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List of battalions of the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey)

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This is a list of battalions of the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey), which existed as an infantry regiment of the British Army from 1661 to 1959.

Original composition

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When the 2nd (The Queen's Royal) Regiment of Foot became The Queen's (Royal West Surrey) Regiment in 1881 under the Cardwell-Childers reforms of the British Armed Forces,[1] it became the county regiment of West Surrey, and one pre-existent militia and four volunteer battalions of West Surrey were integrated into the structure of the Queen's Royal Regiment. Volunteer battalions had been created in reaction to a perceived threat of invasion by France in the late 1850s. Organised as "rifle volunteer corps", they were independent of the British Army and composed primarily of the middle class.

Battalion Formed Formerly
Regular
1st 1661
2nd 1663
Militia
3rd (Militia) 1797 2nd Royal Surrey Militia[2]
Volunteers[3]
1st Volunteer Croydon, 1859 2nd Surrey Rifle Volunteer Corps[4]
2nd Volunteer Dorking, 1859 4th Surrey Rifle Volunteer Corps
3rd Volunteer Bermondsey, 1860 6th Surrey Rifle Volunteer Corps
4th Volunteer Southwark, 1859 8th Surrey Rifle Volunteer Corps

Reorganisation

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The Territorial Force (later Territorial Army) was formed in 1908, which the volunteer battalions joined, while the militia battalions transferred to the "Special Reserve". All volunteer battalions were renumbered to create a single sequential order.

Battalion Formerly
4th 1st Volunteer Battalion
5th 2nd Volunteer Battalion[5]

First World War

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The Queen's Royal Regiment fielded 28 battalions during the course of the war. The regiment's two territorial battalions formed duplicate second, third and fourth line battalions. As an example, the three-line battalions of the 4th King's were numbered as the 1/4th, 2/4th, 3/4th, and 4/4th respectively. Many battalions of the Queen's Royals were formed as part of Secretary of State for War Lord Kitchener's appeal for an initial 100,000 men volunteers in 1914. They were referred to as the New Army or Kitchener's Army. The 10th to 12th Queen's Royals, New Army "Service" battalions, were referred to as "Pals" because they were predominantly composed of colleagues. The Volunteer Training Corps were raised with overage or reserved occupation men early in the war, and were initially self-organised into many small corps, with a wide variety of names. Recognition of the corps by the authorities brought regulation and as the war continued the small corps were formed into battalion sized units of the county Volunteer Regiment. In 1918 these were linked to county regiments.[6]

