The London Guards is an administrative formation within 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 ...

comprising the

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 ...

companies A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared go ...

of the

's Grenadier,

Coldstream Coldstream ( gd, An Sruthan Fuar , sco, Caustrim) is a town and civil parish in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. A former burgh, Coldstream is the home of the Coldstream Guards, a regiment in the British Army. Description Coldstream l ...

, Scots and

Irish Guards ("Who Shall Separate s") , colors = , identification_symbol_2 Saffron (pipes), identification_symbol_2_label = Tartan , identification_symbol = , identification_symbol_label = Tactical Recognition F ...

. On formation these companies drew their personnel from the London Regiment which existed from 1993 to 2022. Under the

Integrated Review The Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy, often known as the Integrated Review, and titled as ''Global Britain in a Competitive Age'', was a review carried out by the British government led by Boris Johnson into th ...

published in March 2021 it was announced the London Regiment would lose its regimental status and re-designate as 1st Battalion London Guards. The former companies of the London Regiment became reserve companies of the four senior foot guard regiments with soldiers previously in the London Regiment transferred to foot guards regiments. The London Guards is not a regiment, the companies wear the uniform, and follow the traditions, of their foot guards regiment.

History

Lord Mayor's Show, London 2006 (295300390)

The London Regiment was reformed in 1993 through the re-regimentation of some of the remaining successors of the original regiment (not including, for example, the Artists Rifles or

Kensington Regiment (Princess Louise's) The Kensington Regiment (Princess Louise's) is a unit of the British Army, which originated in the Volunteer Rifle Corps' movement of the 1850s. In 1908 it became a battalion of the London Regiment in the Territorial Force. It was an infantry re ...

), which were part of a number of different TA infantry units: *8th (Volunteer) Battalion, Queen's Fusiliers (8QF) *1st Battalion, 51st Highland Volunteers (1/51 HIGHLAND) *4th (Volunteer) Battalion, Royal Irish Rangers (North Irish Militia) (4 R IRISH) In 1992, the London Scottish, which formed G Company 1/51 HIGHLAND, and the

London Irish Rifles The London Irish Rifles (LIR) was a reserve infantry regiment and then company of the British Army. The unit's final incarnation was as D (London Irish Rifles) Company, the London Regiment. On 1 April 2022 soldiers in the company transferred to ...

, who were D Company 4 R IRISH, were both transferred to 8QF in preparation for its conversion in 1993 to the London Regiment. Upon the regiment's formation, one of the original companies of the former Queen's Regiment, A Company, was disbanded, leaving the new regiment's order of battle as: *RHQ and HQ (Anzio) Company at Battersea (this was the former RHQ location for 8QF; Anzio was chosen for HQ Company as a battle honour common to the antecedents of the four rifle companies) *A (

The London Scottish The London Scottish was a reserve infantry regiment then a company of the British Army. In its final incarnation it was A (The London Scottish) Company, the London Regiment until, on 1 April 2022, soldiers in the company transferred to foot ...

) Company at Westminster and Catford *B (

Queen's Regiment The Queen's Regiment (QUEENS) was an infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1966 through the amalgamation of the four regiments of the Home Counties Brigade. Then, until 1971 the regiment remained one of the largest regiments in the ar ...

) Company at Edgware and Hornsey *C ( City of London Fusiliers) Company at Balham and Camberwell *D (

) Company at Chelsea (Duke of York's HQ) Two companies of the

Royal Green Jackets The Royal Green Jackets (RGJ) was an infantry regiment of the British Army, one of two "large regiments" within the Light Division (the other being The Light Infantry). History The Royal Green Jackets was formed on 1 January 1966 by the amalgama ...

, F Company and G Company, formed part of the regiment between 1998 and 2004. In 2004 elements of the London Regiment were deployed to

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 ...

. Following the restructuring of the British Army in 2004, it was announced that the Guards Division would gain a Territorial Army battalion. This saw the London Regiment retaining its name and multi-badge structure, while transferring from the

Queen's Division The Queen's Division is a British Army training and administrative apparatus for infantry regiments from the east and south of England and the remaining regiment of Fusiliers. Formation The Queen's Division was formed in 1968 with the regime ...

to the Guards Division. The two Royal Green Jackets companies were transferred to the

Royal Rifle Volunteers Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a c ...

in preparation for the formation of

The Rifles The Rifles is an infantry regiment of the British Army. Formed in 2007, it consists of four Regular battalions and three Reserve battalions, plus a number of companies in other Army Reserve battalions. Each battalion of The Rifles was formerl ...

in 2007. In July 2017 B Company transferred to the

Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (or PWRR, also known as 'The Tigers') is the senior English line infantry regiment of the British Army, second in the line infantry order of precedence to the Royal Regiment of Scotland and part of the Q ...

to become B Company, 4th Battalion The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment; and C Company transferred to the

Royal Regiment of Fusiliers The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers (often referred to as the Royal Fusiliers or, simply, the Fusiliers) is an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Queen's Division. Currently, the regiment has two battalions: the 1st battalion, part o ...

to become C Company, 5th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. To replace these two sub-units, F Company, 7th Battalion The Rifles returned to the London Regiment, while a new G Company was raised. In addition to the regimental re-structuring, the regiment was moved under command of the

11th Infantry Brigade and Headquarters South East The 11th Security Force Assistance Brigade is a brigade of the British Army which is intended to train and assist foreign forces. In 2021, under the Future Army changes, the brigade was redesignated, formerly being the 11th Infantry Brigade & HQ ...

and was to be known as the 'Guards reserve battalion'. In 2020 a FOI answer stated it also fell under HQ London District. * Regimental Headquarters, Battersea * HQ (London Irish Rifles) Company, Camberwell * A (The London Scottish) Company,

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

and Mortar Platoon,

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 ...

. * F (Rifles) Company, Hammersmith * G (Guards) Company,

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable ...

In 2021, under the ''Future Soldier'' part of the

published on 16 March, it was announced that the London Regiment would be re-designated as 1st Battalion London Guards by February 2024.

Conversion to foot guards

In April 2022, the London Regiment was re-designated 1st Battalion London Guards and ceased to be a regiment in its own right, with its companies transitioning to become reserve companies of the four senior foot guards regiments. The companies do not form a regiment, reservists wear the uniform and capbadge of their foot guards regiment. Deputy Honorary Colonels for the existing companies (representing on the London Regiment's Regimental Council the regimental identities that the companies derived from) are to continue in post to provide continuity for one year, thereafter, they will be replaced by senior representatives of the respective foot guard regiments. The administrative Headquarters is at St John's Hill with the reserve guards companies at: *Ypres Company,

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

(formerly G (Guards) Company),

*No 17 Company,

Coldstream Guards The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the monarchy; due to this, it often participates in state ceremonia ...

(formerly F (Rifles) Company), Hammersmith *G (Messines) Company,

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 E ...

(formerly A (London Scottish) Company), company(-) in

and platoon in

*No 15 (Loos) Company,

(formerly HQ (London Irish Rifles) Company), Camberwell

Order of precedence

References

External links

* {{British Army Infantry Regiments Infantry regiments of the British Army Military units and formations in London County of London Military units and formations established in 1993 1993 establishments in the United Kingdom