The Rangers (British battalion)

• Second Battle of Ypres
• Battle of the Somme
• Third Battle of Ypres
• Battle of Cambrai
• Battle of Épehy

Second World War:

• Battle of Greece
• Battle of Crete
• Western Desert Campaign

The Rangers was a

Early history

The enthusiasm for the

In 1861, the corps was made independent of the 3rd Administrative Battalion and absorbed the single-company 35th (Enfield) Middlesex RVC whose commanding officer (CO), Alfred Plantagenet F.C. Somerset (formerly of the

Sir Alfred Plantagenet Frederick Charles Somerset (1829–1915) was the grandson of Henry Somerset, 5th Duke of Beaufort and nephew of Field Marshal Lord Raglan.^[8][9][10] His second-in-command was Major the Hon Hallyburton Campbell (1829–1918) son of the Lord Chancellor, John Campbell, 1st Baron Campbell, and formerly of the East India Company's service.^{[7][8][11][12]}

The first Honorary Colonel, appointed in 1862, was General Sir James Yorke Scarlett, son of James Scarlett, 1st Baron Abinger, a former Attorney General for England and Wales. General Scarlett was Major Campbell's uncle, and another nephew, Leopold James York Campbell Scarlett (1847–88), was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Rangers in 1863 (he later became Lt-Col in the Scots Guards).^{[7][8][12][13]}

Alfred Somerset left the battalion in 1866 to take command of the 2nd Tower Hamlets Militia, and was succeeded as Lt-Col by Hallyburton Campbell. Campbell's elder brother, William Campbell, 2nd Baron Stratheden and Campbell, became Hon Colonel after Gen Scarlett's death in 1872. Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell (who succeeded as 3rd Lord Stratheden and Campbell in 1893) left the battalion in 1872.^{[7][8][11][12]}

When the Cardwell Reforms introduced 'Localisation of the Forces' in 1873, the 40th Middlesex was brigaded, together with several other London and Middlesex Volunteer and Militia battalions, in Brigade No 49 (Middlesex and Metropolitan) under the Royal Fusiliers. The Volunteer units of these brigades met once a year for a training camp.^[7][14][15]

Reform

The battalion was equipped with the

In the subsequent reforms, the Rangers were renumbered as the 22nd Middlesex RVC (Central London Rangers) in 1880 and became a Volunteer Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers the following year. This affiliation was changed to the KRRC a year later; officially the Rangers were the 8th VB KRRC, but did not change their title.^[4] The Adjutant of the battalion was a Regular officer seconded from the Royal Fusiliers, then from the KRRC. These included Capt (later Col) Sir Thomas Pilkington, 12th Bt, who had served at the Battle of Tell El Kebir, and Maj Lord Robert Manners (killed in action in 1917), son of the Duke of Rutland.^[8][18]

Vincent resigned the command upon his appointment to Scotland Yard, and was succeeded by Lt-Col

During Alt's command, the Rangers recruited two companies from employees of the Gas Light and Coke Company's Beckton Gas Works, and a signal section was established in 1886.^[21] Between 1891 and 1899 a Cadet Corps at Mayall College, Herne Hill, was attached to the battalion.^[4]

The Stanhope Memorandum of December 1888 introduced a Mobilisation Scheme for Volunteer units, which would assemble in their own brigades at key points in case of war. In peacetime, these brigades provided a structure for collective training.^[22][23] The Rangers were assigned to the North London Brigade.^[7]

Second Boer War

After '

Other members of the battalion served with the Imperial Yeomanry (IY), including Charles Bromfield, who had been commissioned from the ranks of the Rangers as a captain in the 87th Company of the Imperial Yeomanry and died of wounds received in action near Boshof in February 1902.^[4]

For providing these contingents, the Rangers were awarded the Battle honour South Africa 1900–02.^[5][7][18] After the war, the Rangers' battalion HQ moved from South Square at Gray's Inn to 3 Henry Street, Grays Inn.^[18]

Territorial Force

When the

On 25 June 1908, the battalion took over the Drill Hall in Chenies Street. Designed by Samuel Knight, this had been built in 1882–3 for the Bloomsbury Rifles (19th Middlesex RVC). In 1908, that corps merged with Queen Victoria's Rifles (1st Middlesex RVC) to form the 9th Bn London Regiment, which continued to use the QVRs' HQ at Davies Street while the Rangers took over the building in Chenies Street.^{[7][27][30][31][32]}

The North London Brigade, including the 12th Battalion, became the

On the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, the Rangers formed part of 3rd London Brigade within 1st London Division.^[37][38] It was mobilised and moved to Bullswater, then to Crowborough in September and Roehampton in December. In the interim, during October 1914, it was assigned to guard Waterloo-North Camp (Aldershot) railway.

