Forester Brigade

Last updated

F Group
Midland Brigade
Forester Brigade
Active1946–1963
CountryFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
BranchFlag of the British Army.svg  British Army
TypeAdministrative

The Forester Brigade (known as the Midland Brigade until 1958) was an administrative formation of the British Army from 1948 to 1964. The Brigade administered the regular infantry regiments of the English Midlands.

Contents

After the Second World War the British Army had fourteen infantry depots, each bearing a letter. The depots were territorially organised, and Infantry Depot F at Strensall was the headquarters for the county regiments of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire. [1]

In 1948, the depots adopted names and this depot became the Midland Brigade with all regiments being reduced to a single battalion at the same time. The Midland Brigade was formally formed on 14 July 1948, combining the depots of four regiments: [2]

Under the 1957 Defence White Paper changes announced in July 1957, the infantry of the line was reorganised: accordingly, in 1958, the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment was transferred to the East Anglian Brigade and the Midland Brigade was renamed as the Forester Brigade.

From 1958 all regiments in the Brigade adopted a common cap badge: "A Maltese cross voided, the points pommelled, and thereon, on a mount, an antelope statant gorged with a ducal coronet and chained within The Garter, the whole encircled with a chaplet of oak-leaves issuant from a scroll inscribed 'Forester Brigade' and ensigned with, upon a mount, a tiger passant guardant. The badge combined parts of the cap badges of the Royal Warwicks, Royal Leicesters and Sherwood Foresters. [3] From 1960 the Forester Brigade was based at Glen Parva Barracks in Leicestershire. [4]

In 1963, the Royal Warwickshire Regiment was transferred to the Fusilier Brigade, and in the following year the Royal Leicestershire Regiment joined the East Anglian Brigade [5] and the Sherwood Foresters moved to the Mercian Brigade. With this, the Forester Brigade was disbanded.

Units

During its existence, the brigade was made up of the following units: [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">46th (North Midland) Division</span> British Army infantry unit

The 46th Division was an infantry division of the British Army, part of the Territorial Force, that saw service in the First World War. At the outbreak of the war, the 46th Division was commanded by Major-General Hon. E.J. Montagu-Stuart-Wortley. Originally called the North Midland Division, it was redesignated as the 46th Division in May 1915.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Anglian Regiment</span> Infantry regiment of the British Army

The Royal Anglian Regiment is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It consists of two Regular battalions and one Reserve battalion. The modern regiment was formed in 1964, making it the oldest of the line regiments now operating in the British Army, and can trace its history back to 1685. The regiment was the first of the large infantry regiments and is one of the three regiments of the Queen's Division.

The Robin Hood Battalion was a unit of the Volunteer Force of the British Army and Territorial Force, later the Territorial Army. The battalion served as infantry during the 1916 Easter Uprising in Dublin and then served on the Western Front during World War I. In the 1930s it re-roled as an anti-aircraft unit and served in World War II, including North-western Europe from June 1944 to May 1945.

The Prince of Wales's Division was a British Army command, training and administrative apparatus designated for all land force units in the West of England and Wales. It merged with the Scottish Division, to form the Scottish, Welsh and Irish Division; at the same time the Mercian Regiment joined with the King's Division.

The East of England Regiment (EER) was the infantry unit of the Territorial Army of the East Midlands and East Anglia from 1 July 1999 to 1 April 2006. Upon the re-organisation of the infantry in 2006, the regiment became 3rd Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sherwood Foresters</span> Infantry regiment of the British Army

The Sherwood Foresters was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence for just under 90 years, from 1881 to 1970. In 1970, the regiment was amalgamated with the Worcestershire Regiment to form the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment, which in 2007 was amalgamated with the Cheshire Regiment and the Staffordshire Regiment to form the present Mercian Regiment. The lineage of the Sherwood Foresters is now continued by The Mercian Regiment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Leicestershire Regiment</span> Infantry regiment of the British Army

The Leicestershire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, with a history going back to 1688. The regiment saw service for three centuries, in numerous wars and conflicts such as both World War I and World War II, before being amalgamated, in September 1964, with the 1st East Anglian Regiment, the 2nd East Anglian Regiment and the 3rd East Anglian Regiment to form the present day Royal Anglian Regiment, of which B Company of the 2nd Battalion continues the lineage of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment.

The Wessex Brigade was an administrative formation of the British Army from 1948 to 1968. The Brigade administered the regular infantry regiments of the Wessex area of south and south west England.

The Home Counties Brigade was an administrative formation of the British Army from 1948 to 1968. The Brigade administered the regular infantry regiments of the Home Counties of south east England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fusilier Brigade</span> Military unit

The Fusilier Brigade was an administrative brigade of the British Army from 1958 to 1968, that administered those English infantry regiments titled as fusiliers.

The East Anglian Brigade was an administrative brigade of the British Army from 1946 to 1968, that administered the regiments with recruiting grounds in East Anglia, and the East of England.

The Mercian Brigade was an administrative formation of the British Army from 1948 to 1964. The Brigade administered the infantry regiments from the area of England between the Trent, Mersey and Severn rivers that roughly corresponded to the ancient kingdom of Mercia.

A large regiment is a multi-battalion infantry formation of the British Army. First formed in the 1960s, large regiments are the result of the amalgamation of a number of existing single-battalion regiments, and perpetuate the traditions of each of the predecessor units.

During the First World War the British Armed Forces was enlarged to many times its peacetime strength. This was done mainly by adding new battalions to existing regiments. Although sometimes identified by shoulder titles, generally the new battalions could not be identified from appearance. Consequently, the units in this list have been assembled considering only those as having a uniquely different cap badge.

The North Midland Brigade was an infantry formation of Britain's Volunteer Force from 1888 to 1908.

The 222nd Infantry Brigade was a Home Service formation of the British Army that existed under various short-lived titles in both the First and Second World Wars

The 139th Brigade was an infantry brigade of the British Army that saw active service in the First World War with the 46th Division. Later designated the 139th Infantry Brigade, the brigade also saw service with the 46th Infantry Division in the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">140 Corps Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers</span> Military unit

140 Corps Engineer Regiment was a short-lived Territorial Army (TA) unit of the Royal Engineers based in the North Midlands of England during the 1960s.

References

  1. ↑ Messenger, Charles (16 March 1994). A History of British Infantry: For Love of Regiment, Volume 2, 1915–1994. Pen and Sword. p. 156. ISBN   9780850524222.
  2. ↑ Whitaker's Almanack 1956, p. 471
  3. ↑ A L Kipling and H L King, Head-dress badges of the British Army, Volume 2, London, 1979
  4. ↑ "Infantry Brigade Depots (Location)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . 7 March 1958. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  5. ↑ Goldschmidt, Michael (2009). Marching with the Tigers: The History of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment 1955-1975. Pen & Sword. ISBN   978-1848840355.
  6. ↑ "Forester Brigade". Archived from the original on 1 January 2007. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.