P.D. GRIFFIN
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MODERN BRITISH ARMY REGIMENTS
The regimental march is The Londons Return, an obvious reference to the re-formation of the regiment in 1993. Company marches are more traditional: Highland Laddie (London Scottish Company), Farmers Boy/Soldiers of the Queen (Queen's Regiment Company), British Grenadiers (Fusiliers Company) and Garryowen (London Irish Company).
The various companies that go to make up today's London Regiment originated in the many Middlesex Rifle Volunteer battalions raised in 1859-60 that bore titles such as the Civil Service Rifles, Bank of England Rifles and the Customs and Docks, etc. The 1st Tower Hamlets Rifle Volunteers served with the Rifle Brigade until 1904, when they transferred to the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment), which gave up its four volunteer battalions to the London Regiment in 1908.
The London Scottish was attached to the Gordon Highlanders after the First World War. Its three battalions served in various TA formations in the Second World War and after.
The Gibraltar Regiment was created in 1958 out of the regular and volunteer factions of the Gibraltar Defence Force, which was set up at the beginning of the Second World War to help man the Rock's anti-aircraft guns. The royal title was granted on the 60th anniversary in 1999. Regimental headquarters are at Devil's Tower Camp in Gibraltar.
The blue peaked cap has the royal scarlet band and welt, and the regimental cap badge, which is based on that of the Gibraltar Defence Force of 1915-21: the castle and key, from the arms of Gibraltar, on a shield superimposed on a crowned decorative backing (depicting the Mediterranean) with a scroll labelled Nulli expugnabilis hosti, which roughly translates as 'Never taken by an enemy'.
Royal Artillery grenade collar badges and buttons are marked with the castle and key. The castle represents the fortified Rock, the key its strategic position - the gateway to the Mediterranean Sea.
Service dress is worn with a lanyard on the right shoulder, scarlet and grey for officers and RA white for other ranks. A cloth patch bearing the key emblem is worn on the upper sleeve.
Stable belts are scarlet with twin grey stripes running through.
Full dress uniform is infantry pattern, the helmet of the white, hot weather type. The scarlet tunic has slate grey facings.
Regimental marches were adopted when the force was largely Royal Artillery controlled: British Grenadiers and the RA Slow March.
The Regimental Day (28 April) celebrates the first parade by the volunteers of the Gibraltar Defence Force at the RA base on Europa Point. The men paraded in civilian clothes to begin their training in foot, rifle and gun drill.
Sortie Day (27 November) commemorates an episode in 1781 when Gibraltarian volunteers joined British units in action during the Great Siege.
The port sergeant of the Gibraltar Regiment in No. 3 dress, 2004, holding the keys to the garrison. (Grenadier Publishing)
The Ceremony of the Keys originated in the Great Siege of 1779-83, when the governor's daily routine was to commend the keys of the garrison to the safe-keeping of his port sergeant at the sound of the sunset gun. After the siege the custom continued with a ceremony that involved fifes and drums to warn aliens to leave before the gates were locked for the night. In 1978 the governor suggested that the post of port sergeant be found in a senior NCO of the Gibraltar Regiment. At official banquets the sergeant reports to the governor's table with the assurance 'Your Excellency, the fortress is secure and all's well', before passing the keys over.
Alliances were made with four regiments whose connection with Gibraltar go back to the eighteenth century: the Royal Anglian in 1968, the Royal Artillery in 1993, the Royal Engineers in 1996 and the Royal Irish in 1999.
When the last RA units left the Rock in 1958 the gunner troop of the Gibraltar Regiment inherited two responsibilities - the firing of royal salutes and the care of the Rock's apes. The gun troop is the only unit able to exchange gun salutes with the Honourable Artillery Company in London.
Although the Royal Marines (RM) have not been a part of the army for over 250 years, their army roots strike down deep and are evident today.
'Marine' is defined as 'of the sea', and the first regiment of marines was formed during the Second Anglo-Dutch Maritime War of 1664-6, to serve aboard navy ships. Subsequent wars brought new regiments of sea soldiers 'to make landings or otherwise', but these too were disbanded at the end of each conflict.
In 1755 a permanent Corps of Marines was established under the Admiralty. It achieved the royal title in 1802.
