Suffolk Regiment
Suffolk Regiment | |
---|---|
Active | 20 June 1685–29 August 1959 |
Country | Kingdom of England (1685–1707) Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) United Kingdom (1801–1959) |
Branch | British Army |
Type | Infantry |
Role | Line infantry |
Size | 1–2 Regular battalions 1–2 Militia and Special Reserve battalions Volunteer battalionsUp to 16 Hostilities-only battalions |
Garrison/HQ | Battle of Singapore |
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The Suffolk Regiment was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army with a history dating back to 1685. It saw service for three centuries, participating in many wars and conflicts, including the First and Second World Wars, before being amalgamated with the Royal Norfolk Regiment to form the 1st East Anglian Regiment (Royal Norfolk and Suffolk) in 1959 which, in 1964, was further amalgamated with the 2nd East Anglian Regiment (Duchess of Gloucester's Own Royal Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire), the 3rd East Anglian Regiment (16th/44th Foot) and the Royal Leicestershire Regiment to create the present Royal Anglian Regiment.
History
Early history
In 1685, the Duke of Norfolk's Regiment of Foot was recruited in Norfolk and Suffolk by the Duke of Norfolk.[2][3][4] Raised to suppress the Monmouth Rebellion, it became part of the Royal Army and its Colonel Lord Lichfield remained loyal to James II after the 1688 Glorious Revolution.[5] He was replaced by Henry Wharton and the regiment fought throughout the 1689 to 1691 Williamite War in Ireland, including the Battle of the Boyne, the Capture of Waterford and the Siege of Limerick in 1690.[3][6]
After the October 1691
As a result of the 1751 army reforms, it was renamed the 12th Regiment of Foot and in 1758, the second battalion was detached to form the 65th (2nd Yorkshire, North Riding) Regiment of Foot.[3][4] During the 1756 to 1763 Seven Years' War, it fought at the battles of Minden, Villinghausen and Wilhelmsthal, as well as the Siege of Cassel.[9] In 1782, it was given a county association as the 12th (East Suffolk) Regiment of Foot.[3][4]
Napoleonic Wars
The regiment embarked for the West Indies in 1793[10] and took part in the capture of Martinique, Saint Lucia and Guadeloupe in 1794.[11] It returned to England in 1795[12] and then embarked for India in 1796 where it took part in operations against Tipu Sultan including the Siege of Seringapatam in April 1799 during the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War.[13] It also took part in the Invasion of Île Bonaparte in July 1810[14] and the Invasion of Isle de France in November 1810 during the Napoleonic Wars.[15]
The Victorian era
While garrisoning the Australian
The regiment was not fundamentally affected by the
Regulars
- 1st Battalion
- 2nd Battalion
Militia
- 3rd (Militia) Battalion based in Bury St Edmunds, former West Suffolk Militia
- 4th (Militia) Battalion based in Ely, former Cambridgeshire Militia[20]
Volunteer Force
- 1st Suffolk Rifle Volunteers based in Woodbridge, renamed 1st Volunteer Battalion in 1888
- 6th (West Suffolk) Suffolk Rifle Volunteers based in Sudbury, renamed 2nd Vol Btn in 1881
- 1st (Cambridge, Essex and Huntingdonshire) Cambridgeshire Rifle Volunteers based in Cambridge, renamed 3rd (Cambridgeshire) Vol Btn in 1881
- 3rd (Cambridge University) Cambridgeshire Rifle Volunteer Corps based in Cambridge, renamed 4th (Cambridge University) Vol Btn in 1881
The 1st Battalion served in the Second Boer War: it assaulted a hill near Colesberg in January 1900 and suffered many casualties including the commanding officer.[16]
By contrast between 1895 and 1914, the 2nd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment was not involved in hostilities. It was stationed for the majority of the time in India. Garrison postings during this period include;
During its service in India the 2nd Battalion became known as a "well officered battalion that compared favourably with the best battalion in the service having the nicest possible feeling amongst all ranks". The 2nd was also regarded as a good shooting battalion with high level of musketry skills. The spirit of independence and self-reliance exhibited by officers and non-commissioned officers led to the 2nd Battalion taking first place in the
