Border Regiment

The Border Regiment was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army, which was formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 34th (Cumberland) Regiment of Foot and the 55th (Westmorland) Regiment of Foot.

After service in the First and Second World Wars, it was amalgamated into The King's Own Royal Border Regiment in 1959. Its lineage is continued today by the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment.

1881–1914
The regiment was formed on 1 July 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms. Under the reforms, each line infantry regiment was to have a defined regimental district, with two regular battalions sharing a single permanent depot. At any one time, one battalion was to be on foreign service and one on "home" service.

In the case of the Border Regiment, the regimental district comprised the counties of Cumberland and Westmorland, with the depot established at Carlisle Castle. The outbreak of the Second Anglo-Boer War in 1899 found the British Army overstretched, and the 1st Battalion was one of many "home service" units dispatched to fight in the conflict. The Battalion saw action at Colenso and Spion Kop as part of the campaign to relieve Ladysmith.

The two regular battalions were stationed as follows:

1st Battalion (ex 34th Foot)
 * India and Burma 1881–1890
 * England 1890–1897
 * Malta 1897–1899
 * South Africa 1899–1902
 * England 1902–1908
 * India and Burma 1908–1915

2nd Battalion (ex 55th Foot)
 * Ireland, Channel Islands and Malta 1881–1890
 * India and Burma 1890–1905
 * South Africa 1905–1907
 * England and Wales 1907–1914

The militia and rifle volunteers of Cumberland and Westmorland also became reserve battalions of the regiment in 1881: The Royal Cumberland Regiment of Militia and the Royal Westmorland Regiment of Militia became the 3rd and 4th Battalions respectively, while the rifle volunteers became the 1st (Cumberland) and 2nd (Westmorland) Volunteer Battalions. Detachments of these battalions saw service in the Boer War of 1899 – 1902, and a 3rd Volunteer Battalion was raised in 1900. In 1908, the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 reorganised the reserve battalions: the 4th Battalion was disbanded, while the 3rd was transferred to the Special Reserve, the volunteer battalions became units of the new Territorial Force as the 4th (Westmorland and Cumberland) and 5th (Cumberland) Battalions.

World War I
In common with other infantry regiments, the Border Regiment was increased in size for the duration of the 1914–1918 war by the creation of additional battalions, either by the duplication of the existing territorial units or by the raising of new "service" battalions.

Victoria Crosses
Five men of the Border Regiment were awarded the Victoria Cross, all during World War I:
 * Private James Alexander Smith (21 December 1914)
 * Private Abraham Acton (21 December 1914)
 * Sergeant Edward John Mott (27 January 1917)
 * Sergeant Charles Edward Spackman (20 November 1917)
 * Captain (Acting Lieutenant-Colonel) James Forbes-Robertson (11/12 April 1918)

Inter War Period
By 1919, all the war-formed battalions had been disbanded and the system of rotating the two regular battalions had resumed. The 1st Battalion moved to the North West Frontier of India, where they were engaged in the Waziristan campaigns of 1919–1920 and 1921–1924. In 1924 they moved to Aden, returning to England in the following year. Apart from a brief spell in Shanghai in 1927 they remained in the United Kingdom until 1936. In that year, they moved to Palestine to suppress the Arab revolt. They returned to England in the following year, and were based at Catterick Garrison when the Second World War broke out.

The 2nd Battalion were in Italy at the end of the First World War, remaining there until 1919. In that year they moved to Ireland, where the War of Independence had broken out. Based in County Mayo, the battalion had few casualties, and returned to England at the end of the conflict in 1922. In the next few years, the 2nd Battalion was on garrison duty at various locations: Malta, The Sudan, Tientsin in China aand Rawalpindi in India. The Battalion was part of the forces that suppressed the Afridi and Red Shirt Rebellions of 1930 – 1931. The Battalion remained in India, and on the outbreak of World War II was stationed in Calcutta.

The 3rd (Reserve) Battalion was placed in "suspended animation" following the war, and was never embodied again. It was formally disbanded in 1953.

The two territorial battalions were reformed in 1920 as part of the renamed Territorial Army (TA). In April 1939, when it seemed clear war was likely to break out with Germany, the TA was doubled in size, with each existing unit forming a duplicate. When war broke out in September 1939, the four TA battalions were as follows:
 * 4th (Westmorland and Cumberland) Battalion
 * 5th (Cumberland) Battalion
 * 6th (East Cumberland) Battalion
 * 7th (Cumberland) Battalion

World War II
In 1941, the 5th Battalion was converted to armour as the 110th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps. They continued to wear their Border cap badge on the black beret of the RAC. 110 RAC was disbanded in 1943, and 5th Bn Border Regiment was reconstituted in April 1944 by redesignation of 7th Border, a reserve battalion serving in 213th Infantry Brigade It spent the rest of the war as a training battalion.