| Drill Hall Road Army Reserve Centre | |
|---|---|
| Newport, Isle of Wight | |
 Drill Hall Road Army Reserve Centre | |
  Drill Hall Road Army Reserve Centre Location in Isle of Wight | |
| Coordinates | 50°41′56″N1°17′59″W / 50.69899°N 1.29976°W Coordinates: 50°41′56″N1°17′59″W / 50.69899°N 1.29976°W |
| Type | Drill hall |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1860 |
| Built for | War Office |
| In use | 1860–Present |
The Drill Hall Road Army Reserve Centre is a military installation in Newport, Isle of Wight.
The building was designed as the headquarters of the Isle of Wight Rifle Volunteers in 1860. [1] This unit evolved to become the 5th (Isle of Wight, Princess Beatrice's) Volunteer Battalion, The Hampshire Regiment in 1885 and the 8th Battalion, The Hampshire Regiment in 1908. [2] The battalion was mobilised at the drill hall in August 1914 before being deployed to India. [3] The regiment converted to the Princess Beatrice's (Isle of Wight Rifles) Heavy Regiment, Royal Artillery in 1938, a unit which evolved to become the 530th The Princess Beatrice's (Isle of Wight Rifles) Coast Regiment, Royal Artillery in 1940 and the 428th The Princess Beatrice's (Isle of Wight Rifles) Coast Regiment, Royal Artillery in 1947. [2]
The presence at the drill hall was reduced to one battery, P (Princess Beatrice's Isle of Wight) Battery, 457th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery in 1955, and to one platoon, 6 Platoon, B Company (Hampshire), 1st Battalion, Wessex Volunteers in 1971. [2] This unit evolved to become 9 (Princess Beatrice's) Platoon, C (Duke of Connaught's) Company, 6th/7th (Volunteer) Battalion, The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment in 1992 and 9 (Princess Beatrice's Isle of Wight Rifles) Platoon, C (Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment) Company, The Royal Rifle Volunteers in 1999 before converting to become 266 (Princess Beatrice's) Port Support Squadron, 165th Port Regiment, Royal Logistic Corps in 2006. [2] The building remains an active Army Reserve Centre [4] and an active Army Cadet Force Centre. [5]
The Post Office Rifles was a unit of the British Army, first formed in 1868 from volunteers as part of the Volunteer Force, which later became the Territorial Force. The unit evolved several times until 1921, after which the name was lost during one of many reorganisations.
The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a popular movement throughout the British Empire in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increasingly integrated with the British Army after the Childers Reforms in 1881, before forming part of the Territorial Force in 1908. Most of the regiments of the present Army Reserves Infantry, Artillery, Engineers and Signals units are directly descended from Volunteer Force units.
The 1st Isle of Wight Rifle Volunteers, later the 8th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment, but known informally as the 'Isle of Wight Rifles', was an auxiliary unit of the British Army formed to defend the Isle of Wight after a mid-19th Century invasion scare. During World War I it fought in the Gallipoli Campaign, taking part in the calamitous attack at Suvla Bay, and later at the battles of Gaza and Megiddo in Palestine. Between the wars it was converted to coast defence artillery and served in this role on the Isle of Wight throughout World War II. One battery was sent to reinforce the garrison of Tobruk, where it was captured in 1942. Postwar the unit converted to the air defence role, then reverted to infantry, and its successors continue in today's Army Reserve.
The 1st Wessex Artillery was a volunteer unit of the British Army that existed under various titles from 1860 to 1971, including active service in Mesopotamia in World War I and North Africa and Italy in World War II.
The Hampshire Brigade, previously the Portsmouth Brigade and later 128th (Hampshire) Brigade, was an infantry formation of the British Army of the Volunteer Force, Territorial Force (TF) and Territorial Army (TA) in existence from 1889 until after the Second World War. It served in British India during the First World War, but not as a complete formation. During the Second World War, the 128th Infantry Brigade fought in the Tunisia Campaign, in the Italian Campaign, and later in the Greek Civil War. The brigade was composed entirely of battalions from the Hampshire Regiment.
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The 6th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment was an infantry battalion of the British Army. Part of the Volunteer Force, later the Territorial Force, the battalion was part of the Hampshire Regiment and recruited from Portsmouth, Hampshire. It served as infantry during World War I and as a Royal Artillery regiment during and after World War II.
The Exeter & South Devon Volunteers was the premier unit of Britain's Volunteer Force. Formed in 1852 it went on to become a battalion of the Devonshire Regiment. Both its active service battalions went to garrison India on the outbreak of the First World War, and then saw action in Mesopotamia and Palestine. In the Second World War, the battalion served in the garrison of Gibraltar. It continued in the postwar Territorial Army until it was merged with other West Country units. Its successors today serve in a reserve battalion of The Rifles.
The 7th Battalion, The Rifles is an Army Reserve battalion of the British Army originally formed in 1999 as an independent regiment, however later became part of The Rifles following the Future Army Structure programme, and remains an integral part of the regiment.
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