In 1908, the Militia and Volunteers were reorganised nationally, with the former becoming the Special Reserve (SR) and the latter the Territorial Force (TF).[23] The regiment now had the 3rd (Reserve) of the SR at Gibraltar Barracks and the 4th (at Portman Road in Ipswich) and 5th (at Gibraltar Barracks) TF battalions. In 1910 the regiment gained another Territorial unit, the 6th (Cyclist) Battalion (at Woodbridge Road in Ipswich), after the breakup of the Essex and Suffolk Cyclist Battalion.[3][4]
First World War
Regular Army
The 1st Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 84th Brigade in the 28th Division in January 1915 for service on the Western Front and then transferred to Egypt in 24 October 1915.[24][25] It suffered some 400 casualties at the Second Battle of Ypres in May 1915.[16]
The 2nd Battalion landed at landed at Le Havre as part of the 14th Brigade in 5th Division in August 1914.[24][25] The value of the 2nd Battalion's 20 years of peacetime training was exemplified at the Battle of Le Cateau on 26 August 1914, a mere 23 days since Britain had declared war on Germany. In this action the 2nd Battalion undertook a fierce rear-guard defence out-manned and out-gunned by superior numbers of enemy. The 2nd Battalion held their defensive position despite losing their commanding officer, Lt. Col. C.A.H. Brett DSO, at the commencement of the action and their second in command, Maj. E.C. Doughty, who was severely wounded after six hours of battle as he went forward to take ammunition to the hard-pressed battalion machine gunners.[26]
Almost totally decimated as a fighting unit after over eight hours of incessant fighting, the 2nd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment was gradually outflanked but would still not surrender. This was despite the fact that the
As an example of their valour and the level of training they had been subject to as a peacetime unit, it is noted that 720 men of 2nd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment total roll call of some 1,000, many of whom had been with the battalion since the 1899 posting to Quetta, were killed, wounded or captured. This fight-to-the-last-man defence at Le Cateau was later recognised as a key factor in preventing the German occupation of Paris. The battalion, due to the casualties sustained, was transferred to GHQ Troops before, on 25 October, transferring to the
Special Reserve
The 3rd (Reserve) Battalion went to its war station in the Harwich Garrison, where it spent the war carrying out is twin roles of home defence and preparing reinforcement drafts for the Regular battalions serving overseas. It also spun off the 10th (Reserve) Battalion, which carried out the same task for the 7th, 8th and 9th (Service) Battalions until it became 26th Training Reserve Battalion in 1916.[24][25][29]
Territorial Force
The 1/4th Battalion landed at Le Havre and joined the Jullundur Brigade of the 3rd (Lahore) Division in November 1914 for service on the Western Front. It ended the war as the pioneer battalion of the 58th (2/1st London) Division.[24][25][30] The 1/5th Battalion landed at Suvla Bay as part of the 163rd (1/1st Norfolk and Suffolk) Brigade in the 54th (East Anglian) Division in August 1915; it was evacuated from Gallipoli in December 1915 and moved to Egypt and saw action again at First Battle of Gaza in March 1917 and through the Sinai and Palestine campaign.[24][25][31] The 1/6th (Cyclist) Battalion served in home defence throughout the war.[24][25][32]
Soon after the outbreak of war the TF formed 2nd Line battalions, initially to supply reinforcements to the 1st Line serving overseas, then as service battalions in their own right. The 2/4th, 2/5th and 2/6th (Cyclist) Battalions served in home defence throughout the war. The 3rd Line battalions were formed in 1915 to supply reinforcements. The 3/6th (Cyclist) Battalion was disbanded in 1916, the 3/4th and 3/5th amalgamated as 4th Reserve Battalion, and then absorbed the reserve battalion of the Cambridgeshire Regiment to form the Cambridge and Suffolk (Reserve) Battalion.[24][25][33]
