List of fictional regiments of the British Army

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The following is a list of British and Empire regiments that have appeared in various works of fiction. It also includes some which have been used as placeholders in more official works.

Contents

The list encompasses regiments of the British Army and also those of the pre-independence British Indian Army.

British Army

Cavalry regiments

Cavalry/armoured regiment featured in the episode 'The Orderly Officer' of the British television series Redcap (1964-1966)
James George Mostyn's former regiment in the Boysie Oakes novel The Airline Pirates by John Gardner
In A Close Run Thing by Allan Mallinson
The cavalry regiment in 105th Foot. The Prince of Wales Own Wessex Regiment series of Napoleonic War novels by Martin McDowell
In The Anti-Death League by Kingsley Amis
Herbert Curzon's regiment in The General by C.S. Forester
In Farewell Again , a 1937 film. [1]
In The Charge of the Light Brigade , a 1936 film - later a real regiment
In Rumpole of the Bailey series 4 episode 5, 'Rumpole and the Bright Seraphim' by Sir John Mortimer
In the Alms for Oblivion series of novels by Simon Raven
From Ravenshoe by Henry Kingsley
From the comic opera Cox and Box (1866)
Featured the episode 'True Love' of the British television series Red Cap (2001-2004)
From various novels by William Makepeace Thackeray
From the Thursday Next novels by Jasper Fforde
From the Dr David Audley/Colonel Jack Butler novels by Anthony Price as Audley's World War II tank regiment. Also featured in Keith Laumer's "For the Honor of the Regiment" as a part of the lineage of a Mark XXX Bolo of the 3rd Battalion, Dinochrome Brigade. [2]
From The Regiment trilogy by Christopher Nicole
From The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde
From The Rout of the White Hussars by Rudyard Kipling

