- Royal Fusiliers
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Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) 
Badge of the Royal FusiliersActive 1685–1968 Country 
Kingdom of England (1685–1707)
Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800)
United Kingdom (1801–1968)Branch 
British ArmyType Infantry Role Line Infantry Size 1–4 Regular Battalions
Up to 3 Militia and Special Reserve Battalions
Up to 4 Territorial and Volunteer Battalions
Up to 36 Hostilities-only BattalionsGarrison/HQ Hounslow Nickname The Elegant Extracts Motto Honi soit qui mal y pense March British Grenadiers The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was an infantry regiment of the British Army until 1968 when it was amalgamated with other regiments to form The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. It was known as the 7th Regiment of Foot until 1881.[1]
Contents
History
The Royal Fusiliers exercising the right to march through the City of London with fixed bayonets, drums beating and colours flying
Formation
It was formed as a fusilier regiment in 1685 by Lord Dartmouth, George Legge, from two companies of the Tower of London guard, and was originally called the Ordnance Regiment. Most regiments were equipped with matchlock muskets at the time, but the Ordnance Regiment were armed with flintlock fusils. This was because their task was to be an escort for the artillery, for which matchlocks would have carried the risk of igniting the open-topped barrels of gunpowder.
Nomenclature
The regiment became the 7th Regiment of Foot (Royal Fusiliers) in 1751, although a variety of spellings of the word "fusilier" persisted until the 1780s, when the modern spelling was formalised.[2] In 1881, under the Childers Reforms when regimental numbers were abolished the regiment became The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment).[3]
American Revolution
The Royal Fusiliers played an active part in saving Canada from invasion by the army of the American Continental Congress during the autumn of 1775[4] and winter of 1776. Later, the regiment was sent to New York and participated in the occupation of Philadelphia, the Battle of Monmouth (1778), Tryon's raid (1779), the capture of Charleston (1779), and the southern campaigns under the command of General Cornwallis.
French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars
The Royal Fusiliers formed part of the famed Fusilier Brigade in Wellington's Peninsular Army along with the 23rd Regiment of Foot (The Royal Welch Fusiliers) at the Battle of Albuhera on 16 May 1811.[5]
Vladimir Jabotinsky (L) as an Officer and David Ben-Gurion (R) as a Private of the Royal Fusiliers uniform. First World War
22 August 1914: "A" Company of the 4th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, resting in the town square at Mons.The Royal Fusiliers served with distinction in the First World War,[6] raising 76 battalions who wore the regimental cap badge. They served on the Western Front, in Africa, the Middle East and Macedonia. Members of the Royal Fusiliers won the first two Victoria Crosses of the war near Mons in August 1914, and the last two in North Russia. Its war memorial is on High Holborn, near Chancery Lane tube station, surmounted by the lifesize statue of a World War I soldier, and its regimental chapel is at St Sepulchre-without-Newgate.
The Stock Exchange Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers was formed in 1914 when 1,600 members of the Exchange joined up: 400 were killed during the war .[7] The 38th through 42nd Battalions of the regiment served as the Jewish Legion[8] in Palestine; many of its members went on to be part of the founding of the State of Israel in 1948.[9]
Second World War
The Royal Fusiliers were involved in many notable battles of the war, including Operation Shingle, or as it is now known, the Battle of Anzio. On 18 February 1944 Company Z was ordered to hold the bridgehead against a Tiger I tank assault. There were many casualties,[10] including Eric Fletcher Waters, father of Pink Floyd band member Roger Waters, who wrote the song "When the Tigers Broke Free" about the attack. (A common misconception is that the company Eric Waters served was called "C" when in reality he was in company "Z", 8th Battalion. There is no Company C in the 8th Battalion. The 9th Battalion Company C saw no action that day.)
