| Norfolk Regiment Royal Norfolk Regiment | |
|---|---|
 Cap badge of the Royal Norfolk Regiment. | |
| Active | 1685[1]–1959 |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Branch |  British Army |
| Type | Infantry |
| Role | Line infantry |
| Size | 2Regular battalions 1–2Militia andSpecial Reserve battalions |
| Garrison/HQ | Gorleston Barracks,Great Yarmouth (1881–1887) Britannia Barracks,Norwich (1887–1959) |
| Nicknames | "The Holy Boys" "The Fighting Ninth" "The Norfolk Howards" |
| Motto | Firm |
| Facings | Yellow |
| March | Rule Britannia |
| Anniversaries | Almanza, 25 April |
| Battle honours | see below |
| Insignia | |
| Shoulder titles | "Royal Norfolk" |
TheRoyal Norfolk Regiment was aline infantryregiment of theBritish Army until 1959. Its predecessor regiment was raised in 1685 asHenry Cornwall's Regiment of Foot. In 1751, it was numbered like most other British Army regiments and named the9th Regiment of Foot.
It was formed as theNorfolk Regiment in 1881 under theChilders Reforms of the British Army as the county regiment ofNorfolk by merging the9th (East Norfolk) Regiment of Foot with the localMilitia andRifle Volunteers battalions.[2]
The Norfolk Regiment fought in the First World War on theWestern Front and in theMiddle East. After the war, the regiment became the Royal Norfolk Regiment on 3 June 1935. The regiment fought with distinction in the Second World War, in action in theBattle of France andBelgium, theFar East, and then in the invasion of, and subsequent operations in,North-west Europe.
In 1959, the Royal Norfolk Regiment was amalgamated with theSuffolk Regiment, to become the1st East Anglian Regiment (Royal Norfolk and Suffolk); this later amalgamated with the2nd East Anglian Regiment (Duchess of Gloucester's Own Royal Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire), the3rd East Anglian Regiment (16th/44th Foot) and theRoyal Leicestershire Regiment to form theRoyal Anglian Regiment, of which A Company of the 1st Battalion is known as the Royal Norfolks.
The regiment was raised for the English Army inGloucester by ColonelHenry Cornewall asHenry Cornewall's Regiment of Foot at the request ofJames II in 1685 as part of the response to theMonmouth Rebellion.[1] Cornewall resigned his post following theGlorious Revolution and command went to Colonel Oliver Nicholas in November 1688.[3] In December 1688, Nicholas was also removed due to his personalJacobite sympathies and command passed toJohn Cunningham.[4] In April 1689 the regiment, under Cunningham's command, embarked atLiverpool forDerry for service in theWilliamite War in Ireland. Cunningham led a failed attempt to relieve thebesieged city of Derry.[4] The regiment briefly returned to England, but in May 1689 Cunningham was replaced byWilliam Stewart, under whom the regiment took part in a successful relief ofDerry in summer 1689.[5] The regiment also saw action at theBattle of the Boyne in July 1690,[6] thesiege of Limerick in August 1690[6] and thesiege of Athlone in June 1691.[7] It went on to fight at theBattle of Aughrim in July 1691[8] and thesiege of Limerick in August 1691.[9]
In 1701, over the objections of GeneralWilliam Selwyn, the threat of war led the English government to post anIndependent Company of regular soldiers, detached from the 2nd Regiment of Foot, toBermuda, where the militia continued to function as a standby in case of war or insurrection. The company was composed of Captain Lancelot Sandys, Lieutenant Robert Henly, two sergeants, two corporals, fifty private soldiers, and a drummer, and arrived in Bermuda along with the newGovernor, CaptainBenjamin Bennett, aboardHMS Lincoln, in May 1701.[10]
The regiment embarked forHolland in June 1701 and took part in thesiege of Kaiserswerth and ofVenlo in spring 1702 during theWar of the Spanish Succession.[11] In March 1704, the regiment embarked forLisbon and took part in theBattle of Almansa in April 1707[12] before returning to England in summer 1708.[13] The regiment was then based inMenorca from summer 1718 to 1746.[14] The regiment was renamed the9th Regiment of Foot in 1751 when all British regiments were given numbers for identification instead of using their Colonel's name.[1] During theSeven Years' War the Regiment won its first formalbattle honour as part of the expedition thatcaptured Belle Île from the French in 1761.[15] It sailed forCuba withGeorge Keppel, 3rd Earl of Albemarle in March 1762 and took part in thesiege and subsequent capture of Havana in summer 1762.[16]
