The London Rifle Brigade 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 ...

regiment 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 ...

History

The regiment was first raised in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

on 14 December 1859 as 1st London (City of London Volunteer Rifle Brigade) Rifle Volunteer Corps, a rifle volunteer unit made up of five

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 ...

. On 1 July 1881 it was made part of the King's Royal Rifle Corps as its 9th Volunteer Battalion. Ten years later, in December 1891, it was renamed the 1st London Volunteer Rifle Corps (City of London Volunteer Rifle Brigade). One of its early officers was Sir Charles Hunter. In 1893 its headquarters was moved to 130 Bunhill Row in London. When the volunteer and militia units were re-organised as the

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 ...

(TF) in 1908 the unit was again renamed, becoming the 5th (City of London) Battalion of the new London Regiment.

First World War

On the outbreak of 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 ...

in August 1914 it formed a part of the 2nd London Brigade within the

1st 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. ...

. It was mobilised and sent to Bisley. It was moved to Crowborough in September 1914 and landed in France on 5 November, 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 ...

, upon which it left 1st London Division. On 19 May 1915 it was transferred to General Headquarters (GHQ) Troops to form a composite unit with the 1/12th and 1/13th Battalions of the London Regiment, though this only lasted until the following 11 August, when the three battalions regained their original identities. On 25 October 1915 the battalion was transferred to 8th Brigade in 3rd Division. The Battle of the Somme, July-november 1916 Q4209

The Battle of the Somme, July-november 1916 Q4209

One of the unit's lieutenant colonels during the conflict was

Charles Burnell Charles Desborough 'Don' Burnell, (13 January 1876 – 3 October 1969) was a British rower who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics. Biography Burnell was born at Beckenham, then in Kent. He was educated at Eton College and Magdalen Co ...

. On 10 February 1916 it moved again, into 169th Brigade, part of

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. ...

. It was transferred to the corps of the

Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own) The Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own) was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army formed in January 1800 as the "Experimental Corps of Riflemen" to provide sharpshooters, scouts, and skirmishers. They were soon renamed the "Rifle ...

on 7 July the same year, though it still also remained a battalion of the London Regiment.

Later history

The regiment was disbanded in 1919 and reformed in the Territorial Army (TA) in 1920, and was renamed again as 5th City of The London Regiment (London Rifle Brigade) in 1922, then as London Rifle Brigade, The Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own) in 1937. Engine 6166 of the

LMS Royal Scot Class The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Royal Scot Class is a class of 4-6-0 express passenger locomotive introduced in 1927. Originally having parallel boilers, all members were later rebuilt with tapered type 2A boilers, and were in ef ...

was named after the unit in October 1930. '1st Battalion' was added to the unit's name on 31 March 1939 when a duplicate 2nd Battalion was formed, when the TA was ordered to double in size, shortly before the outbreak 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 ...

. The London Rifle Brigade remained at the Bunhill Row drill hall until it was destroyed by bombing in 1940 / 1941. Two of the unit's Second World War officers were Donough O'Brien and

Dickie Burnell Richard Desborough Burnell (26 July 1917 – 29 January 1995) was an English rower who won a gold medal at the 1948 Olympics alongside Bert Bushnell in the double sculls. He and his father Charles are the only father and son in Olympic history ...

. The 1st Battalion, London Rifle Brigade was originally serving as part of the 2nd London Brigade of the

, and later served as the

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 ...

element of the 23rd Armoured Brigade, part of the 8th Armoured Division. The battalion became the 7th Battalion, Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own) (London Rifle Brigade) on 18 January 1941 and fought in the North African Campaign in 1942, later transferring to the 7th Motor Brigade, then part of the 7th Armoured Division, but soon became part of the 1st Armoured Division. The battalion joined the

8th 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

and 9th Armoured Brigades, finally transferring to the 61st Lorried Infantry Brigade of the 6th Armoured Division in May 1944 and fought in the Italian Campaign. The 2nd Battalion, London Rifle Brigade was originally serving with the 5th London Infantry Brigade of the 2nd London Division, before transferring to the 29th Armoured Brigade of the

11th Armoured Division The 11th Armoured Division was an armoured division of the British Army which was created in March 1941 during the Second World War. The division was formed in response to the unanticipated success of the German panzer divisions. The 11th Armou ...

. The battalion was redesignated the 8th Battalion, Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own) (London Rifle Brigade) on 17 January 1941 and fought in

North-West Europe Northwestern Europe, or Northwest Europe, is a loosely defined subregion of Europe, overlapping Northern and Western Europe. The region can be defined both geographically and ethnographically. Geographic definitions Geographically, Northw ...

from June 1944 until May 1945. On 1 April 1947 it absorbed the duplicate 8th Battalion and was renamed the London Rifle Brigade, The Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own). On 1 May 1960 it amalgamated with The Rangers, with the new unit going under the name London Rifle Brigade/Rangers, whose successor unit was part of the 4th (Volunteer) Battalion

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 ...

. This later became G (Royal Green Jackets) Company of the current London Regiment and now G Company, 7th Battalion The Rifles.

Memorials

The London Rifle Brigade was one of the units that cut its badge into the chalk downs at

Fovant Fovant is a village and civil parish in southwest Wiltshire, England, lying about west of Salisbury on the A30 Salisbury-Shaftesbury road, on the south side of the Nadder valley. History The name is derived from the Old English ''Fobbefunt ...

during the First World War, whilst its memorial tablet and roll of honour for the World Wars is located in

St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate is a Church of England church in the Bishopsgate Without area of the City of London, and also, by virtue of lying outside the city's (now demolished) eastern walls, part of London's East End. Adjoining the buildi ...

and its regimental museum is effectively the

Royal Green Jackets (Rifles) Museum The Royal Green Jackets (Rifles) Museum is situated at Peninsula Barracks in Winchester, England. The museum is one of several regimental museums that form part of Winchester's Military Museums. History The museum brings together the collection ...

in Winchester.

References

Sources

* * {{Authority control Military units and formations established in 1859 Military units and formations disestablished in 1960 Battalions of the London Regiment (1908–1938) Military units and formations in London