The Rangers was a

volunteer Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

unit 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 Gurk ...

, originally formed in 1860. It provided a detachment for service in the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

, saw intensive action on the Western Front in 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 ...

(including the Battles of the Somme and Passchendaele), and served as

motorised infantry Motorized infantry is infantry that is transported by trucks or other motor vehicles. It is distinguished from mechanized infantry, which is carried in armoured personnel carriers or infantry fighting vehicles, and from light infantry, which ...

during 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 ...

during the campaigns in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

and the Western Desert.

Early history

The enthusiasm for the

Volunteer movement The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a popular movement throughout the British Empire in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increasingly integrated ...

following an invasion scare in 1859 saw the creation of many Rifle Volunteer Corps composed of part-time soldiers eager to supplement the Regular

in time of need. One such unit was the Central London Rifle Rangers formed in 1859 at

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

, London, from members of the legal profession. It officially came into existence on 30 April 1860 and was numbered as the 40th Middlesex Rifle Volunteer Corps. It was included in the 3rd Administrative Battalion of Middlesex RVCs. The unit drilled in the precincts of Gray's Inn and the headquarters (HQ) was established first at Field Court and then at South Square at Gray's Inn.Wheeler-Holohan & Wyatt, pp. 2–3.Westlake, p. 175.The Rangers at Regiments.org.
/ref> gray's inn zzz

In 1861, the corps was made independent of the 3rd Administrative Battalion and absorbed the single-company 35th (Enfield) Middlesex RVC whose commanding officer (CO), Alfred Plantagenet F.C. Somerset (formerly of the 13th Light Infantry), became lieutenant-colonel of the combined battalion, which was authorised to expand to eight companies in 1862. Its uniform was based on that of the

Kings Royal Rifle Corps The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United St ...

(KRRC).''Army List'', various dates. Sir Alfred Plantagenet Frederick Charles Somerset (1829–1915) was the grandson of

Henry Somerset, 5th Duke of Beaufort Henry Somerset, 5th Duke of Beaufort (16 October 1744 – 11 October 1803) was an English courtier and politician. He was the only son of Charles Noel Somerset, 4th Duke of Beaufort and Elizabeth Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort. Styled Marqu ...

and nephew of Field Marshal Lord Raglan.''Burkes''. His second-in-command was Major the Hon Hallyburton Campbell (1829–1918) son of the

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...

John Campbell, 1st Baron Campbell John Campbell, 1st Baron Campbell, PC, QC, FRSE (15 September 1779 – 23 June 1861) was a British Liberal politician, lawyer and man of letters. Background and education The second son of the Reverend George Campbell, D.D., and Magdalene H ...

, and formerly of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

's service.Hallyburton George Campbell at The Peerage.com.
/ref>Wheeler-Holohan & Wyatt, p. 4. The first Honorary Colonel, appointed in 1862, was General Sir

James Yorke Scarlett General Sir James Yorke Scarlett (1 February 1799 – 6 December 1871) was a British Army officer and hero of the Crimean War who led the Charge of the Heavy Brigade during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854. Early life The second son o ...

, son of James Scarlett, 1st Baron Abinger, a former

Attorney General for England and Wales His Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales is one of the law officers of the Crown and the principal legal adviser to sovereign and Government in affairs pertaining to England and Wales. The attorney general maintains the Attorney ...

. General Scarlett was Major Campbell's uncle, and another nephew, Leopold James York Campbell Scarlett (1847–88), was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Rangers in 1863 (he later became Lt-Col in the

Scots Guards The Scots Guards (SG) is one of the five Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. Its origins are as the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland. Its lineage can be traced back to 1642, although it was only placed on the ...

). Alfred Somerset left the battalion in 1866 to take command of the 2nd Tower Hamlets Militia, and was succeeded as Lt-Col by Hallyburton Campbell. Campbell's elder brother,

William Campbell, 2nd Baron Stratheden and Campbell William Frederick Campbell, 2nd Baron Stratheden, 2nd Baron Campbell (15 October 1824 – 21 January 1893), was a British peer and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician. His father was the Lord Chancellor. Background Stratheden and Campbell was ...

