- Home Counties Brigade
The Home Counties Brigade was an administrative formation of the
British Army from 1948 to 1968. The Brigade administered the regularinfantry battalions of theHome Counties of south eastEngland .After the
Second World War the British Army had fourteen infantry depots, each bearing a letter. The depots were territorially organised, and Infantry Depot C atCanterbury was the headquarters for the seven county regiments of the City andCounty of London ,Kent ,Middlesex ,Surrey andSussex . In 1948, the depots adopted names and this depot became the Home Counties Brigade, with all regiments being reduced to a single battalion at the same time.The Home Counties Brigade was formally formed on
July 14 ,1948 , combining the depots of the following regiments:
* The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey)
*The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment)
*The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment)
*The East Surrey Regiment
*The Royal Sussex Regiment
*The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment
*The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) Under the Defence Review announced in July, 1957, the infantry of the line was reorganised: On
April 1 ,1958 the Royal Fusiliers were transferred to a newly-createdFusilier Brigade , and over the next three years the remaining six regiments were reduced to four by amalgamation.From 1958 all regiments in the Brigade adopted a common cap badge and brigade buttons, depicting an upright sword within a Saxon crown. The individual battalions were henceforth being distinguished by their collar badges. [A L Kipling and H L King, "Head-dress badges of the British Army", Vol. 2, London, 1979] [Howard Ripley, "Buttons of the British Army 1855 - 1970", London 1979] [Colin Churchill, "History of the British Army infantry collar badge", Uckfield, 2002] By 1961 the four regiments in the brigade were:
On
December 31 ,1966 the four regiments of the Home Counties Brigade were merged to become a new "large regiment": TheQueen's Regiment , with the four regular battalions redesignated as the 1st to 4th Battalions of the new regiment.On July 1, 1968 the Home Counties Brigade was united with the Fusilier and East Anglian Brigades, to form the
Queen's Division .References
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