The Home Counties Brigade was an administrative formation of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

from 1948 to 1968. The

Brigade A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. ...

administered the regular

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and m ...

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted ...

s of the

Home Counties The home counties are the counties of England that surround London. The counties are not precisely defined but Buckinghamshire and Surrey are usually included in definitions and Berkshire, Essex, Hertfordshire and Kent are also often inclu ...

of south east

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. After 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

the British Army had fourteen infantry depots, each bearing a letter. The depots were territorially organised, and Infantry Depot C at Howe Barracks in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

was the headquarters for the seven county regiments of the

City A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be de ...

and

County of London The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the Local Governmen ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbourin ...

, Surrey and Sussex. In 1948, the depots adopted names and this depot became the Home Counties Brigade, with all regiments being reduced to a single battalion at the same time. The Home Counties Brigade was formally formed on 14 July 1948, combining the depots of the following regiments: * The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) * The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) *

The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. It was known as the 7th Regiment of Foot until the Childers Reforms of 1881. The regiment served in many wa ...

* The East Surrey Regiment * The Royal Sussex Regiment * The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment *

The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) 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 ...

Under the Defence Review announced in July, 1957, the infantry of the line was reorganised: On 1 April 1958 the Royal Fusiliers were transferred to a newly created

Fusilier Brigade The Fusilier Brigade was an administrative brigade of the British Army from 1958 to 1968, that administered the fusilier regiments. History The Brigade was created as part of the 1957 Defence White Paper announced in July 1957. It was formed on ...

, and over the next three years the remaining six regiments were reduced to four by amalgamation. From 1958 all regiments in the Brigade adopted a common cap badge and brigade buttons, depicting an upright sword within a Saxon crown. The individual battalions were henceforth being distinguished by their collar badges. By 1961 the four regiments in the brigade were: On 31 December 1966 the four regiments of the Home Counties Brigade were merged to become a new "large regiment": The

Queen's Regiment The Queen's Regiment (QUEENS) was an infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1966 through the amalgamation of the four regiments of the Home Counties Brigade. Then, until 1971 the regiment remained one of the largest regiments in the ar ...

, with the four regular battalions redesignated as the 1st to 4th Battalions of the new regiment. On 1 July 1968 the Home Counties Brigade was united with the

Fusilier Fusilier is a name given to various kinds of soldiers; its meaning depends on the historical context. While fusilier is derived from the 17th-century French word ''fusil'' – meaning a type of flintlock musket – the term has been used in con ...

and East Anglian Brigades, to form the Queen's Division.Whitaker's Almanack 1969, p. 473

References

{{British Infantry Infantry administrative brigades of the British Army Military units and formations established in 1948 Military units and formations disestablished in 1968 Home counties