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THE COUNTY REGIMENTSReaders of this article will perhaps remember the unanimous decision of Bristol Cily Council to grant the Freedom of the City to the Royal Gloucestershire Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment. This was not the only Freedom the Regiment received as no less than ten other major cities in the counties of Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire also granted this distinction to the Regiment. Who are these people? What is this Freedom? Why is it granted? And maybe, in these commercial times, what do we the citizens of these Cities get in return for this favour? It has been said that a country has always to pay for an army, either it's own or an army of foreign occupation. A government’s first duty is to ensure the defence of the country, and so far by the grace of God this land has for a thousand years defended itself against aggressors and, as Churchill said, "The powers of darkness". |
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However, the price of freedom is a high one, and not only in terms of hard cash; the highest price is that of lives lost in the Nation's defence, and in this respect the citizens of this great country have paid their dues. Each of the three Counties has a proud military history but in 1959 the Royal Berkshires and the Wiltshire Regiment were amalgamated and became The Duke of Edinburgh’s Royal Regiment. In 1994 the Gloucester's and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Royal Regiment merged to become The Royal Gloucestershire Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment, (lets refer to them henceforth as the RGBW, although some prefer the nickname "The M 4 Rifles"). The RGBW can trace their ancestry back to at least the seventeenth century. It was in 1625 that a ‘trained band' of volunteers was recorded a - "...a voluntary company of gentle, proper, martial and disciplined men who have their arms in a handsome Artillery House, newly built up in Bristol Castle yard." However as we have all found, it has always seemed a good idea to change the name of a going concern in the interest of progress and the trained bands became the Militia for Gloucestershire in 1750, with headquarters in Bristol. In the centuries which followed, the voluntary sector of the local military were successively re-titled as Volunteers, as the Territorial Force, as the Territorial Army, as Yeomanry and back to Volunteers again! (Forgive me if I appear to lose the genealogical thread of these name changes, they all seemed like a good idea at the time). What is important however is that the members of all these units were the citizens of Bristol and no doubt ancestors of some of our readers, and that by 1763 the volunteer units were closely associated with the 28th and 61st Regiments of foot which evolved into the Glouster’s and in 1994 into the RGBW. Those who have followed this narrative so far will now appreciate the close ties the counties and their citizens have had with the RGBW and it's predecessors for nearly four hundred years and why the councils in their wisdom, have been minded to honour its Regiment. So what then are these Freedoms and what privileges do they bestow on the recipients? I quote" The award of a Freedom is a mark of especial recognition by a local community. It acknowledges the close ties existing between the Regiment and the Cities for several hundreds of years. As a sign of the trust reposed in the Regiment by the population, the Regiment will be permitted to exercise the privilege of marching through the city streets with drums beating, Colours flying and bayonets fixed". Before the amalgamation of the Gloucestershire Regiment with The Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment in 1994, the freedom of Bristol had been granted to the "Glorious Glosters" in 1958 but, as is customary, it lapsed with the formation of the new Regiment. In it's short life of some twelve years, the Regiment has served in the Falklands. Cyprus and Belize and in most of the world's trouble spots and has taken casualties in Bosnia, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan. It has now a fact that the RGBW has been merged with the Devon and Dorset Regiment into the Light Division and a new regiment is to be formed which will be called "The Rifles". The RGBW, the Devon and Dorset’s, the Rifle Brigade and the Light Infantry will form the seven battalions of The Rifles when it is formed in February 2007. There will be many readers who have had ties with one or more of the regiments I have mentioned And, oh yes, I have not yet given an answer to the question I posed earlier . "What do the people get in return for the grant of their City's freedom to its county regiment?” The answer?...How about, a loyal .disciplined, trained and well equipped body of soldiers ready to give their time to your service and to sacrifice their lives if need be.
Colonel F J J Bartlett O.B.E . |
and who have fond memories of the comradeship they found in the regiment in which they once served. So whether you, speak of National Service, Territorial or Regular engagements and whether of Glousters, Berkshires, Wiltshire’s, Duke of Edinburgh’s, the Wessex, the Devon’s or the Dorset’s; from next year the golden threads of our regiment's history and honours will be vested in THE RIFLES.