List of British Regular Army regiments (1962)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of British Regular Army regiments after the Army restructuring caused by the 1957 Defence White Paper. The paper set out the reduction in size of the Army to 165,000 following the end of National Service and the change to an entirely voluntary army; units were to be disbanded or amalgamated over two phases, to be completed in 1959 and 1962.[1]

Further cuts and amalgamations followed in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Cavalry[edit]

Household Cavalry[edit]

Royal Armoured Corps[edit]

Heavy Cavalry[edit]

Light cavalry[edit]

The Royal Tank Regiment[edit]

Combat Arms[edit]

Infantry[edit]

The infantry in 1962 was divided into 15 separate brigades for administrative purposes:

  • Guards Brigade: Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, Irish Guards, Welsh Guards.
  • Lowland Brigade: The Royal Scots, King's Own Scottish Borderers, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) and Royal Highland Fusiliers.
  • Highland Brigade: The Black Watch, Gordon Highlanders, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and Queen's Own Highlanders.
  • Home Counties Brigade: The Royal Sussex Regiment, Middlesex Regiment, Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment and Queen's Own Buffs.
  • Fusilier Brigade: Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regt) and Lancashire Fusiliers.
  • East Anglian Brigade: 1st, 2nd and 3rd East Anglian Regiments
  • Forester Brigade: Royal Warwickshire Regiment (until November 1962), Royal Leicestershire Regiment, Sherwood Foresters.
  • Mercian Brigade: Cheshire Regiment, Worcestershire Regiment, Staffordshire Regiment.
  • Welsh Brigade: Royal Welsh Fusiliers, South Wales Borderers, Welsh Regiment.
  • Wessex Brigade: Gloucestershire Regiment, Royal Hampshire Regiment, Devonshire and Dorset Regiment, Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment.
  • Lancastrian Brigade: The Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire), King's Own Royal Border Regiment, King's Regiment and Lancashire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Volunteers).
  • Yorkshire Brigade: The Green Howards, Duke of Wellington's Regiment, Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire and York & Lancaster Regiment.
  • North Irish Brigade: Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, Royal Irish Fusiliers, Royal Ulster Rifles.
  • Light Infantry Brigade: King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, King's Shropshire Light Infantry, Durham Light Infantry, Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry.
  • Green Jackets Brigade: 1st Green Jackets (43rd and 52nd), 2nd Green Jackets (King's Royal Rifle Corps), 3rd Green Jackets (Rifle Brigade).


Foot Guards[edit]

Line Infantry and Rifles[edit]

Services[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b The Royal Horse Guards (The Blues) and 1st The Royal Dragoons amalgamated in 1969 to form the Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons)
  2. ^ Formed by the amalgamation of 1st King's Dragoon Guards and The Queen's Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards) in 1959[2]
  3. ^ a b The 3rd Carabiniers (Prince of Wales's Dragoon Guards) and The Royal Scots Greys (2nd Dragoons) amalgamated in 1971 to form the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys)[3]
  4. ^ Formed by the amalgamation of 3rd The King's Own Hussars and 7th Queen's Own Hussars in 1958
  5. ^ Formed by the amalgamation of 4th Queen's Own Hussars and 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars in 1958
  6. ^ formed by the amalgamation of 9th Queen's Royal Lancers and 12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's) in 1960
  7. ^ a b The 10th Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales's Own) and 11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own) amalgamated in 1969 to form the Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales's Own)
  8. ^ The 6th Royal Tank Regiment amalgamated with 3RTR in 1958[4]
  9. ^ The 7th Royal Tank Regiment amalgamated with 4RTR in 1958
  10. ^ The 8th Royal Tank Regiment amalgamated with 5RTR in 1958
  11. ^ The Transport and Movement Coastal Service of the RE formed part of the Royal Corps of Transport in 1965
  12. ^ a b c d The Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment, Queen's Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment, Royal Sussex Regiment and Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) were amalgamated into the Queen's Regiment in 1966[5]
  13. ^ a b c d The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers, Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) and Lancashire Fusiliers were amalgamated into the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers in 1968.
  14. ^ Renamed Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers in 1963
  15. ^ a b c d 1st East Anglian Regiment (Royal Norfolk and Suffolk), 2nd East Anglian Regiment (Duchess of Gloucester's Own Lincoln and Northamptonshire), 3rd East Anglian Regiment (16th/44th Foot) and Royal Leicestershire Regiment were amalgamated into the Royal Anglian Regiment in 1964[7]
  16. ^ a b c d The Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, King's Shropshire Light Infantry and Durham Light Infantry were amalgamated into The Light Infantry in 1968
  17. ^ a b The South Wales Borderers and Welch Regiment were amalgamated into the Royal Regiment of Wales in 1969
  18. ^ a b The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) and the York and Lancaster Regiment were disbanded in 1968
  19. ^ a b c The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, Royal Ulster Rifles and Royal Irish Fusiliers (Princess Victoria's) were amalgamated into the Royal Irish Rangers (27th (Inniskilling), 83rd and 87th) in 1968
  20. ^ a b The Worcestershire Regiment and the Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) were amalgamated into the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment (29th/45th Foot) in 1970
  21. ^ a b The Lancashire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Volunteers) and the Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire) were amalgamated into the Queen's Lancashire Regiment in 1970
  22. ^ a b c 1st Green Jackets (43rd and 52nd), 2nd Green Jackets, The King's Royal Rifle Corps and 3rd Green Jackets, The Rifle Brigade were amalgamated into the Royal Green Jackets in 1966
  23. ^ Formed part of the Royal Corps of Transport in 1965

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Merged regiments and new brigading — many famous units to lose separate identity", The Times, July 25, 1957.
  2. ^ "1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards". Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  3. ^ Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, Ministry of Defence, retrieved 4 December 2020
  4. ^ "3rd Royal Tank Regiment". Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 20 February 2007.
  5. ^ "Post-War Amalgamation 1946-1966 The Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment"
  6. ^ "4th Battalion, The King's Own Royal Border Regiment". Archived from the original on 16 August 2007. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  7. ^ "Birth of a regiment". East Anglian Film Archive. 19 September 1959. Retrieved 24 January 2016.