Artists' Rifles

The 21st Special Air Service Regiment (Artists) (Reserve) is a special forces regiment of the British Territorial Army.

History

The Artists Rifles (originally Artists' Rifles until the apostrophe was officially dropped from the full title as it was so often misused) was formed in 1859, part of the widespread volunteer movement which developed in the face of potential French invasion after Felice Orsini's attack on Napoleon III was linked to Britain. The group was organised in London by Edward Sterling, an art student, and comprised various professional painters, musicians, actors, architects and others involved in creative endeavours. It was established on 28 February 1860 as the 38th Middlesex (Artists) Rifle Volunteer Corps, with headquarters at Burlington House. Its first commanders were the painters Henry Wyndham Phillips and Frederic Leighton. The unit's badge, designed by William Wyon, shows the heads of the Roman gods Mars and Minerva in profile. Artists Rifles Regiment Badge

In September 1880, the corps became the 20th Middlesex (Artists) Rifle Volunteer Corps, with headquarters at Duke Street. It formed the 7th Volunteer Battalion of the Rifle Brigade from 1881 until 1891 and the 6th Volunteer Battalion from 1892 to 1908. During this period, the Artists' Rifles fought in the Boer Wars. Following the formation of the Territorial Force, the Artists Rifles was one of twenty-eight volunteer battalions in the London and Middlesex areas that combined to form the new London Regiment. It became the 28th (County of London) Battalion of the London Regiment on 1 April 1908.

The Artists Rifles was a popular unit for volunteers. It had been increased to twelve companies in 1900 and was formed into three sub-battalions in 1914, and recruitment was eventually restricted by recommendation from existing members of the battalion. It particularly attracted recruits from public schools and universities; on this basis, following the outbreak of the First World War, a number of enlisted members of the Artists Rifles were selected to be officers in other units. In October 1914, the Artists Rifles was established as an Officers Training Corps. Over fifteen thousand men passed through the battalion during the war, ten thousand of them becoming officers. The battalion eventually saw battle in France in 1917 and 1918, suffering thousands of casualties and earning hundreds of honours.

In the early 1920s the unit was reconstituted as an infantry regiment within the Territorial Army, the 28th County of London Regiment. In 1937, this regiment became part of the Prince Consort's Own Rifle Brigade. The regiment was not deployed during the Second World War, functioning again as an Officers Training Corps throughout the war. It was disbanded in 1945, but reformed in the Rifle Brigade in January 1947 and transferred to the Army Air Corps in July as the 21st Special Air Service Regiment (Artists Rifles). 21 SAS was formed from the two disbanded regular regiments 1 SAS and 2 SAS, with the 1 and the 2 being reversed into 21 to provide some means of continuity. 21 SAS was active during the Malayan Emergency and in many subsequent conflicts. In 1952, members of the Artists' Rifles who had been involved in special operations in Malaya formed 22 SAS, the modern special forces regiment - the only time a Territorial Army unit has been used to form a unit in the Regular Army and remain a parent of a regular unit.

Still constituted as 21 SAS, the Artists Rifles became a reserve regiment in the Territorial Army in 1967.

Battle honours

• South Africa 1900-01
• The Great War (3 battalions): Ypres 1917, Passchendaele, Somme 1918, St. Quentin, Bapaume 1918, Arras 1918, Ancre 1918, Albert 1918, Drocourt-Quéant, Hindenburg Line, Canal du Nord, Cambrai 1918, Pursuit to Mons, France and Flanders 1914-18

NB: From 1947, all battle honours were earned and shared by the whole of the Special Air Service.

Today

Today the regiment is one of two Territorial Army regiments in the Special Air Service. There are three squadrons: one in London, one in Newport and one split between Hampshire, Cambridge and Southampton.

Notable members

• A. V. Alexander
• Martin Donisthorpe Armstrong
• General Sir Peter de la Billière KCB, KBE, DSO, MC & Bar
• Eric Blore
• Clive Brook
• Ford Madox Brown
• Edward Burne Jones
• Alfred Gardyne de Chastelain
• Vicat Cole RA
• Noel Coward
• Rt Hon David Davis MP
• Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes OBE
• Luke Fildes RA
• Eric Forbes-Robertson
• Johnston Forbes-Robertson
• Meredith Frampton RA
• Michael Goodliffe
• George Kruger Gray
• Bear Grylls
• James Gunn RA
• Carl Haag
• William Holman Hunt
• Charles Sargeant Jagger
• Wilfrid Lawson
• Alfred Leete
• Frederic Leighton PRA
• Desmond Llewellyn
• Edwin Long RA
• The Hon Sir William Alam Macpherson of Cluny and Blairgowrie, TD, QC, Judge and author of the Macpherson Report
• Howard Marion-Crawford
• John Everett Millais PRA
• William Morris
• John Nash RA
• Paul Nash
• Malcolm Osborne RA
• Walter William Ouless RA
• Wilfred Owen
• Edward Poynter PRA
• Valentine Cameron Prinsep RA
• William Blake Richmond RA
• Dante Gabriel Rossetti
• Edward Shanks
• Lance Sieveking
• Adrian Scott Stokes RA
• Algernon Swinburne
• Edward Thomas
• Percy Thomas
• Walter Brandon Thomas
• Hamo Thornycroft RA
• Richard Tomlinson ex MI6 Officer
• Barnes Wallis
• John William Waterhouse RA
• Ernest Albert Waterlow RA
• John Millar Watt
• George Frederick Watts RA
• Aston Webb PRA
• William Frederick Yeames RA

See also

• Volunteer Army (British)

External links

• Regiments.org
• Artists Rifles Clubhouse

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References

• Barry Gregory. A History of The Artists Rifles 1859-1947. 2006

Artists' Rifles is also the name of a 2000 album by the indie group Piano Magic.

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