List of fictional regiments of the British Army

The following is a list of British and Empire regiments that have appeared in various works of fiction. It also includes some which have been used as placeholders in more official works.

The list encompasses both regiments of the British Army and those of the pre-independence British Indian Army.

British Army

Cavalry regiments

• 1st King's Lancers

Cavalry/armoured regiment featured in the British television series Redcap, episode The Orderly Officer, broadcast 1964.

• 2nd South Wessex Dragoons

From the Dr David Audley/Colonel Jack Butler novels by Anthony Price as Audley's World War II tank regiment; also featured in Keith Laumer's "For the Honor of the Regiment" as a part of the lineage of a Mark XXX Bolo of the 3rd Battalion, Dinochrome Brigade.

• 6th Light Dragoons

In A Close Run Thing by Allan Mallinson

• 22nd Lancers (Duke of Suffolk's Own)

Herbert Curzon's regiment in The General by C.S. Forester

• 27th Lancers

In The Charge of the Light Brigade, a 1936 film - later a real regiment

• 140th Hussars (Prince Arthur's Own)

From Ravenshoe by Henry Kingsley

• The Dampshire Yeomanry

From the comic opera Cox and Box (1866)

• Derbyshire Dragoon Guards

In Red Cap, episode True Love.

• Life Guards Greens

From various novels by William Makepeace Thackeray

• Light Armoured Brigade

From the Thursday Next novels by Jasper Fforde

• Wessex Light Tank Armoured Brigade

From The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde

• The White Hussars

From "The Rout of the White Hussars" by Rudyard Kipling

Infantry regiments

• 3rd Foot and Mouth Regiment ("The Devils in Skirts")

A Highland Regiment mentioned in the 1968 film Carry On up the Khyber

• 3rd Regular Army Deserters, 3rd Disgusting Fusiliers, 3rd Armoured Thunderboxes, 6th Heavy Underwater Artillery, and 3rd Mounted NAAFI

Various regiments with which Major Bloodnok (played by Peter Sellers of The Goon Show) claimed to have served.

• 4th Musketeers

From the 1967 comedy film "How I Won the War"

• 4/29 London Regiment, Duke of Connaught's Own

Mentioned in The General by C.S. Forester.

• 101st Regiment (there were several historical regiments with this number)

Harry East's regiment in Tom Brown at Oxford by Thomas Hughes

• 114th Queen's Own Royal Strathspeys

From the James Ogilvie books by Philip McCutchan aka Duncan MacNeil

• 117th Foot ("The Royal Mallows")

An Irish regiment mentioned in The Adventure of the Crooked Man and The Green Flag by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

• The Bedford Light Infantry

From the BBC television series Red Cap (2001-04)

• The Black Boneens

An Irish regiment mentioned in "The Mutiny of the Mavericks" by Rudyard Kipling.

• The Black Tyrones

An Irish regiment serving in India mentioned in "The Ballad of Boh da Thone" by Rudyard Kipling.

• Blankshire Highlanders

A sample Scottish regiment used in Court of the Lord Lyon Information Leaflet No. 4: PETITIONS FOR ARMS [1].

• Bombardier Guards

In both The Book of Snobs by William Makepeace Thackeray, and Put Out More Flags by Evelyn Waugh

• Caledonian Highlanders

From the 1935 Laurel and Hardy film Bonnie Scotland

• Cumberland Light Infantry

Mentioned in The General by C. S. Forester

• The Cumbrians (Duke of Rutland's Own)

From the television series Soldier Soldier

• The Derbyshire Regiment

From the BBC television series Red Cap (2001-04)

• The Dragons

From the 1958 film Carry On Sergeant

• Duke of Buckingham's Light Infantry ("The Sky Blues")

From Gideon's Sword Bearers by John Mackenzie

• Duke of Cambridge's Light Infantry

From The East Wind of Love and The South Wind of Love by Compton Mackenzie

• Duke of Clarence's Own Clanranald Highlanders ("The Inverness-shire Greens")

From The Monarch of the Glen and other novels by Compton Mackenzie

• Duke of Edinburgh's Own Strathspey Highlanders ("Banffshire Buffs")

From Rich Relatives by Compton Mackenzie

• The Duke of Glendon's Light Infantry (The 'Dogs')

From the 1944 film The Way Ahead

• The Fore and Fit Princess Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen-Anspach’s Merther-Tydfilshire Own Royal Loyal Light Infantry ("The Fore-and-Aft")

From Drums of the Fore and Aft by Rudyard Kipling.

• Fusilier Guards

From The Breaking of Bumbo (film version)

• Glamorganshire Regiment

From No More Parades and A Man Could Stand Up — by Ford Madox Ford

• Jackboot Guards

From The Book of Snobs by William Makepeace Thackeray

• King's Own Fusiliers

From the television series Soldier Soldier (1991-1997)

• Kintail Highlanders (Duke of Clarence's Own Inverness-shire Buffs)

In Sinister Street by Compton Mackenzie. The Kintails are also mentioned in The Stolen Soprano but this seems to be a reference to the same regiment as the similarly-named Clanranalds (see above) in Ben Nevis Goes East.

