Royal Leicestershire Regiment

Early wars

On 27 September 1688 a commission was issued to Colonel Solomon Richards to raise a regiment of foot in the London area. In its early years, like other regiments, the regiment was known by the name of its various colonels. Following a failed attempt to break the Siege of Derry in 1689, Richards was dismissed and replaced by the Irishman George St George. The regiment embarked for Flanders in 1693 for service in the Nine Years' War and took part in the attack of Fort Knokke in June 1695 and the Siege of Namur in summer 1695 before returning home in 1697.

In 1701 the regiment moved to Holland for service in the War of the Spanish Succession and fought at the siege of Kaiserswerth in 1702, the siege of Venlo later that year and the capture of Huy in 1703. It transferred to Portugal in 1704 and took part in the sieges of Valencia de Alcántara, Alburquerque and Badajoz in 1705 as well as the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo in 1706. It also saw action at the Battle of Almansa in April 1807 before returning to England in 1809. It went to Scotland to suppress the Jacobite rising of 1715 and fought at the Battle of Sheriffmuir in November 1715.

In 1726 the regiment moved to Minorca and in 1751 a royal warrant assigned numbers to the regiments of the line, and the unit became the 17th Regiment of Foot. The regiment embarked for Nova Scotia in 1757 for service in the French and Indian War; it fought at the Siege of Louisbourg in June 1758, at the Battle of Ticonderoga in July 1759, and at engagements in the West Indies in 1762. Following that war it also saw duty during Pontiac's Rebellion before eventually returning to England in 1767.

The regiment embarked for Boston, landing there on New Year's Day 1776, for service during the American War of Independence. It saw action at the Battle of Long Island in August 1776, the Battle of White Plains in October 1776 and the Battle of Fort Washington in November 1776. The regiment also took part in the Battle of Trenton and the Battle of Princeton in January 1777; its performance at the latter battle was commemorated in the addition of an unbroken laurel wreath to its insignia; it went on to fight at the Battle of Brandywine in September 1777 and at the Battle of Germantown in October 1777. Several companies were captured at the Battle of Stony Point in July 1779 by a daring night-time bayonet charge by "Mad" Anthony Wayne. The regiment was in action again at the Battle of Guilford Court House in March 1781 and at the Siege of Yorktown in September 1781.

A royal warrant dated 31 August 1782 bestowed county titles on all regiments of foot that did not already have a special designation "to cultivate a connection with the County which might at all times be useful towards recruiting". The regiment became the 17th (Leicestershire) Regiment of Foot. The regiment moved to Nova Scotia in 1783 before returning to England in 1786.

The regiment was increased to two battalions in 1799 and both battalions took part in the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland, being present at the Battle of Bergen in September 1799 and the Battle of Alkmaar in October 1799, before the second was disbanded in 1802. In 1804 the regiment moved to India, and remained there until 1823. In 1825 the regiment was granted the badge of a "royal tiger" to recall their long service in the sub-continent. The Regiment was posted to New South Wales from 1830 to 1836.

The Victorian era

The regiment returned to India in 1837, and then took part in the Battle of Ghazni in July 1839 and the Battle of Khelat in November 1839 during the First Anglo-Afghan War. The regiment next came under fire at the Siege of Sevastopol in winter 1854 during the Crimean War. In 1858 a second battalion was raised.

An invasion scare in 1859 led to the emergence of the Volunteer movement, and within a year there were 10 Rifle Volunteer Corps in Leicestershire, with titles like the 'Leicester Town Rifles' and the 'Duke of Rutland's Belvoir Rifles'. Together these formed an administrative battalion, which became the 1st Volunteer Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment in 1880. By 1900, when the unit provided a detachment of volunteers to serve alongside the Regulars during the Second Boer War, it operated as a double-battalion unit.

Childers Reforms

The regiment was not fundamentally affected by the Cardwell Reforms of the 1870s, which gave it a depot at Glen Parva Barracks from 1873, or by the Childers reforms of 1881 – as it already possessed two battalions, there was no need for it to amalgamate with another regiment. Under the reforms the regiment became The Leicestershire Regiment on 1 July 1881.