, became Hon Colonel after Gen Scarlett's death in 1872. Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell (who succeeded as 3rd Lord Stratheden and Campbell in 1893) left the battalion in 1872. When the

Cardwell Reforms The Cardwell Reforms were a series of reforms of the British Army undertaken by Secretary of State for War Edward Cardwell between 1868 and 1874 with the support of Liberal prime minister William Ewart Gladstone. Gladstone paid little attention ...

introduced 'Localisation of the Forces' in 1873, the 40th Middlesex was brigaded, together with several other London and Middlesex Volunteer and

Militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

battalions, in Brigade No 49 (Middlesex and Metropolitan) under the

Royal Fusiliers 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 wars ...

. The Volunteer units of these brigades met once a year for a training camp.

Reform

The battalion was equipped with the Enfield Rifle Musket, later the Snider-Enfield, and used a 600-yard range at

Tottenham Park Tottenham House is a large Grade I listed English country house in the parish of Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, about five miles southeast of the town of Marlborough. It is separated from the town by Savernake Forest, which is part of the Tottenha ...

. After Lt-Col Campbell left, the battalion was commanded by a succession of officers, including Lt-Col Adrian Hope, who left to command the

London Rifle Brigade The London Rifle Brigade was a volunteer regiment of the British Army. History The regiment was first raised in the City of London on 14 December 1859 as 1st London (City of London Volunteer Rifle Brigade) Rifle Volunteer Corps, a rifle volun ...

, and Lt-Col Henry Hozier, a former staff officer on the

British Expedition to Abyssinia The British Expedition to Abyssinia was a rescue mission and punitive expedition carried out in 1868 by the armed forces of the British Empire against the Ethiopian Empire (also known at the time as Abyssinia). Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia, t ...

and war correspondent of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

''. The unit's numbers began to fall until 1875, when it was reinvigorated under the command of Lt-Col

Howard Vincent Colonel Sir Charles Edward Howard Vincent (31 May 1849 – 7 April 1908), known as Howard Vincent or C. E. Howard Vincent, was a British soldier, barrister, police official and Conservative Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1 ...

, later Sir Howard Vincent, first director of the

Criminal Investigation Department The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is the branch of a police force to which most plainclothes detectives belong in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth nations. A force's CID is distinct from its Special Branch (though officers of b ...

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

. Vincent instigated a conference of Volunteer COs in January 1878 to discuss reform of the Volunteer Force.Wheeler-Holohan & Wyatt, pp. 5–6. Central London Rangers, 1896

In the subsequent reforms, the Rangers were renumbered as the 22nd Middlesex RVC (Central London Rangers) in 1880 and became a Volunteer Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers the following year. This affiliation was changed to the KRRC a year later; officially the Rangers were the 8th VB KRRC, but did not change their title. The

Adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commission ...

of the battalion was a Regular officer seconded from the Royal Fusiliers, then from the KRRC. These included Capt (later Col) Sir Thomas Pilkington, 12th Bt, who had served at the

Battle of Tell El Kebir The Battle of Tel El Kebir (often spelled Tel-El-Kebir) was fought on 13 September 1882 at Tell El Kebir in Egypt, 110 km north-north-east of Cairo. An entrenched Egyptian force under the command of Ahmed ʻUrabi was defeated by a British ...

, and Maj Lord Robert Manners (killed in action in 1917), son of the

Duke of Rutland Duke of Rutland is a title in the Peerage of England, named after Rutland, a county in the East Midlands of England. Earldoms named after Rutland have been created three times; the ninth earl of the third creation was made duke in 1703, in who ...