Royal Marines drummers in full dress, 1995
Twenty-first-century marines are regarded as an elite fighting force with their feared commando units. The Special Boat Squadron was formed for covert raiding operations.
The Royal Marines have special connections with Deal, Chatham, Plymouth, Portsmouth and Poole.
The white naval peaked cap is worn with a scarlet band and the 1827 globe and laurel wreath badge surmounted by the royal crest. The globe represents the marines' worldwide service, the laurel their achievements in Britain's affairs in nearly every country on the globe. As a crest the badge is combined with its eighteenth- century forerunners, a fouled anchor, the motto Per mare per terrain (By sea by land), and the single battle honour Gibraltar 1704.
Full dress is issued to musicians and drummers. It consists of the white 1912 Wolseley helmet, and the blue uniform of the Royal Marine Artillery with the cuffs of the Royal Marine Light Infantry. These two sections developed in the nineteenth century and came together in 1923.
No. 1 dress may be worn with cap or helmet. The officers' jacket, adopted after the First World War, is Royal Navy pattern with an open neck collar to reveal a shirt and tie. Members of the King's Squad, the title given to the senior training unit by George V, wear a white lanyard, and the helmet chinstrap down.
The quick march, A Life on the Ocean Wave, was taken in 1882 to replace less appropriate scores dating from the 1830s. The slow march, Globe and Laurel, was used from 1935 and in 1952 RM commandos adopted the trekking song of the Boer commandos, Sarie Marais. The Preobrajensky March was introduced by Earl Mountbatten in 1964.
On the tercentenary of the first marine regiment, in 1964, HM The Queen granted RM officers permission to make the loyal toast when seated, in naval fashion.
RM anniversaries are cited in daily orders on these dates:
23 April - the raid on Zeebrugge in 1918.
28 April - the landing at Gallipoli in 1915.
6 June - the Normandy landings, 1944.
7 June - the assault on Belleisle in 1761.
14 June - the recapture of the Falklands in 1982.
17 June - the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775.
24 July - the capture of Gibraltar in 1704.
21 October - the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
28 October - the formation of the Duke of Yorke and Albany's Maritime Regiment, 1664.
1 November - the assault on Walcheren in 1944.
3 October - the landing at Termoli in 1943 (40 Commando).
23 January - the attack on Montforterbeek in 1945 (45 Commando).
31 January - the Battle of Kangdaw in 1945 (42 Commando).
2 April - the Battle of Comacchio in 1945 (Fleet RM Protection Group).
11/12 June - the attack on Mount Harriet (42 Commando) and the Two Sisters (45 Commando) in 1982.
22 May - the landing at Ajax Bay in 1982 (Commando Logistic Regiment).
21 May - the landings at San Carlos Water in 1982 (3 Commando Brigade, HQ and Signal Squadron, and operational landing craft squadrons).
Battle honours are awarded to regiments that have seen active service in a significant engagement or campaign, generally with a victorious outcome.
Early awards for outstanding service in battle revolved around new titles (seventeenth century) and laurel wreaths (eighteenth century). The first battle honour in the shape of a label, with the name of battle/campaign thereon, came in 1768, when Emsdorff was taken from the caps of the 15th Light Dragoons and emblazoned on their guidon. Sixteen years later Gibraltar was put on the second colour of four infantry regiments which defended the Rock in a siege that lasted from 1779 to 1783. These colours, guidons and standards are regarded as sacred for the honours they bear and the lives lost in their name.
The first campaign honour came in 1802, when thirty-three regiments received permission to display a sphinx emblem to represent their part in the expedition to rid Egypt of Napoleon in the previous year. The year 1815 saw Peninsula awarded to eighty- seven regiments for the war of 1808-14 in Portugal, Spain and southern France, and Waterloo to thirty-eight regiments for their part in the great victory of the same year that brought the French wars to an end. Twenty-three battles of the Peninsular War were honoured to the regiments concerned on a fairly ad hoc basis from 1817 on.
Colonial wars were recognised spasmodically and in 1882 a review of battle honours put the great victories of Marlborough and Wolfe on the map. The 1909 review belatedly recognised seventeenth-century campaigns and some forgotten battles of the eighteenth century. After this, battle honours were awarded on a more efficient basis.
