| Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment) Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) | |
|---|---|
 Cap Badge of the Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) | |
| Active | 1881–1966 |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Branch |  British Army |
| Type | Infantry |
| Role | Line infantry |
| Size | 1–4Regular battalions 1–2Militia andSpecial Reserve 1–7Territorial andVolunteer battalions |
| Garrison/HQ | Hounslow Barracks (1881–1905) Inglis Barracks,Mill Hill (1905–1966) |
| Nickname | The Die Hards |
| Colors | Lemon Yellow Facings |
| Anniversaries | Albuhera Day (16 May). |
TheMiddlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) was aline infantryregiment of theBritish Army in existence from 1881 until 1966. The regiment was formed, as theDuke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment), in 1881 as part of theChilders Reforms when the57th (West Middlesex) and77th (East Middlesex) Regiments of Foot were amalgamated with the county'smilitia andrifle volunteer units.
On 31 December 1966 the Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) was amalgamated with the other regiments of theHome Counties Brigade, theQueen's Royal Surrey Regiment, theQueen's Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment and theRoyal Sussex Regiment to form theQueen's Regiment. The latter merged on 9 September 1992 with theRoyal Hampshire Regiment to form thePrincess of Wales's Royal Regiment (Queen's and Royal Hampshires).
The Middlesex Regiment was one of the principalhome counties based regiments with a long tradition. They inherited their nickname, the "Die-hards", from the 57th Regiment of Foot (West Middlesex), which later became the 1st Battalion, Middlesex Regiment. The 57th gained the name during thePeninsular War when, at theBattle of Albuera on 16 May 1811 their commanderColonel Inglis had his horse shot from under him. Severely wounded and outnumbered by the French he called to his men "Die hard, 57th. Die hard!" "Albuhera" was the principal battle honour on the Middlesex Regiment's colours.
The regiment was formed on 1 July 1881 with two regular, two militia and four volunteer battalions:[1]
In 1900 the number of regular battalions was doubled with the formation of new 3rd and 4th battalions, and the militia battalions were renumbered as the 5th and 6th battalions.[2] In 1908, with the formation of theSpecial Reserve from the Militia and theTerritorial Force (TF) from the Volunteers, the 1st and 2nd Volunteer Battalions became the 7th and 8th (TF) Battalions, while the 3rd (formerly 4th) Volunteer Battalion transferred to theLondon Regiment, becoming the19th Battalion (St Pancras). The 4th Volunteer Battalion,King's Royal Rifle Corps (formerly the5th (West Middlesex) Volunteer Rifle Corps), joined the Middlesex Regiment as the 9th Battalion. The10th Battalion was formed by a nucleus of 300 officers and men from the disbanded 2nd (South Middlesex) Volunteer Rifle Corps.[1][3][4][5] The regiment now had two Special Reserve and four Territorial battalions.[6][1] The four TF battalions constituted theMiddlesex Brigade in theHome Counties Division.[7]
On formation in 1881 the regimental title wasThe Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment).[8] The regiment inherited the designation"Duke of Cambridge's Own" from the 77th Foot, to which regiment it had been awarded in 1876. The regiment was also permitted to bear the coronet and cypher ofPrince George, Duke of Cambridge on its colours and badges.[9] The regiment had earlier been granted the plumes and motto of thePrince of Wales in 1810 for twenty years service in India.[10]
In 1921, in common with many other regiments, the regimental title was effectively reversed toThe Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own).[11] The Duke was colonel-in-chief of the regiment from 1898 to his death in 1904.[12] Its regimental marches were 'SirManley Power' and 'Paddy's Resource' (quick), and 'Caledonian' and 'Garb of old Gaul' (slow).[13]
The regiment relocated fromHounslow Barracks to the newly builtInglis Barracks in 1905.[14]
The 1st and 2nd battalions both saw turns inIndia during the late 19th century. Following the outbreak of theSecond Boer War in 1899, the 2nd battalion embarked for active service inSouth Africa in December 1899 and took part in the storming of Alleman's Nek in June 1900.[15] The battalion stayed in South Africa after the end of the war (June 1902), leaving Cape Town for Southampton on the SSStaffordshire in January 1903.[16]
The 5th and 6th (Militia) battalions were also embodied for active service during the Second Boer War. 760 men of the 5th battalion (formerly the Royal Elthorne Light Infantry) was reported to return home on the SSAssaye in September 1902, after the war had ended.[17] The 6th battalion (formerly the Royal East Middlesex Militia) was embodied in December 1899 (when it was still the 4th Battalion), and 530 officers and men left for service in South Africa in February 1900.[18]
The 1st Battalion landed atLe Havre, asline of communication troops, in August 1914 for service on theWestern Front.[19]
The 2nd Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the23rd Brigade in the8th Division in November 1914 also for service on the Western Front.[19]
The 3rd Battalion landed at Le Havre aspart of the85th Brigade in the28th Division in January 1915 for service on the Western Front before moving to Egypt in October 1915 and toSalonika in December 1915.[19]
The 4th Battalion land atBoulogne-sur-Mer as part of the8th Brigade in3rd Division in August 1914 for service on the Western Front.[19] Some 400 men of the 4th Battalion were killed at theBattle of Mons later that month.[20]
At the start of the First World War the four territorial battalions were sent off to their war stations: the 1/7th and 1/8th, who went to France to serve on the Western Front, and the1/9th and 1/10th, who went toIndia to relieve regular troops.[19] Late in 1917 the 1/9th Bn was assigned to the18th Indian Division and served in theMesopotamian Campaign in 1918.[19] However, there was a surplus of volunteers who had sought to enlist; these men had joined the Territorial Battalions, and although theWar Office wanted them to transfer to the Regular Army or the New (Kitchener's Army), the majority elected to remain with the Territorial Battalions which had enlisted them.General Kitchener was not in favour of the Territorials although he and other critics were silenced after the Territorials fought so well with theBEF afterMons. It became obvious that the First Line battalions that had gone overseas would need reinforcements almost at once and the War Office gave permission to raise Second Line Territorial Battalions and in this way the 2/7th and 2/8th were formed for service with theWestern Frontier Force and the 2/10th was formed for service in theGallipoli Campaign.[19] A Third Line battalion, the 3/10th, also landed at Le Havre for service on the Western Front.[19]
Additional war-formed "service" battalions were the 11th to 34th and 51st to 53rd.[21] Two of these Battalions (17th and 23rd) were recruited from footballers and were known as theFootball Battalions.[19] In October 1966 the regiment paid a then record sum of £900 for theVictoria Cross awarded to PrivateRobert Edward Ryder, of the 12th (Service) Battalion, for bravery during theBattle of the Somme.[22]
The 1916 introduction of conscription saw the 30th and 31st (Works) battalions raised to accommodate British citizens who were the sons of enemy aliens. These were non-combatant units that provided labour to support the British war effort. From 1917 to 1918 eight independent companies of the Middlesex Regiment were additionally raised to provide labourers for service in France.[23][24]
In the early 1920s the 3rd and 4th battalions were disbanded, leaving two regular battalions. The 7th and 8th territorial battalions continued in existence, while the 9th was converted to a searchlight unit, transferring to theRoyal Artillery in 1940 as60th (Middlesex) Searchlight Regiment,[3][25][26] and the 10th became a unit of theRoyal Signals as44th (Home Counties) Divisional Signals.[4][27] In 1916, thePost Office Rifles, thePrincess Louise's Kensington Regiment and19th Battalion, London Regiment (St Pancras) had been attached to the Middlesex Regiment from the territorialLondon Regiment, but retained their original titles and distinctions. In 1935 the Post Office Rifles and 19th Londons became searchlight regiments, and in 1937 The Kensingtons formally became a territorial battalion of the Middlesex Regiment.[1][28]
In 1938 the two territorial battalions formed duplicates, thus forming the 1/7th, 2/7th, 1/8th and 2/8th battalions. Before theSecond World War the Middlesex Regiment was chosen as one of four other infantry regiments to be converted to a machine gun regiment. The 1/7th Battalion served with the51st (Highland) Infantry Division.[29]
In 1943, the 1/8th officially became the 8th Battalion as part of the MG Battalion attached to the43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division during theNormandy Campaign during which they fought in theBattle for Caen.[30] The 1st Battalion was part of an allied force which held out against overwhelming odds for 17 days during theBattle of Hong Kong before surrendering to theImperial Japanese Army in December 1941.[31]
The regiment was reduced to a single regular battalion (the 1st) in 1948, and two territorial battalions (the 7th and 8th). The Kensington Regiment amalgamated with theMiddlesex Yeomanry to form the31st (Greater London) Signal Regiment (V).[28]
In 1948, the 1st battalion became part of theHome Counties Brigade, along with the regular battalions of other regiments in southeast England.[32]
From August 1950 to April 1951, the 1st battalion saw action in theKorean War as part of27th British Commonwealth Brigade, being one of the first British units to be deployed there.[33]
In 1961 the Territorial Army was reduced in size and a new 5th Battalion was formed by the amalgamation of the 7th and 8th with the571st Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery (the successor to the 9th Battalion).[3]
In 1966 the four battalions of the Home Counties Brigade were amalgamated to form a "large regiment", theQueen's Regiment. Accordingly, the 1st Battalion Middlesex Regiment was redesignated as 4th Battalion the Queen's Regiment (Middlesex), with the other regular battalions being formed by theQueen's Royal Surrey Regiment,Queen's Own Buffs andRoyal Sussex Regiment. In 1968 the 'Middlesex' suffix was dropped,[34] and in June 1970 the 4th Battalion was disbanded, with its members distributed among the regiment's three remaining regular battalions.[35]
The Middlesex Regiment Museum, formerly inBruce Castle, closed in 1992 and was absorbed into theNational Army Museum.[36]
The battle honours of the regiment were as follows:[1]
Colonels of the regiment were:[1]
The regiment was awarded the Freedom ofHendon on 22 October 1955.[37]
The regimentalfacings were yellow lapels and cuffs on the standard infantryred coats of the period, from the establishment of the 59th Regiment of Foot in 1755 and its renumbering as the 57th two years later. When linked with the 77th Regiment in 1881, white facings were adopted by the two battalions now making up the Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middleex Regiment. Coincidentally the 77th had also worn yellow facings until the merger. In 1902 the entire regiment adopted lemon-yellow of a distinctive shade associated with the 77th until 1820.[38] The remaining features of the Middlesex Regiment's uniform followed the normal British infantry changes from red coats, to scarlet tunics, to khakiservice dress andbattle dress. Braid, badges, and buttons were gold or bronze.[39]
New Zealand –The Taranaki Regiment (1913-1948)[1] New Zealand –The Wellington West Coast and Taranaki Regiment (1948-1966)[40]
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