The regiment also incorporated the local militia and rifle volunteers and consisted of:

The 1st and 3rd battalions fought in the Second Boer War 1899 – 1902, and the 1st Volunteer Battalion provided a detachment of volunteers to serve alongside the Regulars. The 2nd Battalion was stationed as a garrison regiment in Ireland from 1896, and in Egypt from February 1900.

In 1908, with the creation of the Territorial Force, the 1st Volunteer Battalion formed the 4th and 5th Battalions (TF). There was a minor controversy in the same year, when new colours were issued to the 1st Battalion to replace those of the 17th foot. A green tiger had been shown on the old colours and the regiment refused to take the new issue into use. The issue was resolved when the regiment received permission for the royal tiger emblazoned on the regimental colours to be coloured green with gold stripes.

The First World War

In the First World War, the regiment increased from five to nineteen battalions which served in France and Flanders, Mesopotamia and Palestine.

Regular Army

The 1st Battalion landed at Saint-Nazaire as part of the 16th Infantry Brigade in the 6th Division in September 1914 for service on the Western Front. The Battalion saw action at the Battle of Hooge in July 1915 capturing a number of enemy trenches. It then suffered terrible losses at the Battle of the Somme in July 1916.

The 2nd Battalion landed at Marseille as part of the Garhwal Brigade in the 7th (Meerut) Division in September 1914 also for service on the Western Front. The Battalion saw action at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle in March 1915 when Private William Buckingham was awarded the Victoria Cross. It then moved to Basra in Mesopotamia in December 1915 and took part in the action of Shaikh Saad in January 1916, the siege of Kut in Spring 1916, the capture of Sannaiyat in February 1917 and the fall of Baghdad in March 1917. The battalion moved to Suez in January 1918 for service in the Palestine Campaign.

Territorial Force

The 1/4th Battalion and 1/5th Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the Lincoln and Leicester Brigade in the North Midland Division in March 1915 and February 1915 respectively for service on the Western Front. The battalions saw action at the action of the Hohenzollern Redoubt in October 1915. Lieutenant John Barrett was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions while serving with the 1/5th Battalion at Pontruet in September 1918 in the closing stages of the war.

The 2/4th Battalion and 2/5th Battalion landed in France as part of the 2nd Lincoln and Leicester Brigade in the 2nd North Midland Division in February 1917 also for service on the Western Front.

New Army Battalions

The 6th (Service) Battalion, 7th (Service) Battalion, 8th (Service) Battalion and 9th (Service) Battalion landed in France as part of the 110th Brigade in the 37th Division in July 1915 for service on the Western Front. The battalions took part in the attacks on High Wood at the Battle of the Somme in July 1916. Lieutenant Colonel Philip Bent was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions while in command of the 9th (Service) Battalion at the Battle of Polygon Wood in September 1917.

The 11th (Service) Battalion (Midland Pioneers) landed in France as the pioneer battalion for the 6th Division in March 1916 also for service on the Western Front. Meanwhile, the 14th (Service) Battalion landed in France as part of the 47th Brigade in the 16th Division in July 1918 also for service on the Western Front.

Inter-War

The regiment reverted to its pre-war establishment in 1919. The 1st Battalion was involved in the Irish War of Independence from 1920 to 1922, before moving to various overseas garrisons including Cyprus, Egypt and India. The 2nd Battalion was in India, Sudan, Germany and Palestine.

In 1931 the regimental facing colour was changed from white to pearl grey. Previous to 1881 the 17th foot had "greyish white" facings.

The 3rd (Militia) Battalion was placed in "suspended animation" in 1921, eventually being formally disbanded in 1953. In 1936 the 4th Battalion was converted into a searchlight nuts as 44th (The Leicestershire Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Battalion of the Royal Engineers. The size of the Territorial Army was doubled in 1939, and consequently the 1/5th and 2/5th Battalions were formed from the existing 5th.

