The 49^th Division (Territorial Force) mobilised on 5^th August 1914 and concentrated in the Doncaster, Yorkshire area. Nine days later, the Central Divisions, which included 49^th Division, were ordered to establish an Army Service Corps Mechanical Transport Company.

Designated the West Riding Divisional Mechanical Transport Supply Column, the company was formed under command of Captain HV Kitson, from 2^nd Brigade Coy ASC, West Riding Division. Immediately adverts were placed in local newspapers to find recruits with experience of motor vehicles, whether as mechanics or drivers. By the 22^nd, 100 men had presented themselves and after examination of their qualifications and a medical, eighty were enlisted into the Territorial Force.

With no available accommodation, a private paddock was borrowed in Doncaster, tents obtained from Ordnance and cooking utensils purchased. Meals were provided by Capt Kitson’s old company. Within three weeks of the adverts all 320 men required to complete Establishment had been enlisted. Three months later, all their clothing and equipment needed had finally been obtained.

An MT Coy needs lorries and, with none available from the War Office, twenty-one locally impressed vehicles were hired by the 21^st August. Combined hire charges were £63 [£5,075 in 2021] per day with each owner paying their running costs. These were presumably in poor condition as the War Office, who held a census of all the suitable lorries they could impress, was rapidly running out of available lorries in suitable condition.

The Army Service Corps Reception Depot at Kensington Barracks, West London, held a list of companies with suitable vehicles and also the lorry maker’s agents. When mobilisation was ordered they visited each agent and obtained a list of their customers and what vehicles they had. Only vehicles passing the initial inspection were impressed at first and given the speed of impressment, it seems most likely that the hired ones in Doncaster had failed their inspections.

During August 1914, lorries registered through the Subsidy Schemes, or those of ‘subsidy specification’ but not registered, were taken straight to Avonmouth. Here they were inspected to determine that their condition was suitable for overseas. Roughly 50% were deemed not to be good enough condition.

During September, impressed lorries were taken to Bulford ASC/AOD Camp where they underwent inspection, by the manufacturers own engineers and failures were repaired or rejected. The engineers, also valued each lorry, providing the War Office with accurate values depending on age and condition, to recompense their owners. By October, the army had almost exhausted the supply of civilian lorries and were becoming dependent on new ones for supply.

The company was feeding the units in the Doncaster area using sixteen lorries with the other five attached to an outstation at Louth, Lincolnshire for supplying the east coast defences. Five men were appointed as despatch riders, using their own motorcycles and Captain Kitson provided his own motor-car. Four officers arrived and the men began drill and musketry training with almost all qualifying in range firing.

In November, the company moved from their camp into billets at Woodlands, some four miles distant. Five Sunbeam cars were allotted to Divisional HQ and attached for servicing and repairs. To accommodate them a makeshift workshop was established with tools borrowed from anywhere they could be found.

In March 1915, a regular army officer arrived at Divisional HQ in Doncaster. His mission was to recruit suitable men from the division, and locally, for an MT Column. The Division CO pointed out that the MT Coy not only already existed but was composed of trained men and was functioning satisfactorily. It was then agreed that the TF men be enlisted into the regular army. The entire company was transferred from the TF to regular army on 5^th April 1915.

With no mention of what happened to the lorries, the men entrained for Bulford Camp on 7^th April, arriving the following day. On arrival the company was divided into two parts. One part formed the Divisional Supply Column and the other the Divisional Ammunition Park. The two companies were completed to war strength with the addition of 150 drivers, from Grove Park ASC Recruitment and Training Centre. The company also received its lorries, being Daimlers with ten Commer 3-Ton GS lorries.

After drawing equipment and MT stores, the two companies departed Bulford at 6.00am on the 11^th, arriving at Avonmouth at 2.00pm without mishap. The following day, the lorries with two officers and fifty men embarked on the steamships Trevaylor and Treverbyn. The remaining three officers and 280 men entrained for Southampton and sailed on ss.Mona’s Queen on the 13^th.

It was normal practice for ASC Companies to arrive at Avonmouth as a complete unit and to only send a cadre of men with the vehicles with the remainder travelling by rail to Southampton to depart on troopships.

The Avonmouth ships arrived Rouen at 7.30pm on the 15^th and were disembarked by the early hours of the 16^th. By this time the Southampton ship had arrived Havre and the men arrived at Rouen by train. The same day the companies departed Rouen for the front and their French adventures could begin, just nine months after they had mobilised in August 1914.