.Wheeler-Holohan & Wyatt, p. 10. Vincent resigned the command upon his appointment to Scotland Yard, and was succeeded by Lt-Col Sir Henry Malet, late of the

Grenadier Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

, and then in 1881 by the battalion's major, William Alt. In June 1882, Lt-Col Alt purchased two five-barrel Nordenfelt machine guns and designed a suitable carriage for them. The Rangers claimed to be the first infantry battalion of the British Army to use machine guns, but were not allowed to use them on parade. Eventually, permission was granted for experimental use in training at

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alders ...

. Possession of machine guns by Volunteer units was finally authorised by the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

in October 1883. During Alt's command, the Rangers recruited two companies from employees of the

Gas Light and Coke Company The Gas Light and Coke Company (also known as the Westminster Gas Light and Coke Company, and the Chartered Gas Light and Coke Company), was a company that made and supplied coal gas and coke. The headquarters of the company were located on H ...

Beckton Gas Works Beckton Gasworks was a major London gasworks built to manufacture coal gas and other products including coke from coal. It has been variously described as 'the largest such plant in the world' Winchester C (Ed), ''Handling 2,000,000 tons of coa ...

, and a signal section was established in 1886.Wheeler-Holohan & Wyatt, pp. 8–9. Between 1891 and 1899 a

Cadet Corps A corps of cadets, also called cadet corps, was originally a kind of military school for boys. Initially such schools admitted only sons of the nobility or gentry, but in time many of the schools were opened also to members of other social classes. ...

at Mayall College,

Herne Hill Herne Hill is a district in South London, approximately four miles from Charing Cross and bordered by Brixton, Camberwell, Dulwich, and Tulse Hill. It sits to the north and east of Brockwell Park and straddles the boundary between the borou ...

, was attached to the battalion. The Stanhope Memorandum of December 1888 introduced a Mobilisation Scheme for Volunteer units, which would assemble in their own brigades at key points in case of war. In peacetime, these brigades provided a structure for collective training. The Rangers were assigned to the North London Brigade.

Second Boer War

After '

Black Week Black Week refers to the week of 10–17 December 1899 during the Second Boer War, when the British Army suffered three devastating defeats by the Boer Republics at the battles of Stormberg, Magersfontein and Colenso. In total, 2,776 British s ...

' in December 1899, the War Office accepted the offer of the

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...

, Sir Alfred Newton, to raise a force (the

City Imperial Volunteers The City of London Imperial Volunteers (CIV) was a British corps of volunteers during the Second Boer War. After the outbreak of the Second Boer War in October 1899, volunteer corps were established in most counties of the United Kingdom to prov ...

(CIVs)) from among the London Volunteer units for service in the

. The Rangers provided a detachment of one officer (Lt Brian Alt, son of Lt-Col Alt) and 26 other ranks, who served in H Company of the CIVs between February and October 1900. Lieutenant Alt was killed at the

Battle of Diamond Hill The Battle of Diamond Hill (Donkerhoek) () was an engagement of the Second Boer War that took place on 11 and 12 June 1900 in central Transvaal. Background The Boer forces retreated to the east by the time the capital of the South African ...

on 12 June, the only officer casualty suffered by the CIVs. Other members of the battalion served with the

Imperial Yeomanry The Imperial Yeomanry was a volunteer mounted force of the British Army that mainly saw action during the Second Boer War. Created on 2 January 1900, the force was initially recruited from the middle classes and traditional yeomanry sources, but su ...

(IY), including Charles Bromfield, who had been commissioned from the ranks of the Rangers as a captain in the 87th Company of the Imperial Yeomanry and died of wounds received in action near

Boshof Boshof is a farming town in the west of the Free State province, South Africa. The town is 55 km north-east of Kimberley on the R64 road. Established in March 1856 on the farm Vanwyksvlei, which had been named after a Griqua who sowed his ...

in February 1902. For providing these contingents, the Rangers were awarded the

Battle honour A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or operation on its flags ("colours"), uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible. In European military t ...

South Africa 1900–02. After the war, the Rangers' battalion HQ moved from South Square at Gray's Inn to 3 Henry Street, Grays Inn.

