SOLDIERS OF BRISTOL Part 1-The Regulars

When Freedoms of Towns and Cities are presented to Regiments, the honour does not reflect only on today's soldier but also to many generations of Bristolians who had served with the regiment and its predecessors. Regiments, you see, never die. Names may change and new roles evolve, but the history and the glory earned cannot be erased.

Battle Honours are carried forward on the Regimental and Sovereign Colours of newly titled Battalions and the soldiers wear with pride the emblems of past distinction in the service of our country. Such emblems in the soldiers dress were the Back badge and Presidential Citation of the Glosters, the Brandy wine flash of the Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment (Berkshire and Wiltshire), the Cross Pattee Badge once worn by the Wiltshires and the rare Chinese or Berkshire dragon.

The story of the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment (RGBW) is a tale of service to the Crown which commenced three hundred and eight years ago. Those years encompass some fifteen different Regimental titles.

Raised as Regiments of Foot between 1694 and 1760, the 28th, 49th, 61st, 62nd, 66th and 99th Regiments encountered the Sovereigns enemies around the world, notably in Spain, the West Indies and North America.

In 1782 the Foot Regiments, whilst retaining their Regimental Numbers, were given also County Titles, and became the North Gloucestershire, the South Gloucestershire, the Hertfordshire, the Berkshire and the Wiltshire Regiments, and fought the countries battles variously in France, Egypt, India, Russia and Africa.

Having been left alone for a century, the Regiments were beginning to get accustomed to their new titles. This obviously became a source of concern to the government of the day who in 1881 merged the North and South Glosters to become the first and second battalions of the Gloucestershire Regiment. The Hertfordshire and Berkshire became the first and second battalions of the Berkshire Regiment, (Royal Berkshires in 1885).

The 99th of Foot had never got to be an English county regiment by 1881, presumably because its various battalions had been frequently disbanded, re-raised and posted to such far-flung outposts as China, Australia and India, that the government were probably unsure as to where they were, or indeed if they still existed. However they were located and merged with the Wiltshires, becoming the second battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment.

For some years the Glosters, Wilts and Royal Berks served with great distinction throughout the world, notably in the South African wars, in World War 1 and in the Second World War.

In the World Wars the regiments were expanded to form extra battalions of volunteers, and later, conscripts to meet the nation's needs. In the First World War the three county regiments grew to 49 battalions and in the Second World War, to 26 battalions.

The sacrifices made by these men were great and appalling. In World War One, the three regiments lost some 19,800 killed. The Glosters from their 24 battalions suffered 8100 deaths and many of these were Bristol men. The 12th Battalion (Bristol's Own), raised in September 1914 and disbanded in October 1918, lost 765 officers and men in its short existence. Battle Honours awarded were, to the Glosters 72, to the Royal Berks 55 and to the Wilts 60.

In the Second World War the Glosters, Berkshires and Wilts were represented in almost every theatre of the conflict and earned between them some 65 Battle Honours to add to their Colours. They took heavy casualties in that process!

At the end of the war the Territorial and Service battalions of the three Regiments were largely disbanded and, by 1949, the government having decided that the size of the army had to reduce, the Regiments each amalgamated their two regular battalions into one. These amalgamations did not end there. In 1959 the Royal Berkshires and the Wiltshire Regiment merged to become The Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment (Berkshire and Wiltshire). The Dukes served with great distinction until 1994, notably on operational tours in Cyprus and Northern Ireland.

In the meantime, the 1st. Bn. The Gloucestershire Regiment (28th/61st) was engaged in the Korean War and, having taken casualties, were reinforced by some 60 volunteers from the Wiltshire Regiment just prior to the battle of the Imjin River. These volunteers, some 40 of them national servicemen, changed their cap badge to that of the Glosters and, at the battle of the Imjin River, the Regiment held up the advance of the Chinese 63rd Army between the 22nd and 25th of April 1951. This delay gave the rest of the allied force time to withdraw and re-establish a firm line of defence. On the 22nd of April the Glosters strength was 917 all ranks. On the 25th it was 234! It was possibly this gallant stand which prompted a government reversal of its intention to merge the Glosters and the Royal Hampshires into one regiment in 1959.

However, the Duke of Edinburgh's and the Glosters, after service variously in Northern Ireland, West Germany, Cyprus and Hong Kong, eventually succumbed to government policy in 1994 to become The Royal Gloucestershire Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment, since when it has served and taken casualties in Cyprus, the Falklands, Belize, Bosnia. Kosovo, Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan.

What a history, and that is only the Regulars.

Post Script

From 1st February 2007 the RGBW will become part of a new Regiment called

"THE RIFLES". The county titles will no longer exist. As with all reorganisations, the complications are immense, and when the dust has settled I will endeavour to bring the story up to date.

Colonel F J J Bartlett O.B.E.