King's Regiment

The King's Regiment
Cap badge of the King's Regiment
Active	1 September 1958-1 July 2006
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Army
Type	Line Infantry
Role	Armoured Infantry
Size	One battalion
Part of	King's Division
Garrison/HQ	Catterick, North Yorkshire Townsend Avenue, Liverpool
Motto	Nec Aspera Terrent (Difficulties be Damned)
March	Quick: The Kingsman Slow: Lord Ferrar's March
Anniversaries	Ladysmith (28 February), Kohima (15 May), Guadeloupe (10 June), Somme (1 July), Blenheim (13 August), Delhi (14 September), Inkerman (5 November)
Commanders
Colonel in Chief	Prince Charles, Prince of Wales
Colonel of the Regiment	Colonel Malcolm Grant Haworth

The King's Regiment, abbreviated as KINGS and often referred to as King's, was an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the King's Division. It was formed by the amalgamation of the King's Regiment (Liverpool) which was formed in 1685 and the Manchester Regiment which traced its history back to 1758, on 1 September 1958. In existence for almost 50 years, the King's served in Kenya, Kuwait, British Guiana (Guyana), West Germany, Northern Ireland, the Falkland Islands, Cyprus, and Iraq. Between 1972 and 1990, 15 Kingsmen died in Northern Ireland during a violent period in the province's history known as "The Troubles".

When first formed in 1958, the King's Regiment was configured as an infantry regiment, comprising one regular battalion (1 KINGS), standard to the contemporary British Army. Under a system known colloquially as the "Arms Plot", infantry battalions were assigned various roles for a period of between two and six years and equipped accordingly. Converted first to armoured personnel carriers in the late 1960s, upon amalgamation in 2006 the regiment was classified as armoured infantry equipped primarily with the Warrior infantry fighting vehicle. The regiment's establishment in 2004 was 620, although its substantive strength was recorded as being 60 below that.^[1]

History

1958-1980

The King's and Manchesters, consisting of regular and territorial battalions, had been selected for amalgamation by Duncan Sandys' 1957 Defence White Paper. Conscription (National Service) was to be abolished and the Armed Forces' size rationalised over a gradual period.^[2] Retired soldiers and some serving personnel despaired at the prospect of the demise of their respective regiments.^[3] The regular 1st Battalions of both regiments formally amalgamated on 1 September 1958, at Brentwood, to form the 1st Battalion, The King's Regiment (Manchester and Liverpool). The title reflected the seniority of the King's Regiment (Liverpool), formerly eighth in the infantry's order of precedence. Regimental subtitles (i.e. Manchester and Liverpool) would be omitted in 1968 without affecting recruitment boundaries in North West England. The regiment inherited from its predecessors the traditions, uniform distinctiveness, battle honours, and an association with the Royal Family, principally Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. As Queen of the United Kingdom in 1947, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon had assumed the position of Colonel-in-Chief of the Manchester Regiment, formalising a relationship conceived during the Second World War.

Stands of colours (Regimental and Queen's) were presented to the 1st Battalion by the 18th Earl of Derby on 28 November. In addition to 1st King's, the regiment possessed three territorial battalions, all of which retained their historical designations, colours, uniforms, and honorary colonels. This practice continued until the Territorial Army's restructuring in the late 1960s: the 5th Battalion, King's Regiment (Liverpool), was reduced to a company of the Lancastrian Volunteers; the 8th (Ardwick) Battalion, The Manchester Regiment amalgamated with the 9th Battalion, to form the Manchester Regiment (Ardwick and Ashton) Territorials and a separate company within the Lancastrian Volunteers. Other units were constituted by elements of the King's Regiment and its predecessors, albeit in different services of the Army. Personnel from the Liverpool Scottish and defunct 5th King's became part of "R" (King's) Battery, West Lancashire Regiment, while the heritage of the Liverpool Irish and Liverpool Rifles was claimed by troops of other Royal Artillery batteries.^[4][5]

Within months, the regiment received notification that it would be stationed in Kenya, which was emerging from the Mau Mau Uprising and nearing independence. Arriving in 1959, 1 King's was accommodated in Gilgil, situated in the Rift Valley between Naivasha and Nakuru, until relocated to Muthaiga Camp, near Nairobi. Detached from the regiment at this time were elements of headquarters and two rifle companies ("A" and "D"), which became part of the Army's contribution to the Persian Gulf garrison in Bahrain for more than a year.^[6] Subordinated to 24 Infantry Brigade, which Britain maintained in Kenya as part of the Strategic Reserve, 1 King's became liable for deployment to various locations in Africa and Asia.^[6]

The Ferret was operated by the regiment's reconnaissance platoon in West Germany before and after conversion to armoured infantry.