Territorial Force

When the

Volunteers Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

were subsumed into the new

Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry i ...

(TF) under the

Haldane Reforms The Haldane Reforms were a series of far-ranging reforms of the British Army made from 1906 to 1912, and named after the Secretary of State for War, Richard Burdon Haldane. They were the first major reforms since the " Childers Reforms" of the ...

of 1908, the Rangers were transferred from the KRRC to the new all-Territorial London Regiment, as 12th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (The Rangers).Wheeler-Holohan & Wyatt, p. 11.Rangers at Stepping Forward London.
/ref> On 25 June 1908, the battalion took over the

Drill Hall A drill hall is a place such as a building or a hangar where soldiers practise and perform military drills. Description In the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, the term was used for the whole headquarters building of a military reserve unit, ...

Chenies Street Chenies Street is a street in Bloomsbury, London, that runs between Tottenham Court Road and Gower Street. It is the location of a number of notable buildings such as Minerva House, the Drill Hall (now RADA Studios), and a memorial to The Range ...

. Designed by Samuel Knight, this had been built in 1882–3 for the Bloomsbury Rifles (19th Middlesex RVC). In 1908, that corps merged with

Queen Victoria's Rifles The 9th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Queen Victoria's Rifles) was a Territorial Army infantry battalion of the British Army. The London Regiment was formed in 1908 in order to regiment the various Volunteer Force battalions ...

(1st Middlesex RVC) to form the 9th Bn London Regiment, which continued to use the QVRs' HQ at Davies Street while the Rangers took over the building in Chenies Street. The North London Brigade, including the 12th Battalion, became the 3rd London Brigade in the 1st London Division of the TF.Becke, Pt 2a, pp. 141–7.London Regiment at Long, Long Trail.
/ref>
/ref>

First World War

On the outbreak of the

in August 1914, the Rangers formed part of 3rd London Brigade within 1st London Division. It was mobilised and moved to Bullswater, then to Crowborough in September and

Roehampton Roehampton is an area in southwest London, in the Putney SW15 postal district, and takes up a far western strip running north to south of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It contains a number of large council house estates and is home to the U ...

in December. In the interim, during October 1914, it was assigned to guard Waterloo-North Camp (Aldershot) railway. On 25 December 1914, it left its division on landing at

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very cl ...

. On 8 February 1915, it was put under the command of 84th Brigade within 28th Division. On 8 May 1915 the battalion took part in the battle of Frezenburg Ridge, resulting in its almost complete destruction. At the end of the day it mustered only 53 men - all officers being either killed, wounded or captured. The battalion was transferred to GHQ Troops on 20 May to form a composite unit with the London Regiment's 1/5th and 1/13th Battalions–that only lasted until 11 August, when the three battalions regained their original identity. On 12 February 1916, it was moved into 168th Brigade within

56th (London) Division The 56th (London) Infantry Division was a Territorial Army infantry division of the British Army, which served under several different titles and designations. The division served in the trenches of the Western Front during the First World War. ...

. The battalion switched brigades on 31 January 1918, moving to 175th Brigade within 58th Division–at the same time it absorbed its duplicate battalion, 2/12th Battalion, which had been formed in September 1914.

Interwar years

The unit was formally transferred to the corps of the KRRC on 7 July 1916, though it also remained a battalion of the London Regiment until 1937, when it was renamed The Rangers, The King's Royal Rifle Corps.

Second World War

Upon the outbreak of the

in September 1939, both battalions were part of the 3rd London Brigade. On 22 March 1941, while serving with the 20th Armoured Brigade, it became the 9th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps (The Rangers).

Post war

In 1947, the battalion became The Rangers, The Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own). In 1960, the Rangers amalgamated with the

to form London Rifle Brigade/Rangers.

Traditions

Because of its initial links with Gray's Inn, the regiment claimed descent from the Inns of Court Volunteers of 1780. The Rangers were actually founded to accommodate members of the Inns of Court who did not wish to join the exclusive 23rd (Inns of Court) Middlesex RVC, which had a better claim to descent from ''The Devil's Own''. The regiment's motto, ''Excel'', was derived from the Roman numerals (XL) of its original numbering as the 40th Middlesex RVC.