The standard of the 1st King's Dragoon Guards at Tidworth, 1958
The First World War threw up 163 battle honours for regiments that had had battalions serving on all fronts. The resulting numbers of honours per regiment, therefore, were so great that a limit of ten was imposed for display on colours, standards and guidons. The same situation occurred after the Second World War, though on a slightly smaller scale, and the ten honours limit was applied again. A regiment would select its ten most important battle honours of the war, often those that commemorated the greatest loss of life. On average its actual list of battle honours would be about twice the size of its displayed honours.
A regiment's list of honours is a measure of distinction among its peers, but the modern regiment's long list of amalgamated honours can appear anonymous and repetitive, with regimental origins obscure.
A survey of the regiments of the Regular Army in order of precedence, before the many changes that took place in the reign of Elizabeth II, gives a clearer view of the origins of the modern regiments' honours.
The Life Guards: Dettingen, Peninsula, Waterloo, Tel el Kebir, Egypt 1882, Relief of Kimberley, Paardeberg, South Africa 1899-1902.
Mons, Le Cateau, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, Messines 1914, Ypres 1914, 1915, 1917, Somme 1916, 1918, Arras 1917, 1918, Hindenburg Line, France and Flanders 1914-18. Souleuvre, Brussels, Nederrijn, North-west Europe 1944-5, Iraq 1941, Palmyra, Syria 1941, El Alamein, North Africa 1942-3, Italy 1944.
The Royal Horse Guards: Dettingen, Warburg, Beaumont, Willems, Peninsula, Waterloo, Tel el Kebir, Egypt 1882, Relief of Kimberley, Paardeberg, South Africa 1899-1902.
Le Cateau, Marne 1914, Messines 1914, Ypres 1914, 1915, 1917, Gheluvelt, Frezenberg, Loos, Arras 1917, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914-18.
Souleuvre, Brussels, Nederrijn, Northwest Europe 1944-5, Iraq 1941, Palmyra, Syria 1941, El Alamein, North Africa 1942-3, Italy 1944.
1st King's Dragoon Guards: Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, Malpalquet, Dettingen, Warburg, Beaumont, Waterloo, Sevastopol, Taku Forts, Pekin, South Africa 1901-2.
Somme 1916, Morval, France and Flanders 1914-17.
Beda Fomm, Defence of Tobruk, Defence of Alamein Line, Advance on Tripoli, Tebaga Gap, Tunis, North Africa 1941-3, Monte Camino, Gothic Line, Italy 1943-4.
The Queen's Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards): Warburg, Willems, Lucknow, South Africa 1901-2.
Mons, Le Cateau, Marne 1914, Messines 1914, Ypres 1914, 1915, Somme 1916, 1918, Scarpe 1917, Cambrai 1917, 1918, Amiens, Pursuit to Mons.
Somme 1940, Gazala, El Alamein, El Hamma, Tunis, North Africa 1941-3, Coriano, Lamone Crossing, Rimini Line, Argenta Gap.
3rd Dragoon Guards (Prince of Wales's): Warburg, Beaumont, Willems, Talavera, Vittoria, Albuhera, Peninsula, Waterloo, Abbysinia, South Africa 1901-2.
Ypres 1914, 1915, Loos, Arras 1917, Scarpe 1917, St Quentin, Avre, Amiens, Hindenburg Line, Pursuit to Mons, France and Flanders 1914-18.
4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards: Peninsula, Balaklava, Sevastopol, Tel el Kebir, Egypt 1882.
Mons, Le Cateau, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, Messines 1914, Ypres 1914, 1915, Somme 1916, Cambrai 1917, Pursuit to Mons.
5th Dragoon Guards: Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, Malplaquet, Beaumont, Salamanca, Vittoria, Toulouse, Peninsula, Balaklava, Sevastopol, Defence of Ladysmith, South Africa 1899-1902.
Mons, Le Cateau, Marne 1914, Messines 1914, Ypres 1914, 1915, Bellewaarde, Somme 1916, 1918, Cambrai 1917, 918, Amiens, Pursuit to Mons.
