| The Green Howards (Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment; 19th Regiment of Foot) | |
|---|---|
 Green Howardscap badge | |
| Active | 20 November 1688 – 6 June 2006 |
| Country |  Kingdom of England (1688–1707) Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) United Kingdom (1801–2006) |
| Branch |  British Army |
| Type | Line infantry |
| Role | Light infantry |
| Size | One battalion |
| Garrison/HQ | Richmond Barracks,North Yorkshire |
| Colors | Green Facings |
| March | Quick –The Bonnie English Rose Slow –Maria Theresa |
| Anniversaries | Alma (20 September) |
| Commanders | |
| Last Colonel in Chief | King Harald V of Norway |
| Last Colonel | Field MarshalPeter IngeKG,GCB,PC,DL |
| Insignia | |
| Tactical Recognition Flash |  |
TheGreen Howards (Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment), frequently known as theYorkshire Regiment until the 1920s,[1] was aline infantryregiment of theBritish Army, in theKing's Division. Raised in 1688, it served under various titles until it was amalgamated with thePrince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire and theDuke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding), all Yorkshire-based regiments in the King's Division, to form theYorkshire Regiment (14th/15th, 19th and 33rd/76th Foot) on 6 June 2006.
The regiment was formed during the 1688Glorious Revolution from independent companies raised inSomerset byColonelFrancis Luttrell, to supportWilliam III.[2][3] In 1690, it supplied detachments forIreland andJamaica, incurring heavy losses from disease, including Luttrell who was replaced byThomas Erle. Transferred toFlanders in early 1692 during theNine Years' War, it was present at the battles ofSteenkerque andLanden, as well as theSiege of Namur.[4] after the 1697Peace of Ryswick, it escaped disbandment by being made part of the Irish garrison, where it remained until theWar of the Spanish Succession began in 1702.[5]
In 1703, it was part of an expeditionary force in theWest Indies andNewfoundland, losing many men to disease before returning to Ireland in 1704. Back in Flanders in 1710, it took part in the sieges ofDouai andBouchain andwhen the war ended in 1713, it resumed garrison duties in Ireland. With the exception of the1719 Vigo expedition, it did not see action again until 1744.[5]
When theWar of the Austrian Succession began in 1740, the regiment was based inEdinburgh; by 1744, many of its men were Scots and recruiting officers warned to exclude 'Jacobites and Irish Papists.'[6] The unit was then commanded byCharles Howard and thus known as 'Howard's Regiment'; when it joined the army in Flanders, this clashed with another regiment also commanded by a Howard. To avoid confusion, they were referred to by the colour of theirfacings, one becoming 'Green Howards' and the other, 'Buff Howards'.[7]
The Green Howards fought at theBattle of Fontenoy in May 1745, with a short period in England during the1745 Jacobite Rising. It took part in theBattle of Rocoux and theBattle of Lauffeld before the 1748Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ended the war, after which it became part of the garrison ofGibraltar.[8] While there, the 1751 army reforms retitled it the19th Regiment of Foot.[9] It returned to Britain in 1752 and spent most of the next decade on garrison duty in Scotland and Northern England.[10]
During the 1756 to 1763Seven Years' War, it took part in thecapture of Belle Île in April 1761, where it suffered over 200 casualties. Officer recruitment was challenging as the cost of purchasing a commission in the 19th Foot was very high. This led to severe shortages in middling and senior ranks, with a total of 15 officer positions vacant during the assault on Belle Île including five captains and the regimental major.[11] When peace was declared the regiment was reassigned to garrison duty in Gibraltar and Scotland. Its next active service was not until 1781 when it took part in a disastrous southern campaign in the closing stages of theAmerican Revolutionary War.[12] In 1782, all foot regiments without a special designation were given a county title "to cultivate a connection with the County which might at all times be useful towards recruiting"[13] and so the regiment was redesignated the19th (1st North Riding of Yorkshire) Regiment.[9]
With the end of the American War, the regiment was stationed in Jamaica, a notoriously unhealthy posting where it was common for units to lose 100% of their strength every two years.[14] It remained there until 1791, when it returned to Britain; in 1796, it was posted to India, the also saw action at theSiege of Seringapatam in April 1799 during theFourth Anglo-Mysore War.[15]
