65th ( 2nd Lowland ) Division The 65th ( 2nd Lowland ) Division of the British Army was a second - line Territorial Force division , formed in 1914 , which served on home defence duties during the First World War . The division was formed as a duplicate of the 52nd ( Lowland ) Division in 1914 , composed primarily of soldiers from central and southern Scotland , around half of whom came from Glasgow . It remained on home defence and training duties in Scotland and England until early 1917 , when it was deployed to Ireland in order to free up another division for front - line service . It was disbanded in Ireland in early 1918 , having not seen overseas service . History . The division was created as the " 2nd Lowland Division " , a second - line formation of the Lowland Division at the end of August 1914 . At this time , Territorial Force soldiers could not be deployed overseas without their consent , and the existing Territorial units were accordingly split into a " first line " , with men who had volunteered for overseas service , and a " second line " , which was intended for home service only . The second line units also served to absorb the large number of new , untrained , recruits who had joined the Territorial Force following the outbreak of war . As with the original Lowland Division , the 2nd Lowland was organised into three four - battalion infantry brigades . These were later numbered as the 194th , composed of the 2 / 4th and 2 / 5th Royal Scots Fusiliers and 2 / 4th and 2 / 5th King ' s Own Scottish Borderers ; the 195th , composed of the 2 / 5th , 2 / 6th , 2 / 7th , and 2 / 8th Cameronians ( Scottish Rifles ) ; and the 196th , composed of the 2 / 5th , 2 / 6th , 2 / 7th , and 2 / 9th Highland Light Infantry . The 194th recruited from Ayrshire , Dumfries and Galloway , and the Borders ; the 195th predominantly from Glasgow and Lanarkshire ; and the 196th entirely from Glasgow . The division also raised second - line Territorial artillery , medical , signal and engineer units , almost all from southern and western Scotland , with one heavy artillery battery from Edinburgh . Through the next two years , the 2nd Lowland , numbered as the 65th Division in 1915 , provided trained men for its parent unit as well as carrying out home defence duties . The division was grouped around the Stirling - Dunfirmline area of central Scotland , where it would remain until 1916 . In mid - 1915 the strength of its infantry battalions was set at a minimum 600 men , with any more than this being transferred overseas ; later that year , all the infantry battalions were renumbered and several were amalgamated , with four additional battalions of the Royal Scots joining from the Lothian coastal defences . The old unit numbering was reinstated in January 1916 , but the amalgamations remained . During 1916 , the division was commanded by Major - General Theodore Stephenson , who had previously served in a senior post during the Boer War . In 1916 the division ' s howitzer brigade was broken up and its heavy artillery battery sent to France ; this was the only unit of the original division to see service overseas . In May of that year the division was transferred to south - east England , and in January 1917 relieved the 59th ( 2nd North Midland ) Division in Ireland . Here , it was dispersed , with units of the division based throughout central Ireland from Dublin to Galway . At around the time the 65th arrived in Ireland the command was given to Major - General Edward James Montagu - Stuart - Wortley , who had been controversially sacked by Haig after the 46th ( North Midland ) Division , under his command , had failed in its attack during the first day on the Somme . A second wave of reorganisation took place whilst in Ireland , with the division absorbing three " graduated battalions " - training units based at the Curragh - and two of the original battalions disbanding . This was a precursor to larger changes , and in January 1918 the division was ordered to disband . It effectively ceased to exist on 18 March , when the headquarters closed down , but some units remained active until May . The division was not reformed during the Second World War , and the numbers for the subsidiary brigades were also not reused .