Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment

The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 1961. It was formed as The Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) as part of the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 50th (Queen's Own) Regiment of Foot and the 97th (Earl of Ulster's) Regiment of Foot. In January 1921, it was renamed The Royal West Kent Regiment (Queen's Own) and in April of the same year The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment. In 1961 it was amalgamated with The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) to form The Queen's Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment. It was popularly, and operationally, known as the "Royal West Kents."

Early years
When the Regiment was formed, Kent was one of four counties (the others being Surrey, Lancashire and Yorkshire) which was split to create more than one regiment. Kent was split into two areas, with those in West Kent forming the Queen's Own regiment, while those in East Kent becoming the Buffs. The dividing line that separated the two regimental areas was east of the River Medway. The Regiment's recruitment area covered both the towns and rural areas of West Kent and a number of London boroughs in the south-east of London.

The 1st Battalion took part in the Egypt Intervention in 1882, fighting in the second battle at Kassassin on 9 September and the Battle of Tel el-Kebir a few days later. It then spent two years on garrison duty in Cyprus before being shipped to the Sudan and the Mahdist War, in which it fought at the Battle of Ginnis, notable for being the last battle fought by British Redcoats. It spent the years up to the outbreak of the Great War on garrison duty, both at home and throughout the Empire.

The 2nd Battalion was shipped to South Africa shortly after its formation, in the aftermath of the First Boer War. The following year, it was posted to Ireland and spent the remaining years of the 19th Century in Britain, being sent back to South Africa for the Second Boer War. Its only action was a skirmish at Biddulphsberg, in the company of the 2nd Battalions of the Grenadier and Scots Guards. It then moved to the East, being stationed in Ceylon, Hong Kong, Singapore, Peshawar and Multan before the outbreak of the Great War.

Between 1881 and 1913, the Regiment lost 219 men: 22 killed in action or died from wounding, 12 by accident, and 185 from disease. A memorial for those who died in service exists in All Saints' Church in Maidstone, which is located next to the regiment's barracks.

World War I
The 1st Battalion, which was in Dublin at the outbreak of war in August 1914, was one of the first units to be moved to France where it became part of the 13th Infantry Brigade in the 5th Infantry Division. Among its first major engagements were the Battle of Mons on 23 August and Le Cateau three days later. In October the battalion made a heroic stand at Neuve Chapelle; being the only unit not to fall back. Out of 750 men, only 300 commanded by a Lieutenant and a Second Lieutenant survived. Apart from a brief period from December 1917 to April 1918, when it was moved with the 5th Division to Italy, the 1st Battalion was stationed on the Western Front for the duration of the war.

The 2nd Battalion was shipped from Multan to Mesopotamia, via Bombay, arriving in Basra in February 1915, where it was attached to the 12th Indian Brigade. Two Companies were attached to the 30th Brigade (part of the 6th (Poona) Division) and were captured in the Siege of Kut in April 1916. The remaining Companies were attached to 34th Brigade (part of 15th Indian Division), and were transferred to 17th Indian Division in August 1917. The Battalion remained in Mesopotamia for the duration of the war.

Most of the Territorial battalions spent the war on garrison duty, particularly in India and Egypt, relieving the Regular battalions for front-line service. However, the 2/4th Battalion took part in the Gallipoli Campaign and the 3/4th Battalion served as a Pioneer battalion in France.

Several of the Service (sc. Hostilities-only) battalions of the New Army fought in France and Flanders and in the Italian Campaign. At Loos, the 8th Battalion lost all but one of its officers, and 550 men.

Inter-war period
At the end of the war, the 1st Battalion was transferred back to India, where it took part (along with the Territorial 1/4th Battalion) in the Third Afghan War and the putting down of a Mahsud tribal rebellion in the Northwest Frontier in 1920. It spent the next years in India, returning home to England in 1937.

The 2nd Battalion returned to India from Mesopotamia in 1919, and to England in 1921, briefly becoming part of the Army of Occupation in Germany (the British Army of the Rhine). It was stationed at various garrisons in Britain until 1937, when it moved to Palestine to aid suppression of the Arab revolt. In 1939, it was transferred to Malta.