The regiment was known as the Green Howards from 1744. At that time, regiments were known by the name of their colonel. The 19th regiment's colonel was Hon.Sir Charles Howard. However, at the same time, the 3rd Regiment of Foot had been commanded by its colonelThomas Howard, since 1737. To tell them apart (since they both would have been known as 'Howard's Regiment of Foot'), the colours of their uniform facings were used to distinguish them. In this way, one became 'Howard's Buffs' (eventually simplyThe Buffs), while the other became the Green Howards. Although the Green Howards were referred to unofficially as such from then on, it was not until 1921 that the regiment was officially retitled as the Green Howards (Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment).[16] Under theChilders Reforms, all non-royal English infantry regiments were to wear white facings from 1881. In 1899, the regiment was able to reverse this decision with the restoration of the grass green facings formerly worn by the 19th Foot.[17]
In April 1801 the regiment was deployed toCeylon for service in theKandyan Wars.[15] The regiment lost six officers and 172 other ranks in a massacre there in June 1803 and then remained on the island to enforce British rule.[18] The regiment did not return to England until May 1820.[19]
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The regiment saw action at theBattle of Alma in September 1854 and at theSiege of Sevastopol in winter 1854 during theCrimean War and then saw action again during theIndian Rebellion.[20] In 1875,Princess Alexandra, Princess of Wales presented new colours to the 1st Battalion atSheffield, and consented to the regiment bearing her name, thus becoming the 19th (1st Yorkshire North Riding – Princess of Wales's Own) Regiment of Foot.[21] The regiment adopted acap badge consisting of the Princess's cypher "A" combined with theDannebrog or Danish cross and topped by her coronet. The Princess became Queen Alexandra in 1901, and was the regiment's Colonel-in-Chief from 1914 until her death in 1925.[22]
The regiment was not fundamentally affected by theCardwell Reforms of the 1870s, which gave it a depot atRichmond Barracks inNorth Yorkshire from 1873, or by theChilders reforms of 1881 – as it already possessed two battalions, there was no need for it to amalgamate with another regiment.[23] Under the reforms the regiment amalgamated with themilitia battalions andrifle volunteers in its designated regimental district and becameThe Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire Regiment) on 1 July 1881.[24]
The 1st battalion was stationed atNova Scotia from 1884, moved to the Mediterranean in 1888 where it was stationed atMalta but also saw action in Egypt, then moved toJersey in 1895 followed by Ireland in 1898. After a brief spell inGibraltar in 1899, the battalion was posted to South Africa as reinforcement for theSecond Boer War, where it was involved in theRelief of Kimberley and the battles ofDiamond Hill (June 1900) andBelfast (August 1900). The battalion returned to the United Kingdom in September 1902.[25]
The 2nd battalion was in Ireland from 1881 to 1886, when it returned to garrison back home in England. From early 1890 the battalion was stationed inBritish India, where it took part in military campaigns on theNorth-West Frontier.[25] The battalion had various postings, including atSitapur andBenares until late 1902 when it was posted toCawnpore.[26]
A 3rd (Militia) Battalion, formed from the 5th West York Militia in 1881 was a reserve battalion. It was embodied in December 1899, and 700 men embarked on the SSAssaye in February 1900 for service inSouth Africa during theSecond Boer War.[27] Many of the officers and men returned home in May 1902 on the SSSicilia.[28]
The 4th (Militia) Battalion, formed from theNorth York Rifles in 1881 was also a reserve battalion. It was embodied for service on 5 May 1900, disembodied on 2 July 1901, and re-embodied again for service during Second Boer War in South Africa. 555 officers and men returned to Southampton by the SSTagus in October 1902, following the end of the war, and was disbanded at the Richmond barracks.[29]
In July 1902, the regiment was redesignated asAlexandra, Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire Regiment).[22][30]
In 1908, the Volunteers and Militia were reorganised nationally, with the former becoming theTerritorial Force and the latter theSpecial Reserve;[31] the regiment now had one Reserve and two Territorial battalions.[32][9]
The 1st Battalion remained inIndia as part of the2nd (Sialkot) Cavalry Brigade in the2nd (Rawalpindi) Division throughout the war and then took part in theThird Anglo-Afghan War in 1919.[33]
The 2nd Battalion landed atZeebrugge as part of the21st Brigade in the7th Division in October 1914 for service on theWestern Front.[33] The 2nd Battalion held the Menin crossroads for 16 days during theFirst Battle of Ypres in October 1914 sustaining heavy casualties.[34]
The 1/4th and 1/5th Battalions landed atBoulogne-sur-Mer as part of theYork and Durham Brigade in theNorthumbrian Division in April 1915 for service on the Western Front.[33] Both battalions saw action at theSecond Battle of Ypres in April 1915.[34]
The 6th (Service) Battalion landed atSuvla Bay inGallipoli as part of the32nd Brigade in the11th (Northern) Division in August 1915; the battalion was evacuated to Egypt in January 1916 and then moved to France in July 1916 for service on the Western Front.[33]