Following the signing of theTreaty of Paris in 1763 and the end of the war, the regiment moved to a posting atSt Augustine, Florida, where it remained until 1769.[17] In April 1776, the regiment embarked for Canada as part of an expedition under Major-GeneralJohn Burgoyne and took part in thesiege of Fort Ticonderoga[18] and theBattle of Fort Anne in July 1777 during theAmerican Revolutionary War.[19] It surrendered at theBattle of Saratoga in autumn 1777 and its men then spent three years as prisoners of war as part of theConvention Army.[20]
On 31 August 1782, the regiment was linked with Norfolk as part of attempts to improve recruitment to the army as a whole and it became the9th (East Norfolk) Regiment of Foot.[1] In January 1788, the regiment embarked for theWest Indies and took part in the capture of the island ofTobago and in the attack onMartinique.[21] It went on to captureSaint Lucia andGuadeloupe[22] before returning to England in autumn 1796.[23] In 1799 the King approved the Regiment's use ofBritannia as its symbol.[23] The next period of active service was the unsuccessfulAnglo-Russian invasion of Holland under theDuke of York when the regiment took part in theBattle of Bergen in September 1799 and theBattle of Alkmaar in October 1799.[24] It also took part in theFerrol Expedition in August 1800 under SirJames Pulteney.[25] In November 1805, shortly after theBattle of Trafalgar, the Regiment suffered a significant misfortune: as the 1st battalion sailed for theHanover Expedition a storm wrecked the troop transportAriadne on the northern French coast and some 262 men were taken prisoner.[26]The Times reported that some 300 men had been captured, including 11 officers (two of them colonels). There were also 20 women and 12 children aboard. Crew and passengers were saved and conducted to Calais.[27]
In June 1808, the regiment sailed to Portugal for service in thePeninsular War.[28] It saw action at theBattle of Roliça and theBattle of Vimeiro in August 1808.[29] Following theretreat from Corunna, the regiment buriedSir John Moore (commander of the British forces in the Iberian peninsula) and left Spanish soil.[30]The regiment then took part in the disastrousWalcheren expedition to theLow Countries in summer 1809.[31]
The regiment returned to the Peninsula in March 1810 and fought under Wellington atBattle of Bussaco, Portugal in September 1810,[32] theBattle of Sabugal in April 1811 and theBattle of Fuentes de Oñoro in May 1811.[33] It also saw action at thesiege of Ciudad Rodrigo in January 1812, thesiege of Badajoz in March 1812[33] and theBattle of Salamanca in July 1812.[34] It saw further combat at thesiege of Burgos in September 1812,[35] theBattle of Vitoria in June 1813[36] and thesiege of San Sebastián in September 1813.[37] The regiment pursued the French Army into France and fought them at theBattle of Nivelle in November 1813[38] and theBattle of the Nive in December 1813.[39]
The regiment was sent to Canada with most ofWellington's veteran units to prevent thethreatened invasion by the United States, and so arrived in Europe too late for theBattle of Waterloo.[40] The 1st Battalion participated in the Army of Occupation in France, whilst the 2nd Battalion was disbanded at the end of 1815.[41]
The regiment saw action atKabul in August 1842 during theFirst Anglo-Afghan War[42] and at theBattle of Mudki and theBattle of Ferozeshah in December 1845[43] and theBattle of Sobraon in February 1846 during theFirst Anglo-Sikh War.[44] TheNorfolk Artillery Militia was formed in 1853.[45][46][47][48][49][50][51]
The regiment fought in theCrimean War at thesiege of Sevastopol in winter of 1854[52] In 1866 it landed atYokohama, Japan as part of theBritish garrison stationed there in protection of British commercial and diplomatic interests in the recently openedtreaty port.[53] The regiment saw action at Kabul again in 1879 during theSecond Anglo-Afghan War.[54]
The regiment was not fundamentally affected by theCardwell Reforms of the 1870s, which gave it a depot atGorleston Barracks inGreat Yarmouth 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.[55] Under the reforms the regiment becameThe Norfolk Regiment on 1 July 1881.[56] It had two regular battalions (1st and 2nd) and two militia battalions (the 3rd and 4th - the latter formed from theEast Norfolk Militia).[1] It inherited all the battle honours and traditions of its predecessor regiment.[57]
The 1st battalion was stationed in Gibraltar from 1887, then inBritish India.[58]
