101 (City of London) Engineer Regiment
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101 (City of London) Engineer Regiment (
Explosive Ordnance Disposal Bomb disposal is an explosives engineering profession using the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe. ''Bomb disposal'' is an all-encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated functions in the milit ...
& Search) is a
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 conscript ...
of the British Army's Royal Engineers. Under
Army 2020 Refine Army 2020 Refine was the name given to the restructuring of the British Army, in light of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015. Army 2020 Refine The Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 announced that the structure of the Reac ...
, the regiment moved from a hybrid regiment to a reserve EOD&S regiment with the regimental headquarters established in
Catford Catford is a district in south east London, England, and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Lewisham. It is southwest of Lewisham itself, mostly in the Rushey Green and Catford South wards. The population of Catford, includ ...
. It is part of 29th (Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Search) Group, 8 Engineer Brigade. The Honorary Colonel of the regiment is Col Jools Holland. The regiment draws heritage from 1 Middlesex Engineer Volunteers formed by Norman MacLeod at the South Kensington museum in January 1860. It became part of
56th (London) Armoured 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. ...
.


Origins

Following a war office instruction in 1859 authorising Lord Lieutenants of Counties to raise volunteer corps to be used in case of invasion. They were to be self-funded and by 1860 had a total membership of 119,146 despite subscription costs and uniform costs between £3 and £6. As part of this movement Norman Macleod offered two companies of engineers formed from engineering and allied professions at the South Kensington Museum to form the nucleus of a new Engineer Battalion named the 1st Middlesex Volunteer Engineers. In 1907 Yeomanry and Volunteers became Territorial Army and in 1908 1st Middlesex Volunteer Engineers became the engineers of 2nd London Division. At the start of the second world war the name was changed to 1st London Division Engineers, which evolved to 101 Engineer Regiment (Volunteers) in 1960. It was disbanded on 1 April 1967. A new regimental headquarters grouping four (preexisting) EOD squadrons was formed on 1 June 1988, using the old 101 designation. 2010 saw the hybridisation of the regiment to regular and reserve, and on 28 July 2018 the regiment reverted to its original reserve status with the headquarters moving from Carver Barracks to Hudson House. The Regiment has retained an unbroken link with the London Divisions ( 47th, 56th, 58th, and 60th) over nearly 60 years which included both World Wars. Elements of the Regiment have been actively involved in securing the City of London from the threat of unexploded ordnance since
The Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...
, which included direct support to Operation Olympics, providing military forces to assist with the Security for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Operation Olympics was the longest and largest military security operation in the mainland United Kingdom since World War II. In April 2000 the then
Lord Mayor of the City of London Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...
, Alderman Clive Martin, granted “City of London” status to the Regiment in recognition of its long and distinguished association with the corporation; the Regiment retains close affiliations even today with the Curriers, Patternmakers, Fan Makers, Lightmongers and Constructors. In its 150-year history the Regiment has undergone no less than thirteen changes of name, however, ‘London’ has been the one constant for the past 102 years.


Current organisation

The regiment's current organisation is as follows: * Regimental Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, at Hudson House,
Catford Catford is a district in south east London, England, and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Lewisham. It is southwest of Lewisham itself, mostly in the Rushey Green and Catford South wards. The population of Catford, includ ...
* 217 (London) Field Squadron (EOD&S), in Ilford ** 3 Troop, in
Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...
* 221 Field Squadron (EOD&S), at Hudson House, Catford ** 1 Troop, in Bexleyheath * 350 (Sherwood Foresters) Field Squadron (EOD&S), at Foresters House,
Chilwell Chilwell is a village and residential suburb of Nottingham, in the borough of Broxtowe of Nottinghamshire, west of Nottingham city. Until 1974 it was part of Beeston and Stapleford Urban District, having been in Stapleford Rural District un ...
** 2 & 3 Troops, at
Wallis Barracks Wallis (derived from ''Wallace'') may refer to: People * Wallis (given name) **Wallis, Duchess of Windsor * Wallis (surname) Places * Wallis (Ambleston), a hamlet within the parish of Ambleston in Pembrokeshire, West Wales, United Kingdom * ...
,
Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...
* 579 Field Squadron (EOD&S), in Royal Tunbridge Wells ** 2 (Surrey Yeomanry) Troop, in Redhill ** 3 Troop, in
Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...


Campaigns

101 Engineer Regiment (EOD&S) can trace back service in the following campaigns: * The British Conquest of Egypt 1882 *The second
Boer Boers ( ; af, Boere ()) are the descendants of the Dutch-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled this are ...
War *
World War I 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 ...
* World War II * Operation ALLIED FORCE under NATO in
Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
* Operation
DELIBERATE FORCE Operation Deliberate Force was a sustained air campaign conducted by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), in concert with the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) ground operations, to undermine the military capability of the ...
under NATO in Bosnia * Operation
TELIC Telic may refer to: *Grammatically, indicating telicity *A central argument of Teleology says that the world has clearly been constructed in a purposeful telic rather than a chaotic manner, and must therefore have been made by a rational being, i.e ...
in
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
* Operation HERRICK in
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
* Operation
SHADER In computer graphics, a shader is a computer program that calculates the appropriate levels of light, darkness, and color during the rendering of a 3D scene - a process known as ''shading''. Shaders have evolved to perform a variety of speci ...
in Iraq Operation Tosca in Cyprus


Honours and awards

The distinguished history of the regiment is reflected in the presentation of a total of 208 honours and awards. These consist of: * 12 Distinguished Service Orders * 48 Military Crosses * 27 Distinguished Conduct Medals * 2 George Crosses * 118 Military medals * 1 Queens Gallantry Medal (Iraq - 2004)


References

{{Reflist


Further reading

*Regimental centenary: 101st (London) Field Engineer Regiment (T.A.), 1960, 1st Middlesex Engineer Volunteers, 1860. Aldershot: Gale & Polden, 1960 *Edwards, D. K. A history of 1st Middlesex Volunteer Engineers (101 (London) Engineer Regiment, TA) 1860–1967, together with extensive notes on the formation of the volunteer and territorial forces, and complete with appendices containing matters of regimental pride. eathfield, Sussex 1967.


External links


British Army units from 1945 on
Regiments of the Royal Engineers Explosive ordnance disposal units and formations