Our current government has a lot to answer for. One of those things is the way that they have trampled on our traditions. Whilst we have been settling into our new home, one of the events that didn't pass me by was the disbandment of a number of regiments; including the one from my own county.
In the name of rationalisation, the government chose to merge the Devonshire and Dorset Light Infantry, the Royal Gloucestershire Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry, the Light Infantry, and the Royal Green Jackets. This new regiment will simply be called 'The Rifles'.
The original Rifles were a number of regiments that combined both Light Infantry and Rifle Regiments. These regiments were established, by General Sir John Moore (1761-1809), at Shorncliffe in the early 1800s. Whatever the government, and Ministry of Defence might say, the current regiment has no relationship to the original concept, and is merely an exrcise in cost cutting.
For 'The Dorsets', this is a particularly a sad time. This fine regiment dated back to 1689, as the 39th Regiment of Foot. Battle honours included Plassey, Gibraltar, Albuhera, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, Maharajpore and Sevastopol. In 1881 they were combined with the 54th Regiment of Foot where they saw action in South Africa during the Boer War, and in all theatres of the war during the 1st and 2nd World Wars. They were merged with the Devonshire Regiment in 1958, and were to suffer the first British Army mortality in Northern Ireland at the beginning of the 1970s.
So, a sad ending for the regiment that was 'Primus in Indis'!
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5 comments:
Thanks for sharing your experience
Has Mrs Peters seen this?
Uncle Ben said;
One ancestor of the Royal Green Jackets was the 60th Royal Americans raised in the colonies during the seven years war.
Carl, all visitors are welcome! It's good to know that there are people out there reading this blog.
By the way. You're running out of turns. Looks like a southern victory ...
Ben, you're quite right. I might post a more detailed history relating to this on the RWDG. Five of the eight battalions raised had seen action on the North American continent, with the 1st four being raised in the American colonies.
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