It came into existence in England in 1689, as Sir Edward Dering's Regiment of Foot, and afterwards had a variety of names and headquarters. In 1782, it became the 24th Regiment of Foot, and had its depot in Warwickshire.
Sir Edward Dering, 3rd Baronet, founder of the regimentSoldier of 24th Regiment of Foot, 1742Plaque 24th Regiment of Foot in Quebec, Canada, dating to 1840
In June 1776 the regiment was sent to Quebec where it subsequently fought American rebels who had invaded the province during their War of Independence. The regiment was part of the 5,000 British and Hessian force, under the command of General John Burgoyne, that surrendered to the American rebels in the Saratoga campaign in summer 1777 and remained imprisoned until 1783.[2] In 1782 it became the 24th (The 2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot.[1]
The regiment was deployed to Egypt in the aftermath of the Battle of Abukir in March 1801; a 2nd Battalion was raised in 1804 which suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Talavera in July 1809 during the Peninsular War.[2] The regiment was involved in the 1806 invasion of the Cape Colony where it saw action at the Battle of Blaauwberg.[6] The vast majority of the 1st Battalion was captured at sea by the French at the action of 3 July 1810 near the Comoro Islands; they had been on the East IndiamenAstell, Ceylon and Windham when a French frigate squadron captured the last two ships. They were released the following year.[7] The 1st Battalion took part in the Anglo-Nepalese War in November 1814.[8] The regiment was deployed to Canada in 1829 and remained there until 1842.[3]
Second Sikh War and Indian Mutiny
Memorial to Private James Cooper VC who fought gallantly in the Andaman Islands in May 1857Marble memorial at St. John's, Jhelum, in memory of the soldiers of the 24th Foot killed there in July 1857 during the Indian Mutiny
The regiment returned to India in 1846 and saw action during the Second Anglo-Sikh War at the Battle of Chillianwala in January 1849, where the regiment fought off the enemy with bayonets rather than rifles and 255 of its men died.[2] Meanwhile, five Victoria Crosses were awarded to men of the regiment who rescued their colleagues from cannibals on the Andaman Islands in May 1867.[2] Some 35 soldiers of the regiment were killed by mutineers at their garrison in Jhelum in July 1857 during the Indian Rebellion: among the dead was Captain Francis Spring, the eldest son of Colonel William Spring.[9]
In 1879 both battalions took part in the Anglo-Zulu War, begun after a British invasion of Zululand, ruled by Cetshwayo. The 24th Regiment of Foot took part in the crossing of the Buffalo River on 11 January, entering Zululand. The first engagement (and the most disastrous for the British) came at Isandlwana. The British had pitched camp at Isandlwana and not established any fortifications due to the sheer size of the force, the hard ground and a shortage of entrenching tools. The 24th Foot provided most of the British force and when the overall commander, Lord Chelmsford, split his forces on 22 January to search for the Zulus, the 1st Battalion (5 companies) and a company of the 2nd Battalion were left behind to guard the camp, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Pulleine (CO of the 1/24th Foot).[2]
A Zulu force of some 20,000 warriors attacked a portion of the British main column consisting of about 1,800 British, colonial and native troops and perhaps 400 civilians.[10] During the battle Lieutenant-Colonel Pulleine ordered Lieutenants Coghill and Melvill to save the Queen's Colour—the Regimental Colour was located at Helpmekaar with G Company. The two Lieutenants attempted to escape by crossing the Buffalo River where the Colour fell and was lost downstream, later being recovered. Both officers were killed. At this time the Victoria Cross (VC) was not awarded posthumously. This changed in the early 1900s when both Lieutenants were awarded posthumous Victoria Crosses for their bravery.[11] The Battle of Isandlwana was dramatized in the 1979 movie Zulu Dawn.[12]
A depiction of soldiers of the 24th Regiment repelling the Zulu attack on Rorke's Drift in January 1879