The Carabiniers (6th Dragoon Guards): Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, Malplaquet, Warburg, Willems, Sevastopol, Delhi 1857, Afghanistan 1879-80, Relief of Kimberley, Paardeberg, South Africa 1899-1902.
Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, Messines 1914, Ypres 1915, Cambrai 1917, 1918, Somme 1918, Amiens, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914-18.
7th Dragoon Guards: Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, Malplaquet, Dettingen, Warburg, South Africa 1846-7, Tel el Kebir, Egypt 1882, South Africa 1900-2.
La Bassee 1914, Givenchy 1914, Somme 1916, 1918, Bazentin, Cambrai 1917, 1918, St Quentin, Avre, Amiens, Hindenburg Line, Pursuit to Mons.
The 1st Royal Dragoons: Tangier 1662-80, Dettingen, Warburg, Beaumont, Willems, Fuentes d'Onor, Peninsula, Waterloo, Balaklava, Sevastopol, Relief of Ladysmith, South Africa 1899-1902.
Ypres 1914, 1915, Frezenburg, Loos, Arras 1917, Somme 1918, Amiens, Hindenburg Line, Pursuit to Mons, France and Flanders 1914-18.
Nederrijn, Rhine, North-west Europe 1944-5, Syria 1941, Knightsbridge, El Alamein, Advance on Tripoli, North Africa 1941-3, Sicily 1943, Italy 1943.
The Royal Scots Greys: Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, Malplaquet, Dettingen, Warburg, Willems, Waterloo, Balaklava, Sevastopol, Relief of Kimberley, Paardeberg, South Africa 1899-1902.
Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, Ypres 1914, 1915, Arras 1917, Amiens, Somme 1918, Hindenburg Line, Pursuit to Mons, France and Flanders 1914-18.
Hill 112, Falaise, Hochwald, Aller, Bremen, Merjayun, Alam el Haifa, El Alamein, Nofilia, Salerno, Italy 1943.
3rd King's Own Hussars: Dettingen, Salamanca, Vittoria, Toulouse, Peninsula, Cabool, Moodkee, Ferozeshah, Sobraon, Chillianwallah, Goojerat, Punjaub, South Africa 1899-1902.
Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, Messines 1914, Ypres 1914, 1915, Arras 1917, Cambrai 1917, 1918, Somme 1918, Amiens, France and Flanders 1914-15.
Sidi Barrani, Buq Buq, Beda Fomm, Sidi Suleiman, El Alamein, North Africa 1940-2, Citta del Pieve, Citta di Castello, Italy 1944, Crete.
4th Queen's Own Hussars: Dettingen, Talavera, Salamanca, Albuhera, Vittoria, Toulouse, Peninsula, Ghuznee, Afghanistan 1839, Alma, Balaklava, Inkerman, Sevastopol.
Mons, Le Cateau, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, Ypres 1914, 1915, St Julien, Arras 1917, Cambrai 1917, Somme 1918, Amiens.
Ruweisat, Alam el Haifa, El Alamein, Coriano, Senio Pocket, Rimini Line, Argenta Gap, Proasteion, Corinth Canal, Greece 1941.
5th Royal Irish Lancers: Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, Malplaquet, Suakin 1885, Defence of Ladysmith, South Africa 1899-1902.
Mons, Le Cateau, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, Messines 1914, Ypres 1914, 1915, Cambrai 1917, St Quentin, Pursuit to Mons.
The 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons: Dettingen, Warburg, Willems, Waterloo, Balaklava, Sevastopol, South Africa 1899-1902.
Somme 1916, 1918, Morval, Cambrai 1917, 1918, St Quentin, Avre, Amiens, Hindenburg Line, St Quentin Canal, Pursuit to Mons, France and Flanders 1914-18.
7th Queen's Own Hussars: Dettingen, Warburg, Beaumont, Willems, Orthes, Peninsula, Waterloo, Lucknow, South Africa 1900-2.
Khan Baghdadi, Sharqat, Mesopotamia 1917-18.
Egyptian frontier 1940, Beda Fomm, Sidi Rezegh 1941, North Africa 1940-1, Ancona, Rimini Line, Italy 1944-5, Pegu, Paungde, Burma 1942.