Uniform and insignia

On formation, the Rangers adopted the uniform of the Kings Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC), a

Rifle green Shades of chartreuse are listed below. Historically, many of these colors have gone under the name of either yellow or green, as the specifics of their color composition was not known until later. Wrapping the spectrum into a color wheel In a ...

tunic with scarlet

facings A facing colour is a common tailoring technique for European military uniforms where the visible inside lining of a standard military jacket, coat or tunic is of a different colour to that of the garment itself.René Chartrand, William Younghusba ...

(except the KRRC's scarlet piping down the front edge of the tunic). A black

Shako A shako (, , or ) is a tall, cylindrical military cap, usually with a visor, and sometimes tapered at the top. It is usually adorned with an ornamental plate or badge on the front, metallic or otherwise; and often has a feather, plume (see hackle) ...

was worn with a black ball tuft and a silver plated shako plate bearing an eight-pointed star with a bugle, the number XL and the motto Excel, surmounted by a bronzed crown. The waist belt, pouch and bayonet frog were in black leather. Until 1875, dismounted as well as mounted officers wore leather knee boots with the trousers tucked into them. The Pioneers wore a

Bearskin A bearskin is a tall fur cap, usually worn as part of a ceremonial military uniform. Traditionally, the bearskin was the headgear of grenadiers, and remains in use by grenadier and guards regiments in various armies. Bearskins should not be c ...

of the Guards' pattern. In 1878–9, a black cloth helmet with bronze fittings was adopted, and by 1885 was in use by all members of the battalion. The helmet and pouch plates were changed to a

Maltese cross The Maltese cross is a cross symbol, consisting of four " V" or arrowhead shaped concave quadrilaterals converging at a central vertex at right angles, two tips pointing outward symmetrically. It is a heraldic cross variant which developed f ...

pattern to resemble the KRRC's. A new Rifle pattern small Busby was adopted in place of the helmet in 1892. During the 20th Century, the bronze cap badge, like that of the KRRC, was worn on a scarlet backing.

Memorials

Rangers_memorial,_North_Crescent,_Chenies_Street

The Rangers' First World War memorial was erected in North Crescent, Chenies Street, close to the drill hall. After the Second World War, the battle honours for that war were added to the memorial. The battalion is also named on the listed on the

City and County of London Troops Memorial 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 def ...

in front of the Royal Exchange, with architectural design by

Sir Aston Webb Sir Aston Webb (22 May 1849 – 21 August 1930) was a British architect who designed the principal facade of Buckingham Palace and the main building of the Victoria and Albert Museum, among other major works around England, many of them in par ...

and sculpture by

Alfred Drury Edward Alfred Briscoe Drury (11 November 1856 – 24 December 1944) was a British architectural sculptor and artist active in the New Sculpture movement. During a long career Drury created a great number of decorative figures such as busts and ...

. The right-hand (southern) bronze figure flanking this memorial depicts an infantryman representative of the various London infantry units. Each unit listed on the memorial was given a bronze plaque; that for the 12th Londons (Rangers) is held at the Army Reserve Centre in

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancien ...

Battle Honours

The Rangers were awarded the following

s; those listed in Bold were chosen to be carried on the regimental insignia, because Rifle regiments do not carry

Colours Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...

