Queen Victoria's Rifles was a London Territorial Army infantry unit, tracing its origins to 1803. It served in the Second Anglo-Boer War and the First and Second World Wars under a number of titles, before losing its separate identity in 1961. [1] [2]
Origins[]
On 18 May 1803, after a brief peace following the 1802 Treaty of Amiens, war broke out between Britain and France. The raising of armed volunteers for the defence of the country in the case of invasion was authorised, and the Duke of Cumberland's Volunteers were duly raised in London, taking their name from their honorary colonel, the Duke of Cumberland, later to become King Ernest Augustus I of Hanover.[2]
The Duke of Cumberland's Sharpshooters were the only volunteers to survive the general disbandment of such units in 1814, continuing as a private rifle club. In 1835 they became the Royal Victoria Rifle Club with Princess Victoria (later Queen Victoria) as their patron.[2] [1] In 1853 tensions rose with France once more, and the club was accepted as a volunteer unit of the British Army, reconstituted as the Victoria Rifles with headquarters at Kilburn.[1]
In 1859/60 there was a large scale formation of rifle volunteer corps as the threat of invasion again loomed. These became units of the Volunteer Force, with corps being organised within counties, and commissions being granted by the Lord Lieutenant of each county. The Victoria Rifles duly became the 1st Middlesex (Victoria) Rifle Volunteer Corps.
A rifle corps was formed in the parish of St George Hanover Square in 1860. After a number of name changes it became the 6th Middlesex (St George's) Volunteer Rifle Corps. In 1892 it merged with the Victoria Rifles to become the 1st Middlesex (Victoria and St. George's) Volunteer Rifle Corps.[1] The combined unit became the 1st Volunteer Battalion of the King's Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC), and adopted the KRRC's uniform.[2] [1] Another rifle corps formed in the Holborn area in 1860 became the 19th Middlesex (St Giles's and St George's, Bloomsbury) Volunteer Rifle Corps.
During the Second Anglo-Boer War both the 1st and 19th Middlesex Volunteer Rifle Corps sent detachments to South Africa both as part of the City Imperial Volunteers and as reinforcements to the regular battalions of the KRRC.[2]
London Regiment[]
In 1908 there was a reorganisation of reserve forces. The Volunteer Force became part of the new Territorial Force, whose units were administered by County Associations. The The London Regiment was formed from the various battalions in the newly formed County of London.
The 9th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Queen Victoria's Rifles) was formed by the amalgamation of the 1st and 19th Middlesex Volunteer Rifle Corps, and was based at Davies Street in the Mayfair area of Westminster.[2]
First World War[]
With the outbreak of war in August 1914, the 9th Battalion were embodied for service. They were quickly redesignated as 1/9th Battalion on the formation of a duplicate 2/9th Battalion. The 1/9th served on the Western Front from November 1914. Second Lieutenant Geoffrey Harold Woolley of the 1/9th Battalion was the first member of the Territorial Force to win the Victoria Cross for his actions in the Battle of Hill 60 on 20 - 21 April 1915.[3] The 2/9th Battalion landed in France in 1917, and was absorbed by the 1/9th in February 1918.[4] A 3/9th Battalion was formed in 1915, remaining in the United Kingdom.[4]
Inter war[]
In 1920 the Territorial Force was reconstituted as the Territorial Army (TA), and most of the pre-war units were reformed. In 1922 the various battalions of the London Regiment were formed into separate regiments, with the 9th Battalion becoming The 9th London Regiment (Queen Victoria's Rifles).[1] In 1937 they were renamed to Queen Victoria's Rifles, The King's Royal Rifle Corps. In 1939, with war in Europe seeming likely, the TA was doubled in size, with each unit forming a duplicate. Thus the existing regiment became the 1st Battalion with the duplicate the 2nd Battalion. In 1941 the two battalions were renamed as the 7th and 8th Battalions (Queen Victoria's Rifles), The King's Royal Rifle Corps.[1] [2]
Second World War[]
Only the 1st Battalion saw action, landing in Calais in May 1940 where they found themselves besieged by German forces. Survivors of the unit spent the rest of the war as prisoners of war, while a new 1st Battalion was formed in the United Kingdom.[2] The 1st Battalion was again disbanded in 1943 to provide reinforcements to other regiments. The 2nd Battalion was a "holding" battalion to which soldiers of both the KRRC and the Rifle Brigade were temporarily posted prior to their joining their active battalions.[2]
Post War[]
In 1947 they were reformed as Queen Victoria's Rifles, The King's Royal Rifle Corps, and in 1951 were adopted by the Metropolitan Borough of St. Marylebone.[2] [1] In 1961 there was a reduction in the size of the TA, and the Queen Victoria's Rifles was amalgamated with the Queen's Westminsters, another territorial KRRC battalion, formerly the 16th London Regiment to form the Queen's Royal Rifles.[1] [2] Following a number of further mergers, the unit's lineage is continued today by F Company, 7th Battalion The Rifles.[1] [2]
Battle honours[]
The regiment was awarded the following battle honours. Those shown in bold text were authorised for display on badges and acoutrements:[1] [2]
- South Africa 1900-02
- Hill 60
- Ypres 1915 '17
- Gravenstafel
- St. Julien
- Frezenberg
- Bellewaarde
- Somme 1916 '18
- Albert 1916 '18
- Guillemont
- Ginchy
- Flers-Courcelette
- Morval
- Le Transloy
- Arras 1917
- Scarpe 1917
- Langemarck 1917
- Menin Road
- Polygon Wood
- Passchendaele
- Cambrai 1917
- Bapaume 1918
- Villers Bretonneux
- Amiens
- Hindenburg Line
- Épéhy
- Pursuit to Mons,
- France and Flanders 1914-18
- Calais 1940
- North-West Europe 1940
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 T F Mills. Queen Victoria's Rifles (UK). Regiments.0rg. Archived from the original on 23 November 2007.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified. King's Royal Rifle Corps Association.
- ↑ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 29170. p. 4990. 22 May 1915.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Chris Baker. The London Regiment. The Long Long Trail.
Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Victoria%27s_Rifles]and Imperial War Museum page [1].