Members of the TF who had not volunteered for overseas service were formed into Provisional Battalions, 4th and 5th Suffolks forming 64th Provisional Battalion. The Military Service Act 1916 swept away the home/foreign service distinction, and all TF soldiers became liable for overseas service, if medically fit. On 1 January 1917 the provisional units became numbered battalions of their parent regiments, with 64th Provisional Bn, becoming 14th Suffolks, serving in bhome defence.[3][25][34]
15th (Suffolk Yeomanry) Battalion was formed in Egypt in 1917 from the dismounted Suffolk Yeomanry. It served as infantry in Palestine until the end of the war.[24][25][35]
New Army
A number of battalions were raised in 1914–15 as part of the New Armies ('Kitchener's Army'). The 7th, 8th and 9th (Service) Battalions were formed at Bury St Edmunds and all served on the Western Front.[3] The 7th (S) Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 35th Brigade in 12th (Eastern) Division in May 1915.[24][25][36][a] The 8th (Service) Battalion landed in France as part of the 53rd Brigade in 18th (Eastern) Division in July 1915 and served until it was disbanded in February 1918.[24][25][37] The 9th (Service) Battalion landed at Boulogne as part of 71st Brigade in 24th Division in August 1915. It was also disbanded in February 1918.[24][25][38] Sergeant Arthur Frederick Saunders of the 9th Battalion was awarded the Victoria Cross while serving with the battalion during the Battle of Loos, the largest British Army offensive of 1915.[39]
The Cambridge Service Battalion was a Kitchener's Army unit formed by the Cambridge TF Association and later assigned to the Suffolk Regiment as the [[11th (Service) Battalion, Suffolk Regiment (Cambridgeshire) |11th (Service) Battalion (Cambridgeshire)]]. It landed at Boulogne as part of the 101st Brigade in 34th Division in January 1916 also for action on the Western Front. Corporal Sidney James Day won the VC for his actions at Hargicourt on 26 August 1917. The battalion ended the war as part of 61st (2nd South Midland) Division.[24][25][40] [41]
The 12th (Service) Battalion (East Anglia) was a
1st (Reserve) Garrison and 2nd (Home Service) Garrison Battalions were also formed in 1916 and served in England.[24][25][44]
Interwar period
The 1st battalion saw action in the campaign against the
Second World War
Regular Army
The 1st Battalion, Suffolk Regiment was a
The 2nd Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment was serving in India at the outbreak of the Second World War, spending the early years of the war mainly deployed on internal security duties. In 1943 the battalion transferred to the
Territorial Army
The 4th/5th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment was a
Hostilities-only
The 7th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment was a war-formed unit raised in June 1940, shortly after Dunkirk, and, on 10 October, was assigned to the
The 50th (Holding) Battalion was created in late May 1940, around the time of the Dunkirk evacuation, and was originally intended temporarily to 'hold' men who were medically unfit, awaiting orders, or, as this was at the time of Dunkirk, returning from overseas service. However, in October, the battalion was re-designated as the 8th Battalion. In addition, the 6th, 9th, 30th, 31st and 70th (Young Soldiers) Battalions were also formed, although none of these saw service overseas.[47]
Postwar
The regiment was amalgamated with the Royal Norfolk Regiment to form the 1st East Anglian Regiment (Royal Norfolk and Suffolk) in 1959.[3][4][48]
Regimental museum
The Suffolk Regiment Museum is based at Gibraltar Barracks in Bury St Edmunds.[49]
Battle honours
The regiment's battle honours were as follows:[4]
- Early Wars
- Afghanistan 1878–80, South Africa 1899-1902
- The Great War
- Palestine 1917-18
- The Second World War
- Burma 1943–45.
