London Regiment Totally Explained

Everything about The London Regiment totally explained

The London Regiment is a Territorial Army regiment in the British Army. It was first formed in 1908 in order to regiment the various Volunteer Force battalions in the newly formed County of London, each battalion having a distinctive uniform. The Volunteer Force was merged with the Yeomanry in 1908 to form the Territorial Army. This resulted from the impending insolvency of the Volunteer Force's voluntary civilian administration. The administration was taken over by the War Office, and most volunteer units lost their unique identities, becoming territorial battalions of their regular army county regiment. The London corps were a notable exception, being grouped to form their own regiment, each retaining a measure of its original identity, and independent of any regular army regiment. The London Regiment ceased to exist in 1938 with the battalions transferring to regular infantry regiments, the Royal Artillery and the Royal Engineers.
The London Regiment was reformed in 1992 through the regimentation of most of the remaining successors of the original regiment (except the Rifles and the Artists' Rifles). It is the only permanent infantry battalion in London District and consists of an HQ and four rifle companies.
They are:

HQ Company
A (London Scottish) Company
B (Queen's Regiment) Company
C (City of London Fusiliers) Company
D (London Irish Rifles) Company

Two companies of Royal Green Jackets, F Company and G Company, joined the regiment in 1998 following the Strategic Defence Review. As a consequence, the Artists' Rifles became the only former unit of the old London Regiment not represented in the current regiment (the heritage of the Artists' Rifles is maintained by 21st SAS Regiment). The Honourable Artillery Company is also still separate but, although ordered to do so, never actually became part of the original London Regiment.
In October 2003 120 members of regiment were called up for active service in Operation Telic. They were deployed in areas around Basra in southern Iraq in January 2004. This group made up a company known as CAMBRAI company as part of the Multi-National Division (South East), a UK commanded division. In May 2004 they were replaced by MESSINES company, this was made up from an HQ and two platoons from across the London Regiment, along with a platoon from the Royal Irish Rangers.
Following the restructuring of the British Army in 2004, it was announced that the Guards Division would gain a TA battalion. This saw the London Regiment retaining its name and multi-badge structure, while transferring from the Queen's Division to the Guards Division. The two RGJ companies were transferred to the Royal Rifle Volunteers in preparation for the formation of The Rifles in 2007, leaving the remaining companies in their present multi-badge formation.

Original London Regiment battalions

The London battalions formed the London District, which consisted principally of the 1st and 2nd London Divisions.

Unit	Formerly	Headquarters
1st London Division
Royal Fusiliers)			1st Vol Bn, The Royal Fusiliers (late 10th Middlesex RVC)	Bloomsbury
2nd (City of London) Battalion, LR (Royal Fusiliers)	2nd Vol Bn, The Royal Fusiliers (late 23rd Middlesex RVC)	Westminster
3rd (City of London) Battalion, LR (Royal Fusiliers)	3rd Vol Bn, The Royal Fusiliers (late 11th Middlesex RVC)	St Pancras
4th (City of London) Battalion, LR (Royal Fusiliers)	4th Vol Bn, The Royal Fusiliers (late 1st Tower Hamlets RVC)	Shoreditch
London Rifle Brigade)			1st London VRC (City of London Volunteer Rifle Brigade) [9thVol Bn, The King's Royal Rifle Corps]	Finsbury
6th (City of London) Battalion, LR (Rifles)	2nd London VRC [10thVol Bn, The King's Royal Rifle Corps]	Finsbury
7th (City of London) Battalion, LR,	3rd London VRC [11thVol Bn, The King's Royal Rifle Corps]	Finsbury
8th (City of London) Battalion, LR (Post Office Rifles)	24th Middlesex VRC [7thVol Bn, The Rifle Brigade]	Finsbury
Queen Victoria's), Berkeley Square			1st Middlesex (Victoria and St. George's) VRC [4thVol Bn, The King's Royal Rifle Corps] and 19th Middlesex (St. Giles's and St. George's, Bloomsbury) VRC [6thVol Bn, The Rifle Brigade]	Westminster
10th (County of London) Battalion, LR (Paddington Rifles); disbanded 1912	18th Middlesex VRC [4thVol Bn, The Rifle Brigade]	Hackney
11th (County of London) Battalion, LR (Finsbury Rifles)	21st Middlesex (Finsbury) VRC [7thVol Bn, The King's Royal Rifle Corps]	Pentonville
12th (County of London) Battalion, LR (The Rangers)	22nd Middlesex VRC (Central London Rangers) [8thVol Bn, The King's Royal Rifle Corps]	Holborn
2nd London Division
4th (Kensington) Middlesex VRC [3rdVol Bn, The King's Royal Rifle Corps]			Kensington
14th (County of London) Battalion, LR (London Scottish)	7th (London Scottish) Middlesex VRC [1stVol Bn, The Rifle Brigade]	Westminster
15th (County of London) Battalion, LR (Prince of Wales's Own Civil Service Rifles)	The Prince of Wales's Own 12th Middlesex (Civil Service) VRC [5thVol Bn, The King's Royal Rifle Corps]	Westminster
16th (County of London) Battalion, LR (Queen's Westminster Rifles)	12th Middlesex (Queen's) VRC (Westminster) [6thVol Bn, The King's Royal Rifle Corps]	Kensington
Poplar and Stepney Rifles)			2nd Tower Hamlets VRC [9thVol Bn, The Rifle Brigade]	Bow
18th (County of London) Battalion, LR (London Irish Rifles),	16th Middlesex (London Irish) VRC [3rdVol Bn, The Rifle Brigade]	Chelsea
19th (County of London) Battalion, LR (St. Pancras)	17th Middlesex (North Middlesex) VRC [3rdVol Bn, The Middlesex Regiment]	Camden Town
20th (County of London) Battalion, LR (Blackheath and Woolwich)	2nd Vol Bn, The Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) [ex3rd Kent VRC]	Blackheath
First Surrey Rifles)			1st Surrey (South London) VRC [1stVol Bn, The East Surrey Regiment]	Camberwell
22nd (County of London) Battalion, LR (The Queen's)	3rd Vol Bn, The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment) [ex6th Surrey RVC]	Bermondsey
23rd (County of London) Battalion	4th Vol Bn, The East Surrey Regiment [ex7th Surrey RVC]	Battersea
24th (County of London) Battalion, LR (The Queen's)	4th Vol Bn, The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regt) [ex8th Surrey RVC]	Southwark
26th (Cyclist) Middlesex VRC [TheRifle Brigade]			Fulham
26th (County of London) Battalion	Title allotted to Infantry Battalion, Honourable Artillery Company but never used
27th (County of London) Battalion	Title allotted to The Inns of Court Regiment but never used
28th (County of London) Battalion, LR (Artists' Rifles),	20th Middlesex (Artists) VRC [6thVol Bn, The Rifle Brigade]	St Pancras

Battle honours

Battle honours were awarded to the individual battalions.

Further Information

Get more info on 'The London Regiment'.

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