Infantry regiments

Regiment in which the murderer, Ian Mcclurgy, is serving in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, when he receives letters about his mother's death through misfeasance at a residence for the elderly, in "The Chimes at Midnight", [3] second episode of the British detective series "Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators".
A regiment created by King Auberon in "The Napoleon of Notting Hill" by "G.K. Chesterton".
Various regiments with which Major Bloodnok (played by Peter Sellers of The Goon Show ) claimed to have served, or which were otherwise mentioned in the Goon Show.
A Highland Regiment portrayed in the 1968 film Carry On up the Khyber
From the 1967 comedy film "How I Won the War"
Mentioned in The General by C.S. Forester.
Mentioned in Ramage and the Saracens by Dudley Pope. [5]
Mentioned in Sea Devil by Richard P. Henrick. [6]
Harry East's regiment in Tom Brown at Oxford by Thomas Hughes
The infantry regiment in 105th Foot. The Prince of Wales Own Wessex Regiment series of Napoleonic War novels by Martin McDowell
The infantry regiment in Adrian Goldsworthy's series of Napoleonic War novels. [7]
From the James Ogilvie books by Philip McCutchan aka Duncan MacNeil
An Irish regiment mentioned in The Adventure of the Crooked Man and The Green Flag by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
From the BBC television series Red Cap (2001-04)
An Irish regiment mentioned in "The Mutiny of the Mavericks" by Rudyard Kipling.
An English regiment repeatedly appearing in The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson.
An Irish regiment serving in India mentioned in "The Ballad of Boh da Thone" as well as in the stories of the "Three Musketeers" by Rudyard Kipling.
A sample Scottish regiment used in Court of the Lord Lyon Information Leaflet No. 4: Petitions For Arms [8]
In The Anti-Death League by Kingsley Amis
In both The Book of Snobs by William Makepeace Thackeray, and Put Out More Flags by Evelyn Waugh
From the 1935 Laurel and Hardy film Bonnie Scotland
In The Anti-Death League by Kingsley Amis
In The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
In The Regiment (TV series) , BBC, 1972-3, starring Christopher Cazenove. The series depicts the Regiment's experiences from 1895 to 1904.
Mentioned in The General by C. S. Forester
From the television series Soldier Soldier (1991-1997)
From the BBC television series Red Cap (2001-04)
From the 1958 film Carry On Sergeant
From Gideon's Sword Bearers by John Mackenzie
From The East Wind of Love and The South Wind of Love by Compton Mackenzie
From The Monarch of the Glen and other novels by Compton Mackenzie
From The New Confession s (1987) by William Boyd. The narrator, John James Todd, serves in this regiment's 13th (Public School) service battalion during the First World War.
From Rich Relatives by Compton Mackenzie
From the 1944 film The Way Ahead
From Downton Abbey Season 2 (1916), Matthew Crawley's First World War I regiment.
From William Boyd's 2012 espionage novel Waiting for Sunrise . The novel's protagonist, Lysander Rief, is in the 2/5th (Service) Battalion in 1914-15. The unit guards a civilian internment camp near Swansea. Not to be confused with the Royal Sussex Light Infantry Militia, a genuine formation disbanded before the First World War
The name used in the writings of Siegfried Sassoon in place of his actual experiences in the Royal Welch Fusiliers
From Drums of the Fore and Aft by Rudyard Kipling.
From The Breaking of Bumbo (film version)
From No More Parades and A Man Could Stand Up — by Ford Madox Ford
From The New Confessions by William Boyd. The narrator's company of 13th South Oxfordshire Light Infantry (see above) are attached to this unit during the Third Battle of Ypres.
From The Book of Snobs by William Makepeace Thackeray
From the television series Soldier Soldier (1991-1997)
From the novel The Scarlet Thief by Paul Fraser Collard. [9]
In Sinister Street by Compton Mackenzie. The Kintails are also mentioned in The Stolen Soprano but this seems to be a reference to the same regiment as the similarly-named Clanranalds in Ben Nevis Goes East.
Richard Hannay's regiment in Greenmantle by John Buchan. Also in André Maurois' book The Silence of Colonel Bramble (Les silences du Colonel Bramble).
The "Loamshire Regiment" is a fictitious county regiment often used in Army documents as an example or placeholder. It, or the "Royal Loamshire Regiment", has been used in a number of works including the Bulldog Drummond novels, the 1943 film The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp , The Four Winds of Love by Compton Mackenzie and Evelyn Waugh's Men at Arms
A mounted infantry regiment in The Feathers of Death by Simon Raven
The "Loyal Highlanders" is a fictitious regiment commanded by Colonel the Hon. George Hysteron-Proteron C.B. J.P. in The Twelfth and After by J. K. Stanford. The regiment served in India, the Boer War and in France during the First World War.
From William Boyd's 2012 espionage novel Waiting for Sunrise. A fictional unit in the British First Army in 1915.
Mentioned in The South Wind of Love by Compton Mackenzie
Scottish regiment in the Regiment trilogy of books by C.L. Skelton.: The Maclarens, The Regiment, and Beloved Soldiers
From the television series Soldier Soldier (1991-1997)
Irish regiment mentioned by Kipling in Kim and in "The Mutiny of the Mavericks." Battle honors are given in "The Mutiny of the Mavericks" and the yellow of the regimental colors suggests yellow facing pre-Cardwell.
From England, Their England, a 1933 novel by A. G. Macdonell. Lt Donald Cameron was attached to the 24th battalion as their artillery officer.
From Devil Flotilla, a 1981 novel by Edwyn Gray.
From The Mark of Cain , a 2007 TV film
From Downton Abbey ; Lord Grantham's territorial regiment.
The "Ackies," in Alan Judd's A Breed of Heroes and its BBC adaptation
From Brian Callison's 1972 novel The Dawn Attack. [10]
From Edwyn Gray's 1985 novel Crash Dive 500 [11]
From the ITV Studios British television series Lewis episode "The Dead of Winter"
From No Man's World trilogy by Pat Kelleher
From "The Hour of the Donkey" by Anthony Price, Territorial Regiment in which David Audley's father, Major Nigel Audley, is serving in 1940 in France.
From Jackboots on Whitehall , a 2010 TV film.
from series 3 of Monty Python's Flying Circus
Former regiment of Peachey Carnehan and Daniel Dravot in the 1975 movie version of Kiplings's The Man Who Would Be King.
Infantry regiment featured in the episode A Regiment of the Line of the British television series Redcap (1964-1966)
From the television series Fairly Secret Army
From The Breaking of Bumbo, novel by Andrew Sinclair
From the film Waterloo Bridge (1940)
From the episode Crush of the British television series Red Cap (2001-2004)
From the Sword of Honour trilogy by Evelyn Waugh
From the 2002 film The Four Feathers
Colonel Jack Butler's regiment in the novels of Anthony Price
An Irish regiment mentioned in "Kim" and "The Mutiny of the Mavericks" by Rudyard Kipling
In the 1902 novel and 1939 film The Four Feathers
From the television series Vera
In a sketch from the British television series Rutland Weekend Television . A parody of post-WWII Japanese holdouts.
In the British television series Spearhead (1978-1981)
Hudson's regiment in What's Become of Waring by Anthony Powell
Richard Sharpe's regiment in the Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell
From England, Their England, a 1933 novel by A. G. Macdonell. Lt Evan Davies was attached to the 17th battalion as their artillery officer.
From "Tank Commander" by Ronald Welch; John Carey's regiment while serving as an infantryman.
From the novels Trinity and Redemption by Leon Uris.
Now God be Thanked trilogy by John Masters.
In the 1986 film Milwr Bychan
The Century Trilogy by Ken Follett.
Pigeon Pie by Nancy Mitford
Alms for Oblivion - a series of novels by Simon Raven
From the 1952 film Folly to be Wise
From the BBC television series Red Cap (2001-04)
Various of Reginald Hill's Dalziel and Pascoe crime novels.

Other units and formations

Anti-Aircraft unit from Carry On England
In The Anti-Death League by Kingsley Amis
From the Doctor Who UNIT audio dramas by Big Finish.
A fictional British or international military unit in the Doctor Who universe
From the Ultimate Force TV series (2002-2006)

Regiments of the Indian Army

A number of works of fiction feature regiments of the pre-Independence Indian Army.