The Second World War

The 1st Battalion was a Regular Army unit stationed in the Far East on the outbreak of the Second World War. The battalion fought the Imperial Japanese Army in the Malayan Campaign in early 1942 and sustained heavy casualties, temporarily amalgamating with the 2nd Battalion, East Surrey Regiment to create the British Battalion which was, however, later captured and the men of both battalions remained as prisoners of war (POWs) for the rest of the war.

The 2nd Battalion, as part of the 16th Infantry Brigade, saw action at the Battle of Sidi Barrani in December 1940 and at the Battle of Bardia in January 1941 during the Western Desert Campaign. The battalion then moved to Greece and took part in the Battle of Crete in May 1941 before transferring back to North Africa for the Battle of Tobruk in June 1941. It then went to Ceylon in February 1942 and to India in January 1943: it became part of the Chindits and then saw action in the Burma Campaign.

The Territorial infantry battalions, the 1/5th and 2/5th, both served in the war, the 1/5th with 148th Independent Infantry Brigade as part of 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division, the 2/5th with 138th Infantry Brigade, 46th Infantry Division, throughout the war. The 1/5th Battalion fought briefly in the disastrous Norwegian Campaign before being withdrawn to the United Kingdom and then to Northern Ireland.

The 44th AA Battalion transferred to the Royal Artillery in 1940, becoming 44th (The Leicestershire Regiment) Searchlight Regiment, in which role it served through the Battle of Britain and the Blitz. In 1942 it changed role again, becoming 121st Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery, which served in North West Europe from Operation Overlord to Germany.

Post-War

In 1946 the regiment was granted "royal" status, becoming the Royal Leicestershire Regiment. In 1948, in common with all other infantry regiments, the 2nd Battalion was abolished. The 5th Battalion (TA) had been reformed in 1947. In 1948 the regiment became part of the Forester Brigade, sharing a depot at Budbrooke Barracks in Warwickshire with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment and the Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment). Glen Parva was downgraded to regimental headquarters.

The 1st Battalion served in the Korean War from 1951 to 1952. They subsequently moved to England (exercising the freedom of the City of Leicester in 1952), Germany, Sudan, where they operated with the Sudan Defence Force and departed on 16 August 1955, Cyprus, Brunei and Aden.

The Territorial units were reformed in 1947 as 579 (The Royal Leicestershire Regiment) Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA and 5th Battalion Royal Leicesters. In 1961 they merged to become the 4th/5th Battalion.

In 1963 the Forester Brigade was dissolved, with the Royal Leicesters and Royal Lincolns moving to the East Anglian Brigade where they joined the 1st, 2nd and 3rd East Anglian Regiments.

Amalgamation into the Royal Anglian Regiment

On 1 September 1964 the regiments of the East Anglian Brigade became The Royal Anglian Regiment. The 1st Battalion, Royal Leicestershire Regiment became the 4th (Leicestershire) Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment. The "Leicestershire" subtitle was removed on 1 July 1968 and the battalion was disbanded in 1975. The Royal Leicestershire heritage was included in the new regiment's button design, which features the royal tiger within an unbroken wreath.

When the Territorial Army was converted into the Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve (TAVR) in 1967, 4/5th Battalion provided two elements:

A further reduction in the TA in 1999 saw HQ Company merged with C (Northamptonshire Regiment) Company to form C (Leicestershire and Northamptonshire) Company of the East of England Regiment, which was redesignated 3rd Bn Royal Anglian regiment in 2006. Under the 2020 plans for the Army Reserve, C Company at Leicester will absorb B (Lincolnshire) Company by the end of 2016.

Battle honours

The regiment was awarded the following battle honours:

Colonels

The colonels of the regiment were as follows:

The 17th Regiment of Foot

The 17th (Leicestershire) Regiment

The Leicestershire Regiment

The Royal Leicestershire Regiment

Victoria Crosses

The following members of the Regiment were awarded the Victoria Cross: