The Carlton Place drill hall is a military installation in

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

History

The building is a former

Regency era The Regency era of British history officially spanned the years 1811 to 1820, though the term is commonly applied to the longer period between and 1837. George III of the United Kingdom, King George III succumbed to mental illness in late 18 ...

house, built in the late 1820s, to which a substantial new riding school, designed by William Hinves, was added in the late 1840s. The complex was converted into assembly rooms in the 1860s before becoming the headquarters of the 2nd Hampshire Rifle Volunteer Corps. This unit evolved to become the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, the

Hampshire Regiment The Hampshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot and the 67th (South Hampshire) Regiment of Foot. The regim ...

in 1885 and the 5th Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment in 1908. The battalion was mobilised at the drill hall in August 1914 before being deployed to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The battalion amalgamated with the 7th Battalion to form the 5th/7th Battalion at Southampton in 1921 but the two battalions separated again in 1939 for the duration of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The battalion converted to form the 14th Battalion, The Parachute Regiment in 1948. It amalgamated with the 4th Battalion to form the 4th/5th Battalion in 1956 but, following defence cutbacks, the amalgamated battalion was disbanded in 1967. Southampton Universities

Officers' Training Corps The Officers' Training Corps (OTC), more fully called the University Officers' Training Corps (UOTC), are military leadership training units operated by the British Army. Their focus is to develop the leadership abilities of their members whilst ...

moved to the drill hall in 1981.

Current units

* Southampton University Officers' Training Corps

References

{{Buildings in Southampton Drill halls in England Buildings and structures in Southampton