Subsequent to Kuwait's independence from Britain in June 1961, President Abd al-Karim Qasim directed belligerent speeches against the oil-rich Gulf state, declaring it an integral component of sovereign Iraq.^[7] Perceiving Qassim's rhetoric to constitute a possible military threat to Kuwait's sovereignty, Sheikh Abdullah III appealed to Britain and Saudi Arabia for assistance. Britain responded to the emergency by concentrating military forces in the Persian Gulf, composed initially of naval assets, as a deterrence to aggression.^[8] The Strategic Reserve's 24 Brigade, commanded by Brigadier Horsford, was transported to Kuwait via Bristol Britannias in early July to augment the country's defences. Opportunity for the King's to acclimatise before relieving 45 Commando was fleeting. Just days after arrival, 1 King's occupied a ridge formation approximately 30-miles west of Kuwait City to prepare a defensive position.^[9]

When the emergency ended, the King's returned to Kenya, and in early 1962 proceeded to Britain. By July, the regiment was based in West Berlin. While there, the regiment frequently observed Soviet positions in East Berlin. On returning to Britain in 1964, the regiment became part of the UK Strategic Reserve. A company from the regiment deployed to British Honduras later that year.

The regiment's first deployment to Northern Ireland under the hostile conditions of the Troubles occurred in 1970, although the King's did not incur its first fatal casualties until a second tour in 1972. Violence escalated substantially in 1972, causing the deaths of 470 people.^[10] The year witnessed the most loss of life during the conflict – punctuated infamously by two episodes known as Bloody Sunday and Bloody Friday – and imposition of direct rule following the prorogation of the Stormont Parliament by the Westminster Government^[11] Operating in West Belfast, 1 King's sustained 49 casualties (seven fatalities and 42 wounded) during the four-month tour.^[12] The King's first fatality was Corporal Alan Buckley, who died after being mortally wounded during an engagement with the PIRA. One-week later, on 23 May, a PIRA sniper shot Kingsman Hanley, who had been guarding a party of Royal Engineers removing barricades in the Ballymurphy sector.^[13] On the 30th, an IRA bomb detonated within the battalion headquarters killed two, including Kingsman Doglay.^[14] An initial report by the Times identified six casualties, including four wounded soldiers and two civilian cooks, and suggested officials believed losses would have been higher had the bomb exploded while hundreds of soldiers watched a film in the canteen. The headquarters, located on Springfield Road, had been the "most heavily guarded" police station in Belfast.^[15] Four more Kingsmen – Jones, Thomas, Christopher, and Layfield – died between July and August.

The regiment returned to Belfast in 1979. Three kingsmen died: Kingsman Shanley and Lance Corporal Rumble were killed in the same vehicle by a PIRA sniper, while Lance Corporal Webster was killed by a remote-controlled bomb.

1980-2000

Events were organised in 1985 to observe the tercentenary of the regiment's foundation in 1685 as the Princess Anne of Denmark's Regiment of Foot. After returning to England, to be based in Chester, the 1st Battalion paraded with its territorial 5th/8th (Volunteer) Battalion in the presence of the Queen Mother and many guests. The regiment was soon posted to the Falkland Islands on a four-month deployment.

