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The Queen's Regiment

Forebear's Battle History

The history of The Queen's Regiments began on 1st May 1572 when 3,000 men of the Trained Bands of London paraded before Queen Elizabeth I at Greenwich, wearing buff jerkins...

 
Battle History 1661-1697

The Queen’s Regiment took precedence from 1661, when four regiments, from both sides in the English Civil Wars, went to Tangier; these, amalgamated over the next ten years, became the Tangier Regiment and then the 2nd or Queen’s Royal...

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Battle History 1702-1748

Although the Treaty of Ryswiek brought King William's War to an end it did not curb Louis XIV's ambition. Well aware of this, William increased the strength of his army and on 28 June 1701 The Royal Sussex came into being as the 35th Foot...

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Battle History 1756-1763

The French and Indian war was the American phase of the Seven Years War and began two years before the war in Europe. In June 1756 the 35th arrived in the Hudson Valley to form part of the garrison of Fort William Henry...

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Battle History 1775-1802

The Regiment that featured most prominently in this war was the 35th (later The Royal Sussex) who fought in the first of the battles, when the rebels were defeated at Bunker's Hill near Boston in June 1775. They defeated the rebels again...

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Battle History 1803-1815

Napoleon had signed the Amiens Treaty only to give himself time to prepare for his invasion of England, and 14 months later he declared war again on the trumped up grounds that Britain had failed to hand Malta back to the Knights of St John...

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Battle History 1821-1846

When Napoleon had been sent away to the lonely South Atlantic island of St Helena, where he died in May 1821, the European nations were able to sort themselves out reasonably peacefully from the changes he had imposed on them, but during...

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Battle History 1854-1902

The war in the Crimea was the result of Russian claims to the right to protect the Holy Places in Palestine which were then in the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire. Britain and France were allies of Turkey, and when the Ottoman sultan declared war on Russia...

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Battle History 1914-1918

In the First World War the story of all the units of The Queen's Regiment is one of extraordinary heroism and unflinching devotion to duty amidst sickening slaughter which, on many occasions, was the fault of the high command. This can...

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Battle History 1939-1945

The fundamental difference between the two World Wars can be summed up in the word 'mobility'. The Second World War was fought largely in the open, making much use of armour and close support aircraft, and tactics were far removed from ...

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Battle History The Post-War Years

A marvelous account of the following can be found on the Royal Surrey's website
Berlin Airlift 1948-1949 - Northern Ireland
Aden 1961
Falkland Islands 1982
Gulf 1991

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The East Surrey Regiment was created in 1881 from the amalgamation of the 31st (Huntingdonshire) Regiment, which became the 1st Battalion, and the 70th (Surrey) Regiment, which became the 2nd Battalion. The new regiment's depot was situated in Kingston, where in the previous century a depot company of the 70th had been established, and which had served as a depot for both regiments since 1873.

However, the two amalgamated regiments had earlier connections. The 70th had first been raised in 1756 as the 2nd Battalion of the 31st Regiment (first raised in 1702), becoming a separate regiment two years later. This association was revived in 1873, under the first Cardwell reforms of the army, when it was determined that the 31st and 70th, now linked as the 47 Sub-District Brigade, should alternate home and overseas service between them and share a depot at Kingston.

At the beginning of 1947, the 6th Battalion was reconstituted. In 1948, as a result of army cutbacks, 1st and 2nd Battalions were amalgamated, and the newly formed 1st Battalion was involved in security operations in North Africa and Cyprus in the 1950s

In 1956, the 42nd Royal Tank Regiment reverted to an infantry unit and was redesignated 23rd London Regiment, rejoining The East Surrey Regiment. On 14th October 1959, the regiment amalgamated with the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) to form the Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment.