King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster)

The King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) was an infantry regiment of the line of the British Army. It served under various titles from 1680 to 1959. Its lineage is continued today by the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment.

History
The regiment was raised on 13 July 1680, as the 2nd Tangier, or Earl of Plymouth's Regiment of Foot. It saw service for nearly three centuries. In 1751, after various name changes, the regiment was titled the 4th (King's Own) Regiment of Foot. The regiment retained this title until the Childers Reforms of 1881, when it became The King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment). In 1921, it was re-designated The King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster).

The regiment's first battle honour was gained at Namur (1695) during the War of the Augsburg League, 1688-1697. Soon after, they saw action at Gibraltar in 1704-1705, Guadeloupe 1759, and St. Lucia 1778. In 1746, the regiment received most of the government casualties at the Battle of Culloden.

During the Napoleonic Wars, the regiment fought at Corunna, Badajoz, Salamanca, Vittoria, San Sebastian, Nive, Bladensburg, and Waterloo.

During the Crimean War, the regiment fought at Alma, Inkerman, and Sevastopol. It also saw action in Abyssinia in 1868, South Africa in 1879 and from 1899 to 1902, where it took part in the Relief of Ladysmith.

The regiment also saw colonial service in Australia from 1832 until 1837, being stationed variously at Tasmania, Sydney, Victoria South Australia, and the Swan River Colony under the command of Lieut. Colonel J. K. McKenzie.

World War I
The following battalions of the King's Own served during World War I

Regular


 * 1st Battalion: landed in France with the 4th Division of the British Expeditionary Force.


 * 2nd Battalion: returned from India and served with the 28th Division in Salonika.

Special Reserve (formerly Militia)


 * 3rd (Reserve) Battalion: remained in the UK and supplied drafts to the Regular Battalions overseas.

Territorial Force (TF)


 * 1/4th Battalion: mobilised in the 164th (North Lancashire) Brigade of the 55th (West Lancashire) Division; temporarily attached to 154th (3rd Highland) Brigade in 51st (Highland) Division and landed in France in May 1915; returned to 164 Bde in January 1916.


 * 1/5th Battalion: mobilised in the 164th (North Lancashire) Brigade of the 55th (West Lancashire) Division; landed in France in February 1915 and temporarily attached to 28th Division and 1st Division; returned to 55th Division (166th (South Lancashire) Brigade) in January 1916.


 * 2/4th Battalion: formed September 1914 as a second-line duplicate of 1/4th Bn; became 4th (Reserve) Bn and absorbed 5th (Reserve) Bn 1916; stationed in Dublin from June 1918.


 * 2/5th Battalion: formed September 1914 as a second-line duplicate of 1/5th Bn; attached to the 164th (North Lancashire) Brigade of the 55th (West Lancashire) Division February 1915, then to 170th (2/1st North Lancashire) Brigade of 57th (2nd West Lancashire) Division; landed in France February 1917.


 * 3/4th Battalion: formed June 1915 as a reserve battalion; amalgamated with 2/4th Bn in January 1916.


 * 3/5th Battalion: formed June 1915 as a reserve battalion; remained in the UK and supplied drafts to the 1/5th and 2/5th Bns; became 5th (Reserve) Bn.


 * 12th Battalion: formed 1 January 1917 from 41st Provisional Bn (TF) in 218th Brigade of 73rd Division, a Home Defence formation; disbanded March 1918.

New Army


 * 6th (Service) Battalion: formed August 1914; attached to 38th Brigade in 13th (Western) Division; landed at Gallipoli July 1915; later served in Mesopotamia.


 * 7th (Service) Battalion: formed September 1914; attached to 56th Brigade in 19th (Western) Division; landed in France July 1915; disbanded February 1918.


 * 8th (Service) Battalion: formed October 1914; attached to 76th Brigade in 25th Division; landed in France September 1915.


 * 9th (Service) Battalion: formed October 1914; attached to 65th Brigade in 22nd Division and served in Salonika.


 * 10th (Reserve) Battalion: formed October 1914; remained in the UK and supplied drafts to the Service Bns overseas; converted into 43rd Training Reserve Bn in September 1916.


 * 11th (Service) Battalion: formed August 1915 as a Bantam Battalion; attached to 120th Brigade in 40th Division; landed in France June 1916; disbanded February 1918.


 * 12th (Reserve) Battalion: formed January 1916; remained in the UK and supplied drafts to the Service Bns overseas; converted into 76th Training Reserve Battalion September 1916.