Battalion Formed Served Fate
Regular[7][8]
1st 1661 Western Front
2nd 1663 Western Front, Italy
Special Reserve[7][8]
3rd (Reserve) Britain
Territorial Force[7][8]
1/4th 1859 India See Inter-War
1/5th 1859 India, Mesopotamian
2/4th Croydon, August 1914 Gallipoli, Palestine, Western Front Disbanded February 1919
2/5th Guildford, September 1914 Britain Disbanded September 1917
3/4th Windsor, June 1915 Western Front Disbanded 11 February 1918
3/5th Guildford, June 1915 Britain Became 5th (Reserve) Battalion, 8 April 1916
4/4th Croydon, July 1915 Britain Became 4th (Reserve) Battalion
4th (Reserve) Battalion 8 April 1916 Britain Disbanded 1919
5th (Reserve) Battalion 8 April 1916 Britain Absorbed by 4th (Reserve) Battalion, 1 September 1916
19th Lowestoft, 1 January 1917 from 69th Provisional Battalion (Territorial Force) Britain Disbanded 1919
20th Cromer, 1 June 1918 Britain Absorbed by 21st Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, 3 July 1918
New Army[7][8]
6th (Service) Guildford, August 1914 Western Front Disbanded 1919
7th (Service) Guildford, September 1914 Western Front Disbanded 1919
8th (Service) Guildford, September 1914 Western Front Disbanded 1919
9th (Reserve) Gravesend, October 1914 Britain Amalgamated with 11th (R) Bn East Surreys to form 21st Training Reserve Battalion, 1 September 1916
10th (Service) (Battersea) Battersea, 3 June 1915 Western Front, Italy Disbanded 1920
11th (Service) (Lambeth) Lambeth, 16 June 1915 Western Front, Italy Disbanded 1920
12th (Reserve) Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, October 1915 Britain Became the 97th Training Reserve Battalion, 1 September 1916
Others[7][8]
13th (Labour) Balmer, 1916 France Transferred to the Labour Corps, 1 June 1917
14th (Labour) Crawley, 1916 Salonika Transferred to the Labour Corps, 1 June 1917
15th (Labour) Crawley, 1916 France Transferred to the Labour Corps, 1 June 1917
16th (Home Service) Farnham, 11 November 1916 Britain Disbanded 1919
17th (Labour) Crawley, November 1916 Britain Transferred to the Labour Corps, and became Eastern Command Labour Centre along with 18th (Labour) Battalion, June 1917
18th (Labour) Crawley, November 1916 Britain Transferred to the Labour Corps, and became Eastern Command Labour Centre along with 17th (Labour) Battalion, June 1917
51st (Graduated) Thoresby, 27 October 1917 Britain Disbanded 1919
52nd (Graduated) Colchester, 27 October 1917 from 255th (Infantry) Battalion, Training Reserve Britain Became a service battalion 8 February 1919; absorbed into 11th (Lambeth) Bn 17 April 1919
53rd (Young Soldier) St Albans, 27 October 1917 Britain Disbanded 1919
Volunteer Training Corps[9]
1st Battalion Surrey Volunteer Regiment
later the 1st Volunteer Battalion, Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey)		 Croydon Disbanded post war
4th Battalion Surrey Volunteer Regiment
later the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey)		 Reigate Disbanded post war
6th Battalion Surrey Volunteer Regiment
later the 3rd Volunteer Battalion, Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey)		 Guildford Disbanded post war

Inter-War

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By 1920, all of the regiment's war-raised battalions had disbanded. The Special Reserve reverted to its militia designation in 1921, then to the Supplementary Reserve in 1924; however, its battalions were effectively placed in 'suspended animation'. As World War II approached, the Territorial Army was reorganised in the mid-1930s, many of its infantry battalions were converted to other roles, especially anti-aircraft. The regiment was also reassigned 22nd (County of London) and 24th battalions of the London Regiment, which disbanded in 1938; these became the 6th (Bermondsey) and 7th (Southwark) battalions of the regiment.

Battalion Fate
4th Became 4th Battalion, The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) (63rd Searchlight Regiment), 1 November 1938; transferred to Royal Artillery 1 August 1940

Second World War

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The Queen's Royal's expansion during the Second World War was modest compared to 1914–1918. Existing battalions formed duplicates as in the First World War, while National Defence Companies were combined to create a new "Home Defence" battalion. In addition to this 19 battalions of the Home Guard were affiliated to the regiment, wearing its cap badge. By 1944 one anti-aircraft was also part of the regiment.[10] A Light Anti-Aircraft (LAA) troop was formed from the Southern Railways battalion to defend railways around Guildford and Woking.[11] Due to the daytime (or shift working) occupations of these men, the batteries required eight times the manpower of an equivalent regular battery.[12]