On 25 December 1914, it left its division on landing at Le Havre. On 8 February 1915, it was put under the command of 84th Brigade within 28th Division. On 8 May 1915 the battalion took part in the battle of Frezenburg Ridge, resulting in its almost complete destruction. At the end of the day it mustered only 53 men - all officers being either killed, wounded or captured. The battalion was transferred to GHQ Troops on 20 May to form a composite unit with the London Regiment's 1/5th and 1/13th Battalions–that only lasted until 11 August, when the three battalions regained their original identity. On 12 February 1916, it was moved into 168th Brigade within 56th (London) Division.^[39]

The battalion switched brigades on 31 January 1918, moving to 175th Brigade within 58th Division–at the same time it absorbed its duplicate battalion, 2/12th Battalion, which had been formed in September 1914.^[40]

Interwar years

The unit was formally transferred to the corps of the KRRC on 7 July 1916, though it also remained a battalion of the London Regiment until 1937, when it was renamed The Rangers, The King's Royal Rifle Corps.^[41]

Second World War

Upon the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, both battalions were part of the 3rd London Brigade. On 22 March 1941, while serving with the 20th Armoured Brigade, it became the 9th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps (The Rangers).^[41]

Post war

In 1947, the battalion became The Rangers, The Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own).^[41] In 1960, the Rangers amalgamated with the London Rifle Brigade to form London Rifle Brigade/Rangers.^[42]

Traditions

Because of its initial links with Gray's Inn, the regiment claimed descent from the Inns of Court Volunteers of 1780. The Rangers were actually founded to accommodate members of the Inns of Court who did not wish to join the exclusive 23rd (Inns of Court) Middlesex RVC, which had a better claim to descent from The Devil's Own.^[3][43]

The regiment's motto, Excel, was derived from the Roman numerals (XL) of its original numbering as the 40th Middlesex RVC.^[17]

Uniform and insignia

On formation, the Rangers adopted the uniform of the Kings Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC), a

In 1878–9, a black cloth helmet with bronze fittings was adopted, and by 1885 was in use by all members of the battalion. The helmet and pouch plates were changed to a Maltese cross pattern to resemble the KRRC's. A new Rifle pattern small Busby was adopted in place of the helmet in 1892.^[21]

During the 20th Century, the bronze cap badge, like that of the KRRC, was worn on a scarlet backing.^[44]

Memorials

The Rangers' First World War memorial was erected in North Crescent, Chenies Street, close to the drill hall. After the Second World War, the battle honours for that war were added to the memorial. The battalion is also named on the listed on the

• General the Hon Sir James Yorke Scarlett, appointed 1862.^[7][12]
• William Campbell, 2nd Baron Stratheden and Campbell, appointed 1872.^[7][12]
• Major C.W. Cradock, Royal Fusiliers, former adjutant of the battalion, appointed 1901.^[5][7][21]
• Col Willam Alt, CB, former CO of the battalion, appointed 1907.^[7][27]
• Sir Corbet Woodall, Governor of the Gas Light and Coke Company, appointed 1909.^[5][47]
• Lieutenant-General Sir Louis Bols, KCB, KCMG, DSO, appointed 1919^[5]
• Sir David Milne-Watson, 1st Bt, Managing Director of the Gas Light and Coke Company, appointed 1924^[5]
• Field Marshal
  KG, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, CSI, DSO, MC, appointed 1949^[5]
• Colonel Sir W. James Waterlow, 2nd Bt, MBE, TD, appointed 1952^[5]

See also

• Connaught Rangers

Notes

References

• Anon, Regimental Badges and Service Caps, London: George Philip & Sons, 1941.
• Maj A.F. Becke,History of the Great War: Order of Battle of Divisions, Part 2a: The Territorial Force Mounted Divisions and the 1st-Line Territorial Force Divisions (42–56), London: HM Stationery Office, 1935/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2007,
  ISBN 1-847347-39-8
  .
• Ian F.W. Beckett, Riflemen Form: A Study of the Rifle Volunteer Movement 1859–1908, Aldershot: Ogilby Trusts, 1982,
  ISBN 0 85936 271 X
  .
• Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 100th Edn, London, 1953.
• Bridget Cherry & Nikolaus Pevsner, The Buildings of England: London 4: North, London: Yae University Press, 2002,
  ISBN 0-300-09653-4
  .
• Col John K. Dunlop, The Development of the British Army 1899–1914, London: Methuen, 1938.
• Lt-Col James Moncrieff Grierson (Col Peter S. Walton, ed.), Scarlet into Khaki: The British Army on the Eve of the Boer War, London: Sampson Low, 1899/London: Greenhill, 1988,
  ISBN 0-947898-81-6
  .
• Edward M. Spiers, The Army and Society 1815–1914, London: Longmans, 1980,
  ISBN 0-582-48565-7
  .
• Ray Westlake, Tracing the Rifle Volunteers, Barnsley: Pen and Sword, 2010,
  ISBN 978-1-84884-211-3
  .
• Capt A.V. Wheeler-Holohan & Capt C.M.G. Wyatt (eds), The Rangers' Historical Records from 1859 to the Conclusion of the Great War, London, 1921/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2003,
  ISBN 978-1843426110
  .

• Mark Conrad, The British Army, 1914 (archive site)
• The Long, Long Trail
• The Peerage.com
• Land Forces of Britain, the Empire and Commonwealth (Regiments.org) - archive site
• The Regimental Warpath 1914–1918 (archive site)
• Stepping Forward London: A Tribute to the Volunteer Military Reservists ad Supporting Auxiliaries of Greater London.