: * South Africa 1900–02 * First World War: Ypres 1915 '17, Gravenstafel, St Julien, Frezenberg, Somme 1916 '18, Albert 1916 '18, Ginchy, Flers-Courcellette, Morval, Le Transloy, Arras 1917, Scarpe 1917, Langemarck 1918, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Passchendales, Cambrai 1917, Villers Brettonneux, Amiens, Bapaume 1918,, Hindenburg Line, Épehy, Pursuit to Mons, France and Flanders 1915–18 * Second World War: Gazala, Retima, Bir Hacheim, Defence of Alamein Line, Ruweisat, Fuka Airfield, North Africa 1942, Veve, Proasteion, Greece 1941, Crete, Canea, Retimo, Middle East 1941

Honorary Colonels

* General the Hon Sir

, appointed 1862. *

, appointed 1872. * Major C.W. Cradock, Royal Fusiliers, former adjutant of the battalion, appointed 1901. * Col Willam Alt, CB, former CO of the battalion, appointed 1907. * Sir

Corbet Woodall Corbet Stafford Woodall (6 April 1929 – 19 May 1982), was an English newsreader for the BBC. Born in Hampshire, he was educated as an Oppidan scholar at Eton College where he also excelled at sports. He worked in the 1950s for the New Ze ...

, Governor of the

, appointed 1909.Wheeler-Holohan & Wyatt, p. 12. * Lieutenant-General Sir

Louis Bols Lieutenant General Sir Louis Jean Bols (23 November 1867 – 13 September 1930) was a British Army General, he served as Edmund Allenby's Third Army Chief of Staff on the Western Front and Sinai and Palestine campaigns of World War I. Fro ...

, KCB,

KCMG KCMG may refer to * KC Motorgroup, based in Hong Kong, China * Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, British honour * KCMG-LP, radio station in New Mexico, USA * KCMG, callsign 1997-2001 of Los Angeles radio station KKLQ (FM) ...

, DSO, appointed 1919 * Sir David Milne-Watson, 1st Bt, Managing Director of the Gas Light and Coke Company, appointed 1924 * Field Marshal

Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis Harold Rupert Leofric George Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis, (10 December 1891 – 16 June 1969) was a senior British Army officer who served with distinction in both the First and the Second World War and, afterwards, as Governor G ...

, KG, GCB,

GCMG The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III. It is named in honour ...

GCVO The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, or ...

, CSI, DSO, MC, appointed 1949 * Colonel Sir W. James Waterlow, 2nd Bt,

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

, TD, appointed 1952

Notes

References

* Anon, ''Regimental Badges and Service Caps'', London: George Philip & Sons, 1941. * Maj A.F. Becke,''History of the Great War: Order of Battle of Divisions, Part 2a: The Territorial Force Mounted Divisions and the 1st-Line Territorial Force Divisions (42–56)'', London: HM Stationery Office, 1935/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2007, . * Ian F.W. Beckett, ''Riflemen Form: A Study of the Rifle Volunteer Movement 1859–1908'', Aldershot: Ogilby Trusts, 1982, . * ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage,'' 100th Edn, London, 1953. * Bridget Cherry & Nikolaus Pevsner, ''The Buildings of England: London 4: North'', London: Yae University Press, 2002, . * Col John K. Dunlop, ''The Development of the British Army 1899–1914'', London: Methuen, 1938. * Lt-Col James Moncrieff Grierson (Col Peter S. Walton, ed.), ''Scarlet into Khaki: The British Army on the Eve of the Boer War'', London: Sampson Low, 1899/London: Greenhill, 1988, . * Edward M. Spiers, ''The Army and Society 1815–1914'', London: Longmans, 1980, . * Ray Westlake, ''Tracing the Rifle Volunteers'', Barnsley: Pen and Sword, 2010, . * Capt A.V. Wheeler-Holohan & Capt C.M.G. Wyatt (eds), ''The Rangers' Historical Records from 1859 to the Conclusion of the Great War'', London, 1921/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2003, .

External sources

Mark Conrad, ''The British Army, 1914'' (archive site)

The Long, Long Trail

The Peerage.com

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20100118221541/http://warpath.orbat.com/index.htm The Regimental Warpath 1914–1918 (archive site)
Stepping Forward London: A Tribute to the Volunteer Military Reservists ad Supporting Auxiliaries of Greater London.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rangers, The Battalions of the London Regiment (1908–1938) Military units and formations established in 1860 Military units and formations disestablished in 1960 Military units and formations in London British Army Rangers