World War II
The following battalions served during World War II:

Regular


 * 1st Battalion was stationed in Malta on the outbreak of war, moving to Karachi in British India at the end of 1939. It subsequently served in Iraq and Syria with 25th Indian Infantry Brigade of 10th Indian Infantry Division. In August 1942, the battalion embarked from Egypt for Cyprus, but the transport was torpedoed and the troops had to return and re-embark later. In May 1943, 1st Bn returned to Syria, and then it joined 234th Brigade in the Aegean Islands in October 1943. Here, the bulk of the battalion was captured by the Germans on 16 November, after the Battle of Leros. It was reformed in 25th Indian Bde by amalgamating with 8th Bn King's Own and later served in the Italian campaign.


 * 2nd Battalion formed part of the British garrison of Jerusalem when war broke out. It joined 14th Brigade in Palestine in March 1940 and moved with it to Egypt in July. The battalion served with 16th Brigade of 6th Division (later redesignated 70th Division) in the Defence of Tobruk and later formed part of the garrison of Ceylon. In September 1943, the battalion was stationed with 70th Division at Bangalore in India when it was selected for attachment to the second Long Range Penetration or Chindit brigade (111th Indian Infantry Brigade) for the Burma Campaign. It formed 41 and 46 Columns in the Second Chindit Campaign, crossing into Burma in March 1944 and being flown out to India in July 1944. From November 1944 to February 1945, 2nd Bn was assigned to 14th Airlanding Brigade in 44th Indian Airborne Division.

Territorial


 * 4th Battalion converted to artillery in November 1938, forming the 56th Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery.


 * On the outbreak of war, 56th A/T Regt mobilised in 42nd (East Lancashire) Division, with which it served in the Battle of France in 1940. In 1942, it was sent to join 70th Division in India, where it was converted into a Light Anti-Aircraft/Anti-Tank regiment in 1943. In this guise it served in the Burma Campaign, mainly with 5th Indian Division. It reconverted to the anti-tank role in late 1944 and in June 1945 it returned to India as a Royal Artillery training unit.


 * In June 1939, the 56th A/T Regt spun off a duplicate unit, the 66th Anti-Tank Regiment, which served in Home Forces, mainly with 55th (West Lancashire) Division.


 * 5th Battalion mobilised with 42nd (East Lancashire) Division and served with it in France and Belgium in 1940. When the division was converted to armour in October 1941, 5th Bn became 107th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps. The battalion continued to wear the King's Own cap badge on the black beret of the RAC.

Hostilities-only


 * 6th–9th Battalions were formed in 1940 as Pioneer battalions. All four served as GHQ troops during the 1940 campaign in France and Belgium.


 * 6th Battalion later served in a succession of Home Forces formations: 218th Independent Infantry Brigade (Home), 54th Division, 48th Division, 76th Division. It was disbanded in 1946.


 * 7th Battalion served with 71st Independent Infantry Brigade before being sent to form part of the Gibraltar garrison in June 1942. In March 1943, the battalion went to India where it joined 150th Indian Infantry Brigade. It was disbanded in 1947.


 * 8th Battalion joined the Malta garrison in August 1941 and served through the Siege. In November 1943, the battalion was moved to Palestine, where it was disbanded and its personnel used to reform 1st Bn King's Own.


 * 9th Battalion served in 47th (London) Division in the UK until December 1942 when it was disbanded.


 * 50th (Holding) Battalion was formed in the UK on 28 May 1940. On 9 October 1940, it was renamed the 10th battalion. 10th Battalion was assigned to 225th Independent Infantry Brigade (Home), formed for service in the UK. When the brigade was converted into a tank brigade in December 1941, the battalion became 151st Regiment Royal Armoured Corps. When 107th RAC was disbanded in December 1943, a cadre transferred to 151st RAC, which adopted the number of 107th to perpetuate the 5th King's Own, a first line Territorial Battalion.

Postwar
The regiment received the freedom of Lancaster in 1953, before being amalgamated with The Border Regiment into The King's Own Royal Border Regiment on 31 October 1959.

Battle honours

 * Namur 1695, Gibraltar 1704-05, Guadeloupe 1759, St. Lucia 1778, Corunna, Badajoz, Salamanca, Vittoria, San Sebastian, Nive, Peninsula, Bladensburg, Waterloo, Alma, Inkerman, Sevastopol, Abyssinia, South Africa 1879, Relief of Ladysmith, South Africa 1899-1902


