This is a list of battalions of the King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster), which existed as an infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 1959.
Original composition When the 4th (King's Own) Regiment of Foot became the King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment) in 1881 under the Cardwell-Childers reforms of the British Armed Forces, three pre-existent militia and volunteer battalions of Lancaster were integrated into the structure of the 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. The only change to the regiment's structure during the period of 1881-1908 occurred in 1900, when the 2nd Volunteer Battalion was raised, and when the 4th (Militia) Battalion disbanded in 1908.Frederick, pp. 118–21.Hay, pp. 242–8.
BattalionFormedFormerlyRegular1st1680 1st Battalion, 4th (King's Own) Regiment of Foot2nd1857 2nd Battalion, 4th (King's Own) Regiment of FootMilitia3rd (Militia)17601st Battalion, 1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own)Parkyn p.2284th (Militia)18772nd Battalion, 1st Royal Lancashire Militia (The Duke of Lancaster's Own)Volunteers1st Volunteer185910th Lancashire Rifle Volunteer CorpsWestlake p143
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". Both of the volunteer battalions were renumbered to create a single sequential order.
BattalionFormerly4th1st Volunteer Battalion5th2nd Volunteer Battalion
First World War
The regiment fielded 17 battalions and lost 6,515 officers and other ranks during the course of the war. The regiment's territorial components formed duplicate second and third line battalions. As an example, the three-line battalions of the 4th Battalion were numbered as the 1/4th, 2/4th, and 3/4th respectively. A number of the battalions 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 11th, New Army "Service" battalion, was referred to as Bantam battalion because it was predominantly composed of men under the prewar height limit.James, pp. 45–6. 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.
BattalionFormedServedFateRegular1st1680Western Front2nd1857SalonikaSpecial Reserve3rd (Reserve)1760Britain, IrelandTerritorial Force1/4th1859Western FrontSee Inter-War1/5th1900Western Front2/4th 4th (Reserve) Battalion, from September 1916Blackpool, February 1915Britain, IrelandDisbanded, in ?2/5th Lancaster, September 1914Western FrontDisbanded, in 19193/4thJune 1915Absorbed by 2/4th Battalion upon creation3/5th 5th (Reserve) Battalion, from April 1916June 1915Absorbed by 4th (Reserve) Battalion, in September 191612thJanuary 1917, from 41st Provisional Battalion (Territorial Force)BritainDisbanded, in March 1918New Army6th (Service)Lancaster, August 1914Gallipoli, MesopotamiaDisbanded, in 19197th (Service)Lancaster, September 1914Western FrontDisbanded, in February 19188th (Service)Lancaster, October 1914Western FrontDisbanded, in 19199th (Service)Lancaster, October 1914Western Front, SalonikaDisbanded, in 191910th (Reserve)Saltash, October 1914BritainBecame the 43rd Training Reserve Battalion, 10th Reserve Brigade, in September 191611th (Service)Lancaster, August 1915Western FrontBantam battalion; disbanded, in February 191812th (Reserve)Lancaster, January 1916BritainBecame the 76th Training Reserve Battalion, 17th Reserve Brigade, in September 1916Volunteer Training CorpsWestlake pp. 120-12113th Battalion Lancashire Volunteer Regimentlater the 1st Volunteer Battalion, King's Own (Royal Lancashire) RegimentPreston, LancasterDisbanded post war14th Battalion Lancashire Volunteer Regimentlater the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, King's Own (Royal Lancashire) RegimentBarrow-in-FurnessDisbanded post war
Inter-War By 1922, 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.
BattalionFate4thConverted to 56th (King's Own) Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery
Second World War The regiment’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, 5 battalions of the Home Guard were affiliated to the regiment. These wore the 'EL' designation, the remaining 18 wearing this patch were cap-badged to other regiments. A number of Light Anti-Aircraft (LAA) troops were formed from the local battalions to defend specific points, such as factories.Whittaker pp. 118-119 Due to the daytime (or shift working) occupations of the men in the LAA troops, the troops required eight times the manpower of an equivalent regular unit.Whittaker p. 23
BattalionFormedServedFateRegular1st1680India, Iraq, North Africa, CyprusSee Post-World War II2nd1857North Africa, Syria, Chindit CampaignSee Post-World War IISupplementary Reserve3rdBritainSee Post-World War IITerritorial Army5th1900Western Front, BritainConverted to 107th Regiment (King's Own), Royal Armoured Corps6thFebruary 1940Dunkirk, BritainDisbanded, in July 19447thFebruary 1940Dunkirk, Britain, Gibraltar, IndiaDisbanded, in 19478thFebruary 1940Dunkirk, Britain, Malta, PalestineMerge with the 1st Battalion, in January 19449thFebruary 1940Dunkirk, BritainConverted to 90th Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery, in November 194110thSeptember 1940BritainConverted to 151st Regiment, Royal Armoured CorpsOthers50th (Holding)Lancaster, June 1940BritainBecame the 10th Battalion, in September 1940 Home GuardBattalionHeadquartersFormation Sign (dark blue on khaki)BattalionHeadquartersFormation Sign (dark blue on khaki)1st BarrowEL 12nd (North Lonsdale) UlverstonEL 23rd Lancaster CityEL 34th (South Lonsdale) MorecambeEL 47th BlackpoolEL 7Home Guard Light Anti-Aircraft unitsFormation Sign (dark blue on khaki)Headquarters or LocationAA Formation and DesignationFormation Sign (dark blue on khaki)Headquarters or LocationAA Formation and DesignationEL 1 Barrow in Furness Vickers Armstrong LtdA Troop LAAEL 4 Heysham Imperial Chemical Industries LtdA Troop LAAEL 7 Blackpool Vickers Armstrong LtdA Troop LAAEL 7 Blackpool Brooklands Aviation LtdB 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.
BattalionFate1stAmalgamated with 2nd Battalion on the 1 April 1949, without a change in title2ndAmalgamated with 1st Battalion on the 1 April 19495thReconstituted from the 107th Training Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps, in January 1947
Amalgamation The 1957 Defence White Paper stated that the King's Own Royal Regiment was due to be amalgamated with the Border Regiment, to form the King's Own Royal Border Regiment on the 1 October 1959.
BattalionFate1stAmalgamated with 1st Battalion, Border Regiment, to form 1st Battalion, King's Own Royal Border Regiment5thTransferred to the King's Own Royal Border Regiment, without a change in title
References
Bibliography J.B.M. Frederick, Lineage Book of British Land Forces 1660–1978, Vol I, Wakefield: Microform Academic, 1984, . Col George Jackson Hay, An Epitomized History of the Militia (The Constitutional Force), London:United Service Gazette, 1905/Ray Westlake Military Books, 1987 ISBN 0-9508530-7-0. Brig E.A. James, British Regiments 1914–18, Samson Books 1978/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2001, . H.G. Parkyn, 'English Militia Regiments 1757–1935: Their Badges and Buttons', Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, Vol 15, No 60 (Winter 1936), pp. 216–248. Ray Westlake, Tracing the Rifle Volunteers: A Guide for Military and Family Historians, Barnsley: Pen and Sword, 2010, .