In October 1899war broke out between the United Kingdom and theBoer Republics in what is now South Africa. The 2nd Battalion embarked for service there in early January 1900, and was stationed in theTransvaal Colony.[59] The war ended with theTreaty of Vereeniging in June 1902 and the Battalion stayed in South Africa until January 1903, when 417 officers and men left Cape Town for home.[60] The 3rd (Militia) Battalion (the former 1st Norfolk Militia) was embodied in January 1900 for service during theSecond Boer War. 540 officers and men leftQueenstown in the SSOrotava the following month forCape Town.[61] As the Norfolk Regiment, it first saw action at theBattle of Poplar Grove in March 1900 during the Second Boer War.[62]
In 1908, the Volunteers and Militia were reorganised nationally, with the former becoming theTerritorial Force and the latter theSpecial Reserve;[63] the regiment now had one Reserve and three Territorial battalions.[64][1]
The 1st Battalion was serving in Ireland upon the outbreak of the war and was given orders to mobilise on 4 August, the day that Britain declared war onGermany. Part of the15th Brigade,5th Division the battalion left Belfast on 14 August and immediately embarked for France, where they became part of theBritish Expeditionary Force (BEF).[65] They saw their first action of the war against theGerman Army at theBattle of Mons in August 1914.[66] The 2nd Battalion was serving in Bombay,India in the18th (Belgaum) Brigade, part of the6th (Poona) Division, of theBritish Indian Army, upon the outbreak of war. The 2nd Battalion of the Norfolks fought in theMesopotamian campaign. The treatment of prisoners after thefall of Kut al Amara in April 1916 mirrors what later befell the Royal Norfolks in the Far East during the Second World War.[67]
The twoTerritorial Force battalions, the 4th and 5th, were both part of the Norfolk and Suffolk Brigade, part of the East Anglian Division. In May 1915 these became the163rd (Norfolk and Suffolk) Brigade,54th (East Anglian) Division.[68] The two territorial battalions both served in theGallipoli campaign in mid-1915. The 1/5th included men recruited from the Royal estate atSandringham.[69]
On 12 August 1915, the 1/5th Battalion suffered heavy losses at Gallipoli when it became isolated during an attack. A myth grew up long after the War that the men had advanced into a mist and simply disappeared.[69] ABBC TV drama,All the King's Men (1999), starringDavid Jason as CaptainFrank Beck, was based upon their story.[70]
In theSecond Battle of Gaza in 1917, the 1/4th and 1/5th battalions suffered 75% casualties, about 1,100 men.[71] The 1/6th (Cyclist) Battalion was in Norwich on the outbreak of war: however, the 1/6th never served overseas and remained instead in Norfolk throughout the war until 1918 when it was sent to Ireland.[65]
The 2/4th and 2/5th battalions were both raised in September 1914 from the few men of the 4th and 5th battalions who did not volunteer forImperial Service overseas when asked. Therefore, Territorial units were split into 1st Line units, which were liable to serve overseas, and 2nd Line units, which were intended to act as a reserve for the 1st Line serving overseas. To distinguish them, all battalions adopted the '1/' or '2/' prefix (1/4th Norfolks as a 1st Line unit, 2/4th Norfolks as a 2nd Line unit). The 2/4th and 2/5th were part of the 2nd Norfolk and Suffolk Brigade, 2nd East Anglian Division, later, in August 1915, they became208th (2/1st Norfolk and Suffolk) Brigade,69th (2nd East Anglian) Division.[72] However, both battalions were disbanded in 1918: the 2/4th in June and the 2/5th in May.[65] The 2/6th (Cyclist) Battalion, formed in October 1914 as a duplicate of the 1/6th (Cyclist) Battalion, had much the same history as the 1/6th Battalion and remained in the United Kingdom until May 1918 when it was disbanded.[65]
TheNorfolk Yeomanry (TF), having fought dismounted in the Gallipoli Campaign, were withdrawn to Egypt, where they were reorganised as infantry and redesignated as the 12th (Norfolk Yeomanry) Battalion, Norfolk Regiment, in the74th (Yeomanry) Division (the 'Broken Spur' division). The battalion fought in thePalestine Campaign at theThird Battle of Gaza (the Battles ofBeersheba andNebi Samwi) in 1917, and distinguished itself at theBattle of Tell Azur in March 1918. The 74th Division was then sent to reinforce the BEF in France, where the 12th Norfolks were detached to the31st Division, with which the battalion served during the finalHundred Days Offensive.[65][73][74][75][76][77]