Battalion Formed Served Fate
Regular
1st 1661 India (NWF), Burma See Post-World War II
2nd 1663 Egypt, Syria, Ceylon, Burma See Post-World War II
Supplementary Reserve
3rd Not Reformed
Territorial Army
1/5th 1859 France, Dunkirk, North Africa, Tunisia, Italy, North West Europe See Post-World War II
1/6th (Bermondsey) 1937 France, Dunkirk, North Africa, Tunisia, Italy, North West Europe See Post-World War II
1/7th (Southwark) 1937 France, Dunkirk, North Africa, Tunisia, Italy, North West Europe See Post-World War II
2/5th 1939 France, Dunkirk, Italy Absorbed by 1/5th, and reconstituted as 5th battalion, 1 January 1947
2/6th (Bermondsey) 1939 France, Dunkirk, Italy Absorbed by 1/6th (Bermondsey), and reconstituted as 6th (Bermondsey) Battalion, 1 April 1947
2/7th (Southwark) 1939 France, Dunkirk, Italy Absorbed by 1/7th (Southwark), 1 April 1947
Hostilities only
11th (Home Defence) 1939 Britain Redesignated as 30th Battalion, August 1943
12th (Home Defence) 1939 Britain Amalgamated with 10th (Home Defence) Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment, forming 30th Battalion, The Middlesex Regiment, 24 July 1941
14th Dorchester, 4 July 1940 Britain Converted into 99th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery, 1 December 1941
15th 9 October 1940, redesignation of 50th (Holding) Battalion Britain Disbanded, 4 December 1943
20th Aldershot, 27 May 1940, from 5th Battalion Scots Guards Britain Disbanded, 3 May 1940
30th August 1943, redesignation of 11th Battalion Britain Absorbed into 30th Battalion, The Middlesex Regiment, October 1945
31st Aldershot Britain Disbanded, 15 May 1946
50th (Holding) Caterham, May 1940 Britain Redesignated as 15th Battalion, 9 October 1940
70th (Young Soldiers) 16 September 1940, from two companies of 11th (Home Service) Battalion Britain Converted to 17th PTC, 1942
Home Guard[13]
Battalion Headquarters Formation Sign (dark blue on khaki) Battalion Headquarters Formation Sign (dark blue on khaki)
Surrey
1st Camberley SY 1 2nd Farnham SY 2
4th Weybridge SY 4 5th Bramley SY 5
7th Dorking SY 7 8th Reigate SY 8
9th Oxted SY 9 11th Woking SY 11
12th (3rd Bn Southern Railway) Woking SY 12 13th (Admiralty Signals Establishment) Haslemere SY 13
32nd Croydon SY 32 33rd County Borough of Croydon SY 33
58th Purley SY 58 59th Addington SY 59
60th Croydon SY 60 61st Norwood SY 61
62nd Norbury SY 62
County of London
29th Battersea COL 29 56th Balham COL 56
Home Guard Anti-Aircraft units[10][11]
Formation Sign
(dark blue on khaki)		 Headquarters or Location AA Formation and Designation Formation Sign
(dark blue on khaki)		 Headquarters or Location AA Formation and Designation
COL 71 Croydon 71st Battery, 16th Anti-Aircraft Regiment (Home Guard) (HAA) SY 12 Guildford and Woking,
(Southern Railways)		 A Troop LAA

Post-World War II

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In the immediate post-war period, the army was significantly reduced: nearly all infantry regiments had their first and second battalions amalgamated and the Supplementary Reserve disbanded. A defence review by Duncan Sandys in 1957 decided that the Queen's Royal Regiment would be amalgamated with the East Surrey Regiment, to form the Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment. They united as the 1st Battalion on 14 October 1959.

Battalion Fate
1st Amalgamated with 1st East Surreys to form the 1st Battalion, Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment, 1959
2nd Disbanded, 1948
3rd Disbanded, 1953
5th Amalgamated with 565 (Surrey) LAA Regiment, Royal Artillery, and 6th (Bermondsey) Battalion, forming 3rd Battalion, The Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment, 1 May 1961
6th (Bermondsey) Amalgamated with 565 LAA Regiment, Royal Artillery, and 5th Battalion, forming 3rd Battalion, The Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment, 1 May 1961
7th (Southwark) Transferred to the Royal Artillery, as 622nd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment (7th Battalion The Queen's Royal Regiment), 1 April 1947

References

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  1. ^ "No. 24992". London Gazette. p. 3300. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  2. ^ "Colours of The Royal Surrey Regiments of Militia". Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  3. ^ "The Surrey Rifle Volunteers". Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  4. ^ "Militia And Volunteers". Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  5. ^ "5th Bn The Queen's Royal Regiment". Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  6. ^ Westlake, Ray (2020). Guide to the Volunteer Training Corps 1914-1918. Uckfield: Naval and Military Press. pp. 4–7. ISBN 9781783315390.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment)". Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  8. ^ a b c d e "Unit History: Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment)". Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  9. ^ Westlake pp. 128-129
  10. ^ a b Whittaker p. 106
  11. ^ a b Whittaker p. 113
  12. ^ Whittaker p. 23
  13. ^ "History of the Home Guard". Retrieved 2 July 2022.
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