23rd (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment was a battalion of the

London Regiment (1908-1938) London Regiment may refer to two infantry regiments in the British Army: * London Regiment (1908–1938) The London Regiment was an infantry regiment in the British Army, part of the Territorial Force (renamed the Territorial Army in 1921). The ...

, based at the St John's Hill Drill Hall in

Lavender Hill The A3036 is an A road in London, England, running from Waterloo to Wandsworth. Route It starts at the southern tip of the County Hall roundabout where the A302 Westminster Bridge, York Road and A23 Westminster Bridge Road all interse ...

, south London. It served as a Tank Regiment during the Second World War, but reverted to Infantry in the Territorial Army in 1956, when it became a Territorial Battalion of the East Surrey Regiment. In 1961 it was amalgamated to form the 4th (Territorial) Battalion of the

Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment The Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army which existed from 1959 to 1966. In 1966, it was amalgamated with the Queen's Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment, the Royal Sussex Regiment and the Middlesex Regi ...

. This is not to be confused with 23rd (Service) Battalion,

Middlesex Regiment The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1966. The regiment was formed, as the Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment), in 1881 as part of the Childers R ...

History

It originated as the Newington Surry icVolunteers, one of sixty-five volunteer corps reviewed by

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

in Hyde Park on 4 June 1799, made up of 120 men in two companies. They were disbanded on the peace of 1815. A successor unit was raised as a result of the great Volunteer revival of 1859, following fears of a French invasion. The 7th Surrey Rifles (also known as the 7th Surrey Rifle Volunteer Corps) was formed, using Bermondsey Grammar School as its depot. In 1887 it was made the 4th Volunteer Battalion of the East Surrey Regiment. Many members of the Battalion chose to serve in South Africa during the Boer War, and 'I' Company of the 2nd Battalion East Surrey Regiment was composed of members of the 4th Volunteer Battalion.

Territorial Force

When the London Regiment was formed as part of the

Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry ...

in 1908, the unit became its 23rd Battalion. It remained in training between the outbreak of the First World War until on 15 March it landed at

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very ...

as part of 6th London Brigade,

2nd London Division The 47th (1/2nd London) Division was an infantry division of the British Army, raised in 1908 as part of the Territorial Force. Formation The Territorial Force (TF) was formed on 1 April 1908 following the enactment of the Territorial and Re ...

, which that May was renumbered 142nd Brigade in 47th (2nd London) Division. As such it fought in the

Battle of Loos The Battle of Loos took place from 1915 in France on the Western Front, during the First World War. It was the biggest British attack of 1915, the first time that the British used poison gas and the first mass engagement of New Army units. Th ...

and Battle of the Somme before spending the last three months of 1916 on the

Ypres Salient The Ypres Salient around Ypres in Belgium was the scene of several battles and an extremely important part of the Western front during the First World War. Ypres district Ypres lies at the junction of the Ypres–Comines Canal and the Ieperlee ...

. In 1917 the battalion was involved in the battles of

Messines Ridge The Battle of Messines (7–14 June 1917) was an attack by the British Second Army ( General Sir Herbert Plumer), on the Western Front, near the village of Messines (now Mesen) in West Flanders, Belgium, during the First World War. The Ni ...

and the Bourlon Wood. It also faced the German Spring Offensive of 1918 as well as taking part in the Hundred Days Offensive and the liberation of

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...

, before ending the war at Frasnes.

2nd and 3rd Battalions

On the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

a 2/23rd Battalion London Regiment was raised, with the original battalion being renumbered 1/23rd Battalion. Part of 181st (2/6th London) Brigade in 2/2nd London Division (later renamed 60th (London) Division), the new battalion supplied drafts of men to 1/23rd Battalion until autumn 1915, landing in France for active service on 26 June 1916. It remained on the Western Front until October 1916, when it sailed for the Macedonian front, where it spent six months. Its next theatre of war was Palestine, where it remained until May 1918, when it returned to the Western Front for the remainder of the war. When 1/23rd Battalion sailed for France another draft-finding battalion was formed to free up 2/23rd Battalion for active service. This new battalion was numbered 3/23rd Battalion and remained in Britain throughout the war, including time on coastal defence duties in Norfolk and Suffolk whilst based at Benacre Park near

Wrentham, Suffolk Wrentham is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district, in the north-east of the English county of Suffolk. It is located about from the North Sea coast on the A12 trunk road, about south-west of Lowestoft, north of Southwo ...

in early summer 1918.

Later history 1938-1961

When the London Regiment was dissolved in 1938, the battalion became the 42nd Royal Tank Regiment. Following the re-establishment of the Territorial Army in 1947 the Regiment remained as 42nd Royal Tank Regiment until 1956, when a reduction in Territorial Army armoured regiments meant the regiment became the 23rd London again. Further reductions in the size of the Territorial Army in 1961 saw the unit merged to become a Territorial battalion of the newly formed

Battle honours

The battle honours of the regiment were as follows: *South Africa, 1900–02 *Festubert, 1915 *Loos *Somme, 1916, 1918 *Flers-Courcelette *Le Transloy *Messines, 1917 *Cambrai, 1917 *St Quentin *Ancre, 1918 *Bapaume, 1918 *Ypres, 1918 *Courtrai *France and Flanders, 1915–18 *Doiran, 1917 *Gaza *El Mughar *Nebi Samwil *Jerusalem *Jericho *Jordan *Tel 'Asur *Palestine, 1917–18

Memorials

Its First World War memorial is located at St Mary's Church, Battersea.

References

Bibliography

* Beckett, Ian F. W., (1982) ''Riflemen Form: A Study of the Rifle Volunteer Movement 1859–1908'', Aldershot, The Ogilby Trusts, . * Larking, Albert, Capt, (1912) ''History of the 23rd London Regiment, formerly 4th V.B. East Surrey Regiment'', London, County of London Territorial Force Association {{LondonRegiment 23rd History of the London Borough of Southwark Military units and formations in Wandsworth Military units and formations established in 1908 Military units and formations disestablished in 1961