Royal Berkshire Regiment

History

Formation and antecedents

The Berkshire Regiment was formed as part of the reforms carried out by Edward Cardwell and Hugh Childers, Secretaries of State for War in the late nineteenth century. The first stage, under Cardwell in 1873, introduced a "localisation scheme". This saw the United Kingdom divided into "Brigade Districts" consisting of a county or counties. Each district was assigned two regular infantry battalions, one of which would be on foreign service while the other was on home service. The home-based battalion was to provide drafts to the battalion on foreign duty as required. County militia regiments were also to be linked with the regular battalions, with all sharing a single depot in the brigade district. It was announced that a depot was to be built at Reading, Berkshire, which would serve a district comprising the County of Berkshire. The two line battalions which were to be linked were the 49th and 66th Regiments of Foot, along with the Royal Berkshire Militia. On 1 July 1881, the reforms were completed under Childers, with the formation of The Princess Charlotte of Wales's (Berkshire Regiment), consisting of the following battalions:

1st Battalion (formerly the 49th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) (Hertfordshire) Regiment of Foot). The regiment had been raised in 1743, and had been granted the title "Princess Charlotte of Wales's" in 1816.

2nd Battalion (formerly the 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot). The regiment had been raised in 1758.

3rd (Royal Berkshire Militia) Battalion

1st Volunteer Battalion (formerly the 1st Berkshire Rifle Volunteer Corps, formed in 1859).

In 1885, following its service at the Battle of Tofrek, the regiment was granted "Royal" status, to become The Princess Charlotte of Wales's (Royal Berkshire Regiment).

The 1st Battalion formed part of the garrison of the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda from 1893 through 1895. On 19 March 1896 the regiment, under Major Massard, was called in by the Penzance Borough Police and Cornwall County Constabulary to help quell disorder during the Newlyn riots. They arrived by train in Penzance at around 4pm and took temporary barracks in the town. Two hours later their assistance was requested by the Superintendent in charge and they assisted police in occupying the pier at Newlyn long enough to see in the arrival of HMS Ferret.

The First World War

The regiment, in common with the rest of the British Army, saw a huge expansion during the First World War and many service battalions, for war service only, were created from volunteers for Kitchener's New Armies. Most battalions would see active service in the trenches of the Western Front in Belgium and France.

The 1st Battalion was a Regular Army unit and was serving with the 6th Brigade, part of the 2nd Division and served with the British Expeditionary Force when it was sent to Belgium in 1914. They fought in the Battle of Mons, the Marne and the First Battle of Ypres, where the old regular British army was virtually wiped out and could have been said to have found its grave there. In 1915 during the Battle of Loos, 2nd Lieutenant Alexander Buller Turner of the 3rd Battalion, attached to the 1st, was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. In 1916 Lance corporal James Welch, also of the 1st Battalion, was awarded the Victoria Cross as well.

The 2nd Battalion was also a Regular Army unit and was serving in India on the outbreak of war and was recalled to Britain, where, with other Regular units also stationed abroad, it helped form the 25th Brigade and was attached to the 8th Division. They came to the Western Front in late 1914 and served there for the rest of the war.

The Territorial Force saw a considerable expansion and raised the 1/4th, 2/4th and 3/4th battalions. The 1/4th Battalion was part of the South Midland Brigade of the South Midland Division. In 1915 it was designated the 145th Brigade, 48th (South Midland) Division. They served on the Western Front until 1917 when they were transferred to Italy.

The 2/4th Battalion was formed at Reading, Berkshire, as a duplicate of the 1/4th Battalion and served in the 184th Brigade, part of the 61st (2nd South Midland) Division and, like the majority of the British Army, served on the Western Front during the war.

The 3/4th Battalion was raised in 1915 as a 3rd-Line duplicate of the 1/4th Battalion. The 3/4th remained in Britain for the war supplying drafts and replacements to the other Territorial Force battalions.

The Second World War

The Second World War also saw an expansion for the regiment but not quite to the extent of the Great War. However, casualties were still heavy and the Royal Berkshire Regiment lost 1067 men killed including 974 other ranks and 93 officers killed in action with many hundreds more wounded.

