THE QUEEN'S ROYAL REGIMENT (WEST SURREY), FORMERLY THE 2ND FOOT: RECORDS, (1662)-2007

QRWS

THE QUEEN'S ROYAL REGIMENT (WEST SURREY), FORMERLY THE 2ND FOOT: RECORDS, (1662)-2007

The main series of records relate to the administration of the Regiment and its constituent battalions, particularly in the late 19th and 20th centuries. These include standing orders, digests of service, copies of orders received, reports, war diaries, and some lists of personnel and casualty lists. In addition there is a large collection of ephemera, including programmes and menus relating to parades, commemorations and other events, a fine collection of photograph albums and other photographs and illustrative material and copies of articles and research into the history of the regiment and individual battalions. The series of private papers of soldiers who served with the regiment, ranging from a single photograph or set of service papers, to diaries, correspondence and memoirs, is still being added to.

Records relating to the regiment as a whole or to the depot at Guildford are listed first (QRWS/1/-), followed by records relating to individual battalions, broadly arranged in battalion number order. Battalions represented include the two regular battalions, 1st Battalion (QRWS/2/-) and 2nd Battalion (QRWS/3/-); the militia or 3rd Battalion (QRWS/4/-); the volunteer later territorial battalions, 4th Battalion, 5th Battalion, 6th Battalion (formerly 22nd London Regiment) and 7th Battalion (formerly 24th London Regiment), which multiplied during the world wars to form 1/4th, 2/4th Battalions etc (QRWS/5/- to QRWS/13/-, QRWS/15/- to QRWS/16/-); the additional service battalions and reserve battalions created during World War I, 6th (Service) Battalion (QRWS/14/-), 7th (Service) Battalion, 8th (Service) Battalion, 10th (Service) Battalion, 11th (Service) Battalion, 12th (Reserve) Battalion (QRWS/17- to QRWS/21/-) and 19th Battalion (QRWS/26/-); additional battalions raised in World War II, 12th (Home Defence) Battalion, 13th (Home Defence) Battalion, 14th Battalion, 15th Battalion (QRWS/22/- to QRWS/25/-), 30th Battalion (QRWS/27/-) and 70th (Young Soldiers) Battalion (QRWS/28/-); and the Cadet Force (QRWS/29/-).

During World War II, the Territorial Battalions generally served together, 1/5th, 1/6th and 1/7th Battalions in 131st (Queen's) Infantry Brigade (44th (Home Counties) Division) and 2/5th, 2/6th and 2/7th Battalions in 35 Infantry Brigade (12th Division), later 169th Queen's Brigade of 56th London Division. As a result many records relating to these battalions cannot be assigned to an individual unit: these records have been grouped into a Territorial series (QRWS/8/-) which should be consulted alongside the series relating to each battalion.

Personal documents (QRWS/30/-) are arranged alphabetically by surname and continue to accrue.

<span class="wrapper"><p>For the Journal of the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey), 1925-1959, see J/442 in Surrey History Centre's library holdings. Further material relating to the history of the regiment and obituaries of former members will be found in the Journal of the Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment, 1960-1966 (J/551), the Journal of the Queen's Regiment, 1967-1987 (J/122), the Journal of the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment from 1996 (J/561), and the Queen's Royal Surrey Regimental Association Newsletter, 1967-2003 (J/552). Brief details of contents can be found on the periodicals database.</p> <p>For records relating to the East Surrey Regiment and its predecessors, the 31st and 70th Foot, see ESR.</p> <p>For records relating to the Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment, created by the amalgamation of the Queen's Royal Regiment and the East Surrey Regiment, in 1959, see QSR.</p> <p>For records relating to the Home Guard units associated with the Surrey regiments during World War II, see QHG.</p> <p>For records relating to more than one regiment, or for those records for which the Regiment could not be identified, see QMISC.</p> <p>For enlistment and discharge registers and World War II honours index cards, 1892-1958, see 7791.</p> <p>For a recruitment register relating to 2nd (Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment) Recruiting District, 1917-1918, see 2496/44.</p></span>

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Originally presented by the Queen's Royal Surrey Regimental Association and Museum, Clandon Park, in November 2003. Personal papers of soldiers who served in the regiment are accruing. The preparation of this catalogue was funded by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

When King Charles II married the Portuguese Infanta Catherine of Braganza part of her dowry was the port of Tangier, now in Morocco. The Tangier Regiment of Foot was raised to form part of the garrison to protect the town from Moorish attack and paraded for the first time on 14th October 1661 on Putney Heath, under its commander the Earl of Peterborough. The regiment served in Tangier until the town was evacuated in 1684, by which date it had been renamed the Queen's Regiment in honour of its loyal service and its origins. On its return to England, the regiment, under its commander Percy Kirke, participated in the defeat of the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion at the Battle of Sedgemoor in 1685 and went on to assist in raising the siege of Derry and defeating King James II at the Battle of the Boyne. In 1695 it participated in the recapture of Namur from the French and fought in the War of the Spanish Succession, 1702-1713. In 1703 it added the title 'Royal' to its name and in 1714 was renamed the Princess of Wales's Own Regiment, reverting to the Queen's Own Royal Regiment of Foot in 1727. With the numbering of all regiments in the army in 1751, it became the 2nd or Queen's Royal Regiment.