World War II
The 1st Battalion was part of the 4th Infantry Division of the British Expeditionary Force in France in 1940, returning to England via Dunkirk. It remained in Britain until 1943, leaving to take part in the Tunisia Campaign, the Italian Campaign and the Greek Civil War that broke out after the German withdrawal in 1944.

The 2nd Battalion was part of the garrison of Malta during its protracted siege. It then formed part of the 234th Infantry Brigade in the abortive assault on the Italian-held Dodecanese islands in 1943, being captured by the Germans on the island of Leros. (Kenneth Probert - one of the many soldiers captured - states that a British submarine took officers away before capture, leaving those left behind to serve in prisoner of war camps in Germany. These prisoners were transported in cattle trucks from Greece to Wernigerode in the Harz Mountains where they were forced to work in support of the German war effort). It was reconstituted in 1944 by redesignation of the 7th Battalion.

The 9th Battalion raised in 1940 converted to armour in 1942 as 162nd Regiment of the Royal Armoured Corps but retained its RWK cap badge on the black beret of the RAC.

Other hostilities-only battalions of the regiment fought in North Africa, notably at El Alamein and Alam el Halfa, and in Burma.

Post-war
The 2nd Battalion was disbanded in 1948 (nominally being amalgamated with the 1st Battalion).

From 1951-1954, the sole remaining Battalion contributed to the security forces that successfully contained the Communist guerrilla uprising in Malaya. Less happily, it was involved in the militarily successful, but politically disastrous, occupation of the Suez canal zone in 1956. It then took part in the campaign in Cyprus against EOKA guerrillas.

In 1959, it returned to Britain for the last time, being amalgamated in 1961 with The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment), to form The Queen's Own Buffs, Royal Kent Regiment.

In popular culture
The Home Guard platoon in the BBC series Dad's Army wore the cap badge of the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment.

Battle Honours
Combined battle honours of 50th Regiment and 97th Regiment, plus:


 * Egypt 1882, Nile 1884-85, South Africa 1900-02
 * The Great War (18 battalions): Mons, Le Cateau, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, La Bassée, Messines 1914 '17, Ypres 1914 '15 '17 '18, Hill 60, Gravenstafel, St. Julien, Frezenberg, Loos, Somme 1916 '18, Albert 1916 '18, Bazentin, Delville Wood, Pozières, Guillemont, Flers-Courcelette, Morval, Thiepval, Le Transloy, Ancre Heights, Ancre 1916 '18, Arras 1917 '18, Vimy 1917, Scarpe 1917, Oppy, Pilckem, Langemarck 1917, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Passchendaele, Cambrai 1917 '18, St. Quentin, Rosières, Avre, Villers Bretonneux, Lys, Hazebrouck, Kemmel, Amiens, Bapaume 1918, Hindenburg Line, Épéhy, Canal du Nord, St. Quentin Canal, Courtrai, Selle, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914-18, Italy 1917-18, Suvla, Landing at Suvla, Scimitar Hill, Gallipoli 1915, Rumani, Egypt 1915-16, Gaza, El Mughar, Jerusalem, Jericho, Tell 'Asur, Palestine 1917-18, Defence of Kut al Amara, Sharqat, Mesopotamia 1915-18
 * Afghanistan 1919
 * The Second World War: Defence of Escaut, Forêt de Nieppe, North-West Europe 1940, Alam el Halfa, El Alamein, Djebel Abiod, Djebel Azzag 1942, Oued Zarga, Djebel Ang, Medjez Plain, Longstop Hill 1943, Si Abdallah, North Africa 1942-43, Centuripe, Monte Rivoglia, Sicily 1943, Termoli, San Salvo, Sangro, Romagnoli, Impossible Bridge, Villa Grande, Cassino, Castle Hill, Liri Valley, Piedimonte Hill, Trasimene Line, Arezzo, Advance to Florence, Monte Scalari, Casa fortis, Rimini Line, Savio Bridgehead, Monte Pianoereno, Monte Spaduro, Senio, Argenta Gap, Italy 1943-45, Greece 1944-45, Leros, Malta 1940-42, North Arakan, Razabil, Mayu Tunnels, Defence of Kohima, Taungtha, Sittang 1945, Burma 1943-45