The King's Royal Rifle Corps amalgamated from the Royal American Regiment, East Kent Mounted Rifles and the 60th Foot. Battle honours in the Indian Mutiny, Zulu War, Boer War, Sudan War and both World Wars

THE KING'S ROYAL RIFLE CORPS  Raised in 1755 as the 62nd, (Royal American regiment) and in 1757 becoming the 60th Foot. Battle Honours 1756 - 1763    Louisbrg, Quebec Martinique,  Havannah, during the Seven years War 1763 - 1764 Pontiac's Conspiracy in North America. 1809    Martinique during the Napoleonic wars 1808 - 1814, Rolica, Vimiera, Talavera, Busaco, Fuentos d'Onoro, Albuhera, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Orthes, Toulouse, during the Peninsula War 1848 - 1849   Mooltan, Goojerat, Punjaub during the Second Sikh War 1851 - 1853  Eighth Kaffir war 1857 - 1858  Delhi, during the Indian Mutiny 1857 - 1860  Taku Forts, Pekin during the Second China War 1877 - 1879  Zulu and Basuto War 1878 -1880 Ali Masjid, Ahmed Khel, Khandahar during the second Afghan War 1880    Tel El Kibir, during the Arabi Pasha revolt 1882 -1884  First Sudan War 1895  Chitral Campaign 1899 - 1902  Defence of Ladysmith, relief of Ladysmith during the Boer war 1914 - 1918  Mons, Marne, Ypres 1914, 1915 , 1917, 1918, Somme,1916, 1918,  Arras 1917, 1918 Messines 1917, 1918  Epehy, Canal du Nord, Selles Sambre 1939 - 1945  Calais 1940, Rhineland, Egyptian Frontier, 1940,  Sidi Rezegh 1941, Alem el Halfa, El Alamein,  Italy 1943, 45,  Greece 1941, 1944 - 45 VICTORIA CROSS AWARDS   TWENTY  MEMBERS OF THE REGIMENTS HAVE BEEN AWARDED THE VICTORIA CROSS,  Eight in the Indian Mutiny,  one in the Zulu and Basuto war, one in Egypt, one in the Sudan war, one in The Boer war, Ten in World War One and One in the Second World War.

 

Lieut. Dimmer Repairing a Machine-Gun While Exposed to the Fire of the Advancing Prussian Guard by Allan Stewart   As the Prussian Guard advanced in massed formation from the cover of a wood at Klein Zillebeke on 12th November 1914, the British machine-guns mowed them down with a storm of bullets. But the gun which Lieutenant John Henry Stephen Dimmer, of 2nd Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps, was working, suddenly jammed. With great bravery he climbed onto the emplacement to put it in order, and while doing so a rifle bullet struck him in the jaw. He continued, however, to work the gun until it jammed once more, and while putting it in order he was hit in the shoulder. After again getting the gun to work, his injured shoulder was struck by three shrapnel-bullets, but he most gallantly continued working it until it was destroyed by shell-fire. His magnificent courage and tenacity were rewarded with the VC.   Sergeant Chappell Working A Damaged Machine Gun On A Wrecked Emplacement Under Terrific Fire.  As Sergeant E. Chappell, of the 7th Battalion Kings Royal Rifle Corps, was working a machine gun during the desperate fighting at Hooge on July 30th 1915, a shell burst on the gun emplacement, completely wrecking it.  He thereupon placed on the wreckage of the emplacement and continued firing, but as the tripod of the machine gun was exposed, that in turn was smashed.  Lastly, Chappell placed the gun on the parados and worked it till it was put out of action.  He then directed the fire of the other machine guns, besides working one himself.  Throughout the day he showed great bravery and resource, for which he was awarded the D.C.M.
Regimental Books Available:
The Annals of the Kings Royal Rifle Corps : Vol 1 "The Royal Americans" 1755 - 1802.  by Lieut Col Lewis Butler. Post: UK- £4.00 (max post for multiple books £6.00). For Europe £6.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment) Rest of World £8.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)	To order your copy: secure order form  Paperback Book serial number NMP4452.   379  pages. Price £22.
