| Iverna Gardens drill hall | |
|---|---|
| Kensington, London | |
 Iverna Gardens drill hall | |
  Iverna Gardens drill hall Location within London | |
| Coordinates | 51°29′55″N0°11′38″W / 51.49851°N 0.19395°W Coordinates: 51°29′55″N0°11′38″W / 51.49851°N 0.19395°W |
| Type | Drill Hall |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1903 |
| Built for | War Office |
| In use | 1903-Present |
The Iverna Gardens drill hall is a military installation in Kensington, London.
Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, West London, England.
The drill hall was designed as the headquarters for the 4th (Kensington) Middlesex Volunteer Rifle Corps and competed in 1903. [1] This unit became the 13th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Kensington) in 1908. [1] The battalion was mobilised at the drill hall in August 1914 before being deployed to the Western Front. [2] In 1936, on the break-up of the London Regiment, the unit was re-designated the Princess Louise's Kensington Regiment, The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own). [3] It was deployed to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force at the early stages of the Second World War but did not return to the drill hall after the war. [4]
The Kensington Regiment is a unit of the British Army, which originated in the Volunteer Rifle Corps' movement of the 1850s. In 1908 it became a battalion of the London Regiment in the Territorial Force. It was an infantry regiment from 1908-1940, a heavy fire support unit from 1940-1945, and has been a unit of the Royal Corps of Signals since 1945.
The Western Front was the main theatre of war during the First World War. Following the outbreak of war in August 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne. Following the Race to the Sea, both sides dug in along a meandering line of fortified trenches, stretching from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier with France, which changed little except during early 1917 and in 1918.
The Middlesex Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1966. The regiment was formed, as the Duke of Cambridge's Own , in 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms when the 57th and 77th Regiments of Foot were amalgamated with the county's militia and rifle volunteer units.
In 1939 the drill hall was instead occupied by the 99th (London Welsh) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery; after seeing action in North West Europe in the closing stages of the Second World War, that unit was re-designated 499th (London Welsh) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery in 1947. By 1951, there were only three Welshmen serving in the regiment and in 1952 it was adopted by the Royal Borough of Kensington and changed its designation to 499th (Kensington) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA, and was then disbanded in 1955. [5] [6] [7]
The 99th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery was an air defence unit of Britain's Territorial Army (TA) during World War II. It defended London during the early part of the war, and later served in the campaign in North West Europe.
The Welsh are a Celtic nation and ethnic group native to, or otherwise associated with, Wales, Welsh culture, Welsh history and the Welsh language. Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom, and the majority of people living in Wales are British citizens.
Since 2014 the drill hall has also been the home of B Detachment 256 (City of London) Field Hospital. [1]
The 1st Anti-Aircraft Division was an Air Defence formation of the British Army before and during the early years of World War II. It defended London during the Battle of Britain and The Blitz.
The Tynemouth Volunteer Artillery claims to be the oldest volunteer artillery unit of the British Army. It served coastal, siege and anti-aircraft guns in World War I and World War II, and also served in the infantry role.
The 17th Battalion, The London Regiment , was a unit of Britain's Territorial Force formed in 1908 from Volunteer corps dating back to 1859. It saw considerable service on the Western Front, at Salonika and in Palestine during World War I. It served as an infantry regiment during World War II before conversion to an artillery unit in 1947 and subsequent amalgamation in 1967.
The 36th (Middlesex) Searchlight Regiment was a volunteer air defence battalion of Britain's Territorial Army (TA) from 1936 until 1961, at first as part of the Royal Engineers, later in the Royal Artillery.
58th (Middlesex) Searchlight Regiment, Royal Artillery was an air defence unit of Britain's Territorial Army (TA) raised just before World War II. It defended the East Midlands of England during The Blitz, and later served as infantry in North West Europe at the end of the war, converting to the anti-aircraft (AA) artillery role postwar.
The 9th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment was an infantry battalion of the British Army. Part of the Volunteer Force, later the Territorial Force, the battalion was part of the Middlesex Regiment and recruited from the north-western suburbs of London. It served as infantry in the Mesopotamian campaign during World War I and as an air defence regiment during and after World War II.
The Essex (Fortress) Royal Engineers was a volunteer unit of Britain's Royal Engineers formed to defend the Essex coast. It served in this role in World War I and then converted to a searchlight regiment for air defence in World War II. The unit ended the war as a garrison infantry battalion. Its descendants continued to serve in the Territorial Army until 1955.
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The 2nd Welsh Brigade was a Royal Field Artillery unit of Britain's Territorial Force (TF) formed in 1908 that served in Palestine during World War I. Between the wars it converted to the anti-aircraft (AA) role and was captured in Java during World War II. Its successor unit continues in Britain's Army Reserve today.