8th King's Royal Irish Hussars: Leswaree, Hindoostan, Alma, Balaklava, Inkerman, Sevastopol, Central India, Afghanistan 1878-80, South Africa 1900-2.
Givenchy 1914, Somme 1916, 1918, Cambrai 1917, 1918, Bapaume 1918, Rosieres, Amiens, Albert 1918, Beaurevoir, Pursuit to Mons, France and Flanders 1914-18.
Villers Bocage, Lower Maas, Roer, Rhine, North-west Europe 1944-5, Buq Buq, Sidi Rezegh 1941, Gazala, El Alamein, North Africa 1940-2.
Imjin, Korea 1950-1.
9th Queen's Royal Lancers: Peninsula, Punniar, Sobraon, Punjaub, Chillianwallah, Goojerat, Delhi 1857, Lucknow, Charasiah, Kabul 1879, Kandahar 1880, Afghanistan 1878-80, Modder river, Relief of Kimberley, Paardeberg, South Africa 1899-1902.
Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, Messines 1914, Ypres 1914, 1915, Somme 1916, 1918, Arras 1917, Cambrai 1917, 1918, Rosieres, Pursuit to Mons.
Somme 1940, North-wrest Europe 1940, Gazala, Ruweisat, El Alamein, El Hamma, North Africa 1942-3, Lamone Bridgehead, Argenta Gap, Italy 1944-5.
10th Royal Hussars: Warburg, Peninsula, Waterloo, Sevastopol, Ali Masjid, Afghanistan 1878-80, Relief of Kimberley, Paardeberg, South Africa 1899-1902.
Ypres 1914, 1915, Rezenberg, Loos, Arras 1917, 1918, Somme 1918, Avre, Amiens, Drocourt-Queant, Pursuit to Mons, France and Flanders 1914-18.
Somme 1940, Saunnu, Gazala, El Alamein, El Hamma, Tunis, Coriano, Santarcangelo, Valli di Comacchio, Argenta Gap.
11th Hussars: Warburg, Beaumont, Willems, Salamanca, Peninsula, Waterloo, Bhurtpore, Alma, Balaklava, Inkerman, Sevastopol.
Le Cateau, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, Messines 1914, Ypres 1914, 1915, Somme 1916, 1918, Cambrai 1917, 1918, Amiens, France and Flanders 1914-18.
Villers Bocage, Roer, Rhine, Egyptian frontier 1940, Sidi Barrani, Beda Fomm, Sidi Rezegh 1941, El Alamein, Tunis, Italy 1943.
12th Royal Lancers: Salamanca, Peninsula, Waterloo, South Africa 1851, 1852, 1853, Sevastopol, Central India, Relief of Kimberley, Paardeberg, South Africa 1899-1902.
Mons, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, Messines 1914, Ypres 1914, 1915, Arras 1917, Cambrai 1917, 1918, Somme 1918, Sambre.
A sergeant of the 14th/20th King's Hussars with a guidon of the 14th Light Dragoons, showing its painted Peninsular War battle honours
Dyle, Dunkirk 1940, North-west Europe 1940, Chor es Sufan, Gazala, El Alamein, Tunis, North Africa 1941-3, Bologna, Italy 1944-5.
13th Hussars: Albuhera, Vittoria, Orthes, Toulouse, Peninsula, Waterloo, Alma, Balaklava, Inkerman, Sevastopol, Relief of Ladysmith, South Africa 1899-1902.
France and Flanders 1914-16, Kut al Amara 1917, Baghdad, Sharqat, Mesopotamia 1916-18.
14th King's Hussars: Douro, Talavera, Fuentes d'Onor, Salamanca, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Orthes, Peninsula, Goojerat, Chillianwallah, Punjaub, Persia, Central India, Relief of Ladysmith, South Africa 1900-2.
Tigris 1916, Kut al Amara 1917, Baghdad, Mesopotamia 1915-18, Persia 1918.
15th The King's Hussars: Emsdorff, Viller-en-Cauchies, Egmont-op-Zee, Sahagun, Vittoria, Peninsula, Waterloo, Afghanistan 1878-80.
Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, Ypres 1914, 1915, Bellewaarde, Somme 1916, 1918, Cambrai 1917, 1918, Rosieres, Pursuit to Mons, France and Flanders 1914-18.
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