Royal Tank Regiment

 

Royal Tank Regiment

Officer’s Beret, c. 1961

 

Tanks were first employed at Flers–Courcelette during the Battle of the Somme in September of 1916. At that time the six tank companies were grouped as the Heavy Section of the Machine Gun Corps (MGC). That November, the tank companies were expanded to form battalions and designated the Heavy Branch MGC. In July of 1917, the Heavy Branch was separated from the rest of the Corps by Royal Warrant and given official status as the Tank Corps.

 

After the Great War, the Tank Corps was pared down to four battalions and on the 18th of October, 1923, became the Royal Tank Corps with King George V as Colonel-in-Chief. In 1939 the Corps was renamed the Royal Tank Regiment and became a wing of the newly created Royal Armoured Corps.

 

Officer in full dress uniform of the Royal Tank Regiment.

Durham Light Infantry

Durham Light Infantry
Officer's Forage Cap, c. 1881 

The regiment was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 68th (Durham) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) and the 106th Regiment of Foot (Bombay Light Infantry) along with the Militia and Volunteers of County Durham. On formation of the regiment the 1st Battalion was in India at Meerut and the 2nd Battalion was in Ireland at Dublin.

In 1885 the 2nd Battalion was transferred to Egypt to take part in the Mahdist War, fighting at the Battle of Ginnis. 

The 1st Battalion arrived in South Africa in November of 1899 for the Second Boer War, participating in the Relief of Ladysmith. One company of the 2nd Battalion was dispatched from India in January of 1900, forming part of the Burmah Mounted Infantry. The 3rd and 4th Militia Battalions were also sent to South Africa in February of 1900 and February of 1902, respectively. The 1st Battalion and the company from the 2nd left South Africa for India at the end of October of 1902. The two militia battalions departed that September.

In 1968 the regiment was amalgamated with the Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry, the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and the King's Shropshire Light Infantry to form The Light Infantry. That regiment was further amalgamated in 2007 to the form The Rifles.

Officers of the Royal Bucks Militia in patrol jackets with forage caps, c. 1893.

Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's)

Basket-hilted Broadsword - 1865 Pattern, George V cypher, produced by Wilkinson in 1912

Etched for the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's)

The regiment was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 91st (Argyllshire Highlanders) Regiment of Foot and the 93rd (Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment of Foot. During the Crimean war, the 93rd (later 2nd Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders) earned the sobriquet of "The Fighting Highlanders" and carried with it the status of having been the original "Thin Red Line". This title was bestowed following the Battle of Balaklava when the regiment stood alone facing four squadrons of charging Russian cavalry.

The 1st Battalion took part in the Boer War, arriving in the Cape in 1899. They played leading roles in the Battle of Modder River, the Battle of Magersfontein, and the Battle of Paardeberg. During the Great War, the 1st Battalion landed at Le Havre in December of 1914. The 2nd Battalion landed at Boulogne-Sur-Mer in August of 1914. The 2nd Battalion was later stationed in Claremorris, County Mayo in 1919, during the Irish War of Independence. 

As part of the restructuring of the British Army's infantry in 2006, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were amalgamated with the other Highland regiments into the seven-battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland.

 

An officer of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's) in levee dress.

Captain Alister Hillyar Darby Chapman

 

Captain Alister Hillyar Darby Chapman

 1882-1915

Dress Tunic, c. 1911

 

 Chapman studied at Eton and was gazetted to the 3rd (Militia) Battalion of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry on the 19th of September, 1900. The battalion was originally the Shropshire Militia and had been redesignated as the 3rd (Militia) Battalion in 1881. He transferred to the 1st (Royal) Dragoons in December of 1901, joining the regiment in South Africa during the Second Boer War. Upon their return to England in 1902, the regiment was inspected by its Colonel-in-Chief Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany. Chapman was advanced to lieutenant in January of 1905. He obtained his captaincy in February of 1910. The regiment was once again posted to South Africa when the Great War began. They returned to England and then landed at Belgium with the 6th Cavalry Brigade of the 3rd Cavalry Division in October of 1914. The regiment participated in the First Battle of Ypres in October of 1914. Chapman was mentioned in despatches during the Second Battle of Ypres in April of 1915. During the Battle of Loos, under heavy shelling, Chapman was killed in action on the 27th of September, 1915. He was laid to rest in the Noeux-Les-Mines Communal Cemetery in the Pas de Calais region of France.