Post 1945
On 23 April 1968 the regiment was amalgamated with the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers (5th Ft), The Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers (6th Ft) and the Lancashire Fusiliers (20th Ft) to form 3rd Bn. The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.[11]
Battle honours
The Garden of Remembrance, St Sepulchre's Church. Originally meant as a memorial to those Fusiliers who died in the two World Wars but is now dedicated to all Fusiliers killed in action since 1914.- Namur 1695, Martinique 1809, Talavera, Busaco, Albuhera, Badajoz, Salamanca, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Orthes, Toulouse, Peninsula, Alma, Inkerman, Sevastopol, Kandahar 1880, Afghanistan 1879-80, Relief of Ladysmith, South Africa 1899-1902
- The Great War (47 battalions): Mons, Le Cateau, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, La Bassée 1914, Messines 1914 '17, Armentières 1914, Ypres 1914 '15 '17 '18, Nonne Bosschen, Gravenstafel, St. Julien, Frezenberg, Bellewaarde, Hooge 1915, Loos, Somme 1916 '18, Albert 1916 '18, Bazentin, Delville Wood, Pozières, Flers-Courcelette, Thiepval, Le Transloy, Ancre Heights, Ancre 1916 '18, Arras 1917 '18, Vimy 1917, Scarpe 1917, Arleux, Pilckem, Langemarck 1917, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, Cambrai 1917 '18, St. Quentin, Bapaume 1918, Rosières, Avre, Villers Bretonneux, Lys, Estaires, Hazebrouck, Béthune, Amiens, Drocourt-Quéant, Hindenburg Line, Havrincourt, Épéhy, Canal du Nord, St. Quentin Canal, Beaurevoir, Courtrai, Selle, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914-18, Italy 1917-18, Struma, Macedonia 1915-18, Helles, Landing at Helles, Krithia, Suvla, Scimitar Hill, Gallipoli 1915-16, Egypt 1916, Megiddo, Nablus, Palestine 1918, Troitsa, Archangel 1919, Kilimanjaro, Behobeho, Nyangao, East Africa 1915-17
- The Second World War: Dunkirk 1940, North-West Europe 1940, Agordat, Keren, Syria 1941, Sidi Barrani, Djebel Tebaga, Peter's Corner, North Africa 1940 '43, Sangro, Mozzagrogna, Caldari, Salerno, St. Lucia, Battipaglia, Teano, Monte Camino, Garigliano Crossing, Damiano, Anzio, Cassino II, Ripa Ridge, Gabbiano, Advance to Florence, Monte Scalari, Gothic Line, Coriano, Croce, Casa Fortis, Savio Bridgehead, Valli di Commacchio, Senio, Argenta Gap, Italy 1943-45, Athens, Greece 1944-45
- Korea 1952-53
Colonels
- 1832–1854: Sir Edward Blakeney
- 1854–1855 George Brown
- 1855–1868 Samuel Benjamin Auchmuty [12]
- 1868–: Sir Richard Airey [13]
See also
The Royal Fusiliers Company "C" was also mentioned in Pink Floyd's movie "The Wall". It was the company that the character "Pinks" father died in. The Royal Fusiliers is also mentioned in Jeffrey Archer's bestseller novel,"As The Crow Flies". The protagonist of the book, Charlie Trumper, is part of the regiment which fights in the first world war.
References
- ^ Westlake, R. English and Welsh Infantry Regiments: An illustrated Record of Service (195) Stroud,GLS,UK Spellmount) ISBN 1873376243
- ^ "Universal Register; London, Birth Day". The Times: p. 2. Jun 06, 1785. "Orders are given for a camp to be formed on Ashford-Common, near Winsor, for the 7th regiment of foot, who are to be employed in making new roads, and repairing others; the private men are to have 1s. per day extra for their labour."
- ^ "House Of Commons, Thursday, June 23". The Times: p. 6. Jun 24, 1881.
- ^ Recreated Royal Fuzileers c. 1775
- ^ "Lisbon Papers; Cadiz, May 7". The Times: p. 2. 29 May 1811. "Lord Wellington has also sent two divisions of his army, the 3d and 7th, that way... Intelligence is just received that the battle is fought, and we are again victorious. The affair took place at Albuhera, on the 16th: Soult attacked, and was defeated with immense loss on both sides."
- ^ Gray,W.E. The 2nd City of London Regiment-Royal Fusiliers-in the Great War, 1914-19 (1929, London, Seeley,Service &Co)
- ^ Mullen, Peter, Tearing down religious standards Northern Echo 19 Mar 2002
- ^ http://jewishmag.com/148mag/jewish_legion/jewish_legion.htm
- ^ The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) in 1914-1918
- ^ Further details
- ^ "New Fusilier Regiment". The Times: p. 12. Apr 17, 1968. "The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, a new regiment, with national rather than regional loyalties, is to be formed on St. George's Day, April 23, the Ministry of Defence announced yesterday."
- ^ London Gazette: no. 21676. p. 1054. 13 March 1855. Retrieved 16 August 2009.
- ^ London Gazette: no. 23379. p. 2804. 15 May 1868. Retrieved 16 August 2009.
External links
Media related to Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) at Wikimedia Commons- Historical records of the 7th or Royal regiment of Fusiliers 1685-1903 by Lt Col. Percy Groves.
Categories:- 1685 establishments
- Infantry regiments of the British Army
- Military units and formations of the United Kingdom in the Korean War
- Regiments of the British Army in World War II
- Regiments of the British Army in World War I
- Regiments of the British Army in the American Revolutionary War
- Military units and formations established in 1685
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