THIS photograph shows the men of the Ist Battalion the Monmouthshire Regiment E Company waiting on the platform at Chepstow station on the first leg of their journey to war.

Britain declared war on Germany at 11pm on August 4, 1914.

The following day all Territorials and Reservists were mobilised and these men left Chepstow, to report for duty and parade in Newport.

From there they were sent to Pembroke Dock and were moved around Wales and the Borders before ending up in Northampton in early autumn.

By Christmas they had moved again, to Hemingstone in Suffolk, then to Barningham in Norfolk.

There was another move to Cambridge in the New Year and after six months' training, the journey to war began in earnest in February 1915, when they finally sailed for France.

It was only a few months later, on May 8 that the 1st Monmouthshire Regt would receive devastating losses at the second battle of Ypres.

Photograph from the collections of Chepstow Museum © Monmouthshire Museums