St John's Hill Drill Hall is a military installation at

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

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. The building on St John's Hill became the regimental headquarters for the London Regiment in 1993.

History

The volunteer battalion of the East Surrey Regiment acquired a leasehold interest over a property known as Gothic Villa on St John's Hill in 1882. This volunteer battalion evolved to become the 4th Volunteer Battalion, East Surrey Regiment in 1887. Lord Wandsworth funded the acquisition of a freehold interest in the site in 1897. A drill hall, designed by B. T. L. Thomson, was added at the back of the property around that time and a three storey castellated building, designed by H. Wakeford & Sons, was added at the front of the property in 1902. The battalion evolved further to become the

23rd (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment The 23rd (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment was an auxiliary unit of the British Army. Formed in 1908 from Volunteer units in the Surrey suburbs of London that dated back to 1859, it was part of the London Regiment in the Territoria ...

in 1908 and was mobilised at the drill hall in August 1914 before being deployed to the Western Front. When the London Regiment was broken up in 1937, the unit converted to become the 42nd

Royal Tank Regiment The Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) is the oldest tank unit in the world, being formed by the British Army in 1916 during the First World War. Today, it is the armoured regiment of the British Army's 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade. Formerly known as th ...

with its base at the drill hall. After the war that unit evolved to become the 23rd London Regiment, the East Surrey Regiment in 1956 and then the 4th Battalion 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 Regim ...

in 1961. The drill hall went on to become battalion headquarters for the 8th (Volunteer) Battalion, the Queen's Fusiliers (City of London) in 1988 and regimental headquarters for the London Regiment in 1993.

References

{{Reflist Drill halls in London Buildings and structures in Battersea