Cap badge of the Tower Hamlets Rifles
The Tower Hamlets Rifles was a volunteer or territorial unit of the British Army that recruited in the East End of London and served under various titles and in various roles from 1860 until it lost its separate identity in 1971.
Formation[]
The unit was formed as the 1st Administrative Battalion, Tower Hamlets Rifle Volunteer Corps, in May 1861. It was part of the Volunteer Force formed in response to a perceived risk of invasion by France and was formed by the grouping of six smaller rifle volunteer corps formed in 1860. The headquarters were established at Truman's Brewery, Spitalfields.
In 1880 it was renamed and reorganised as 3rd Tower Hamlets Rifle Volunteer Corps, with headquarters at Whitechapel Road. In 1881 it became a volunteer battalion of the Rifle Brigade. In 1894 the headquarters were moved to Bow.
As a volunteer battalion of the Rifle Brigade, the regiment sent detachments to reinforce the regular regiment during the Second Anglo-Anglo Boer War in 1900-02.
On 1st April 1908 the Territorial Force was formed, and all volunteer infantry battalions in the County of London became part of a new London Regiment. The 3rd Tower Hamlets VRC became 17th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Poplar and Stepney Rifles).
First World War[]
With the outbreak of war in August 1914 the Territorial Force was mobilised. The size of the TF was increased by the formation of duplicates of the pre-war units.
The existing battalion became the 1/17th Battalion, and served on the Western Front from 1915-18.
A duplicate 2/17th Battalion was formed in August 1914. It was briefly in France before taking part in the Macedonian and Palestinian campaigns.
A 3/17th Battalion was formed in 1915. It was reserve unit and did not serve outside the UK.
Inter-war period[]
The Territorial Force was dissolved at the end of the war and reformed as the Territorial Army in 1920. The battalion was duly reformed.
In 1922 the various battalions of the London Regiment were formally reconstituted as separate regiments and it became 17th London Regiment (Poplar and Stepney Rifles). In 1926 it was renamed 17th London Regiment (Tower Hamlets Rifles)
In 1937 there was another reorganisation: much of the London-based infantry was converted to an anti-aircraft role. The Tower Hamlets Rifles escaped this fate, becoming Tower Hamlets Rifles, The Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own).
As war appeared to be inevitable 2nd and 3rd battalions were formed.
Second World War[]
Only the 1st Battalion, Tower Hamlets Rifles swa service in the war. They took part in the csampaign in France in 1940 before being evacuated to England. They later moved to North Africa as part of the Eighth Army. They were redesignated as 9th Battalion, The Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own) (Tower Hamlets Rifles) whilst in the desert in 1941. Following the successful expulsion of Axis forces from North Africa in 1943, the unit took part in the Italian campaign.
Post-war and amalgamation[]
The Territorial units were disembodied at the end of the war and not reformed until 1947. The Tower Hamlets Rifles was converted to artillery as 656th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment RA (Rifle Brigade) In 1955 there was a reduction in size of the TA. The Tower Hamlets Rifles were reduced to battery size, forming one third of a regiment, as R (Tower Hamlets Rifles) Battery, 512th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery. The two other batteries were formed from the former Finsbury Rifles and St Pancras Rifles.
In 1961 there were further amalgamations, with the absorbtion of two further artillery regiments which had once been the territorial battalions of the Essex Regiment. R (Tower Hamlets) Battery, 300th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery was formed at Bow. In 1967 it became R Battery (Tower Hamlets), The Greater London Regiment RA (T), a lightly-armed infantry unit in a home defence role. The unit was reduced to a cadre in 1969 and eventually became part of the 6th (Volunteer) Battalion of the Queen's Regiment, losing its Tower Hamlets identity.
Battle honours[]
The regiment was awarded the following battle honours: South Africa 1900-02
Aubers, Festubert 1915, Loos, Somme 1916 '18, Flers-Courcelette, Le Transloy, Messines 1917, Ypres 1917 '18, Langemarck 1917, Cambrai 1917, St. Quentin, Bapaume 1918, Ancre 1918, Albert 1918, Courtrai, France and Flanders 1915-18, Doiran 1917, Macedonia 1916-17, Gaza, El Mughar, Nebi Samwil, Jerusalem, Jericho, Jordan, Tell 'Asur, Palestine 1917-18
Mersa el Brega, Agedabia, Derna Aerodrome, Tobruk 1940, Chor es Sufan, Saunnu, Gazala, Defence of Alamein Line, Medjez el Bab, Kasserine, Thala, Fondouk, Fondouk Pass, El Kourzia, Tunis, Hammam Lif, North Africa 1941-43, Cassino II, Liri Valley, Melfa Crossing, Monte Rotondo, Capture of Perugia, Arezzo, Advance to Florence, Tossignano, Italy 1944-45