After the battle of Isandlwana, some 4,000 to 5,000 Zulus headed for Rorke's Drift, a small missionary post garrisoned by a company of the 2nd Battalion of the 24th Foot, a few native levies, and others under the command of Lieutenant Chard, Royal Engineers. The most senior officer of the 24th present was Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead. Two Boer cavalry officers, Lieutenants Adendorff and Vane, arrived to inform the garrison of the defeat at Isandlwana. The Acting Assistant Commissary James Dalton persuaded Bromhead and Chard to stay and the small garrison frantically prepared rudimentary fortifications.[13]
The Zulus first attacked at 4:30 pm. Throughout the day the garrison was attacked from all sides, including rifle fire from the heights above the garrison, and bitter hand-to-hand fighting often ensued. At one point the Zulus entered the hospital, which was stoutly defended by the wounded inside until it was set alight and eventually burnt down. The battle raged on into the early hours of 23 January but by dawn the Zulu Army had withdrawn. Lord Chelmsford and a column of British troops arrived soon afterwards. The garrison had suffered 15 killed during the battle (two died later) and 11 defenders were awarded the Victoria Cross for their distinguished defence of the post, seven going to soldiers of the 24th Foot.[14] The stand at Rorke's Drift was immortalised in the 1964 movie Zulu.[15]
Childers Reforms
The regiment was not fundamentally affected by the Cardwell Reforms of the 1870s, which gave it a depot at The Barracks, Brecon from 1873, or by the Childers reforms of 1881 – as it already possessed two battalions, there was no need for it to amalgamate with another regiment. However, it now had close links with South Wales, with a number of Militia and Volunteer battalions from the region linked to it.[16] The 3rd (Militia) Battalion was formed of the former Royal South Wales Borderers Militia and the 4th from the Royal Montgomeryshire Rifles. It also had four (later five) Volunteer Battalions attached to it.[17][18] Under the reforms the regiment became The South Wales Borderers on 1 July 1881.[19]
The 1st battalion was stationed in Egypt from 1892,[20] then moved to British India. The battalion had various postings, including at Peshawar until late 1902 when it was posted to Mian Mir outside Lahore.[21]
The 3rd (Militia) Battalion was embodied in January 1900, and the following month embarked for service in South Africa, arriving in Cape Town on the SS Cheshire in early March 1900.[26] The 4th (Militia) Battalion was embodied for garrison duty at home.[27]
The 3rd (Reserve) Battalion served at Pembroke Dock and later at Hightown, near Liverpool in home defence while supplying thousands of reinforcements for the regular battalions overseas.[30]
Territorial Force
The 1/1st Brecknockshire Battalion sailed to India attached to the 44th (Home Counties) Division in October 1914. After arriving at Bombay in December it immediately moved to Aden. After seeing action at the Battle of Lahej in July 1915 it returned to Bombay. It remained in garrison at Mhow until October 1919, supplying reinforcement drafts to the 4th (Service) Bn, SWB, in Mesopotamia and to the units involved in the Third Anglo-Afghan War.[30][31][32]
2/1st and 3/1st Brecknockshire Battalions were formed in September 1914 and April 1915 respectively to provide TF reinforcements. Both were absorbed into other Welsh reserve units as the war progressed.[29][30]
New Armies
The 4th (Service) Battalion was formed at Brecon in August 1914 as part of Kitchener's 1st Army ('K1'). It landed in Gallipoli as part of the 40th Brigade in the 13th (Western) Division on 15 July 1915; it was evacuated from Gallipoli in January 1916 and moved to Egypt and then to Mesopotamia.[17][30][31] The 5th (Service) Battalion (Pioneers), formed as a K2 unit in September 1914, landed at Le Havre as part of the 58th Brigade in the 19th (Western) Division in July 1915 for service on the Western Front.[17][30][31] The 6th (Service) Battalion (Pioneers), a K3 unit formed in September 1914, landed at Le Havre as part of the 76th Brigade in the 25th Division in September 1915 for service on the Western Front.[17][30][31] The 7th (Service) Battalion and the 8th (Service) Battalion, both formed as K3 units in September 1914, landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 67th Brigade in the 22nd Division in September 1915 for service on the Western Front but moved to Salonika in October 1915.[17][30][31]
