The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence for just under 90 years, from 1881 to 1970. In 1970, the regiment was amalgamated with the Worcestershire Regiment to form the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment, which in 2007 was amalgamated with the Cheshire Regiment and the Staffordshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's) to form the present Mercian Regiment. The lineage of the Sherwood Foresters is now continued by The Mercian Regiment.

History Pre 1914 history The regiment was formed on 1 July 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms. The 45th (Nottinghamshire) Regiment of Foot (raised in 1741) and the 95th (Derbyshire) Regiment of Foot (raised in 1823) were redesignated as the 1st and 2nd battalions of the Sherwood Foresters (Derbyshire Regiment). The 2nd Derbyshire Militia (Chatsworth Rifles), Royal Sherwood Foresters Militia and 1st Derbyshire Militia became the 3rd, 4th and 5th battalions respectively (the 3rd and 5th Bns amalgamated in 1891). These were joined by the 1st and 2nd (Derbyshire) and the 3rd (Robin Hood) and 4th (Nottinghamshire) Volunteer battalions.Frederick, pp. 319-23.

Following the amalgamation, the 1st Battalion Sherwood Foresters saw action in Egypt during the Anglo-Egyptian War, and was stationed at Malta from September 1898. Following the outbreak of the Second Boer War in October 1899, the battalion was sent to South Africa where they arrived in December. They were stationed in the Orange Free State and took part in fighting under General Sir William Gatacre. From April 1900 they were part of the 21st Infantry brigade under General Bruce Hamilton. The battalion stayed in South Africa until the end of the war, then transferred on the SS Wakool to a new posting at Hong Kong in September 1902.

The 2nd Battalion served in India from 1882 to 1898, and saw action in the Sikkim Expedition 1888 and the North West Frontier campaign 1897–1898, after which they transferred to Aden. They were stationed at Malta from February 1900 until returning home in May 1902.

In October 1902, the Nottinghamshire association was made explicit, the name changing to the Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment). In 1908, the Militia and Volunteers were reorganised nationally as part of the Haldane Reforms, with the former becoming the Special Reserve (SR) and the latter the Territorial Force (TF); the regiment now had two Reserve battalions and four Territorial battalions.These were the 3rd (Reserve) and 4th (Extra Reserve) battalions, with the 5th (Derbyshire) Battalion at Becket Street in Derby (since demolished), the 6th Battalion at Saltergate in Chesterfield (since demolished), the 7th (Robin Hood) Battalion at Derby Road in Nottingham and the 8th (Nottinghamshire) Battalion at Sherwood Avenue in Newark-on-Trent (all Territorial Force).

First World War

Regular Army The 1st battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 24th Brigade in the 8th Division in November 1914 for service on the Western Front.

The 2nd battalion landed at Saint-Nazaire as part of 18th Brigade in the 6th Division in September 1914 also for service on the Western Front.

Reserve Battalions The 3rd (Reserve) and 4th (Extra Reserve) Battalions were depot/training units. They moved to Plymouth (3rd Battalion) and Sunderland (4th Battalion) in August 1914. In May 1915, the 3rd Battalion joined the 4th in Sunderland, where they both remained as part of Tyne Garrison, as holding and reinforcement units.

Territorial Force

The 1/5th, 1/6th, 1/7th and 1/8th battalions landed in France as part of the Sherwood Foresters Brigade in the North Midland Division (later 139th (Sherwood Foresters) Brigade and 46th (North Midland) Division respectively) in February 1915 for service on the Western Front.Anon, The Robin Hoods.

The 2nd-Line TF battalions formed on the outbreak of war, the 2/5th, 2/6th, 2/7th and 2/8th battalions, moved to Ireland as part of the 178th (2/1st Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire) Brigade in the 59th (2nd North Midland) Division in April 1916. During the Easter Rising in Ireland, the 2/7th and 2/8th battalions lost over two hundred men killed or wounded at Mount Street on 26 April and at the South Dublin Union on 27 April. The 2/5th, 2/7th and the 2/8th battalions transferred to Le Havre in February 1917 for service on the Western Front while the 2/6th battalion transferred to Boulogne-sur-Mer in February 1917 also for service on the Western Front.

3rd-Line TF battalions (3/5th, 3/6th, 3/7th and 3/8th) were also formed to train drafts for the battalions overseas.

The 21st Battalion was formed from Home Service men of the TF.

New Armies

The 9th (Service) Battalion landed at Suvla Bay as part of the 33rd Brigade in the 11th (Northern) Division in August 1915; it was evacuated from Gallipoli to Egypt in December 1915 and then moved to France in July 1916 for service on the Western Front.

The 10th (Service) Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 51st Brigade in the 17th (Northern) Division in July 1915 also for service on the Western Front.

The 11th (Service) Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 70th Brigade in the 23rd Division in August 1915 before transferring to Italy in November 1917 and then to France in September 1918.

The 12th (Service) Battalion (Pioneers) landed in France as pioneer battalion for the 24th Division in August 1915 for service on the Western Front.

The 15th (Service) Battalion (Nottingham) (a 'Bantam battalion') landed in France as part of the 105th Brigade in the 35th Division in February 1916 also for service on the Western Front.

The 16th (Service) Battalion (Chatsworth Rifles), which had been formed by the Duke of Devonshire, and the 17th (Service) Battalion (Welbeck Rangers), which had been formed by the Lord Mayor of Nottingham, both landed at Le Havre as part of the 117th Brigade in the 39th Division in March 1916 also for service on the Western Front.

