The Durham Light Infantry consisted of Infantry Battalions that would have had an MG Section as part of its Battalion Headquarters. These weapons would have been brigaded when the Machine Gun Corps was formed in 1915. The guns, and crews, would have been formed into a Machine Gun Company.
During the Great War, the Battalions were distributed as follows:
The 2nd Battalion was part of the 18th Brigade, attached to the 6th Division. Its MG Section was transferred in January 1916 to form the 18th Bde. MG Coy..
As a unit of the 6th Infantry Division, its MG Section will have taken part in the following battles and engagements.
| 1914 | |
| 19 and 20 September | BATTLE OF THE AISNE [I. Corps]. |
| 20 September | Actions on the Aisne Heights. |
| 13 October to 02 November | Battle of Armentieres [III. Corps]. |
| 1915 | |
| 09 August | Hooge [VI. Corps, Second Army]. |
The 2nd/5th (Garrison) Battalion was part of the 228th Brigade. It's unclear whether this unit had an MG Section; however, if it did, it was likely to have been transferred into the 228th MG Coy. which was formed on 11 September 1917.
The 228th Brigade was attached to the 28th Division from March 1917; albeit formally Corps Troops.
The 14th Battalion was part of the 18th Brigade, attached to the 6th Division. Its MG Section was transferred in January 1916 to form the 18th Bde. MG Coy..
The Battalion had transferred from the 64th Brigade, 21st Division on 28 November 1915.
In 1922, the Machine Gun Corps was disbanded and the guns returned to the Infantry Battalion as a Machine Gun Platoon and then formed as a Machine Gun Company in the early 1930s.
This remained until the formation of Divisional Machine Gun Battalions in 1936 where guns were brigaded once again.
Upon the disbandment of Divisional Machine Gun Battalions in the post-WW2 restructure of the British Army, the Vickers Machine Gun assets reverted to individual Battalions as part of the Support Company as a Machine Gun Platoon.