For much of the 18th century it was either stationed in Ireland or Gibraltar, detachments of the regiment taking part in the relief of the latter place in 1782. With the outbreak of war against Revolutionary France in 1793, the regiment served as marines, being present at the capture of Martinique and Guadaloupe in 1794 and fighting in the naval victory of the Glorious First of June in that year. A second battalion was raised for the first time in 1794, and both 1st and 2nd battalions served in the West Indies between 1795 and 1797. Reduced again to a single battalion, the regiment helped to defeat the French invasion of Ireland in 1798 and then took part in the unsuccessful invasion of Holland in 1799, the unsuccessful assault on Quiberon in 1800 and the successful expedition to drive the French out of Egypt in 1801.

In 1808 the regiment was sent as part of the British expeditionary force to Portugal and took part in the retreat to Corunna in early 1809. Thereafter it took part in the Walcheren expedition in the same year and in 1811 returned to the Spanish Peninsula. In 1812 a 2nd (Provisional) Battalion was formed when much of the regiment returned to England following heavy casualties. This 2nd Battalion continued to serve in the Peninsula and the invasion of France while the 1st Battalion was stationed in England. In 1814, the 2nd Battalion was reabsorbed into the 1st Battalion.

In 1825, the regiment was sent to India where it remained until 1845, taking part in the expedition to Afghanistan in 1839. In 1851 it was sent to Cape Colony, South Africa, where it remained until 1860. In 1852, a detachment of the regiment was on board when the Troopship Birkenhead sank, the soldiers displaying astounding discipline as the women and children on board were evacuated.

In 1857, a 2nd Battalion was again raised and this time endured. Brief accounts of the service of the two regular battalions until the end of the regiment's history in 1959 can be found in the introductions to the relevant series below, QRWS/2/- and QRWS/3/-.

Between 1873 and 1881, under the Cardwell reforms, the organisation of the army was territorialised, each regiment being assigned a recruiting area and permanent depot. A depot for the Queen's, Stoughton Barracks in Guildford, was completed in 1876, and in 1881 The Queen's became The Queen's (Royal West Surrey) Regiment. The Barracks had been completed in 1876As part of the same reforms, units of the militia and local rifle volunteer corps were associated with the regular army. Thus the 2nd Surrey Militia became the 3rd Militia Battalion of the Queen's and, in 1882-3, the 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th Corps of the Surrey Rifle Volunteers were joined to the regiment as its 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Volunteer Battalions.

In 1908, with the creation of the Territorial Force, the 1st and 2nd Volunteer Battalions became the 4th and 5th Territorial Battalions. The 3rd and 4th Volunteer Battalions were absorbed into the London Regiment as the 22nd and 24th (County of London) Battalions although they retained the title 'The Queen's'. At the same time the 3rd Militia Battalion became the 3rd Special Reserve Battalion.

Following the outbreak of World War I, the Territorial Battalions were multiplied through the creation of 2/4th, 3/4th, 4/4th, 2/5th and 3/5th Battalions, the original Battalions becoming the 1/4th and 1/5th. The two London Battalions were also trebled. Service battalions were also formed for the volunteers who had joined up for the duration of the war, including the 6th, 7th, 8th, 10th (Battersea) and 11th (Lambeth) Service Battalions. In all 31 battalions were associated with the Queen's during the war, but many of these did not see action in the front line. See the relevant series introduction for further details about each battalion's service.

The Territorial Force was reformed in 1920, becoming the Territorial Army in 1921. In the same year, the Regiment was restyled The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) which remained its official title until the end of its existence. In 1937, the two Battalions of the London Regiment were restored to the regiment as the 6th (Bermondsey) and 7th (Southwark) Battalions. However in 1938 the 4th Battalion became an anti-aircraft searchlight unit, although retaining its links with the Queen's.

During World War II, the Territorial Battalions doubled as before, with additional higher-numbered Battalions being raised, mainly for training or home defence. The 1/5th, 1/6th and 1/7th Battalions served together for much of the war in 131st (Queen's) Infantry Brigade (44th (Home Counties) Division), as did the 2/5th, 2/6th and 2/7th Battalions in 35th Infantry Brigade (12th Division), later 169th Queen's Brigade of 56th London Division.

In 1948, the 2nd Battalion, stationed in Berlin, was redesignated as the 1st Battalion, which had been reduced to cadre as the British army was reduced in size. The last active service of the Regiment was in Malaya against Communist insurgents, and on 14th October 1959, it was amalgamated with the East Surrey Regiment as The Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment, part of a new Home Counties Brigade with a depot in Canterbury.