The 7th (Service) Battalion, Norfolk Regiment was raised in August 1914 from men volunteering forKitchener's New Armies: it landed atBoulogne-sur-Mer as part of the35th Brigade in the12th (Eastern) Division in May 1915 for service on theWestern Front.[65] The 8th (Service) Battalion landed at Boulogne as part of the53rd Brigade of the18th (Eastern) Division in July 1915[65] and was present on thefirst day of theBattle of the Somme on 1 July 1916.[78] The 9th (Service) Battalion landed at Boulogne as part of the71st Brigade in the24th Division in August 1915 for operations on the Western Front.[65] The 10th (Service) Battalion, raised in 1914, became the 10th (Reserve) Battalion in April 1915.[65]
During the war,Lieutenant ColonelJack Sherwood Kelly, a Norfolk Regiment officer, was awarded theVictoria Cross while leading a trench assault by Irish troops during theBattle of Cambrai in 1917.[79]
The regiment was renamed to theRoyal Norfolk Regiment on 3 June 1935 to celebrate 250 years since the regiment was first raised and also to celebrate the Silver Jubilee ofKing George V. In 1940, the first decorations for gallantry awarded to theBritish Expeditionary Force in France were gained by men of the 2nd Battalion.Captain Frank Peter Barclay, was awarded theMilitary Cross, andLance-Corporal Davis theMilitary Medal. Captain F.P. Barclay would later lead the 1st Battalion in theNorth West Europe campaign towards the end of the war.[80] Five members of the Royal Norfolks, the highest number of any British Army regiment during the Second World War, were awarded theVictoria Cross:
The 1st Battalion was aregular army unit that was stationed in India at the outbreak of war and was recalled to Britain, arriving in July 1940 during theBattle of Britain. They were part of the185th Infantry Brigade originally assigned to the79th Armoured Division but the brigade (including the 2ndRoyal Warwickshire Regiment and 2ndKing's Shropshire Light Infantry) transferred to the3rd Infantry Division, with which it would remain with for the rest of the war. The battalion landed on Red Queen Beach, the left flank ofSword Beach, at 07:25 on 6 June 1944, D-Day. The 1st Battalion progressed up the beach and engaged the736th Grenadier Regiment at the fortified position on Periers Ridge codenamedHillman Fortress. In this attack the 1st Battalion suffered 150 casualties.[81] The 1st Battalion continued to fight with distinction through theNormandy Campaign and throughout theNorth West Europe campaign. On 6 August 1944 nearViessoix,Sidney Bates of B Company was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his great courage in the Battle of Sourdevallee against the10th SS Panzer Division.Lieutenant GeneralMiles Dempsey, theBritish Second Army commander, stated that by holding their ground in the battle the battalion made the subsequent breakthrough in August possible. By the end of the war in Europe, the 1st Battalion had gained a remarkable reputation and was claimed byField MarshalSir Bernard Montgomery, the21st Army Group commander, as 'second to none' of all the battalions in the21st Army Group. The 1st Royal Norfolks had suffered 20 officers and 260 other ranks killed with well over 1,000 wounded or missing in 11 months of almost continuous combat.[82]
During theBattle of France in 1940, Company Sergeant-MajorGeorge Gristock of the 2nd Royal Norfolks was awarded the Victoria Cross.[83] During the battle, members of the Royal Norfolks were victims of a Germanwar crime atLe Paradis in thePas-de-Calais on 26 May.[84]
The 2nd Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment, under the command ofLieutenant ColonelEric Hayes, were attached to the4th Infantry Brigade, part of the2nd Infantry Division, which was holding the line of the La Bassée Canal and covering the retreat to Dunkirk. Units became separated from each other and HQ Company had formed a defensive position based at the Duriez farmhouse. They carried on their defence until the afternoon, by which point many were injured and the enemy were shelling the farm. Making a last stand in the open they were outnumbered and surrendered to a unit of the 2nd Infantry Regiment of theSS 'Totenkopf' (Death's Head) Division, under SS ObersturmfuhrerFritz Knöchlein. The 99 prisoners were marched to some farm buildings on another farm where they were lined up alongside a barn wall. They were then fired upon by two machine guns; 97 were killed and the bodies buried in a shallow pit. Privates Albert Pooley and William O'Callaghan had hidden in a pigsty and were discovered later by the farm's owner, Mme Creton, and her son. The two soldiers were later captured by aWehrmacht unit and spent the rest of the war asprisoners of war.[85]
