a series of Then and Now images I’ve created for East Sussex Council’s World War 1 commemoration website. The website is focussed on the contribution that the men and women of East Sussex made towards the war effort.