• Lennox Highlanders

Richard Hannay's regiment in the works of John Buchan; also in André Maurois' book The Silence of Colonel Bramble (Les silences du Colonel Bramble)

• Loamshire Regiment

The "Loamshire Regiment" is a fictitious county regiment often used in Army documents as an example or placeholder. It, or the "Royal Loamshire Regiment", has been used in a number of works including the Bulldog Drummond novels, the 1943 film The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, The Four Winds of Love by Compton Mackenzie and Evelyn Waugh's Men at Arms

• Loyal Highlanders (the Black Scots)

The "Loyal Highlanders" is a fictitious regiment commanded by Colonel the Hon. George Hysteron-Proteron C.B. J.P. in The Twelfth and After by J. K. Stanford. The regiment served in India, the Boer War and in France during the First World War.

• Loyal South Riding Regiment (the Yorkshire Buffs)

Mentioned in The South Wind of Love by Compton Mackenzie

• Maclaren Highlanders

Scottish regiment in the Regiment trilogy of books by C.L. Skelton.: The Maclarens, The Regiment, and Beloved Soldiers

• The Malvern Regiment

From the television series Soldier Soldier (1991-1997)

• Northdale Rifles

From The Mark of Cain, a 2007 TV film

• Oxford Rifles

From Lewis, The Dead of Winter

• The Prince Regent's Own South Down Fusiliers

From "The Hour of the Donkey" by Anthony Price, Territorial Regiment in which David Audley's father, Major Nigel Audley, is serving in 1940 in France.

• The Punjab Guards

From Jackboots on Whitehall, a 2010 TV film.

• Queens Own Royal Loyal Light Infantry

Former regiment of Peachey Carnehan and Daniel Dravot in the 1975 movie version of Kiplings's The Man Who Would Be King.

• Queen's Own Scottish

Infantry regiment featured in the British television series Redcap

• Queen's Own West Mercian Lowlanders

From the television series Fairly Secret Army

• Redston Guards

From The Breaking of Bumbo, novel by Andrew Sinclair

• Royal Cambrian Fusiliers

From the BBC television series Red Cap (2001-04)

• Royal Corps of Halberdiers

From the Sword of Honour trilogy by Evelyn Waugh

• Royal Cumbrian Regiment

From the 2002 film The Four Feathers

• The Royal Loyal Musketeers ("The Mavericks")

An Irish regiment mentioned in "Kim" and "The Mutiny of the Mavericks" by Rudyard Kipling

• Royal North Surrey Regiment

In the 1939 film The Four Feathers

• Royal Wessex Rangers

In the British television series Spearhead

• Royal Westmoreland Fusiliers

Hudson's regiment in What's Become of Waring by Anthony Powell

• South Essex Regiment/Prince of Wales' Own Volunteers

Richard Sharpe's regiment in the Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell

• South Glamorgan Regiment

From "Tank Commander" by Ronald Welch; John Carey's regiment while serving as an infantryman.

• Viscount of Coleraine Rifles

From the novels Trinity and Redemption by Leon Uris.

• Weald Light Infantry

Now God be Thanked trilogy by John Masters.

• Welsh Light Infantry

In the 1986 film Milwr Bychan

• Welsh Rifles

The Century Trilogy by Ken Follett.

• Wessex Guards

Pigeon Pie by Nancy Mitford

• Wessex Fusiliers

Alms for Oblivion - a series of novels by Simon Raven

• Wessex Regiment

From the BBC television series Red Cap (2001-04)

• West Yorkshire Fusiliers (The Wyffies)

Various of Reginald Hill's Dalziel and Pascoe crime novels.

Other units and formations

• Internal Counter-Intelligence Service

From the Doctor Who UNIT audio dramas by Big Finish.

• U.N.I.T.

A fictional British or international military unit in the Doctor Who universe

• Red Troop, 22nd Special Air Service Regiment

From the Ultimate Force TV series (2002-2006)

Regiments of the Indian Army

A number of works of fiction feature regiments of the pre-Independence Indian Army.

• 1st Bangalore Pioneers

Colonel Sebastian Moran's old Indian Army regiment in the Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Empty House

• 12th Gurkha Rifles

Colonel Arbuthnot's regiment in Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express

• 12th Indian Lancers

Major Duncan Bleek's regiment in the 1946 Sherlock Holmes film Terror by Night.

• 34th Bombay Infantry

Major John Sholto's regiment in the Sherlock Holmes story The Sign of Four

• 77th Bengal Lancers

From Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers, a 1956-57 American television show

• Royal Vindhya Horse

Rodney Bateman's fathers regiment -and several others - in The Himalaya Concerto by John Masters

• Ravi Lancers

Indian Army cavalry unit whose service with the British Army in France during the First World War serves as the central subject of the novel The Ravi Lancers by John Masters

Other colonial regiments

• 19th/45th East African Rifles

Captain Blackadder's old colonial regiment before the war in Blackadder Goes Forth