 * The Great War (16 battalions): Le Cateau, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, Armentières 1914, Ypres 1915 '17, Gravenstafel, St Julien, Frezenberg, Bellewaarde, Festubert 1915, Loos, Somme 1916 '18, Albert 1916 '18, Bazentin, Delville Wood, Pozières, Guillemont, Ginchy, Flers-Courcelette, Morval, Le Transloy, Ancre Heights, Ancre 1916, Arras 1917 '18, Scarpe 1917 '18, Arleux, Messines 1917, Pilckem, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, Cambrai 1917 '18, St. Quentin, Lys, Estaires, Hazebrouck, Béthune, Bapaume 1918, Drocourt-Quéant, Hindenburg Line, Canal du Nord, Selle, Valenciennes, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914-18, Struma, Doiran 1917 '18, Macedonia 1915-18, Suvla, Sari Bair, Gallipoli 1915, Egypt 1916, Tigris 1916, Kut al Amara 1917, Baghdad, Mesopotamia 1916-18


 * The Second World War: St Omer-La Bassée, Dunkirk 1940, North-West Europe 1940, Defence of Habbaniya, Falluja, Iraq 1941, Merjayun, Jebel Mazar, Syria 1941, Tobruk 1941, Tobruk Sortie, North Africa 1940-42, Montone, Citta di Castello, San Martino Sogliano, Lamone Bridgehead, Italy 1944-45, Malta 1941-42, Chindits 1944, Burma 1944

Victoria Crosses
The following members of the regiment were awarded the Victoria Cross:
 * Private (later Sergeant) Thomas Grady, Crimean War
 * Private Albert Halton, Great War
 * Private Harry Christian, Great War
 * Lance-Sergeant Tom Fletcher Mayson, Great War
 * Second Lieutenant Joseph Henry Collin, Great War
 * Lance-Corporal (later Corporal) James Hewitson, Great War
 * Lance-Corporal Jack White, Great War
 * Private James Miller, Great War
 * Corporal Thomas Neely, Great War

King's Own Royal Regiment Museum
The King's Own Royal Regiment Museum is part of the Lancaster City Museum in Lancaster, Lancashire. Opened in 1929, the exhibits include regimental uniforms, medals, regalia, silver, paintings, medals, weapons and other memorabilia reflecting the regiment's history since 1680 to 1960.

Colonels-in-Chief

 * 1903 F.M. HM King Edward VII
 * 1913 F.M. HM King George V

Colonels

 * 1680 Col. Charles FitzCharles, 1st Earl of Plymouth (bastard son of Charles II, d. 1680)
 * 1680 Lt-Gen. Hon Percy Kirke (senior)
 * 1682 Col. Charles Trelawny
 * 1688 Col. Sir Charles Orby, 2nd Bt.
 * 1688 Maj-Gen. Charles Trelawny [reappointed]
 * 1692 Brig-Gen. Henry Trelawny
 * 1702 Lt-Gen. William Seymour (also Seymour's Regt, 24th Foot; Brig-Gen. of Marine Regements)
 * 1717 Brig-Gen. The Hon. Henry Berkeley
 * 1719 Gen. Charles Cadogan, 2nd Baron Cadogan
 * 1734 Lt-Gen. William Barrell (also 22nd Foot, 28th Foot)
 * 1749 Lt-Gen. Sir Robert Rich, 5th Baronet
 * 1756 Lt-Gen. Alexander Duroure
 * 1765 Col. The Hon. Robert Brudenell
 * 1768 F.M. Studholme Hodgson
 * 1782 Lt-Gen. Sir John Burgoyne
 * 1792 Gen. George Morrison [also 17th Foot, 75th Foot; Quartermaster General)
 * 1799 Gen. John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham, KG
 * 1835 Gen. John Hodgson (also 83rd Foot)
 * 1846 Gen. Sir Thomas Bradford, GCB, GCH (also 30th Foot, 94th Foot; C-in-C Bombay 1825-29)
 * 1853 Gen. Sir John Bell, GCB
 * 1876 Gen. Studholme John Hodgson
 * 1890 Gen. William Sankey, CB
 * 1892 Lt-Gen. William Wilby, CB
 * 1894 Gen. Sir William Gordon Cameron, GCB, VD [also Hon. Col. 9th Bn Middlesex Regt]
 * 1913 Gen. Sir Archibald Hunter, GCB, GCVO, DSO, LLD, TD [also Hon. Col. 5th Bn]
 * 1926 Lt-Gen. Sir Oswald Cuthbert Borrett, KCB, CMG, CBE, DSO
 * 1945 Maj-Gen. Russell Mortimer Luckock, CB, CMG, DSO [also Hon. Col. The Cambridgeshire Regt]
 * 1947 Brig. John Herbert Hardy, CBE, MC
 * 1957 Maj-Gen. Richard Neville Anderson, CB, CBE, DSO (continued 1961 in K O R Border Regt; also 10th Gurkha Rifles)