Northern Ireland remained the British Army's largest operational commitment in the early 1990s. Violence had declined in frequency and casualties reduced in number; however, a new method of attack emerged during the regiment's two-year posting to County Londonderry as a resident infantry battalion in 1990.^[16] The attack on 1 King's was the first in a series of vehicle-delivered "proxy bomb" attacks against multiple targets in 1990, three of which occurred on 25 October. Three men accused by the PIRA of collaborating with the security services were abducted and their families held hostage. Employed by the British Army as a civilian cook, Patrick Gillespie was instructed to drive his vehicle, laden with explosives, to a designated checkpoint on the border with County Donegal, Republic of Ireland. Approximately 1000 pounds of explosives contained within Gillespie's vehicle was detonated remotely when it reached the permanent checkpoint on Buncrana Road, near Derry, wounding many and killing Lance-Corporal Burrows and Kingsmen Beecham, Scott, Sweeney and Worrall.^[17] Structural damage to buildings in a nearby housing estate and to military infrastructure was extensive.^[17]

While based in West London, in 1992, the regiment sent two companies to the Falkland Islands for a four-month posting. Another tour-of-duty to Northern Ireland occurred in 1995. The following year, the regiment was stationed in the Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus. Brief deployments to Northern Ireland followed in 1998 and 1999.

2000-2006

Prior to the firefighters' strikes of 2003, the regiment received basic firefighting training to provide emergency cover. The regiment operated in the Greater Manchester area during the strikes as part of Operation Fresco.

Distribution of multi-national occupation forces during the deployment of the King's Regiment in 2003.

Almost two-months after President George W. Bush declared an end to "major combat operations" in Iraq in his "Mission Accomplished" speech on 1 May 2003, the King's and elements of the territorial King's and Cheshire Regiment deployed to the country with 19 Mechanised Brigade. Under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Ciaran Griffin, 1 King's and its battlegroup operated primarily in Basra Province during the initial period of post-war occupation. Tactics familiar to the King's Regiment, that had been employed in Northern Ireland and the Balkans, were adopted by the British forces occupying the south of Iraq.^[18] Unless conditions dictated the wearing of helmets and deployment of Warriors, 1 King's disembarked from Land Rovers to conduct foot patrols in "soft hats" (berets).^[19][20] During its tour, 1 King's organised vehicle checkpoints, seized munitions, trained local forces, mediated tribal disputes, and engaged in a "hearts and minds" campaign.^[21] Civil disorder also occupied the battalion, particularly when rioting occurred in August and October. The British attributed the violent demonstrations in August to Iraqi grievances over the scarcity of fuel and power shortages, compounded by oppressive temperatures exceeding 50 °C (122 °F).^[22]

The King's returned to Catterick in November 2003. No fatal casualties had been incurred by the regiment and two regular officers and a territorial corporal were decorated with operational gallantry awards in recognition of their contributions.^[23] Allegations of abuse were documented seven-months later in a report published by Amnesty International on 11 May 2004. Coinciding with a controversy centred on the publication of unrelated photographs by the Daily Mirror newspaper, the report detailed the deaths of 37 civilians, including four Iraqis that were claimed to have been killed by members of the King's battlegroup without apparent provocation.^[24] The circumstances of their deaths were disputed and senior British officers judged the actions of the soldiers responsible to have been in compliance with the Army's rules of engagement.^[25] Iraqi families brought their cases to the High Court of Justice in an attempt to secure independent inquiries and compensation.^[26] The court, presided over by Lord Justice Rix and Justice Forbes, concluded in December that British jurisdiction did not extend to "the total territory of another state which is not itself a party to the Convention", prompting the families to challenge the judgement in the Court of Appeal.^[25][27] Their appeals were dismissed in December 2005, along with a Government appeal challenging the court's recommendation that an independent inquiry be held into the death of Baha Mousa while detained by the Queen's Lancashire Regiment.

In December 2004, it was announced that the King's Regiment, along with the King's Own Royal Border Regiment and the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, would be amalgamated to form the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's Lancashire and Border) as part of the restructuring of the infantry. On formation of the new regiment on 1 July 2006, 1 King's became the 2nd Battalion the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (2 LANCS) but very quickly the manpower of all three merging regiments was deliberately mixed to give the new regiment its own character. The three regular army battalions of the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment were then merged to form two regular battalions. The third, territorial army battalion was formed a short time after the merger. Some elements of the heritage of the King's Regiment continue on. In particular, Privates in the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment are known as Kingsmen; uniform buttons display the emblem of the King's Regiment - the Fleur de Lys; the white horse of Hanover is displayed on the colours; the motto of the new regiment remains 'Nec Aspera Terrent'.