Victoria Cross
Victoria Crosses were awarded to the following men of the regiment:
- Corporal First World War(26 August 1917)
- Sergeant Arthur Frederick Saunders, First World War (26 September 1915)
Colonels-in-Chief
Colonels of the Regiment
Colonels of the regiment were as follows:[4]
- 1685–1686: Col Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk
- 1686–1688: Col Edward Lee, 1st Earl of Lichfield
- 1688: Col Robert Carey, 6th Baron Hunsdon
- 1688–1689: Col Hon. Henry Wharton
- 1689–1702: Col Richard Brewer
- 1702–1712: Maj-Gen John Livesay
- 1712–1717: Lt-Gen Richard Philipps
- 1717–1725: Brig-Gen Thomas Stanwix
- 1725–1741: Gen Thomas Whetham
- 1741–1745: Col Scipio Duroure
- 1745–1757: Lt-Gen Henry Skelton
12th Regiment of Foot
- 1757–1766: Lt-Gen Robert Napier
- 1766–1779: Gen Henry Clinton
- 1779–1811: Gen William Picton
12th (East Suffolk) Regiment
- 1811–1823: Gen Sir Charles Hastings, 1st Baronet
- 1823–1852: Gen Hon. Robert Meade
- 1852–1857: Lt-Gen Sir Richard Goddard Hare Clarges KCB
- 1857–1864: Lt-Gen Charles Anthony Ferdinand Bentinck
- 1864–1875: Gen Henry Colvile
- 1875–1888: Gen John Patton[50]
The Suffolk Regiment
- 1888–1900: Gen John Maxwell Perceval CB[50]
- 1900–1904: Gen Hon Sir Percy Robert Basil Feilding KCB
- 1904–1918: Lt-Gen Hon. Bernard Matthew Ward CB
- 1918: Lt-Gen Sir Alfred Edward Codrington GCVO KCB
- 1918–1919: Lt-Gen Sir Thomas D'Oyly Snow KCB KCMG
- 1919–1925: Gen Sir Thomas Lethbridge Napier Morland KCB KCMG DSO
- 1925–1939: Maj-Gen Sir John Ponsonby KCB CMG DSO
- 1939–1947: Col Walter Norris Nicholson CMG DSO
- 1947–1957: Brig Edward Henry Walford Backhouse CBE
- 1957–1959: Brig Richard Hobson Maxwell CB
Footnote
- ^ War Diary - 7th Battalion Suffolk Regiment, 13 October 1915, reporting on action (machine-gun carnage) on the Hohenzollern Redoubt on October 11th:
Officers Killed: Major Currey (Vere Fortrey), ("an unsurpassed linguist", killed commanding ‘B’ Company in the first attack upon the south side of the “Hair-pin”); Captain Cobbold (Charles Augustus), a pre-war director of the brewing magnates Lt Davoren(Vesey Alred) (only survivor).
Notes
- ^ Farmer, p. 101.
- ^ Cannon, p. 1.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Frederick, pp. 222–4.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Suffolk Regiment". Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 3 January 2006. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Cannon, p. 5.
- ^ Cannon, p. 9.
- ^ Cannon, pp. 13-5.
- ^ "Battle of Fontenoy". British Battles. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
- ^ Cannon, pp. 31-37.
- ^ Cannon, p. 49
- ^ Cannon, p. 50
- ^ Cannon, p. 55
- ^ Cannon, p. 65
- ^ Cannon, p. 81
- ^ Cannon, p. 82
- ^ a b c d e f g Lummis.
- ^ "St Edmundsbury Borough Council - Local Military History - Suffolk Regiment". www.stedmundsburychronicle.co.uk. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
- ^ "Training Depots 1873–1881". Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 10 February 2006. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
- ^ "No. 24992". The London Gazette. 1 July 1881. pp. 3300–3301.
- ^ "Fourth Suffolks". Herts & Cambs Reporter & Royston Crow. 3 April 1908. p. 6.
- ^ a b Bell.
- ^ Webb, pp. 372–3.
- ^ "Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 31 March 1908. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p James, pp. 55–6/
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Suffolk Regiment at Long, Long Trail.
- ^ Bird.
- ^ Murphy, pp. 28–38.
- ^ 3rd Division at Long, Long Trail.
- ^ Murphy, pp. 322–31, 339–41.
