Mar 012016
 

Rangers (Gentlemen Members of Grey`s Inn) 1780

to

The Rifles

1780

Rangers

(Gentlemen Members of Grey`s Inn)

1859

Rifle Rangers

(40 MX)

1881

The Rangers

8th KRRC

(22 MX)

1908

The Rangers

1922

The Rangers

(12 County of London)

1937

The Rangers
(KRRC)

1939

1st & 2nd

Rangers

(KRRC)

1940-1945

9th & 10th

KRRC

1950

London Rifle Brigade

Rangers RB

1967

4th Bn

The Royal Green Jackets

1992

The London Regiment

2 x Green Jacket Coys

2007

7th Bn

The Rifles

The London Regiment is an infantry regiment in the British Army, part of the Army Reserve. The regiment saw distinguished service in World War I and was disbanded after the war in 1938, shortly before World War II, when most of its battalions were converted to other roles or transferred elsewhere. However, the regiment was raised again in 1993 and continues an existence in the present day.
It was first formed in 1908 in order to regiment the 26 Volunteer Force battalions in the newly formed County of London, each battalion having a distinctive uniform.

Now part of the Territorial Force, the London Regiment expanded to 88 battalions in the First World War. Of these 49 battalions saw action in the trenches of the Western Front in France and Flanders, 6 saw action at the Gallipoli Campaign, 12 saw action at Salonika, 14 saw action against the Turks in Palestine, and one saw action in Waziristan and Afghanistan.

The London Regiment was reformed in the Territorial Army in the 1920s but ceased to exist in 1938 and the battalions were all transferred to regular infantry regiments, the Royal Artillery and the Royal Engineers. For example, the 10th London Regiment (Hackney) was transferred to the corps of the Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales’s), becoming the 5th (Hackney) Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment.

The London Regiment was reformed in 1992 through the regimentation of most of the remaining successors of the original regiment (except the Rifles and the Artists Rifles). It is the only permanent infantry battalion in London District and consists of an HQ and four rifle companies.

They are;

HQ (Anzio) Company
A (London Scottish) Company
B (Queen’s Regiment) Company
C (City of London Fusiliers) Company
D (London Irish Rifles) Company
Two companies of the Royal Green Jackets, F Company and G Company, formed part of the regiment between 1998 and 2004.

In October 2003, 120 members of regiment were called up for active service in Operation Telic. They were deployed in areas around Basra in southern Iraq in January 2004. This group made up a company known as Cambrai company as part of the Multi-National Division (South East), a UK commanded division[citation needed]. In May 2004, they were replaced by Messines company, which was made up from an HQ and two platoons from across the London Regiment, along with a platoon from the Royal Irish Rangers.

Following the restructuring of the British Army in 2004, it was announced that the Guards Division would gain a TA battalion. This saw the London Regiment retaining its name and multi-badge structure, while transferring from the Queen’s Division to the Guards Division. The two RGJ companies were transferred to the Royal Rifle Volunteers in preparation for the formation of The Rifles in 2007, leaving the remaining companies in their present multi-badge formation.