 

11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own)

 

 

Sergeant, 11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own)

Walking Out Dress, c. 1914

The regiment was formed in 1715 as Honeywood's Regiment of Dragoons, one of sixteen raised in response to the Jacobite uprising. It was then numbered as the 11th Regiment of Dragoons in 1751. The regiment saw action during the Seven Years' War, winning its first battle honour at Warburg. The regiment was re-designated as light cavalry in 1783, becoming the 11th Regiment of Light Dragoons.

The regiment was sent to Portugal in 1811 to join the Peninsular War. It saw action in the Battles of Badajoz, Salamanca, Quatre Bras, and Waterloo. In 1819, the regiment moved to India, where it remained until 1836 and there participated in the Siege of Bharatpur. Shortly before returning to Britain, the Earl of Cardigan became lieutenant-colonel of the regiment.

In 1840, the 11th Light Dragoons served as escort to Prince Albert on his arrival in England to marry Queen Victoria. She appointed Prince Albert colonel of the regiment and granted them the title 11th (Prince Albert's Own) Hussars. Prince Albert's interests included military tactics and equipment and he helped design the regiment's new uniforms.

The regiment served in the Crimean War, as part of the Light Brigade commanded by Cardigan, now a Major General. It  fought at the Battle of Alma and was also involved in the Charge of the Light Brigade in October of 1854. The regiment was renamed the 11th (or Prince Albert's Own) Hussars in 1861.

The regiment landed in France as part of the 1st Cavalry Brigade in the 1st Cavalry Division in 1914 for service on the Western Front with the British Expeditionary Force. The regiment was renamed the 11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own) in 1921 and later amalgamated with the 10th Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales's Own), to form the Royal Hussars in 1969.

 

Corporal, 11th (Prince Albert's Own) Hussars, c. 1900

By Percy William Reynolds

1st The Royal Dragoons

1st The Royal Dragoons

Field Service Cap, c. 1921

 

The regiment was raised in 1661 as the Tangier Horse, taking the name from their service in the Garrison of Tangier. The regiment was ranked as the 1st Dragoons, the oldest cavalry regiment of the line, in 1674. It was then renamed in 1690 simply as The Royal Regiment of Dragoons. 

The regiment was formally titled as the 1st (Royal) Regiment of Dragoons in 1751 and served on the continent during the Seven Years' War. It also took part in the charge of the Union Brigade at the Battle of Waterloo in June of 1815. Having been re-titled the 1st (Royal) Dragoons in 1877, the regiment later participated in the Mahdist War.

After the outbreak of the Second Boer War in October of 1899, the regiment was sent to South Africa and took part in the relief of Ladysmith. The regiment had been serving in South Africa at the outbreak of the Great War, but returned to the United Kingdom and landed in Belgium in October of 1914. The regiment was re-titled as the 1st The Royal Dragoons in 1921. It was then posted to Egypt in 1927, India in 1929, and Palestine in 1938.

During the Second World War, the regiment participated in Second Battle of El Alamein, the Allied invasion of Sicily, and the Normandy landings. In 1961 the regiment was re-titled as The Royal Dragoons (1st Dragoons). It amalgamated with the Royal Horse Guards (The Blues), to form The Blues and Royals in 1969.

 

Yeomanry cavalry officers in Mounted Drill Order with field service caps, c. 1901.

Captain Geoffrey W. I. Bairstow

 

Captain Geoffrey W. I. Bairstow

 1891-1941

 Full Dress Uniform, c. 1911

 

 A member of the Colchester Polo Club, Bairstow joined with the 20th Hussars on February 4, 1911. His father Walter Bairstow was the High Sheriff of Northamptonshire County. Bairstow became a lieutenant in 1913. He landed in France with the regiment in August of 1914 and was wounded in the shoulder during the retreat from Mons that September, paralyzing his right arm. Bairstow was placed on the Half-pay List in 1916, owing to ill-health. He received his captaincy on November 28, 1917.