Anson battalion, composed originally of Naval reservists surplus to the requirements of manning RN ships, served throughout the war in the Royal Naval Division, which was numbered 63rd in July 1916. After a brief involvement around Antwerp in autumn 1914, the division went to Gallipoli in April 1915, was evacuated to Egypt at the end of that year, and went to the Western Front in summer 1916. It remained there for the rest of the war