Border Regiment
Border Regiment | |
---|---|
Active | 1881–1959 |
Country | United Kingdom |
Branch | British Army |
Type | Infantry |
Role | Line infantry |
Size | 1–2 Regular battalions 1 Militia Battalion 2 Territorial battalions Up to 12 Hostilities-only battalions |
RHQ | Carlisle Castle |
March | John Peel |
Anniversaries | 28 October Arroyo Day Commemorates an action in Spain when the 34th Foot captured the Drums of their French opposite numbers. |
Engagements | Second Boer War World War I World War II |
The Border Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, which was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 34th (Cumberland) Regiment of Foot and the 55th (Westmorland) Regiment of Foot.
After service in the Second Boer War, followed by both World War I and World War II, the regiment was amalgamated with the King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) into the King's Own Royal Border Regiment in 1959, which was later merged with the King's Regiment (Liverpool and Manchester) and the Queen's Lancashire Regiment to form the present Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's, Lancashire and Border), which continues the lineage of the Border Regiment.
History
1881–1914
The regiment was formed on 1 July 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 34th (Cumberland) Regiment of Foot and the 55th (Westmorland) Regiment of Foot. Under the reforms, each line infantry regiment was to have a defined regimental district, with two regular battalions sharing a single permanent depot. At any one time, one battalion was to be on foreign service and one on "home" service.[1]
In the case of the Border Regiment, the regimental district comprised the
The two regular battalions were stationed as follows:
1st Battalion (ex 34th Foot)[6]
- India and Burma 1881–1890
- England 1890–1897
- Malta 1897–1899
- South Africa 1899–1902
- England 1902–1908
- India and Burma 1908–1915
2nd Battalion (ex 55th Foot)[7]
- Ireland, Channel Islands and Malta 1881–1890
- India and Burma 1890–1905 (Thayetmyo in Burma[8])
- South Africa 1905–1907
- England and Wales 1907–1914
The
First World War
In common with other infantry regiments, the Border Regiment was increased in size for the duration of the 1914–1918 war by the creation of additional battalions, either by the duplication of the existing territorial units or by the raising of new "service" battalions.[9]
Victoria Crosses
Five men of the Border Regiment were awarded the Victoria Cross, all during the First World War:
- Private James Alexander Smith (21 December 1914)
- Private Abraham Acton (21 December 1914)
- Sergeant Edward John Mott (27 January 1917)
- Sergeant Charles Edward Spackman(20 November 1917)
- Captain (Acting Lieutenant-Colonel) James Forbes-Robertson (11/12 April 1918)
Inter War Period
By 1919, all the war-formed battalions had been disbanded and the system of rotating the two regular battalions had resumed. The 1st Battalion moved to the
The 2nd Battalion was in Italy at the end of the First World War, remaining there until 1919. In that year, it moved to Ireland, where the
The 3rd (Reserve) Battalion was placed in "suspended animation" following the war, and was never embodied again. It was formally disbanded in 1953.[2]
The two territorial battalions were reformed in 1920 as part of the renamed Territorial Army (TA).[2] In April 1939, when it seemed clear war was likely to break out with Germany, the TA was doubled in size, with each existing unit forming a duplicate. When war broke out in September 1939, the four TA battalions were as follows:[2]
- 4th (Westmorland and Cumberland) Battalion
- 5th (Cumberland) Battalion
- 6th (East Cumberland) Battalion
- 7th (Cumberland) Battalion
Second World War
Regular Army
The 1st Battalion, Border Regiment formed part of the
The 2nd Battalion was serving in
Territorial Army
The 4th Battalion was a 1st Line Territorial Army unit, originally assigned to the 126th Infantry Brigade, 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division. However, the battalion left the brigade in November 1939, and was assigned to the newly raised 25th Infantry Brigade and served from 1939–40 in France on lines of communication duties before becoming part of the ill-fated "2nd BEF" that tried to maintain a presence in France after Dunkirk, finally leaving from the Cherbourg peninsular. After returning to the United Kingdom, it spent time in South Wales on Guard duties before being posted to North Africa in 1941. The battalion was then assigned to the 23rd Infantry Brigade, part of the 70th Infantry Division. Whilst in Africa, it spent some time fighting the Africa Korps, including taking part in the relief of Tobruk before being posted to British India in 1942–1943. In 1944, the entire division was broken up to become part of Brigadier Orde Wingate's 'Special Force' (the Chindits) and took part in the 2nd Chindit expedition in Burma, before finally returning to the United Kingdom in 1945.[12]
The 5th Battalion was also a 1st-Line Territorial Army unit that was serving with the 42nd East Lancashire Infantry Division and was sent to join the BEF in France in 1940. Like the 1st and 4th battalions, it was also evacuated at Dunkirk. After returning to the United Kingdom, it served as home defence in the anticipation of a German invasion. In 1941, it was decided to convert the 42nd Division into an armoured division due to a shortage of armoured troops and the division became the 42nd Armoured Division. The 5th Battalion was converted to armour as the 110th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps. The men continued to wear their Border Regiment cap badge on the black beret of the RAC, as did all infantry units converted in the same way.[13] 110 RAC was disbanded in 1943, and 5th Battalion, Border Regiment was reconstituted in April 1944 by redesignation of the 7th Battalion, a reserve battalion serving in 213th Infantry Brigade, originally created in 1939 as a 2nd Line duplicate of the 5th[14][15] It spent the rest of the war as a training battalion,[16] assigned to the 45th Infantry Brigade, which was initially part of the 80th Infantry (Reserve) Division and then the 38th Infantry (Reserve) Division.[17]
