The Queen's Gurkha Signals (QG SIGNALS) is a regular unit of

Royal Corps of Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS or R SIGS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communi ...

, one of the combat support arms of

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 Gurk ...

. Together with the

Queen's Gurkha Engineers The 36 Engineer Regiment is a regiment of the Corps of Royal Engineers within the British Army. The regiment trace their history back to before World War II as 36 Army Engineer Regiment. The regiment today is a general support engineer regiment pr ...

, the

Queen's Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment The Queen's Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment, also known as 10 The Queen's Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment or 10 QOGLR, is a regiment of the British Army's Royal Logistic Corps. History The regiment was created on 5 April 2001. It was formed as a mer ...

, the

Royal Gurkha Rifles The Royal Gurkha Rifles (RGR) is a rifle regiment of the British Army, forming part of the Brigade of Gurkhas. Unlike other regiments in the British Army, RGR soldiers are recruited from Nepal, which is neither a dependent territory of the Unite ...

, and a number of smaller support units, they form part of the

Brigade of Gurkhas The Brigade of Gurkhas is the collective name which refers to all the units in the British Army that are composed of Nepalese Gurkha soldiers. The brigade draws its heritage from Gurkha units that originally served in the British Indian Army ...

. QGS was formed during The Malayan Emergency to support the 17th Gurkha Division.

History

The history of Queen's Gurkha Signals dates back to 1911 when Gurkha Signallers were employed in the three Indian Corps of Sappers and Miners (Bombay, Bengal, and Madras). It was not until the

First World War 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 ...

the whole companies of Gurkha signallers existed within these three Corps. Eventually at the end of 1928 these corps were phased out of service due to an insufficient work force. The second Gurkha Signals unit was created during The Malayan Emergency. The unit was raised to support the Gurkha Infantry involved in battle against communist anti-colonial guerilla organization, the

Malayan National Liberation Army The Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA), often mistranslated as the Malayan Races Liberation Army, was a communist guerrilla army that fought for Malayan independence from the British Empire during the Malayan Emergency (1948–1960) and l ...

. This unit was fully composed of Gurkhas unlike the previous incarnation. On 18 December 1959, the newly formed unit was christened 48th Gurkha Brigade Signal Squadron with its commander Major L H Gregory MBE.

Titles of the regiment and its predecessor

As a part of Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations 1977, the Regiment regained its Royal title, along with the Gurkha Engineers, becoming Queen's Gurkha Signals. The Royal title and Royal crown were officially adapted on 20 April 1977. Titles of the regiment and its predecessor are as follows: *Gurkha Signals (1948–1949) *Gurkha Royal Signals (1949–1954) *Gurkha Signals (1954–1977) *Queen's Gurkha Signals (1977–present)

Cap badge and colours

Cap badge

During its formation year all the men were titled Gurkha Royal Signals and wore the badge of the Royal Corps of Signals, 'Jimmy'. On 23 September 1954, Maj Gen LECM Perowne CBE presented the unit with their own cap badge and since that day the regiment celebrates its birthday on 23 September. On 21 April 1956 an honour was bestowed upon the Regiment when Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal presented her pipe banner to the Pipes and Drums. Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal has continued to serve as the Colonel-in-Chief of QGS as she is of

Emblem

Two Khukuris point upwards, the hands crossed in saltire, the cutting edges of the blades inwards, between the blades the figure of Mercury on a globe, the latter supported above by a scroll bearing the motto 'Certa Cito' and below by nine laurel leaves, the whole surmounted by Saint Edward's Crown. The regiment were also given permission to adopt the Red Grant tartan and thus began affiliation with the Scottish Regiment.

Structure

Active

The unit has five squadrons: *246 Squadron -

Perham Down Perham Down is a village in Wiltshire, England, in Tidworth parish on the eastern edge of Salisbury Plain. It lies on a minor road about east of the town of Tidworth and southwest of the town of Ludgershall. The county border with Hampshire is ...

*247 Squadron -

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

*248 Squadron -

*249 Squadron -

Bulford Bulford is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, close to Salisbury Plain. The village is close to Durrington and about north of the town of Amesbury. The Bulford Camp army base is separate from the village but within the parish. ...

*250 Squadron -

Bramcote Bramcote is a suburban village in the Broxtowe district of Nottinghamshire, England, between Stapleford and Beeston. It is in Broxtowe parliamentary constituency. The main Nottingham–Derby road today is the A52, Brian Clough Way. Nearby ...

References

Bibliography

External links

Queen's Gurkha Signals
{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Brigade of Gurkhas