The 1st Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Miles Dempsey, was still assigned to the 6th Infantry Brigade in the 2nd Infantry Division, part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) that was sent to France in 1939 after war was declared. They took part in the Battle of France in 1940 and were evacuated during the Battle of Dunkirk.

However, the 2nd Division, 1st Royal Berkshires included, was sent to India in 1942, after the Imperial Japanese Army conquered much of Burma in early 1942. The battalion and division became part of the Fourteenth Army under the command of Lieutenant General William "Bill" Slim. The battalion fought in the Arakan Campaign in late 1942 until June 1943 and later were destined to play a crucial role in the Battle of Kohima the following year, with B Company leading the battalion in relieving the 4th Royal West Kents during the siege. The often savage fighting in Kohima, nicknamed Stalingrad of the East, turned the tide of the campaign in Burma. Entering the Battle around 20 April 1944, the 1st Royal Berkshires continued to fight the Japanese for a further three weeks in horrendous conditions, and suffered just over 50% casualties. From 15 April 1944 to 24 June 1944 the battalion had 52 killed, 290 wounded and 15 missing (357 casualties overall) from an initial fighting strength of 691. The battalion continued to fight in the Burma Campaign, seeing action in the Battle of Meiktila and Mandalay until being withdrawn to India in April 1945.

As in the First World War, the 2nd Battalion was stationed in India at the outbreak of war and remained there for the duration. From the outbreak of war until August 1940, the battalion served with the 6th Indian Infantry Brigade. In January 1943 the battalion was assigned to 98th Indian Infantry Brigade, part of 19th Indian Infantry Division and, like the 1st Battalion, also served in the Burma Campaign under the command of Fourteenth Army. A memorial plaque stands at the entrance to a pagoda near the top of Mandalay Hill. It was erected in honour of the men of the 2nd Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment who fought and died there and reads;

Burma

The 2nd Royal Berkshire Battalion were based in Burma and paraded at the Independence Day ceremony on the 3 January 1948, leaving that day.

Amalgamation

After the Second World War, all hostilities-only battalions were disbanded, and the 4th and 6th battalions were amalgamated. In 1959 the regiment was amalgamated with The Wiltshire Regiment (Duke of Edinburgh's) into The Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment (Berkshire and Wiltshire).

Regimental museum

The Rifles Berkshire and Wiltshire Museum is based in Salisbury.

Colonels

The colonels of the regiment were as follows:

1881–1891: General Thomas Henry Johnston (formerly colonel of 66th Foot)

1891–1894: General Sir William Pollexfen Radcliffe, KCB

1894–1905: Lieutenant-General Robert William Lowry, CB

1905–1913: Major-General Sir William Bellairs, KCMG, CB

1913–1930: Major-General Edward Thompson Dickson

1930–1940: General Sir Felix Fordati Ready CB, CSI, CMG, CSO

1940–1947: Major-General Robert John Collins

1947–1956: General Sir Miles Dempsey

1956–1959: Brigadier Dudley William Bruce Trower Hogg

Battle Honours

The regiment's selected battle honours were as follows:

Early Wars

St. Lucia 1778, Egmont-op-Zee, Copenhagen, Douro, Talavera, Albuhera, Queenstown, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, Peninsula, Alma, Inkerman, Sevastopol, Kandahar 1880, Afghanistan 1879–80, Egypt 1882, Tofrek, Suakin 1885, South Africa 1899–1902

The First World War:

Mons, Marne 1914, Ypres 1914 '17, Neuve Chapelle, Loos, Arras 1917 '18, Cambrai 1917, Selle, Vittorio Veneto, Doiran 1917 '18

The Second World War:

Dunkirk, Burma 1942–45, Sicily, Damiano, Anzio, Kohima, Normandy Landing, Rhine, Mandalay, Fort Dufferin

Freedoms

The regiment has received the Freedom of several locations throughout its history; these include:

1955: Abingdon.

1959: Windsor and Maidenhead.