Colonel Sebastian Moran's old Indian Army regiment in the Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Empty House
Captain Blumburtt's regiment in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom . There was a historical regiment "The Poona Rifles", but the fictional regiment featured in the film bears little resemblance to this.
Colonel Arbuthnot's regiment in Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express
Major Duncan Bleek's regiment in the 1946 Sherlock Holmes film Terror by Night .
Major John Sholto's regiment in the Sherlock Holmes story The Sign of Four
From Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers , a 1956-57 American television show
Rodney Bateman's father's regiment -and several others - in The Himalaya Concerto by John Masters
Imperial Service cavalry unit whose service with the British Army in France during the First World War serves as the central subject of the novel The Ravi Lancers by John Masters

Other colonial regiments

Captain Blackadder's old colonial regiment before the war in Blackadder Goes Forth

Related Research Articles

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Options for Change was a restructuring of the British Armed Forces in summer 1990 after the end of the Cold War.

The 2003 Defence White Paper, titled Delivering Security in a Changing World, set out the future structure of the British military, and was preceded by the 1998 Strategic Defence Review (SDR) and the 2002 SDR New Chapter, which responded to the immediate challenges to security in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in 2001. Published under the then Secretary of State for Defence, Geoff Hoon, the report effectively introduced a series of cutbacks to core equipment and manpower and the scaling back of a series of future capital procurement projects. This was justified due to the implementation of a policy termed Network Enabled Capability. The review also outlined a major restructuring and consolidation of British Army Infantry regiments.

Colonel-in-Chief is a ceremonial position in a military regiment. It is in common use in several Commonwealth armies, where it is held by the regiment's patron, usually a member of the royal family.

The hackle is a clipped plume or short spray of coloured feathers that is attached to a military headdress, with different colours being associated with particular regiments.

The British Army is listed according to an order of precedence for the purposes of parading. This is the order in which the various corps of the army parade, from right to left, with the unit at the extreme right being highest. Under ordinary circumstances, the Household Cavalry parades at the extreme right of the line. Militia and Army Reserve units take precedence after Regular units with the exception of The Honourable Artillery Company and The Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers.

All units of the Canadian Armed Forces have an order of precedence that determines seniority; it often decides such matters as which unit forms up to the right of other units on a ceremonial parade, or the order in which marches or calls are played at a mess dinner.

This is the order of battle for the First Battle of Ypres fought from 19 October to 22 November 1914 as one of the main engagements of the First World War. It was fought between mixed British Expeditionary Force, French eighth army and armies of the German Empire in northern France and Flanders.

Regimental depot Home base of a regiment

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.

In September 1939, the British Army was in process of expanding their anti-aircraft and mobile assets. Among these new changes was the formation of Anti-Aircraft Command which was formed on 1 April 1939, and the 1st Armoured Division formed in 1937. The list below will include the British Army units, colonial units, and those units which were in the process of formation.

Regimental marches of the British Army

The following is a list of the notable Regimental Marches for military regiments of the British Army. In addition, all regiments have additional pieces for slow marches, marches for mounted parades and pipe marches.

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 1915 Birthday Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were made to celebrate the official birthday of The King, and were published in The London Gazette and in The Times on 3 June 1915.

Albert Communal Cemetery Extension (War Graves) War cemetery located in the French Commune of Albert in the Somme Region

The Albert Communal Cemetery Extension is a war cemetery with dead from both World War I and World War II located in the French Commune of Albert in the Somme Region.

References

Footnotes
    Sources
    1. ↑ MacKenzie, S. P. (2006). British War Films 1939 - 1945: The Cinema and the Services. Hambledon Continuum. p. 21. ISBN   1-85285-586-X.
    2. ↑ Laumer, Keith. "Bolos: Honor of the Regiment". Baen eBooks. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
    3. ↑ "Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators (TV Series): The Chimes at Midnight". IMDb. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
    4. ↑ Binder, Dave (2002). "Spike Milligan Is Dead at 83; Ringleader of Zany Comedians". New York Times. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
    5. ↑ Pope, Dudley (1988). Ramage and the Saracens. Fontana. ISBN   0-00-617709-3.
    6. ↑ Henrick, Richard P. (1990). Sea Devil . Zebra Books. ISBN   0-8217-3089-4.
    7. ↑ Goldsworthy, Adrian (2011). True Soldier Gentleman. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN   978-0-297-86036-5.
    8. ↑ "Information Leaflet No. 4 Petitions For Arms". Archived from the original on 7 July 2001. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
    9. ↑ Collard, Paul Fraser (2013). The Scarlet Thief. Headline Publishing Group. ISBN   978-1-4722-0026-6.
    10. ↑ Callison, Brian (1972). The Dawn Attack. Fontana. ISBN   0-00-616630-X.
    11. ↑ Gray, Edwyn (2018). Crash Dive 500. Wolfpack Publishing. ISBN   978-1-64119-546-1.
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