Jellalabad Barracks | |
---|---|
Taunton | |
Jellalabad Barracks at Taunton with the Vivary Park Queen Victoria Memorial Fountain of 1907 in the foreground | |
Coordinates | 51°00′40″N3°06′05″W / 51.01123°N 3.10132°W Coordinates: 51°00′40″N3°06′05″W / 51.01123°N 3.10132°W |
Type | Barracks |
Site information | |
Owner | Ministry of Defence |
Operator | |
Site history | |
Built | 1879–1881 |
Built for | War Office |
In use | 1881-1999 |
Garrison information | |
Occupants | Somerset Light Infantry |
Jellalabad Barracks was a military installation in Taunton.
The barracks were built in the Fortress Gothic Revival Style and were completed between 1879 and 1881. [1] Their creation took place as part of the Cardwell Reforms which encouraged the localisation of British military forces. [2] The barracks became the depot for the two battalions of the 13th (1st Somerset) Regiment of Foot. [3] The barracks were named after the Battle of Jellalabad in which the regiment had taken part. [1] Following the Childers Reforms, the regiment evolved to become the Somerset Light Infantry with its depot in the barracks in 1881. [3]
Many recruits enlisted at the barracks at the start of the First World War. [4] The regiment remained at the barracks until it amalgamated with the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry to form the Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry in 1959. After the Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry moved out, the barracks were taken over by the Royal Army Pay Corps (RAPC) and became the Regimental Pay Office, Taunton. [5] The barracks were sold for residential development in the early 1990s. [6] Although many of the buildings were demolished in 1999, [7] the keep still survives and is now a Grade II listed building. [8]
The Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry (SCLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army. It was formed in October 1959 by the merger of the Somerset Light Infantry and the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, and was itself merged with three other regiments of the Light Infantry Brigade in 1968 to form The Light Infantry.
The Somerset Light Infantry was a light infantry infantry regiment of the British Army, which served under various titles from 1685 to 1959. In 1959, the regiment was amalgamated with the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry to form the Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry which was again amalgamated, in 1968, with the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, the King's Shropshire Light Infantry and the Durham Light Infantry to form The Light Infantry. In 2007, however, The Light Infantry was amalgamated further with the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment, the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment and the Royal Green Jackets to form The Rifles.
The Rifles is an infantry regiment of the British Army. Formed in 2007, it consists of five Regular and three Reserve battalions, plus a number of companies in other Army Reserve battalions. Each battalion of The Rifles was formerly an individual battalion of one of the two large regiments of the Light Division. Since formation the regiment has been involved in combat operations, first in the later stages of the Iraq War and in the War in Afghanistan.
The Battle of Jellalabad in 1842 was an Afghan siege of the isolated British outpost at Jellalabad about 80 miles (130 km) east of Kabul. The siege was lifted after five months when a British counterattack routed the Afghans, driving them back to Kabul.
The Keep, Dorchester is part of the former county barracks of the 39th (Dorsetshire) Regiment of Foot and the 75th (Stirlingshire) Regiment of Foot. The barracks were built in about 1880 and housed various regiments as units were amalgamated. It ceased to be used in 1958 and most of the site was redeveloped in the 1960s, but the keep remained in Ministry of Defence hands and is now used as a regimental museum. It is a Grade II listed building.
The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (DCLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1959.
The Somerset Military Museum is part of the Museum of Somerset located in the 12th century great hall of Taunton Castle, in Taunton, Somerset. It is a "registered and accredited museum" with the British Museums, Libraries, and Archives Council, and is a part of the Museum of Somerset. The museum covers Somerset's military history from 1685 onward. It received a £10,000 grant from the Somerset Military Museum Trust for the restoration project.
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The regimental depot of a regiment is its home base for recruiting and training. It is also where soldiers and officers awaiting discharge or postings are based and where injured soldiers return to full fitness after discharge from hospital before returning to full duty. Normally, a variety of regimental stores will also be kept at the depot. The regimental depot is not the same as the regimental headquarters, though in practice the two will often be co-located in the same place.
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