The 9th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment was an infantry battalion of the British Army. Part of the Volunteer Force, later the Territorial Force (renamed the Territorial Army in 1920), the battalion was part of the Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) and recruited from the north-western suburbs of London. It served as infantry in the Mesopotamian campaign during World War I and as an air defence regiment during and after World War II.

Origins The battalion's origins lay in the enthusiasm for joining local Rifle Volunteer Corps (RVCs) engendered by an invasion scare in 1859.Beckett. Two of the many units formed in the populous county of Middlesex were the 'Marylebone & West Middlesex Rifles' and the 'Harrow Rifles'.Westlake, pp. 166 & 168.Beckett, Appendix VII.

Marylebone & West Middlesex Rifles The 9th (Marylebone & West Middlesex) Middlesex RVC was formed at Lord's Cricket Ground on 14 October 1859 under the command of Lord Radstock. Initially consisting of six companies, it rose to eight by April 1860.Frederick, pp. 212–3.Beckett, p. 48.Burke's: Baron Radstock.9th Middlesex at Regiments.org.

Under the 'Localisation of the Forces' scheme introduced in 1872 by the Cardwell Reforms, the 9th Middlesex RVC (with the 18th attached, see below) formed part of Brigade No 49 (Middlesex and Metropolitan) alongside the Regular battalions of the Royal Fusiliers (the City of London Regiment).Spiers, p. 195.Army List.

The unit was renumbered the 5th (West Middlesex) Middlesex RVC on 3 September 1880 and was attached as a Volunteer Battalion (VB) to the Royal Fusiliers on 1 July the following year, transferring to the King's Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC) as the 4th VB in July 1883, without changing its title in either case. Its original uniform was grey with red facings, but in 1891 it adopted the KRRC's Rifle green with red facings. Its HQ was at 29 Park Road, Regent's Park.Barnes, Appendix III.

The Stanhope Memorandum of December 1888 proposed a Mobilisation Scheme for units of the Volunteer Force, which would assemble by brigades at key points in case of war. In peacetime the brigades provided a structure for collective training.Beckett, pp. 135, 185–6.Dunlop, pp. 60–1. The 5th Middlesex RVC (with the renumbered 9th still attached, see below) formed part of the South London Volunteer Infantry Brigade. By the time the Volunteer Force was subsumed into the Territorial Force in 1908, the battalion had moved to the 1st London Brigade.

Volunteers from the unit served in the Second Boer War, earning it the Battle honour South Africa 1900–02.

Harrow Rifles The 18th (Harrow Rifles) Middlesex RVC was formed at Harrow as a single company on 30 December 1859. Many of the original recruits came from the staff and senior pupils of Harrow School, which formed a cadet corps of the unit in 1870. The first commanding officer was Captain John Charles Templer, who was the agent for Rajah Brooke of Sarawak, and in 1861 became editor of the Volunteer Service Gazette, the official journal of the Volunteer Movement. The unit also ran its own athletic club.Beckett, p. 33. It was always associated with the West Middlesex; together, they formed a battalion-sized unit within the Volunteer Infantry Brigades.

In the renumbering of 1880, the Harrow unit became the 9th Middlesex RVC and like the 5th was attached to the Royal Fusiliers in 1881, transferring to the KRRC in 1883. Its uniform was Rifle green with green facings. On 1 August 1899 (now 4 companies strong) it amalgamated with the West Middlesex, the Harrow School Cadet Corps becoming the 27th Corps until 1906 when it too joined the West Middlesex as a cadet company.

Territorial Force On the formation of the Territorial Force in 1908, the 5th (West Middlesex) RVC became the 9th Battalion Middlesex Regiment. It formed part of the Middlesex Brigade of the Home Counties Division. Its headquarters moved to Pound Lane, Willesden Green.James, p. 93.Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 49–54.Middlesex Rgt at Long, Long Trail.Pound Lane Drill Hall at Stepping Forward London.

World War I Mobilisation During the period of tension before the outbreak of war, the 9th Battalion sent two special service sections to guard a cable station at Cuckmere Haven and Birling Gap (28 July). When the mobilisation orders were received on 4 August 1914, the Home Counties Division was on the march from Aldershot to Salisbury Plain for its annual training. The Middlesex Brigade had reached Larkhill, when the battalions were sent back to their headquarters to mobilise. The 9th Battalion entrained at Amesbury on 5 August and reached Willesden that morning. By the end of the day the battalion was entrained again for its war station at Sheerness. Here it dug trenches for a few days until relieved by Special Reserve troops and moved to Sittingbourne.Wyrall, Vol I, pp. 67–8.

On 11 August, in common with the majority of the men of the Home Counties Division, the 9th Battalion accepted liability for overseas service. The Home Service-only and under-age men, together with the recruits who were flooding in, remained at the depots to form 2nd-Line battalions. The titles of these 2nd Line units were the same as the original 1st Line, but the two would be distinguished by '1/' and '2/' prefixes. The 2/9th Bn formed on 18 September; subsequently, a 3/9th Battalion was formed to provide drafts to the other battalions.Wyrall, Vol I, pp. 69–72.

1/9th Battalion India In October 1914, the Home Counties Division was ordered to India to relieve Regular troops there. The 1/9th Middlesex embarked at Southampton on 29 October in the transports Dilwara and Dongola, and disembarked at Bombay on 2 December. On arrival, the Home Counties Division was split up and the battalions were distributed to stations all over India. For the next three years they acted as a peacetime garrison, while suffering a steady drain of their best men to officer training and other duties.Wyrall, Vol II, pp. 331–2.

