The Regiments of the British Army - 1881 (List)

[RattlesnakeJack]

In my postings on this forum, I have made reference to the "Cardwell Reforms" which culminated in a complete re-organization of the British Army, as well as extensive revisions to the Dress Regulations, in 1881.

As I have mentioned, 1881 saw the introduction of the "Territorial Regiments" - each one consisting of an amalgamation of two existing Army regiments (usually, unless an existing regiment already consisted of two Battalions of Regulars) along with the Mlitia and Volunteer units of a particular County (or group of Counties) into a larger unit of 4 or more Battalions - the former regular regiments incorporated into each new Territorial Regiment usually forming the 1st and 2nd Battalions, respectively, based on their seniority as a rule.

Browsing through my references, I came across a complete list of the new designations introduced in 1881 for all Infantry Regiments of the British Army, and thought that it might be of interest (or even a useful reference to be saved by those with an interest in the British military. 

Most of the pre-1881 regiments were also referred to by some sort of a name (e.g. the 42nd Regiment was commonly referred to as "The Royal Highland Regiment" and also as "The Black Watch) but the official designation of each unit prior to 1881 was just their number.  Unfortunately, this list gives only the pre-reorganization number of each regiment, but to preserve the traditions so important in the British Regimental system the corresponding new names usually incorporated at least some elements of the earlier names by which they had also been known.

Since this website automatically reduces images to a certain maximum width - which will render this scan very hard to read - instead of posting the image within this post, here is a link to it:

http://members.memlane.com/gromboug/1881re~1.gif

[Dusty Chaps]

Thanks. My pa was in the 91st and I still can fit into his kilt !!!