A Guide To The Regiments And Corps Of The British Army On The Regular Establishment

Since the creation of the standing army in 1661, when each regiment was known by the name of its current colonel, there have been many reforms and rationalizations of the British army. From 31 cavalry regiments and 113 infantry regiments in 1881, at the time of this title’s first publication in 1988, the army had reduced to just 16 regiments of armour and 39 regiments of infantry through processes of absorption and amalgamation. The Handbook of British Regiments provides insight into the lineage and history of the approximately 85 regiments and corps which formed the British army towards the end of the 1980s. Comprehensive in coverage, each has a separate entry giving factual details in a layout standardized for easy comparison, including current title, colonel-in-chief, uniform and history, amongst others. A key title amongst Routledge reference reissues, this handbook provides an accessible guide to specialists as well as lay enthusiasts, and illustrates a sense of the continuity and inherited tradition of each regiment and corps.

This is one of the most valuable books in the armoury of the serious student of British Military history. It is a new and revised edition of Arthur White's much sought-after bibliography of regimental, battalion and other histories of all regiments and Corps that have ever existed in the British Army. This new edition includes an enlarged addendum to that given in the 1988 reprint. It is, quite simply, indispensible.

The book sets out the structure of each Line Infantry Regiment from 1881 up until the beginning of the First World War, often be seen referred to as the Regimental Family. The new Territorial or Country Regiments have all been dealt with, along with their associated Militia, Volunteer and Territorial Force Battalions and affiliated Cadet units.

This book, the first in a series of British Army 'Guides', deals with the numbered regiments that existed between 1751, when the British infantry was ordered to discard their colonels' names as titles and be known in future by number only, and 1881 when numerical designations were replaced by the now familiar territorial names.

"A guide to the changes which have occurred over the last one hundred years or so to the Regimental structure of the Regular Army" --Pref.

The Territorials 1908-1914 is a unique, comprehensive record of the part-time soldiers who made up the Territorial Force that supported the regular army in the years immediately before the outbreak of the First World War. The origin, aims and organization of the Territorial Force are described as well as the terms of service, recruitment, equipment and training. But the bulk of the book consists of details of over 600 Territorial units plus a comprehensive account of every city, town or village associated with them. Essential information on the all the infantry formations is supplied, but also covered are the yeomanry, the artillery, the engineers, the Royal Army Medical Corps and the Army Service Corps.