1/9th Middlesex was assigned to the Presidency Brigade in 8th (Lucknow) Division, based around Calcutta. The main body was stationed at Dinapur, with E, F and H Companies detached to guard the arsenal at Dum Dum; later D and F Companies went to garrison Barrackpore, where they were responsible for guarding the Rifle Factory Ishapore and the Cossipore gun and shell factory. When the four-company system was adopted in May 1915, the companies at Dinapur provided A and B Companies together with the battalion scouts and machine-gunners, those at Barrackpore became C Company, and those Dum Dum became D Company and the signallers.Perry, pp. 99–104.Wyrall, Vol II, pp. 332–4.

In May and August 1915, the battalion supplied its first drafts to the 2nd Bn Norfolk Regiment serving in Indian Expeditionary Force D in Mesopotamia; of the 50 other ranks sent, 20 died at the Siege of Kut or in captivity afterwards. In January 1916, the battalion was transferred to the 5th (Jhelum) Brigade, 2nd (Rawalpindi) Division, on the North West Frontier. On arrival at Rawalpindi, it was ordered to mobilise for service with Force D. However, the order was quickly cancelled, and for the next two years the battalion continued to train. During this period, it was constantly moving station:Perry, pp. 39–45, pp. 55–8, 137–40.Wyrall, Vol II, pp. 335–40. March–April 1916 to Nowshera Brigade, 1st (Peshawar) Division, for mountain warfare training; April–June to Murree; June–November to Galis Brigade, with one company detached to guard Attock Fort; November returned to Jhelum Brigade February 1917 to 43rd Indian Brigade in 16th Indian Division, a reserve division for the North West Frontier March 1917 to Ambala Brigade in 3rd Lahore Divisional Area (the 3rd (Lahore) Division being absent, serving in Mesopotamia). Here, the battalion received a large draft from the 7th Reserve Battalion (see below) and from the Essex Regiment, which partly restored its strength after years of losing men to sickness and supplying so many drafts and specialists.Wyrall, Vol II, p. 341.

From November 1917, the battalion reverted to the title of 9th Middlesex when the 2/9th Bn disbanded in England (see below).

Mesopotamia In October 1917, the 9th Bn was selected to be the British battalion in a new 53rd Indian Brigade being sent to the Mesopotamian Front. On 5 November it was brought up to full strength with drafts of 100 menfrom the 1/10th Middlesex and 200 from the 1/25th London Regiment. The men from 1/25th Londons, formerly a bicycle battalion, were disappointed at being spread across all 16 platoons of the 1/9th rather than being kept together as a distinct company. The battalion embarked on the transport Egra at Karachi on 19 November. It landed at Basra on 23 November and the brigade became part of 18th Indian Division at Baghdad on 24 December.Perry, pp. 147–50.Wyrall, Vol II, pp. 341–2.Anon, London Cyclists, p. 258.

The division was not concentrated until mid-March 1918, and when it moved north up the Tigris, 53rd Brigade was left behind to subdue Nejef, south of Baghdad. After making a forced march of nearly 90 miles in a week through almost waterless country and carried out a demonstration, the brigade was being withdrawn when trouble flared up again. The town was then blockaded from 21 March to 19 May, with the 9th Middlesex being involved in minor actions. The battalion celebrated Albuera Day in the Mesopotamian desert. 53rd Brigade then rejoined the division at Akab, near Samarra. Summer weather made campaigning impractical in Mesopotamia, so the division was engaged in roadbuilding until the beginning of October, when orders were received to join the renewed advance up the Tigris.Wyrall, Vol II, pp. 344–51.Wilson-Johnston, pp. 2–4, 12–7.Anon, London Cyclists, pp. 260–4.

9th Middlesex moved up to Tikrit on 10 October, arriving on 14 October, with many men suffering from sickness. The division began its attack (the Battle of Sharqat) on 24 October, with 53rd Brigade in support. The brigade passed through the Fathah Gorge and the following day pushed on under artillery and machine-gun fire to establish a bridgehead over the Little Zab. Between 11.00 on 25 October and 17.00 on 26 October, the infantry covered .Anon, London Cyclists, pp. 264–5.Wyrall, Vol II, pp. 352–56.Wilson-Johnston, pp. 18–27. On 26 October, the brigade patrolled forward up the left bank of the Tigris and the right bank of the Little Zab, and demonstrated towards Humr Bridge, to make the Turks think that a crossing was planned. That the night the Turks began to retreat and on 27 October, 53rd Brigade began a pursuit march, delayed only by Turkish artillery fire.Wyrall, Vol II, pp. 357–58.Wilson-Johnston, pp. 29–30.

The Turkish force surrendered on the evening of 29 October, when 9th Middlesex was about to support an attack on the opposite bank of the Tigris. 18th Indian Division pushed a flying column on to capture Mosul, while the infantry retired towards its railhead at Baiji for supplies. After the Armistice of Mudros came into effect on 31 October, the division began preparing for the postwar occupation of Iraq as the Turks withdrew.Wyrall, Vol II, pp. 358–61; 377–8.Wilson-Johnston, pp. 34–40.

Demobilisation began in early 1919, but on 23 May the battalion (now reduced to three companies) was ordered to join a punitive column marching into Kurdistan. The column was in contact with insurgents from 28 May to 18 June when the rebel leader was wounded and captured. While 'mopping up' after the formal surrender, two companies of the 9th Middlesex and two squadrons of Indian cavalry found themselves surrounded near Kirkuk. They were pinned down for three days under heavy rifle fire, with rations being dropped to them by the Royal Air Force, before being relieved.Anon, London Cyclists, pp. 265–7.

The battalion was demobilised on 11 September 1919.

2/9th Battalion