Original London Regiment battalions
The London battalions formed the London District, which consisted principally of the 1st and 2nd London Divisions
1st London Division
1st London Brigade
Unit
1st (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers)
Formerly
1st Volunteer Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (late 10th Middlesex RVC)
HQ
Bloomsbury
Unit
2nd (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers)
Formerly
2nd Volunteer Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (late 23rd Middlesex RVC)
HQ
Westminster
Unit
3rd (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers)
Formerly
3rd Volunteer Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (late 11th Middlesex RVC)
HQ
St Pancras
Unit
4th (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers)
Formerly
4th Volunteer Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (late 1st Tower Hamlets RVC)
HQ
Shoreditch
2nd London Brigade
Unit
5th (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment (London Rifle Brigade)
Formerly
1st London VRC (City of London Volunteer Rifle Brigade) (9th Volunteer Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps)
HQ
Finsbury
Unit
6th (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment (City of London Rifles)
Formerly
2nd London VRC (10th Volunteer Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps)
HQ
Finsbury
Unit
7th (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment
Formerly
3rd London VRC (11th Volunteer Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps)
HQ
Finsbury
Unit
8th (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Post Office Rifles)
Formerly
24th Middlesex VRC (7th Volunteer Battalion, Rifle Brigade)
HQ
Finsbury
3rd London Brigade
Unit
9th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Queen Victoria’s), Berkeley Square
Formerly
1st Middlesex (Victoria and St. George’s) VRC (4th Volunteer Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps) and 19th Middlesex (St. Giles’s and St. George’s, Bloomsbury) VRC (6th Volunteer Battalion, Rifle Brigade)
HQ
Westminster
Unit
10th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Paddington Rifles); disbanded 1912
Formerly
18th Middlesex VRC (4th Volunteer Battalion, Rifle Brigade)
HQ
Paddington
Unit
10th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Hackney)
Formerly
Formed in 1912 to replace the Paddington Rifles
HQ
Hackney
Unit
11th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Finsbury Rifles)
Formerly
21st Middlesex (Finsbury) VRC (7th Volunteer Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps)
HQ
Pentonville
Unit
12th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (The Rangers)
Formerly
22nd Middlesex VRC (Central London Rangers) (8th Volunteer Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps)
HQ
Holborn
2nd London Division
4th London Brigade
Unit
13th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Kensington)
Formerly
4th (Kensington) Middlesex VRC (3rd Volunteer Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps)
HQ
Kensington
Unit
14th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (London Scottish)
Formerly
7th (London Scottish) Middlesex VRC (1st Volunteer Battalion, Rifle Brigade)
HQ
Westminster
Unit
15th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Prince of Wales’s Own Civil Service Rifles)
Formerly
The Prince of Wales’s Own 12th Middlesex (Civil Service) VRC (5th Volunteer Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps)
HQ
Westminster
Unit
16th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Queen’s Westminster Rifles)
Formerly
13th Middlesex (Queen’s Westminster) VRC (6th Volunteer Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps)
HQ
Kensington
5th London Brigade
Unit
17th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Poplar and Stepney Rifles)
Formerly
2nd Tower Hamlets VRC (9th Volunteer Battalion, Rifle Brigade)
HQ
Bow
Unit
18th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (London Irish Rifles),
Formerly
16th Middlesex (London Irish) VRC (3rd Volunteer Battalion, Rifle Brigade)
HQ
Chelsea
Unit
19th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (St. Pancras)
Formerly
17th Middlesex (North Middlesex) VRC (3rd Volunteer Battalion, Middlesex Regiment)
HQ
Camden Town
Unit
20th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Blackheath and Woolwich)
Formerly
2nd Volunteer Battalion, Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) (ex 3rd Kent VRC)
HQ
Blackheath
6th London Brigade
Unit
21st (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (First Surrey Rifles)
Formerly
1st Surrey (South London) VRC (1st Volunteer Battalion, East Surrey Regiment)
HQ
Camberwell
Unit
22nd (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Queen’s)
Formerly
3rd Volunteer Battalion, Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment) (ex 6th Surrey RVC)
HQ
Bermondsey
Unit
23rd (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment
Formerly
4th Volunteer Battalion, East Surrey Regiment (ex 7th Surrey RVC)
HQ
Battersea
Unit
24th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Queen’s)
Formerly
4th Volunteer Battalion, Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regt)([ex 8th Surrey RVC)
HQ
Southwark
Others
Unit
25th (County of London) Cyclist Battalion, London Regiment.
Formerly
26th (Cyclist) Middlesex VRC (Rifle Brigade)
HQ
Fulham
Unit
26th (County of London) Battalion
Formerly
Title allotted to Infantry Battalion, Honourable Artillery Company but never used
Unit
27th (County of London) Battalion
Formerly
Title allotted to the Inns of Court Regiment but never used
Unit
28th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Artists Rifles),
Formerly
20th Middlesex (Artists) VRC (6th Volunteer Battalion, Rifle Brigade)
HQ
St Pancras
Battle honours for the First World War were awarded to the individual battalions in 1924.