This article needs additional citations for verification .(October 2012) |
2nd Royal Cheshire Militia 4th (Militia) Battalion, Cheshire Regiment | |
---|---|
Active | 1853–1908 |
Country | United Kingdom (1801–1908) |
Branch | British Army |
Type | Infantry |
Garrison/HQ | Macclesfield |
Engagements | Second Anglo-Boer War |
The 2nd Royal Cheshire Militia was a militia infantry battalion raised in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England in 1853. Later linked to the regular Cheshire Regiment as its 4th (Militia) Battalion, the unit served in the Second Anglo-Boer War before disbandment in 1908.
The regiment was originally raised in Macclesfield on 25 July 1853 to provide additional Army strength during the Crimean War. On 1 July 1881 it was renamed 4th (Militia) Battalion, Cheshire Regiment, as part of the reorganisation of the militia made during the Childers reforms.
The battalion was embodied on 22 January 1900 for service during the Second Boer War in South Africa. 650 officers and men left Queenstown in the SS Orotava the following month for Cape Town. [1] Subsequently, awarded battle honour South Africa 1900–'02. Most of the battalion, 15 officers and 420 men, left Cape Town in April 1902 and arrived at Southampton the following month. [2] [3]
As part of the Haldane Reforms in 1908, the battalion was disbanded on 31 July in that year.
The first commanding officer was Lieutenant-Colonel William Davenport Davenport, appointed 5 April 1853. [4] Following Davenport's death, he was succeeded by George Cornwall Legh MP on 20 March 1869. [5] On Legh's resignation Henry Brougham Loch was appointed lieutenant-colonel on 16 July 1873. [6] In June 1884 Loch, by now knighted and governor of Victoria, Australia, retired and was made honorary colonel of the battalion. [7] Cephas John Howard was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and commanding officer of the battalion in his place. [8] Howard resigned his commission in March 1888. [9] He was succeeded by Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Warren-Swettenham. [10] [11] In February 1900 he was succeeded by Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Harrop Beck of Upton Priory, who commanded the unit during the Boer War and was made a Companion of the Bath in September 1901. [12] [13] Beck resigned his commission in August 1903. [14] The final commanding officer was Lieutenant-Colonel Henry M Nicholls, who was transferred to the unattached list when the battalion was disbanded in 1908. [15]
Colonel William Eagleson Gordon, VC, CBE was a Scottish British Army officer and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He is the older brother of Archibald Alexander Gordon, who received the Legion of Honour and Order of Leopold.
The Cheshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Prince of Wales' Division. The 22nd Regiment of Foot was raised by the Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk in 1689 and was able to boast an independent existence of over 300 years. The regiment was expanded in 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms by the linking of the 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment of Foot and the militia and rifle volunteers of Cheshire. The title 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment continued to be used within the regiment.
Lieutenant-General Sir William Pulteney Pulteney, was a British general during the First World War.
Field Marshal Paul Sanford Methuen, 3rd Baron Methuen,, was a British Army officer. He served in the Third Anglo-Ashanti War in 1873 and then in the expedition of Sir Charles Warren to Bechuanaland in the mid-1880s. He took a prominent role as General Officer Commanding the 1st Division in the Second Boer War. He suffered a serious defeat at the Battle of Magersfontein, during which he failed to carry out adequate reconnaissance and accordingly his artillery bombarded the wrong place leading to the Highland Brigade taking heavy casualties. He was later captured by the Boers at Tweebosch. After the war, he became General Officer Commanding-in-Chief in South Africa in 1908, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Natal in 1910 and then Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Malta in 1915.
Lieutenant Colonel Edward Henry Trotter, DSO was a British Army officer who commanded the 18th Battalion, The King's during the First World War.
Arthur Jocelyn Charles Gore, 6th Earl of Arran,, known as Viscount Sudley from 1884 to 1901, was an Anglo-Irish peer and soldier.
The Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army, formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 100th (Prince of Wales's Royal Canadian) Regiment of Foot and the 109th Regiment of Foot (Bombay Infantry). The 100th Foot was first raised in 1858 and the 109th was first raised in 1853. Between the time of its formation and Irish independence, it was one of eight Irish regiments raised largely in Ireland, with its Birr Barracks home depot in Birr. It was disbanded with the Partition of Ireland following establishment of the independent Irish Free State in 1922 when the five regiments that had their traditional recruiting grounds in the counties of the new state were disbanded.
General The Honourable Sir Neville Gerald Lyttelton, was a British Army officer from the Lyttelton family who served against the Fenian Raids, and in the Anglo-Egyptian War, the Mahdist War and the Second Boer War. He was Chief of the General Staff at the time of the Haldane Reforms and then became Commander-in-Chief, Ireland.
General Sir Torquhil George Matheson, 5th Baronet, was a Scottish officer who commanded three different divisions of the British Army in some of the heaviest fighting of the First World War. He had previously served in the militia and with the Coldstream Guards in the Second Boer War. For his service, he was knighted in 1921 and in 1944 he inherited the Matheson baronetcy from his brother Roderick.
Reginald Binns Rickman was a British Army officer and cricketer who played first-class cricket for Derbyshire between 1906 and 1911 and captained the side in 1908 and 1909.
Lieutenant General Sir William Pitcairn Campbell, was a British Army general during the First World War.
General Sir Henry Macleod Leslie Rundle, was a British Army general during the Second Boer War and the First World War.
Lieutenant General Sir Warren Hastings Anderson, was a senior British Army officer who served as Quartermaster-General to the Forces from 1927 to 1930.
Major-General Sir Edward Owen Fisher Hamilton was an officer of the British Army during the late 19th century. Originally a junior officer in the Queen's Royal Regiment, he oversaw signalling in the Indian Army during the late nineteenth century, before commanding a battalion and then a brigade in the South African War. He was later the commanding officer for Army forces in West Africa and Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey before retiring in 1914; on the outbreak of the First World War, he briefly returned from retirement to command a division in the New Armies.
Lieutenant General Sir Francis Lloyd, was a senior British Army officer. He rose to become Major-General commanding the Brigade of Guards and General Officer Commanding London District from 1913 to 1918.
Major-General Henry Peregrine Leader, was a major-general in the British Army. He served in the Second Boer War, the First World War and the Third Afghan War. He rose in rank to command his regiment the 6th Dragoon Guards, two cavalry brigades and a cavalry division, for which he was invested with the Order of the Bath.
Noel Ernest Money, was a brigadier-general in the British Army during the First World War.
Major-General Colin George Donald, CB, CBE was a British Army officer who became colonel of the Royal Fusiliers.
Major-General Francis Seymour Inglefield (1855–1930) was a British Army officer.
The King's Own Light Infantry Militia, later the 3rd Battalion, North Staffordshire Regiment was an auxiliary regiment raised in Staffordshire in the West Midlands of England in 1853. Under the Cardwell and Childers Reforms it became part of the North Staffordshire Regiment and saw active service during the Second Boer War. During World War I it trained thousands of reinforcements for the battalions serving overseas. After a shadowy postwar existence it was formally disbanded in 1953.