KOYLI Freedoms
Part of the ongoing King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Collections Project has been the opening of our new Research and Collections Centre, in the City of Doncaster Archives. This has given us the chance to put objects on display that haven’t been on display for some time, or may never have been displayed. Now on display in the corridor leading to the Research and Collections Centre are the five Freedoms of the Borough that were presented to the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI) between 1945 and 1946. But what is a Freedom, and what does it mean?
In 1885 the government passed the Honorary Freedom of Boroughs Act. This act gave local government municipal boroughs the ability to bestow the ceremonial title of ‘honorary freeman’ to visiting dignitaries, important local officials or celebrities. In previous centuries freemen enjoyed privileges in the cities in question, but there’s also a long tradition of awarding Freedoms to regiments or other military units. This may have its origins in the tradition of armies being largely forbidden to enter city walls, to maintain the peace, with the Freedom being a sign of trust and respect. In the case of the KOYLI, the five Freedoms were given in the wake of the Second World War, and recognised the efforts and sacrifices made by the regiment in the defence of the country, and their long ties to the boroughs in question: Leeds, Wakefield, Dewsbury, Batley, and Doncaster.
All the ceremonies are described in The Bugle, the regimental journal.
Leeds
This ceremony was held on the 7 June, 1945. It was based on the long-lasting association of the KOYLI with Leeds. It was in this city where the regiment was first raised in 1755. The ceremony is described in detail.
“When it began, 50,000 massed in Victoria Square and along the Headrow. Every window over-looking the Square was crammed with sight-seers, and hundreds of others found vantage points on roofs, the lions flanking the Town Hall steps, and on the NFS water tanks in front of the War Memorial”.
The Freedom, which gave the KOYLI permission to enter into the city “with bayonets fixed, drums beating and colours flying”, was presented to General Sir Charles Deedes, the colonel of the regiment, by the Lord Mayer, Alderman C.V. Walker. Also present at the ceremony were Captain Wilfrid Edwards and Serjeants Laurence Calvert and John William Ormsby, who had all earned Victoria Crosses in the First World War.
Wakefield
The 4th Battalion of the KOYLI had formed in Wakefield in 1908, and had its headquarters there ever since. It’s perhaps not surprising then that they were also given the Freedom of the City of Wakefield about a year later. On the 1 June 1946 thousands of citizens of Wakefield assembled on Wood Street, outside the Town Hall, where they saw General Deedes presented with the Freedom scroll by Mrs E.H. Crowe, the mayor. Before this ceremony there had been a lunch in the Town Hall, attended by Deedes, the mayor, Sir Charles McGrath, the honorary colonel of the 1/4th Battalion, officers of the regiment, the Lord Privy Seal, and many other civil authorities. The regimental band also performed.
Dewsbury and Batley
The ceremony in Dewsbury, only four weeks after the one in Wakefield, was a smaller affair. It had rained all morning, but that didn’t stop large crowds assembling in the town market to watch W.H. Hooper, the mayor, present the scroll to the general.
On the very same day (the order of the two isn’t clear!) there was another ceremony where the regiment was presented with the Freedom of the Borough of Batley. Before the ceremony there had been a parade including the regimental band, a large contingent of retired soldiers, now members of the local KOYLI Regimental Association, and the Batley Company of the West Riding Cadet Battalion. The regiment received the scroll conferring the Freedom from the mayor, J.H. Margretts, alongside a inscribed silver cup and a hanging piece of art embroidered with the coat of arms of Batley, produced by the Royal School of Needlework, to be placed in the KOYLI regimental chapel in York Minster. The cup was a contribution towards the replacement of the regimental silver, lost during the retreat from Burma during the Second World War.
Doncaster
The last Freedom of the Borough the regiment received was from Doncaster itself. On the 20 October 1946, officers and men from every battalion of the regiment gathered at Doncaster Racecourse for the ceremony. Some had flown in from as far away as Germany and India. Before the presentation and speeches General Deedes and the mayor, E.H. Shaw, inspected members of the regimental band, Association, and local cadets. There was then a ceremony conferring an honour on a local resident. Major H. Barker, of Cantley Lane, had served with the regiment since 1888, and that day was chosen to present him with the Meritorious Service Medal, recognising the length and quality of his service. The Freedom was conferred alongside an inscribed silver fruit bowl. General Deedes gifted the borough a multi-volume set of the Regimental Histories in thanks.
In his speech at the end of the ceremony, he concluded by saying that he “hoped that the ties binding Borough and Regiment would grow stronger each year”. The ceremony concluded with the mayor calling for three cheers for the regiment, which by all accounts were happily provided.
These scrolls now take pride of place in the corridor to our King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Research and Collections Centre in City of Doncaster Archives on Chequer Road. We have regular open days, which include tours of the medal space and a chance to meet with museum staff to talk about any questions you might have or research you might be doing.
The next day of medal tours is on 22 January, from 10am – 3pm.
If you can’t make it, we have open days on the second and fourth Wednesday each month until the end of March 2025. We’d love to see you there!
All images of objects from the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Collection are shared under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0), credit to Heritage Doncaster.