Gloucestershire Regiment
The Gloucestershire Regiment, commonly referred to as the Glosters, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 until 1994. It traced its origins to Colonel Gibson's Regiment of Foot, which was raised in 1694 and later became the 28th (North Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot. The regiment was formed by the merger of the 28th Regiment with the 61st (South Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot. It inherited the unique distinction in the British Army of wearing a badge on the back of its headdress as well as the front, a tradition that originated with the 28th Regiment after it fought in two ranks back to back at the Battle of Alexandria in 1801. At its formation the regiment comprised two regular, two militia and two volunteer battalions, and saw its first action during the Second Boer War.
Gloucestershire Regiment
1881–1994
Horfield Barracks, Bristol
The Glorious Glosters, Slashers
By our deeds we are known[1]
The Kinnegad Slashers
Back Badge Day (21 March)
Before the First World War, the regiment's four auxiliary battalions were converted to three Territorial Force battalions and a Special Reserve battalion, and a further 18 battalions were added to the regiment's establishment during the war. Sixteen battalions of the regiment saw active service in France and Flanders, Italy, Gallipoli, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia and Salonika, losing a total of 8,100 men killed and winning 72 different battle honours. Four awards of the Victoria Cross (VC) were made to soldiers serving with the regiment. The wartime battalions were disbanded as the war ended, and just before the Second World War, two of the territorial battalions were re-purposed and ceased to have any affiliation with the regiment. On the eve of the war, the remaining territorial battalion was duplicated, and another five battalions were raised on the outbreak of war, though most of these were disbanded or re-purposed as the war progressed. Four battalions saw active service under the regiment's colours during the war. The 2nd and 5th Battalions both fought in the Battle of France and, after being lost almost in its entirety during the Battle of Dunkirk, the re-formed 2nd Battalion landed at Gold Beach on D-Day and fought in the Allied campaign in North-West Europe. The 1st Battalion was involved in the retreat from Rangoon during the Japanese conquest of Burma, and the 10th Battalion saw active service in the defeat of Japanese forces during the Burma Campaign 1944–45.
After the Second World War, the hostilities-only battalions were disbanded and the 1st and 2nd Battalions were amalgamated, leaving the regiment with one regular and one Territorial Army battalion. It achieved fame during the Korean War when the 1st Battalion held out for three nights against overwhelming odds during the Battle of the Imjin River. The stand, described by the commander of the United Nations forces in Korea at the time as "the most outstanding example of unit bravery in modern war", prevented the encirclement of other United Nations forces, for which the regiment was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation and earned the nickname The Glorious Glosters. Two men serving with the regiment were awarded the VC for their actions in the battle. In the latter half of the 20th century, the regiment was reduced to a single regular battalion and completed tours of duty around the world, including Germany, Africa, the Caribbean, Central America and the Middle East, as well as in Northern Ireland during The Troubles. Shortly after celebrating its tercentenary in 1994, the regiment, which carried more battle honours on its colours than any other regiment of the line, was merged with the Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment to form the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment. The new regiment inherited the back badge, and when it too was merged in 2007, it passed the tradition on to its successor, The Rifles.
In 1872, the Cardwell Reforms began the process of organising the British Army along county lines based on two-battalion line infantry regiments, a process that was completed by the Childers Reforms nine years later. As a result, the 28th and 61st Regiments were amalgamated in 1881 to form the Gloucestershire Regiment, headquartered at Horfield Barracks in Bristol.[19][20] The reforms also added the county's auxiliary forces to the regiment's establishment, and at its formation it thus comprised two regular, two militia and two volunteer battalions:
The Gloucestershire Regiment inherited from the 28th Regiment the privilege of wearing the back badge. It was a privilege that the 2nd Battalion did not want, but it was made palatable to the former 61st Regiment by replacing the number 28 with the Sphinx, a battle honour awarded to both predecessor regiments.[21] Although both battalions were forced to give up their individual facing colours on their uniforms – yellow for the 28th Regiment and buff for the 61st Regiment – when the government imposed a standard white across all English and Welsh regiments, the Gloucestershire Regiment never accepted this change for their regimental colours. Both battalions retained their former colours until 1929, when a compromise primrose yellow was finally chosen and a new regimental colour subsequently presented.[21][22]
The two battalions continued to refer to themselves by their former regimental numbers until they were merged in 1948, when the Gloucestershire Regiment became a single-battalion regiment. The 1st Battalion celebrated the bicentenary of the regiment at Malta in 1894 and the anniversary of the Battle of Alexandria annually. The 2nd Battalion, on the other hand, held games followed by a dinner and a ball on the anniversary of the 61st Regiment's victory at Chillianwallah on 13 January 1849 when overseas, or on the anniversary of that regiment's victory at Salamanca on 22 July 1812 when at home.[21][23]
The new regiment acquired its march, The Kinnegad Slashers, and its official nickname, Slashers, from the 28th Regiment. The name arose from an incident in 1764, when members of the regiment allegedly slashed off part of the ear of a Montreal magistrate who had been harassing soldiers stationed in the city after the Seven Years' War. The regiment was also sometimes referred to as The Old Braggs, from Colonel Philip Bragg, who commanded the 28th Regiment when it was still named after its colonels. Two other nicknames associated with the new regiment were inherited from the 61st Regiment; The Flowers of Toulouse, from the scarlet uniforms of that regiment's many dead in the Battle of Toulouse, and The Silver-Tailed Dandies, from the silver decorations on the longer-than-normal coat tails of the 61st Regiment's uniform.[24]
Post-war[edit]
The regiment accrued 20 different battle honours and lost 870 men killed in the nine battalions that had served under its colours during the Second World War. Only the two regular battalions remained with the regiment at the war's end, though the territorial 5th Battalion was returned to the colours on 1 March 1947 and assigned to the 129th Infantry Brigade of the 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division. That same year, the 1st Battalion was reduced to a cadre and returned from India to the UK, and the 2nd Battalion was posted to Jamaica and detached companies to Bermuda and British Honduras (modern day Belize). It was in Jamaica that, in accordance with the restructuring of the British Army, the regiment's two battalions swapped colours and amalgamated to form the single-battalion Gloucestershire Regiment (28th/61st) on 21 September 1948.[123]
The following were awarded the Victoria Cross, Britain's highest award for bravery, while serving with the Gloucestershire Regiment:[165][166]
Daniel Burges, a temporary Lieutenant-Colonel in the Gloucestershire Regiment, was awarded the VC during the First World War while commanding the 7th Battalion South Wales Borderers.[167]
The following served in the ceremonial position of Colonel of the Regiment:[168]