The 7th (Service) Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the50th Brigade in the17th (Northern) Division in July 1915 for service on the Western Front.[33] The 8th (Service) Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the69th Brigade in the23rd Division in August 1915 also for service on the Western Front.[33] The 9th (Service) Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the69th Brigade in the23rd Division in August 1915 also for service on the Western Front but moved to Italy in November 1917 and then returned to France in September 1918.[33] The 10th (Service) Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the62nd Brigade in the21st Division in September 1915 also for service on the Western Front.[33] The 12th (Service) Battalion, formed as the "MiddlesbroughPals" by theMayor and Town of Middlesbrough, landed atLe Havre as pioneer battalion to the40th Division in June 1916 also for service on the Western Front.[33] The 13th (Service) Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the121st Brigade in the40th Division in June 1916 also for service on the Western Front but, after returning to the United Kingdom in June 1918, moved toMurmansk in November 1918.[33]
During theInterbellum, the 2nd Battalion was posted from 1925 to 1927 to the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda.[35]
During theSecond World War, the regiment was again increased in size, although not to as large an extent as in the 1914–1918 conflict. In all, twelve battalions saw service:
In 1942, the 12th Battalion was converted to armour as the161st Regiment Royal Armoured Corps, but retained its Green Howards cap badge on the black beret of the Royal Armoured Corps as did all other infantry units converted in the same way.[45] In October 1943 it was then converted again, this time to the reconnaissance role, as 161st (Green Howards) Regiment in the Reconnaissance Corps. It never went into action as a regiment, but provided a replacement squadron to the43rd (Wessex) Reconnaissance Regiment, which had suffered heavy losses when its transport was sunk on the way to France to fight in theBattle of Normandy.[46]
From 1949 to 1952, the regiment took part in theMalayan Emergency. Over the next 30 years it served inAfghanistan,Suez,Cyprus,Hong Kong,Libya,Belize,Berlin andNorthern Ireland.[44] While serving with theSAS, a former officer of the regiment,Gavin Hamilton, was killed in action during theFalklands War in 1982.[47] It also saw action during theFirst Gulf War in 1991 and during theBosnian War from 1996 to 1997.[44]
In March 2006 at a farewell dinner atDunster Castle inSomerset, the regiment paid farewell toHM King Harald V, its retiringColonel-in-chief.[48] Until the regiment's rebadging, the Green Howards was one of five remaining line infantry regiments that had not been amalgamated in their entire history, a claim shared withThe Royal Scots,The 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment,The Royal Welch Fusiliers andThe King's Own Scottish Borderers. However, on 6 June 2006 the regiment amalgamated with thePrince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire and theDuke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding), all Yorkshire-based regiments in theKing's Division, to form theYorkshire Regiment (14th/15th, 19th and 33rd/76th Foot).[9] The official rebadging took place on 6 June 2006, whilst elements of the regiment were stationed inBosnia andKosovo.[44]
A and B (Green Howards) companies of theTyne-Tees Regiment, based in Scarborough and Middlesbrough respectively, merged with the Prince of Wales's Own Regiment and Duke of Wellington's Regiment companies of theEast and West Riding Regiment to form the 4th Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment.[49] Following further mergers, in 2012, the 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards) was removed from theorder of battle.[50]
Each year, allcompanies in the battalion took part in a competition, consisting of sports and military skills tests, to win the right to be named 'King Harald's Company', after the regiment'sColonel-in-Chief. The winning company was given a special flag bearing the King's personal cypher, the Company Sergeant Major was presented with a special pace stick, and all members of the company were permitted to wear a special red badge on the arm of their uniform.[51]
TheGreen Howards Regimental Museum is located in the old Trinity Church in the centre of the market place inRichmond, North Yorkshire.[52]
The regiment's battle honours were as follows:[9]
Soldiers of the Green Howards awarded theVictoria Cross (VC)
Colonels of the regiment included:[9]
e.g. Luttrell's, Erle's etc.
Present:
Past:
Bond of Friendship:
Unofficial:
The precise date on which the regiment adopted the green facings from which it derived its name is uncertain, with yellow known to have been the colour of the lapels in 1709. However the officialCloathing Book of 1742 shows full green facings being worn on the standardred coats of the era. Thereafter the actual shade of the regimental colour changed at various times from yellow-green to a dull green. White facings were worn from 1881 until 1899 when green was restored. The remaining features of the Green Howard's uniform followed the normal British infantry progression from red coat to scarlet tunic to khakiservice dress andbattle dress.[56]
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