- ^ Murphy, pp. 44–8, 60–3, 70–2, 85–7, 142–6, 189–94, 225–32, 268–72, 293–96.
- ^ Murphy, pp. 99–110, 201–11, 311–8.
- ^ Murphy, pp. 334–8.
- ^ Murphy, pp. 332–4.
- ^ Murphy, pp. 342–3.
- ^ Murphy, pp. 211–8, 318–21.
- ^ Murphy, pp. 88–91, 129–33, 177–81, 232–8, 272–7.
- ^ Murphy, pp. 91–2, 146–50, 165–72, 238–43.
- ^ Murphy, pp. 92–4, 120–6, 194–9, 243–9.
- ^ "No. 29527". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 March 1916. pp. 3409–3410.
- ^ Costin.
- ^ Murphy, pp. 94–7, 150–54, 172–7, 249–55, 277–82, 296–300.
- ^ Murphy, pp. 97–8, 199–200, 255–9, 282–6, 300–2.
- ^ Murphy, pp. 341–2.
- ^ Murphy, pp. 343–5.
- ^ Delaforce, p. 211.
- ^ Forty, pp. 50–1.
- ^ a b "The Suffolk Regiment Day by Day". Retrieved 21 February 2016.
- ^ "Birth of a regiment". East Anglian Film Archive. 19 September 1959. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ^ "Suffolk Regiment Museum". Ogilby Trust. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
- ^ a b "No. 25804". The London Gazette. 3 April 1888. p. 1989.
Sources
- Bell, K.M (2007). A Private from the Suffolk Regiment (an unpublished manuscript). Suffolk Records Office Reference GB554/Y/515.
- Bird, Antony (2008). Gentlemen, We Will Stand and Fight. Crowood. ISBN 978-1847970626.
- Cannon, Richard (1848). Historical record of the 12th or the East Suffolk Regiment of Foot. Parker, Furnivall & Parker.
- Joanna Costin, Cambridgeshire Kitcheners: A History of the 11th (Service) Battalion (Cambs) Suffolk Regiment, Barnsley: Pen & Sword, 2016, ISBN 978-1-4738-6900-4
- Delaforce, Patrick (1995). Monty's Iron Sides. Stroud: Alan Sutton. ISBN 0-7509-0781-9.
- Farmer, John S. (1984). The Regimental Records of the British Army. Bristol: Crecy Books. ISBN 0 947554 03 3.
- George Forty, British Army Handbook 1939–1945, Stroud: Sutton, 1998, ISBN 0-7509-1403-3.
- J.B.M. Frederick, Lineage Book of British Land Forces 1660–1978, Vol I, Wakefield: Microform Academic, 1984, ISBN 1-85117-007-3.
- Brig E.A. James, British Regiments 1914–18, London: Samson Books, 1978, ISBN 0-906304-03-2/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2001, ISBN 978-1-84342-197-9.
- Lt-Col C.C.R. Murphy, The History of the Suffolk Regiment 1914–1927, London: Hutchinson, 1928/Uckfield: Naval & Military, 2002, ISBN 978-1-84342-245-7.
- Scarfe, Norman (2006). Assault Division: A History of the 3rd Division from the Invasion of Normandy to the Surrender of Germany. Stroud, Gloucestershire, Spellmount. ISBN 1-86227-338-3.
- Lt-Col E.A.H. Webb, History of the 12th (The Suffolk) Regiment 1685–1913, London: Spottiswoode, 1914/Uckfield: Naval & Military, 2001, ISBN 978-1-84342-116-0.
External links
- Chris Baker, The Long, Long Trail
- "Battle of Fontenoy". British Battles. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
- Lummis, Eric. "The History of the Suffolk Regiment". Suffolk Regiment. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
- T.F. Mills, Land Forces of Britain, the Empire and Commonwealth – Regiments.org (archived at the Wayback Machine)
- Suffolk Regiment Museum Website
- Friends of the Suffolk Regiment
- Friends of the Suffolk Regiment - Museum Information
- Regimental history from the St. Edmundsbury Borough Council