The Annals of the Kings Royal Rifle Corps : Vol 2 "The Green Jacket" 1803 - 1830.  by Lieut Col Lewis Butler. Post: UK- £4.00 (max post for multiple books £6.00). For Europe £6.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment) Rest of World £8.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)	To order your copy: secure order form  Paperback Book serial number NMP4460.    340 pages. Price £22.
The Annals of the Kings Royal Rifle Corps : Vol 3 "The K.R.R.C." 1831 - 1871.  by Lieut Col Lewis Butler. Post: UK- £4.00 (max post for multiple books £6.00). For Europe £6.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment) Rest of World £8.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)	To order your copy: secure order form  Paperback Book serial number NMP4541.    334 pages. Price £22.
The Annals of the Kings Royal Rifle Corps : Vol 4 "The K.R.R.C." 1872 - 1913.  by Maj Gen Sir Steuart Hare. Post: UK- £4.00 (max post for multiple books £6.00). For Europe £6.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment) Rest of World £8.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)	To order your copy: secure order form  Paperback Book serial number NMP455X.    398 pages. Price £22.
The Annals of the Kings Royal Rifle Corps : Vol 5 "The Great War".  by Maj Gen Sir Steuart Hare. Post: UK- £4.00 (max post for multiple books £6.00). For Europe £6.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment) Rest of World £8.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)	To order your copy: secure order form  Paperback Book serial number NMP4568.    505 pages. Price £22.
The Annals of the Kings Royal Rifle Corps : Appendix Volume - Uniform, Armament and Equipment.  by S M Milne and Maj Gen Astley Terry. (1913) Post: UK- £4.00 (max post for multiple books £6.00). For Europe £6.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment) Rest of World £8.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)	To order your copy: secure order form  Paperback Book serial number NMP4576.      52 pages. Price £33.
This, like the Rifle Brigade, is one of the exceptional regiments in the "Army List", in having more than two battalions.  At present it possesses four, the first of which was raised about 1755 in America, and was composed of Swiss and German Protestants; but, later, it was increased to four, of which two were twice reduced and restored before 1788.  A fifth battalion was added in 1797, created from Hompesch's Mounted Rifles and Loewenstein's Chasseurs. By 1813 there were eight battalions, but after the war they were reduced to two - the Rifle and the Light Infantry battalions  (originally the 2nd battalion of the force raised in 1795, and the 3rd of the increase in 1787), to which a third was added during the Crimean War, and a fourth after it.  So mixed, however, were the recruits in 1824, that in that year it was decided to collect all British-born subjects into the 1st battalion, leaving the 2nd battalion to the aliens. Its glorious battle roll records its valuable services since its formation, and is a history too lengthy to be more than briefly summarised.  Its first important service was naturally in the American War of 1757-60, when it saw  much continuous frontier fighting, besides being engaged at Louisburg, Ticonderoga, Quebec, Abraham Plains, defence of Quebec, and at Montreal; while, interspersed with active service at Martinique and Havannah, at Jamaica and St Vincent, it shared materially in the great War of American Independence. on Hobkirk Hill, Guildford, and York Town; after this other detachments of the regiment were still employed in the West Indies - at Martinique, St Lucia, Guadaloupe, Trinidad, and Porto Rico. Meanwhile the other battalions were earning honours at Surinam in 1804, at Bergen and in Denmark in 1799 and 1807; and especially in the Peninsula, where the "green jackets" were present at Obidos, Lorinda, Roleia, Vimiera, Corunna, Douro, Oporto, Talavera, Busaco, Fuentes d'Onor, Albuhera, Pombal, Casal Nova, Olivenza, Badajoz, El Bodon, Aldea de Ponte, Arroyo dos Molinos, siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, escalade of Badajo, Almarez, Fort St Cayetano, Castragon, battles of Salamanca, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, St Jean de Luz, Nive, Orthes, Toulouse, Alba de Tormes, passage of Bidassoa and Adour, Fort St Michael, Burgos, and Bayonne. Again in the West Indies in 1809, the regiment appeears at Los Saintes and Guadaloupe; in Portugal in 1826; and in India between 1846 and 1850, when it served at the siege of Mooltan, at Goojerat, in the Eusufzie expedition, and against the Afridis. The then 2nd battalion served also in the Kaffir War of 1851-53.   