There were other short-lived New Army battalions of the regiment: the 13th and 14th (Service) (later (Reserve)) Battalions, the 18th (Service) Battalion (another Bantam unit), the 19th (Reserve) Battalion and the 20th (Labour) Battalion.

Between the wars In 1920, Sherwood Foresters were in Flensburg-Mürwik at the Naval Academy Mürwik to supervise the elections to the Schleswig plebiscites.Dieter-Jürgen Mehlhorn: Architektur in Schleswig Holstein. Vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart. Kiel/Hamburg 2016, Seite 140

In December 1936, the 46th (North Midland) Division was disbanded and its headquarters was reconstituted as 2nd Anti-Aircraft Division to control the increasing number of anti-aircraft (AA) units being created north of London. At the same time, several of its infantry battalions were converted into searchlight battalions of the Royal Engineers (RE). The 6th and 7th Bns Sherwood Foresters were among these, becoming 40th (The Sherwood Foresters) Anti-Aircraft Battalion and 42nd (The Robin Hoods, Sherwood Foresters) AA Bn respectively, forming part of 32nd (South Midland) Anti-Aircraft Group in 2 AA Division.

Second World War After garrison service in the interwar years, the Sherwood Foresters next saw action in the Second World War. The regiment served in the Norwegian Campaign, the Battle of France, Dunkirk, the North African and the Italian campaigns. They also saw action in the Far East. Nearly 27,000 men served in the regiment's 17 battalions, suffering 1,500 officers and men killed in action. The regiment won 10 battle honours and 400 decorations, including a Victoria Cross. Other battalions saw service in Italy and North Africa.

1st Battalion The 1st Battalion was serving in the Middle Eastern theatre and fought in the North African Campaign and the Western Desert Campaign on the outbreak of war, and was assigned to many different brigades and divisions until late June 1942 when, fighting in Tobruk, the battalion was captured. The few survivors of the battalion returned to the United Kingdom. In Battalion was reformed, by the redesignation of the 16th Battalion, a hostilities-only battalion. In August 1944 the new 1st Battalion was transferred to the 183rd Infantry Brigade, part of the 61st Infantry Division and in June 1945 it transferred to the 184th Infantry Brigade, again part of 61st Infantry Division.

2nd Battalion

The 2nd Battalion, Sherwood Foresters was serving in the 3rd Infantry Brigade, part of the 1st Infantry Division, with which the battalion would remain with throughout the war. The division was sent to France in September 1939 shortly after the outbreak of the war, joining the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). The battalion remained in France until May 1940 when the Germans invaded the Low Countries. They took part in the short but bitter fighting and were forced to be evacuated at Dunkirk as the BEF was in danger of being surrounded and overrun. They were evacuated to England and spent the next two years on home defence and in preparation for a German invasion which never arrived. In early 1943 the division was sent to North Africa where it became part of the British First Army and took part in the final stages of the Tunisian Campaign. In January 1944, they took part in the landings at Anzio, under command of U.S. Fifth Army, where they suffered serious casualties in some of the fiercest fighting of the Italian Campaign so far, and later fighting during Operation Diadem and on the Gothic Line. They fought in Italy until January 1945 when they were sent to Palestine and remained there until the end of the war.

1/5th (Derbyshire) Battalion The 1/5th (Derbyshire) Battalion was a 1st-Line Territorial Army formation originally serving with the 148th Infantry Brigade, part of the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division. However, in December 1939, the battalion was reassigned to the 25th Infantry Brigade and saw service with the BEF in France and Belgium in 1940 and being evacuated at Dunkirk. In late 1940, it was again reassigned to the 55th Infantry Brigade, 18th Infantry Division. The battalion, along with the rest of the 18th Division, was posted to Malaya to defend the peninsula and the island of Singapore against the Japanese. After Singapore fell to the Imperial Japanese Army, the battalion's men were among the thousands of Prisoners of war sent to work on the infamous Burma Railway.

40th (Sherwood Foresters) Anti-Aircraft Battalion

In August 1940, the AA battalions of the Royal Engineers were transferred to the Royal Artillery (RA) and the battalion became 40th (Sherwood Foresters) Searchlight Regiment, RA, serving through the Battle of Britain and The Blitz. In June 1943, it was converted again, becoming the 149th (Sherwood Foresters) Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA and transferred to the 55th (West Lancashire) Infantry Division in Home Forces before joining British Second Army for the Allied invasion of Europe Operation Overlord. The regiment landed in August 1944 and served through the North-West Europe campaign, particularly at the Allied Siege of Dunkirk and the Rhine crossing (Operation Plunder).Routledge, pp. 314–63.

42nd (Robin Hoods, Sherwood Foresters) Anti-Aircraft Battalion

Similarly, in August 1940 this battalion became the 42nd (Robin Hoods, Sherwood Foresters) Searchlight Regiment, RA, serving through The Blitz in 50th Anti-Aircraft Brigade of 2nd AA Division, covering Derby. It went to North-West Europe and served in the defence of Antwerp against V-1 flying bomb attacks during the winter of 1944–45.Joslen, p. 463.Routledge, p. 341.

8th Battalion The 8th (Nottinghamshire) Battalion was mobilised in the 148th Infantry Brigade alongside the 1/5th Battalion on the outbreak of war, attached to the 49th (West Riding) Division. It fought in Norway in 1940, and then served as a garrison in Scotland and Northern Ireland. In 1942, the brigade was reorganised as a Training brigade.Joslen, p. 333.

2/5th (Derbyshire) Battalion