The bodies of the murdered soldiers were exhumed in 1942 by the French and reburied in the local churchyard which now forms part of the Le Paradis War Cemetery. A memorial plaque was placed on the barn wall in 1970.[84] The massacre was investigated by the War Crimes Investigation Unit and Knöchlein was traced and arrested. Tried in a court inHamburg, he was found guilty and hanged on 28 January 1949.[85]
The 2nd Battalion, still as part of the4th Infantry Brigade of the2nd Infantry Division, also served in the Far East in theBurma campaign participating in battles such as theBattle of Kohima until the end of the war against Japan in 1945. They served with theBritish Fourteenth Army, known as the 'Forgotten Army' as their actions were generally overlooked and the main focus was in theNorth West Europe campaign. The Fourteenth Army was commanded by the popular and highly respectedWilliam Slim, 1st Viscount Slim. BothJohn Niel Randle andGeorge Arthur Knowland were posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross whilst serving with the 2nd Battalion in the Far East, both for extraordinary heroism.[86][87]
The 4th, 5th and 6th battalions, all part of theTerritorial Army, served in theFar East. The 5th and 6th (City of Norwich) were both assigned to the53rd Infantry Brigade, and the 4th Battalion the54th Infantry Brigade. Both brigades were part of the18th Infantry Division. Throughout most of their existence, all three battalions remained in the United Kingdom assigned to coastal defence duties and training to repel aGerman invasion and, in October 1941, the division left, destined for theMiddle East. The 18th Division fought in thedefence of Singapore andMalaya against the Japanese advance. The men of these battalions, and other East Anglian battalions of other regiments, ended up as prisoners of war whenSingapore fell in February 1942. They would remain so until August 1945, during which time they were used asforced labour on projects such as theDeath Railway through Burma.[88]
The 7th Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment was formed in May 1939 as a 2nd Line Territorial Army duplicate of the 5th Battalion and, therefore, contained many former members of the 5th. Together with the 5th and 6th battalions, the 7th was assigned to the 53rd Infantry Brigade, part of the 18th Infantry Division until November when it assigned topioneer duties in France with theBritish Expeditionary Force (BEF). In May 1940, it was assigned to the51st (Highland) Infantry Division. The 51st Division was stationed on theMaginot Line and therefore escaped encirclement with the rest of the BEF during theBattle of France where they spent some time attached to theFrench 10th Army. The 7th Royal Norfolks suffered heavy casualties when the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division was surrounded and had no choice but to surrender, on 12 June 1940, with only 31 members of the battalion managing to return to Britain. In October 1940 the battalion was assigned to205th Independent Infantry Brigade (Home), then the220th Independent Infantry Brigade (Home). On 14 October 1942, the battalion was transferred to the176th Infantry Brigade, alongside the 7th Battalion,South Staffordshire Regiment and 6th Battalion,North Staffordshire Regiment, of the59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division.[89] The 59th Division was one of the follow-up units afterD-Day in June 1944 and was considered byGeneralSir Bernard Montgomery as one of his best divisions. On the night of 7/8 August 1944,CaptainDavid Auldjo Jamieson of D Company was awarded theVictoria Cross for his heroic leadership which greatly helped to fend off several enemy counter-attacks in a 36-hour period.[90] Due to an acute shortage of infantrymen in the British Army at the time, the battalion, commanded by Lieutenant ColonelIan Freeland, and division were disbanded in late August 1944 and its men used as replacements for other British divisions in the21st Army Group who had also suffered heavy casualties in Normandy.[91]
The 8th Battalion was raised in 1939 alongside the 9th Battalion with many veterans of the First World War. Both battalions were used mainly to supply reinforcements to those battalions of the regiment that were overseas. Neither of these battalions saw service overseas and remained in the United Kingdom throughout the war as part of the Home Forces with the 9th Battalion apparently being disbanded in August 1944 when its parent unit (25th Brigade attached to47th (Reserve) Infantry Division) was disbanded.[92]
The 8th Battalion was renumbered as the 30th Battalion and used for garrison dutiesin Italy during which the43rd Infantry Brigade, which included 30th Battalion,Somerset Light Infantry and 30th Battalion,Dorset Regiment, was made to appear as a full division for deception purposes. The battalion remained in Italy until it was disbanded in 1946.[93]