The 9th (Service) Battalion was formed in K4 at Pembroke Dock alongside 3rd (Reserve) Bn at the end of October 1914, but was then converted into the 9th (Reserve) Battalion to supply reinforcements to the 4th–8th (Service) Bns.[17][30][31]
The 10th (Service) Battalion (1st Gwent), 11th (Service) Battalion (2nd Gwent) and 12th (Service) Battalion (3rd Gwent) were raised by the Welsh National Executive Committee as K5 or 'Pals battalions'. The 10th and 11th landed at Le Havre as part of the 115th Brigade in the 38th (Welsh) Division in December 1915 for service on the Western Front.[17][30][31] The 12th (Service) Battalion (3rd Gwent) was raised as a Bantam battalion and landed at Le Havre as part of the 119th Brigade in the 40th Division in June 1916 for service on the Western Front.[17][30][31]Welsh poet and language activist Saunders Lewis served in the 12th Battalion during the First World War.[33]
Also formed were the 13th and 14th (Reserve) Battalions in 1915, the shortlived 15th (Service) Battalion in June 1918, and the 52nd and 53rd (Graduated) and 54th (Young Soldier) Battalions, which were all training units.[17][30][31]
Inter-War
The 1st Battalion embarked for Ireland in June 1920 to maintain order during the Irish War of Independence. The 1st Battalion was in County Meath from September 1920 to February 1922, deployed at Dunshaughlin.[34] Company-sized detachments would also serve in the nearby settlements of Navan, Nobber, Kells and Oldcastle, County Meath.[35] Having arrived on the Indian subcontinent in 1934, it was sent to Waziristan in February 1937 in connection with disturbances on the frontier.[36]
Meanwhile, the 2nd Battalion was sent overseas to Barrackpore in India in 1919, being present in Jhansi in 1921,[37] redeploying to Delhi in 1925, Aden in 1927 then returning to garrison Portsmouth in February 1929.[38] The 2nd Battalion's next tour of duty overseas was Malta in September 1935, followed by Palestine in 1936, returning home at the end of the year.[39]
Second World War
Plaque commemorating the liberation of a bridge in Normandy by the 2nd Battalion, South Wales Borderers on D-Day in June 1944.
1st Battalion
The 1st Battalion, as part of the 10th Indian Infantry Division, was sent to Iraq to quell a German-inspired uprising in Iraq in November 1941.[40] The battalion saw subsequent service in Iran. The battalion sustained enormous casualties in Libya near Tobruk when they lost around 500 officers and men captured or killed during a general retreat.[40] The battalion found itself cut off when the German forces outflanked them, the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Francis Matthews, decided to attempt to escape around the enemy and break through to British lines. It turned into a disaster with only four officers and around one hundred men reaching Sollum.[40] To the surprise of the survivors the battalion was ordered to disband in Cyprus and the remnants of the battalion were transferred, with the exception of a small cadre that returned to the United Kingdom, to the 1st Battalion of the King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster). A few months later the battalion was re-formed from the cadre and the 4th Battalion, Monmouthshire Regiment.[40]
2nd Battalion
Upon the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, the 2nd Battalion was serving in Derry, Northern Ireland, under command of Northern Ireland District, having been there since December 1936.[38] In December 1939 the battalion left Northern Ireland and was sent to join the 148th Infantry Brigade of the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division, a Territorial formation.[41] In April 1940 the battalion was again transferred to the newly created 24th Guards Brigade (Rupertforce), and took part in the Norwegian Campaign, and were among the first British troops to see action against the German Army in the Second World War.[42] The campaign failed and the brigade had to be evacuated. Casualties in the battalion, however, had been remarkably light, with only 13 wounded and 6 killed and two DCMs had been awarded.[43]
Infantrymen of the 2nd Battalion, South Wales Borderers hide themselves in a laurel bush during a brigade exercise near Ballymena in Northern Ireland, 19 September 1941.