Hostilities-only
The 50th (Holding) Battalion was raised in June 1940. In October, it was redesignated as the 9th Battalion and was assigned to the 225th Independent Infantry Brigade (Home).[18]
Post-war and amalgamation
In 1945, the 1st Battalion formed part of the force sent to disarm the German occupiers of Norway, moving on to become part of the Allied Occupation Force in Trieste. In 1947, it moved to Somaliland and in 1947 to Palestine, returning to the UK in 1950.[6][10]
The 2nd Battalion returned to England in 1946.[7][10]
On 28 October 1950, the two regular battalions were formally amalgamated into a single 1st Battalion. In 1951, the battalion moved to Egypt and in 1955 to Germany, where it remained for the rest of its existence.[6][10]
In July 1957, the Defence White Paper outlined a substantial reduction in the size of the British Army, with a number of regiments being amalgamated. The Border Regiment was amalgamated with the King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) to form the King's Own Royal Border Regiment on 1 October 1959.[19]
Regimental museum
The Border Regiment and its successors have a gallery at Cumbria's Museum of Military Life in Alma Block, Carlisle Castle.[20]
Battle honours
The regiment's battle honours were as follows:[21]
- Early Wars
- First World War
- Gallipoli 1915-16
- Second World War
- Burma 1943–5
Regimental Colonels
Regimental Colonels were:[22]
- 1881–1889: (1st Bn.) Gen. Alexander Maxwell, CB
- 1881–1903: (2nd Bn.) Gen. Sir Henry Charles Barnston Daubeney, GCB
- 1889–1897: (1st Bn.) Gen. Sir Richard Denis Kelly, KCB
- 1903–1909: Lt-Gen. Sir Robert Hume, GCB
- 1909–1919: Maj-Gen. William John Chads, CB
- 1915–1923: Gen. Sir Bruce Meade Hamilton, GCB, KCVO
- 1923–1936: Maj-Gen. Ewen George Sinclair-MacLagan, CB, CMG, DS
- 1936–1947: Brig-Gen. George Hyde Harrison, DSO
- 1947–1952: Maj-Gen. Philip James Shears, CB
- 1952–1959: Maj-Gen. Valentine Blomfield, CB, DSO
*1959 Regiment amalgamated with the King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) to form the King's Own Royal Border Regiment
Notes
- ^ "No. 24992". The London Gazette. 1 July 1881. pp. 3300–3301.
- ^ a b c d e f T F Mills. "The Border Regiment". Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 15 January 2008. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
- ISBN 0-85591-000-3.
- ^ "Border Regiment & King's Own Royal Border Regiment Museum". Army Museums Ogilby Trust. Archived from the original on 21 May 2014. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
- ^ "The Border Regiment". AngloBoerWar.com. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
- ^ a b c d T F Mills. "1st Battalion, Border Regiment". Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 21 December 2007. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
- ^ a b c T F Mills. "2nd Battalion, Border Regiment". Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 17 December 2007. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
- ^ "Naval & Military intelligence - The Army in India". The Times. No. 36896. London. 11 October 1902. p. 12.
- ^ Baker, Chris. "The Border Regiment in 1914–1918". The Long, Long Trail. The British Army in the Great War. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
- ^ a b c d "Border Regiment". National Army Museum. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
- ^ "36th Infantry Division". Unit Histories. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
- ^ "In 1944 – The Second & Last Expedition". Hermes' wings. 16 April 2011. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
- ^ Forty pp. 50–1.
- ^ 5th Bn Border Regiment War Diary, Apr–May 1944, The National Archives (TNA), Kew file WO 166/15078.
- ^ Joslen, p. 376.
- ^ 5th Bn Border Regiment War Diary, June 1944 – November 1945, TNA file WO 166/17146.
- ^ Joslen, p. 290
- ^ Joslen, p. 388
- ^ "Merged regiments and new brigading—many famous units to lose separate identity". The Times. 25 July 1957.
- ^ "Welcome". Cumbria's Museum of Military Life. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
- ^ Beckett, p. 30
- ^ "The Border Regiment". Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 27 February 2007. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
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References
- Beckett, Ian (2003). Discovering English County Regiments. Shire. ISBN 978-0747-805069.
- Forty, George (1998). British Army Handbook 1939–1945. Stroud: Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-7509-1403-3.
- Sutherland, Douglas (1972). Tried and Valiant: The Story of the Border Regiment 1702–1959. London: Leo Cooper Ltd. ISBN 0-85052-042-8.
- Joslen, H. F. (2003) [1960]. Orders of Battle: Second World War, 1939–1945. Uckfield, East Sussex: Naval and Military Press. ISBN 978-1-84342-474-1.
External links
- Mills, T.F. "The Border Regiment". regiments.org. Archived from the original on 28 August 2006. Retrieved 9 February 2007. Includes chronological index of titles.
- 2nd Battalion Border Regiment Living History and reenactment unit portraying the 2/Border during the Great War 1914–1918.
- "Victoria Cross Archive". The National Archives. Retrieved 19 July 2008.
- The Regimental Museum at Carlisle Castle
- "The Lonsdale Battalion Wiki". Retrieved 9 November 2017.