List of battalions of the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey)

This is a list of battalions of the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey), which existed as an infantry regiment of the British Army from 1661 to 1959.

Original composition When the 2nd (The Queen's Royal) Regiment of Foot became The Queen's (Royal West Surrey) Regiment in 1881 under the Cardwell-Childers reforms of the British Armed Forces, it became the county regiment of West Surrey. An existing militia Regiment and four volunteer battalions of West Surrey were integrated into the structure of the Queen's Royal Regiment. Volunteer battalions had been created in reaction to a perceived threat of invasion by France in the late 1850s. Organised as "rifle volunteer corps", they were independent of the British Army and composed primarily of the middle class.

BattalionFormedFormerlyRegular1st16612nd1663Militia3rd (Militia)17972nd Royal Surrey MilitiaVolunteers1st VolunteerCroydon, 18592nd Surrey Rifle Volunteer Corps2nd VolunteerDorking, 18594th Surrey Rifle Volunteer Corps3rd VolunteerBermondsey, 18606th Surrey Rifle Volunteer Corps4th VolunteerSouthwark, 18598th Surrey Rifle Volunteer Corps

Reorganisation

The Territorial Force (later Territorial Army) was formed in 1908, which the volunteer battalions joined, while the militia battalions transferred to the "Special Reserve". All volunteer battalions were renumbered to create a single sequential order.

BattalionFormerly4th1st Volunteer Battalion5th2nd Volunteer Battalion

First World War

The Queen's Royal Regiment fielded 28 battalions during the course of the war. The regiment's two territorial battalions formed duplicate second, third and fourth line battalions. As an example, the three-line battalions of the 4th King's were numbered as the 1/4th, 2/4th, 3/4th, and 4/4th respectively. Many battalions of the Queen's Royals were formed as part of Secretary of State for War Lord Kitchener's appeal for an initial 100,000 men volunteers in 1914. They were referred to as the New Army or Kitchener's Army. The 10th to 12th Queen's Royals, New Army "Service" battalions, were referred to as "Pals" because they were predominantly composed of colleagues. The Volunteer Training Corps were raised with overage or reserved occupation men early in the war, and were initially self-organised into many small corps, with a wide variety of names. Recognition of the corps by the authorities brought regulation and as the war continued the small corps were formed into battalion sized units of the county Volunteer Regiment. In 1918 these were linked to county regiments.

BattalionFormedServedFateRegular1st1661Western Front2nd1663Western Front, ItalySpecial Reserve3rd (Reserve)BritainTerritorial Force1/4th1859IndiaSee Inter-War1/5th1859India, Mesopotamian2/4thCroydon, August 1914Gallipoli, Palestine, Western Front, GermanyDisbanded February 19192/5thGuildford, September 1914BritainDisbanded September 19173/4thWindsor, June 1915Western FrontDisbanded 11 February 19183/5thGuildford, June 1915BritainBecame 5th (Reserve) Battalion, 8 April 19164/4thCroydon, July 1915BritainBecame 4th (Reserve) Battalion4th (Reserve) Battalion8 April 1916BritainDisbanded 19195th (Reserve) Battalion8 April 1916BritainAbsorbed by 4th (Reserve) Battalion, 1 September 191619thLowestoft, 1 January 1917 from 69th Provisional Battalion (Territorial Force)BritainDisbanded 191920thCromer, 1 June 1918BritainAbsorbed by 21st (Service) Battalion, Middlesex Regiment (Islington), 3 July 1918New Army6th (Service)Guildford, August 1914Western FrontDisbanded 19197th (Service)Guildford, September 1914Western FrontDisbanded 19198th (Service)Guildford, September 1914Western FrontDisbanded 19199th (Reserve)Gravesend, October 1914BritainAmalgamated with 11th (R) Bn East Surreys to form 21st Training Reserve Battalion, 1 September 191610th (Service) (Battersea)Battersea, 3 June 1915Western Front, Italy, GermanyDisbanded 192011th (Service) (Lambeth)Lambeth, 16 June 1915Western Front, Italy, GermanyDisbanded 192012th (Reserve)Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, October 1915BritainBecame the 97th Training Reserve Battalion, 1 September 1916Others13th (Labour)Balmer, 1916FranceTransferred to the Labour Corps, 1 June 191714th (Labour)Crawley, 1916SalonikaTransferred to the Labour Corps, 1 June 191715th (Labour)Crawley, 1916FranceTransferred to the Labour Corps, 1 June 191716th (Home Service)Farnham, 11 November 1916BritainDisbanded 191917th (Labour)Crawley, November 1916BritainTransferred to the Labour Corps, and became Eastern Command Labour Centre along with 18th (Labour) Battalion, June 191718th (Labour)Crawley, November 1916BritainTransferred to the Labour Corps, and became Eastern Command Labour Centre along with 17th (Labour) Battalion, June 191751st (Graduated)Thoresby, 27 October 1917 from 245th (Infantry) Battalion, Training ReserveBritain, GermanyBecame a service battalion 8 February 1919; absorbed into 10th (Battersea) Bn 1 April 191952nd (Graduated)Colchester, 27 October 1917 from 255th (Infantry) Battalion, Training ReserveBritain, GermanyBecame a service battalion 8 February 1919; absorbed into 11th (Lambeth) Bn 17 April 191953rd (Young Soldier)St Albans, 27 October 1917Britain, GermanyBecame a service battalion 8 February 1919; absorbed into 2/4th Bn April 1919Volunteer Training CorpsWestlake pp. 128-1291st Battalion Surrey Volunteer Regimentlater the 1st Volunteer Battalion, Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey)CroydonDisbanded post war4th Battalion Surrey Volunteer Regimentlater the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey)ReigateDisbanded post war6th Battalion Surrey Volunteer Regimentlater the 3rd Volunteer Battalion, Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey)GuildfordDisbanded post war

Inter-War By 1920, all of the regiment's war-raised battalions had disbanded. The Special Reserve reverted to its militia designation in 1921, then to the Supplementary Reserve in 1924; however, its battalions were effectively placed in 'suspended animation'. As World War II approached, the Territorial Army was reorganised in the mid-1930s, many of its infantry battalions were converted to other roles, especially anti-aircraft. The regiment was also reassigned 22nd (County of London) and 24th battalions of the London Regiment, which disbanded in 1938; these became the 6th (Bermondsey) and 7th (Southwark) battalions of the regiment.