Other information

• Freedoms: Liverpool, Manchester and the Borough of Tameside
• Alliances:
  • 10th/27th Battalion, The Royal South Australia Regiment
  • The Royal Regiment of Canada
  • The Otago & Southland Regiment
  • 1st Battalion (Scinde), The Frontier Force Regiment
  • 5th Battalion, The Sikh Regiment

Battle honours

from the Regiment and its predecessors

• 18th Century:
  • Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, Malpaquet, Dettingen, Guadelope 1759,
• 19th Century:
  • Egmont-op-Zee, Peninsula, Martinique 1809, Guadeloupe 1810, Niagara, New Zealand, Alma, Inkerman, Sevastopol, Delhi 1857, Lucknow, Peiwar Kotal, Afghanistan 1878-80, Egypt 1882, Burma 1885-87, Defence of Ladysmith, South Africa 1899-1902
• The Great War 1914-1918:
  • Western Front: Mons, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, Ypres 1914 1917, La Bassée, Armentieres, Langemarck 1914-17, Gheluvelt, Battle of Nonne Bosschen, Givenchy 1914, Neuve Chapelle, Gravenstafel, St Julien, Frezenberg, Bellewaarde, Battle of Aubers, Festubert 1915, Loos, Somme 1916 17, Albert 1916 1918, Bazentin, Delville Wood, Guillemont, Ginchy, Flers-Courcelette, Morval, Thiepval, Le Transloy, Ancre Heights, Ancre 1916 1918, Bapaume 1917 1918, Arras 1917 1918, Scarpe 1917 1918, Arleux, Bullecourt, Pilckem, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, Cambrai 1917 and 1918, St Quentin, Rosières, Avre, Lys, Estaires, Messines 1918, Bailleul, Kemmel, Bethune, Scherpenberg, Amiens, Drocourt-Queant, Hindenburg Line, Epéhy, Canal du Nord, Battle of the St Quentin Canal, Beaurevoir, Courtai, Selle, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914-18
  • Italy: Piave, Vittorio Veneto, Italy 1917-18,
  • Macedonia: Doiran 1917, Macedonia 1915-18
  • Gallipoli Campaign: Helles, Battle of Krithia, Suvla, Landing at Suvla, Scimitar Hill, Gallipoli 1915
  • Mesopotamia: Tigris 1916, Kut al Amara, Baghdad, Mesopotamia 1916-18
  • Egypt and Palestine: Rumani, Egypt 1915-17, Megiddo, Sharon, Palestine 1918
  • Other Theatres: NW Frontier, India 1915, Archangel 1918-1919
• Inter-War:
  • Afghanistan 1919
• The Second World War 1939-45:
  • North-West Europe: The Dyle, Withdrawal to Escaut, Defence of Escaut, Defence of Arras, St Omer-La Bassée, Ypres-Comines Canal, North-West Europe 1940, Normandy Landings, Caen, Esquay, Falaise, Nederrijn, Scheldt, Walcheren Causeway, Flushing, Lower Maas, Venlo Pocket, Roer, Ourthe, Rhineland, Reichswald, Goch, Weeze, Rhine, Ibbenburen, Drierwalde, Aller, Bremen, North-West Europe 1944-45
  • Italy: Cassino II, Trasimene Line, Tuori, Gothic Line, Monte Gridolfo, Coriano, San Clemente, Gemmano Ridge, Montilgallo, Capture of Forli, Lamone Crossing, Lamone Bridgehead, Rimini Line, Montescudo, Cesena, Italy 1944-45
  • Asia: Singapore Island, Malaya 1941-1942, Chindits 1943, Chindits 1944, North Arakan, Kohima, Pinwe, Shwebo, Myinmu Bridgehead, Irrawaddy, Burma 1943 1944-1945
  • Other Theatres: Malta 1940, Athens, Greece 1944-45

• Korean War:
  • The Hook 1953, Korea 1952-1953

Notes

References

• Chandler, David (2003), The Oxford History of the British Army, Oxford Paperbacks ISBN 0-19-280311-5
• Mileham, Patrick (2000), Difficulties Be Damned: The King's Regiment - A History of the City Regiment of Manchester and Liverpool, Fleur de Lys ISBN 1-873907-10-9
• Mills, T.F, The King's Regiment, regiments.org
• History of the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, army.mod.uk