The 1st and 2nd battalions took an active part in the Mutiny, from the outbreak at Meerut to Hindun and Delhi; with the Rohilcund and Oude expeditions; at Bareilly, and numerous other "affairs", and in the jungles of Jugdespur.  Soon after this the 2nd battalion was ent to China, in 1860, and assisted in the capture of the Taku forts, the occupation of Pekin, and the other operations that led to peace. So varied and extensive are the services of the regiment that it is, as we have said, only possible to enumerate the chief battles in which it has borne so distinguished a part. Up to 1854 there had been only two battalions, increased in 1855 to three, and to four in 1856.  The 1st battalion took part in the arduous, though bloodless, Red River Expedition of 1870; the 2nd, in 1878, shared in the Afghan War at Ahmed Khel, Ghuzni, Arza, and the march to and battle at Kandahar; the 3rd, in South Africa, fought at Ginghlovo, the relief of Ekowe, and Ulundi; in the Transvaal at the disastrous skirmish of Ingogo (where Sergeant-Major Wilkins was specially mentioned for coolness by Sir George Colley); and in North Africa in the campaign of 1882, when it was under fire at Tel-el-Mahuta and Kassassin, as well as being in second line at Tel-el-Kebir.  The same battalion also took part in the operations round Suakim, at El-Teb and Tamai, and, finally, returning again to Egypt proper, shared in the labours of the Nile Column. Victoria Crosses have been won in 1857-58 by privates Bambrick, Divane, Turner, Thompson, Sergeants Waller, and Garvin, Bugler Sutton, and Lieutenant Heathcote; in 1879 by Captain Redevers H Buller at Inhlobane during the Zulu War; and in 1884  Lieutenant Scrope Marling won it at Tamai. The uniform when General Wolfe, in 1759, gave the regiment its motto of "Celer et audax" was red with royal blue facings, and so it remained until the present century, when one battalion at least had assumed the green jacket; and the whole regiment was clad by 1816 in "a green jacket with short skirts, lapels lined with red," etc.  There has been a tradition that the present dark colour of the jacket was selected as best matching the tint of the foliage of the cork woods in Spain; but there is no authoritative foundation for the statement as far as can be gathered.  In the "forties" the pelisse seems to have been worn.  The general character of the dress has necessarily followed that of the British army, colour of uniform excepted.  The facings are red.  The button bears the bugle crowned within a wreath.  The Maltese Cross - a survival possibly of the time when the mounted riflemen of Hompesch, a relation of the last Grand Master of the Knights of Malta, joined the ranks - bears the regimental battle roll, as rifle regiments have no colours; these having been abandoned in 1824, at which time they bore the royal cypher crowned.  The head-dress is of sealskin or astracan, and has a red and black plume. The Militia battalions are the Huntingdon, Royal 2nd Middlesex, the Carlow and North Cork battalions; a 6th battalion, mentioned in some books, does not appear in the present "Army List", and was disbanded in 1889. The Volunteer battalions are the 1st Middlesex - Victoria and St George's (green with scarlet facings), the 2nd South Middlesex (grey and scarlet), the 4th Middlesex - West London (ditto); the 5th West Middlesex and 9th Harrow (grey and scarlet, and green with green facing respectively); the 12th, Civil Service, and 25th, Bank of England (clad in grey and blue and in rifle green); the 13th, Queen's Westminster (grey and scarlet); the 21st Finsbury Rifles (green and scarlet); the 22nd, Central London Rangers (ditto); and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd City of London Rifle Volunteer Brigade (green with green facings, green with scarlet, and scarlet with buff facings, respectively). Their usual name is the "Royal Rifles", or the "Green Jackets"; but the regiment was once known as the "Royal Americans", and to distinguish their dark dress, with red facings, from the Rifle Brigade, have been called the "Sanguinary (or B----y) Sweeps".  The depot is at Winchester.  Extract from "The British Army and Auxiliary Forces" Colonel C. Cooper King, R.M.A. , 1894