BattalionFate4thBecame 4th Battalion, The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) (63rd Searchlight Regiment), 1 November 1938; transferred to Royal Artillery 1 August 1940

Second World War The Queen's Royal's expansion during the Second World War was modest compared to 1914–1918. Existing battalions formed duplicates as in the First World War, while National Defence Companies were combined to create a new "Home Defence" battalion. In addition to this, 19 battalions of the Home Guard were affiliated to the regiment, wearing its cap badge. By 1944, one anti-aircraft unit was also part of the regiment.Whittaker p. 106 A Light Anti-Aircraft (LAA) troop was formed from the Southern Railways battalion to defend railways around Guildford and Woking.Whittaker p. 113 Due to the daytime (or shift working) occupations of these men, the batteries required eight times the manpower of an equivalent regular battery.Whittaker p. 23

BattalionFormedServedFateRegular1st1661India (NWF), BurmaSee Post-World War II2nd1663Egypt, Syria, Ceylon, BurmaSee Post-World War IISupplementary Reserve3rdNot ReformedTerritorial Army1/5th1859France, Dunkirk, North Africa, Tunisia, Italy, North West EuropeSee Post-World War II1/6th (Bermondsey)1937France, Dunkirk, North Africa, Tunisia, Italy, North West EuropeSee Post-World War II1/7th (Southwark)1937France, Dunkirk, North Africa, Tunisia, Italy, North West EuropeSee Post-World War II2/5th 1939France, Dunkirk, ItalyAbsorbed by 1/5th, and reconstituted as 5th battalion, 1 January 19472/6th (Bermondsey)1939France, Dunkirk, ItalyAbsorbed by 1/6th (Bermondsey), and reconstituted as 6th (Bermondsey) Battalion, 1 April 19472/7th (Southwark)1939France, Dunkirk, ItalyAbsorbed by 1/7th (Southwark), 1 April 1947Hostilities only11th (Home Defence)1939BritainRedesignated as 30th Battalion, August 194312th (Home Defence)1939BritainAmalgamated with 10th (Home Defence) Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment, forming 30th Battalion, The Middlesex Regiment, 24 July 194114thDorchester, 4 July 1940BritainConverted into 99th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery, 1 December 194115th9 October 1940, redesignation of 50th (Holding) BattalionBritainDisbanded, 4 December 194320thAldershot, 27 May 1940, from 5th Battalion Scots GuardsBritainDisbanded, 3 May 194030thAugust 1943, redesignation of 11th BattalionBritainAbsorbed into 30th Battalion, The Middlesex Regiment, October 194531stAldershotBritainDisbanded, 15 May 194650th (Holding)Caterham, May 1940BritainRedesignated as 15th Battalion, 9 October 194070th (Young Soldiers)16 September 1940, from two companies of 11th (Home Service) BattalionBritainConverted to 17th PTC, 1942 Home GuardBattalionHeadquartersFormation Sign (dark blue on khaki)BattalionHeadquartersFormation Sign (dark blue on khaki)Surrey1st CamberleySY 12nd FarnhamSY 24th WeybridgeSY 45th BramleySY 57th DorkingSY 78th ReigateSY 89th OxtedSY 911th WokingSY 1112th (3rd Bn Southern Railway)WokingSY 1213th (Admiralty Signals Establishment)HaslemereSY 1332nd CroydonSY 3233rd County Borough of CroydonSY 3358th PurleySY 5859th AddingtonSY 5960th CroydonSY 6061st NorwoodSY 6162nd NorburySY 62County of London29th BatterseaCOL 2956th BalhamCOL 56Home Guard Anti-Aircraft unitsFormation Sign (dark blue on khaki)Headquarters or LocationAA Formation and DesignationFormation Sign (dark blue on khaki)Headquarters or LocationAA Formation and DesignationCOL 71 Croydon71st Battery, 16th Anti-Aircraft Regiment (Home Guard) (HAA)SY 12 Guildford and Woking, (Southern Railways)A Troop LAA

Post-World War II

In the immediate post-war period, the army was significantly reduced: nearly all infantry regiments had their first and second battalions amalgamated and the Supplementary Reserve disbanded. A defence review by Duncan Sandys in 1957 decided that the Queen's Royal Regiment would be amalgamated with the East Surrey Regiment, to form the Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment. They united as the 1st Battalion on 14 October 1959.

BattalionFate1stAmalgamated with 1st East Surreys to form the 1st Battalion, Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment, 19592ndDisbanded, 19483rdDisbanded, 19535thAmalgamated with 565 (Surrey) LAA Regiment, Royal Artillery, and 6th (Bermondsey) Battalion, forming 3rd Battalion, The Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment, 1 May 19616th (Bermondsey)Amalgamated with 565 LAA Regiment, Royal Artillery, and 5th Battalion, forming 3rd Battalion, The Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment, 1 May 19617th (Southwark)Transferred to the Royal Artillery, as 622nd Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment (7th Battalion The Queen's Royal Regiment), 1 April 1947

References