The St Paul's Street drill hall is a military installation in

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

. It is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

History

The building was designed by Captain Willey Cooper as the headquarters of the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, The

Duke of Wellington's Regiment The Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, forming part of the King's Division. In 1702, Colonel George Hastings, 8th Earl of Huntingdon, was authorised to raise a new regiment, which he di ...

and was built between 1899 and 1901. It was opened by Field Marshal Lord Roberts in May 1901. The 2nd Volunteer Battalion, The Duke of Wellington's Regiment evolved to become the 5th Battalion, The Duke of Wellington's Regiment in 1908. The battalion was mobilised at the drill hall in August 1914 before being deployed to the Western Front. The 5th Battalion, The Duke of Wellington's Regiment converted to become the 43rd (5th Duke of Wellington's Regiment) Anti-Aircraft Battalion,

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

in 1936 and, in the midst 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 ...

, it evolved to become the 600th Regiment,

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

(5th Battalion The Duke of Wellington's Regiment) in 1944, and, after the war, the 578th (5th Battalion The Duke of Wellington's) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery in 1947. It then amalgamated with the 382nd Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery (Duke of Wellington's Regiment) in 1955, a unit which converted back to form the West Riding Battalion, The Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding) at Huddersfield in 1961. Following the reductions in 1967, the presence at the St Paul's Street drill hall was re-established by C (The Duke of Wellington's Regiment) Company, 3rd Battalion,

Yorkshire Volunteers The Yorkshire Volunteers was an infantry regiment of the British Territorial Army. The regiment was raised on 1 April 1967 and disbanded on 25 April 1993. Following subsequent amalgamations and reorganisations the regiment is represented by th ...

in 1971. This unit evolved to become C Company, 3rd Battalion, The Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding) (Yorkshire Volunteers) in 1993, Ypres Company (Duke of Wellington's Regiment), The

East and West Riding Regiment East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

in 1999 and Corunna Company, 4th Battalion, The

Yorkshire Regiment The Yorkshire Regiment (14th/15th, 19th and 33rd/76th Foot) (abbreviated YORKS) is an infantry regiment of the British Army, created by the amalgamation of three historic regiments in 2006. It lost one battalion as part of the Army 2020 defence ...

in 2006. The building remains an active

Army Reserve A military reserve force is a military organization whose members have military and civilian occupations. They are not normally kept under arms, and their main role is to be available when their military requires additional manpower. Reserve ...

Centre.

References

{{reflist, 30em Drill halls in England Grade II listed buildings in West Yorkshire Buildings and structures in Huddersfield