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

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees 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 confl ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

. It is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

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 the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

in 1936 and, in the midst of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, 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 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 The East and West Riding Regiment was a regiment of the British Territorial Army from 1999 to 2006. In 2006, it was re-designated as the 4th Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment. History The regiment was formed in 1999 by the amalgamation of the 3rd ...

in 1999 and Corunna Company, 4th Battalion, The

Yorkshire Regiment The Royal Yorkshire Regiment (14th/15th, 19th and 33rd/76th Foot) (abbreviated R 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 Future of ...

in 2006. The building remains an active Army Reserve Centre.

References

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