The 25th West Riding (Huddersfield) Battalion was responsible, together with the 26th West Riding, for the town of Huddersfield and its immediately adjoining area. It was commanded in 1944 and probably throughout its life by Lt.-Col. P. Moxon, T.D. One of its other officers was Captain Eric Lawrence Francis Selby (1896-1970, shown right).

This page contains images of all the Battalion officers and of one of its constituent Companies of which there will have been several, responsible either for a particular geographical area within the Battalion territory and broken down into platoons; or, as is the case here, for a number of specialised Battalion-wide functions including administration, intelligence, stores, equipment and weaponry, signalling, training etc. - the HQ Company.

The date and location of the images is unknown. But they are clearly taken at the same place and very probably on the same occasion. It is a wintery day. The officers have foresaken their greatcoats - but not their gloves; whereas in the other photograph everyone has been chosen prudence over photogeneity and retained their warm outer clothing! One can speculate on the date. Many photographs of this type were taken on the occasion on an anniversary of the creation of the Home Guard - in May each year. Sometimes the Battalion assembled for a particularly significant parade - in support of Wings for Victory Week for example. And of course the occasion of the stand-down of the Home Guard in December 1944. It is almost certain that the latter is the reason for these and no doubt similar, still to surface, images of the 25th West Riding and this is reinforced by the caption for these prints, once the property of Eric Selby, which states "December 1944". And so we can fairly safely assume that the men were photographed on the morning of Sunday 3rd December 1944, just before embarking on a large ceremonial parade through the middle of Huddersfield before applauding crowds. The weather on that morning was relatively mild but very windy with rain. The boots would have soon lost their wonderful shine but that would have been a minor consideration when later that day, possibly fortified by a pint or two, they said their farewells to their comrades, returned home to their families and hung up their uniform for the very last time.

Again we can only speculate on the location. We are in the shadow of a large industrial building - a mill or factory perhaps. It may have hosted the Battalion and contained the latter's Battalion H.Q. It has been suggested that the buildings stand in the Oakes or Lindley area of Huddersfield.

This first image below shows a group comprising all or most of the Battalion officers.  Captain Eric Selby is located 7th from the left in the second row.

In this group photograph a further officer has been identified: Lt. S. Garrard (left). He is standing 7th from the left in the back row. Like Capt. Selby, Lt. Garrard was a survivor of the Western Front where he had served as a DonR (Despatch Rider) with the rank of corporal (right) and received his Home Guard commission some time after February 1941. In his private life he was the founder of a successful local timber business.