The 50th (Holding) Battalion was raised in late May 1940. The role of the Holding battalion was to temporarily 'hold' men who were homeless, medically unfit, awaiting orders, on a course or returning from abroad. The battalion was renumbered as the 9th Battalion in October and was assigned to the220th Independent Infantry Brigade (Home), part ofNorfolk County Division in early 1941.[94]
The 70th (Young Soldiers) Battalion was raised in late 1940 for those young soldiers, mostly around the ages of 18 or 19, who had volunteered for the Army and therefore had not reached the compulsory age forconscription. The battalion spent most of its time in the UK guarding against aGerman invasion. However, the battalion was disbanded in 1943 due to the British government lowering the age of conscription to theBritish Armed Forces to 18 earlier in the year. This decision was due to a growing shortage of manpower, especially in the British Army and in the infantry in particular and the young soldiers of the disbanded 70th were sent to other battalions of the regiment serving overseas.[95]
The regiment served in Korea in 1951–52 during theKorean War, and inCyprus in the fight againstEOKA in 1955–56.[96] In 1959 the Royal Norfolk Regiment was amalgamated as part of the reorganisation of the British Army resulting from the1957 Defence White Paper becoming part of a new formation, the1st East Anglian Regiment, part of theEast Anglian Brigade.[97]
The history of the Royal Norfolk Regiment and its predecessors and successors is recorded at the Royal Norfolk Regimental Museum. The museum moved from theBritannia Barracks, now part ofNorwich prison, to theShirehall and then to theNorwich Castle Museum. Although archives and the reserve collections are still held in the Shirehall, the principal museum display there closed in September 2011, and relocated to the main Norwich Castle Museum, reopening fully in 2013.[98] Its exhibits illustrate the history of the Regiment from its 17th-century origins to its incorporation into theRoyal Anglian Regiment in 1964, along with many aspects of military life in the Regiment. There is an extensive and representative display of medals awarded to soldiers of the Regiment, including two of the six Victoria Crosses won.[99]
St Saviour's Chapel inNorwich Cathedral is the chapel of the Royal Norfolk and Royal Anglian Regiments. Among other monuments it contains memorial stones to the 9th Foot/Royal Norfolk Regiment[100] and to the 1st Bn Royal Norfolk Regiment in the Korean War.[101]
The dress worn by the Regiment's predecessor units in the late 17th and early 18th centuries included orange and subsequently green facings. In 1733, official permission was given to change from bright green back to light orange facings. By 1747, this unusual shade had evolved into yellow, which was retained until 1881 when, in common with all English and Welsh regiments, the newly renamed Norfolk Regiment was given white distinctions on its scarlet tunics.[102] In 1905, the traditional yellow facings were restored for full dress and mess uniforms.[103] Another distinction of the Norfolk Regiment was the inclusion of a black line in the gold braid of officers' uniforms from 1881 onwards.[102] When the regiment was redesignated as the "Royal Norfolk Regiment" in 1935, it was specially permitted to retain the yellow facings instead of changing to blue.[104]
The figure ofBritannia was officially recognised in 1799 as part of the insignia of the9th Regiment of Foot.[105][106] Regimental tradition claimed that it was granted to the regiment byQueen Anne in 1707 in recognition of its service at theBattle of Almanza. However, there is no evidence that it was used before the 1770s, and it was not listed as an authorised device in the royal warrants of 1747, 1751 or 1768.[106][107] It subsequently became a central part of the badge of the Norfolk Regiment.[107]
The Royal Norfolk Regiment held an anniversary on 25 April for theBattle of Almansa, which they inherited along with the regimental nickname of the "Holy Boys" from the 9th Regiment of Foot. They gained the "Holy Boys" nickname during thePeninsular War from the misidentification by a Spanish soldier of Britannia on theircap badge as theVirgin Mary.[108]
The following were the regiment's battle honours:[1]
In total, six members of the Norfolk or Royal Norfolk Regiment were awarded the Victoria Cross:
Colonels of the regiment were:[1]
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