The 1st Battalion was deployed to Palestine to deal with the volatile uprising in Palestine there in October 1945 and then moved to Cyprus in April 1946.[49] The 2nd Battalion was disbanded in May 1948 as a consequence of defence cuts implemented shortly after the Second World War.[49]
The regiment deployed to the Sudan in March 1949 and became part of the occupation force in Eritrea, a former Italian colony that was ruled by a British military administration, in January 1950.[49] The regiment arrived in Brunswick, West Germany as part of the British Army of the Rhine in January 1953 and was then deployed to Malaya in December 1955, as part of the response to the Malayan Emergency.[49] The regiment's conduct during the war compelled Field Marshal Sir Gerald Templer, a distinguished British officer and a man instrumental in the defeat of the communist terrorists during the Emergency, to state that, "there has been no better regiment in Malaya during the ten years of the emergency and very few as good".[50]
The regiment was posted to Minden, Germany in June 1959 and returned home three years later.[49] It arrived at Stanley Fort in Hong Kong in November 1963 to perform internal security duties.[49] It returned home to Lydd in Kent in June 1966 before deploying to Aden in January 1967.[49]
Early wars: Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, Malplaquet, [Egypt]1, Cape of Good Hope 1806, Talavera, Busaco, Fuentes d'Onor, Salamanca, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Orthes, Peninsula, Chillianwallah, Goojerat, Punjaub, South Africa 1877-8-9, Burma 1885–87, South Africa 1900-02
The Great War: Mons, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914 '18, Ypres 1914 '17 '18, Langemarck 1914 '17, Gheluvelt, Nonne Bosschen, Givenchy 1914, Aubers, Loos, Somme 1916 '18, Albert 1916 '18, Bazentin, Pozières, Flers-Courcelette, Morval, Ancre Heights, Ancre 1916, Arras 1917 '18, Scarpe 1917, Messines 1917 '18, Pilckem, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, Cambrai 1917 '18, St. Quentin, Bapaume 1918, Lys, Estaires, Hazebrouck, Bailleul, Kemmel, Béthune, Scherpenberg, Drocourt-Quéant, Hindenburg Line, Havrincourt, Épéhy, St. Quentin Canal, Beaurevoir, Courtrai, Selle, Valenciennes, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914–18, Doiran 1917 '18, Macedonia 1915–18, Helles, Landing at Helles, Krithia, Suvla, Sari Bair, Scimitar Hill, Gallipoli 1915–16, Egypt 1916, Tigris 1916, Kut al Amara 1917, Baghdad, Mesopotamia 1916–18, Tsingtao
The Second World War: Norway 1940, Normandy Landing, Sully, Caen, Falaise, Risle Crossing, Le Havre, Antwerp-Turnhout Canal, Scheldt, Zetten, Arnhem 1945, North-West Europe 1944–45, Gazala, North Africa 1942, North Arakan, Mayu Tunnels, Pinwe, Shweli, Myitson, Burma 1944-45
Uniforms
As the 24th Foot the regiment wore first "willow green" and later "grass green" facings on the standard red coats of the British line infantry. In 1881 the facings on the scarlet tunics adopted in 1873, were changed to white but in 1905 the regiment reverted to the historic green. Officers wore silver braid and other distinctions until gold was introduced in 1830.[52] The khaki service dress adopted in 1902, and battle dress in 1938, was of the universal pattern.[53]
^"Dates". Regimental Museum of the Royal Welsh. Archived from the original on 28 June 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
^An Authentic Account of our last attempt on the Coast of France by an Officer who miraculously escaped being cut to pieces, by Swimming to a Boat at a considerable distance from the shore., London, 1758.
^Knight (2002), p. 49, Knight gives a total of 1,768 combat troops, not including wagon drivers and other civilians, of which there were some 350, Colenso, p. 263
^"Training Depots 1873–1881". Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 10 February 2006. Retrieved 16 October 2016.((cite web)): CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) The depot was the 25th Brigade Depot from 1873 to 1881, and the 24th Regimental District depot thereafter
Colenso, Frances E.; (assisted in those portions of the work that touch on military matters by Lieut.-Colonel Edward Durnford) (1880). History of the Zulu War and Its Origin. London: Chapman and Hall. ISBN1-152-31729-6.((cite book)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
James, E.A. (2001) [1978]. British Regiments 1914–18. Uckfield: Naval & Military Press. ISBN978-1-84342-197-9.
Lt-Col H.F. Joslen, Orders of Battle, United Kingdom and Colonial Formations and Units in the Second World War, 1939–1945, London: HM Stationery Office, 1960/London: London Stamp Exchange, 1990, ISBN 0-948130-03-2/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2003, ISBN 1-843424-74-6.
Knight, Ian (1996). Rorke's Drift 1879, "Pinned Like Rats in a Hole". Osprey. ISBN1-85532-506-3.
Knight, Ian (2002). Isandlwana 1879: The Great Zulu Victory. Osprey. ISBN1-84176-511-2.
Bryn Owen, History of the Welsh Militia and Volunteer Corps 1757–1908: Montgomeryshire Regiments of Militia, Volunteers and Yeomanry Cavalry, Wrexham: Bridge Books, 2000, ISBN 1-872424-85-6.
Whybra, Julian (2020). England's Sons: The roll call for Isandhlwana and Rorke's Drift (9th ed.). Chelmsford: One Slice Books Ltd. ISBN978-1-90-890194-1.
Further reading
Adams, Jack (1968). Famous Regiments: The South Wales Borderers. Hamish Hamilton. ISBN978-0241913888.
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