| Warley Barracks | |
|---|---|
| Warley, Essex | |
 The Essex Regiment Chapel | |
  Warley Barracks Location within Essex | |
| Coordinates | 51°35′57″N00°17′52″E / 51.59917°N 0.29778°E Coordinates: 51°35′57″N00°17′52″E / 51.59917°N 0.29778°E |
| Type | Barracks |
| Site information | |
| Owner | Ministry of Defence |
| Operator |  British Army |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1804–1805 |
| Built for | War Office |
| In use | 1805-1958 |
| Garrison information | |
| Occupants | The Essex Regiment |
Warley Barracks was a military installation at Warley near Brentwood in Essex.
The local common was used as a military camp in 1742, with thousands of troops camped there during the summer months. It was an ideal base, as it was less than a day's march to Tilbury, where the troops would leave for foreign service. In the 1778 encampment, King George III came to inspect the troops, and Dr Samuel Johnson stayed for five days. Warley Barracks was made permanent in 1804, with space for 2,000 cavalry. 116 acres (0.47 km2) of land were bought and used for two troops of horse artillery – 222 horses, with 306 soldiers of varying ranks and ten officers – a hospital, and half a battalion of the Rifle Brigade. [1]
In 1842 the East India Company's barracks at Chatham became inadequate, and they purchased the land to move their troops in. Accommodation was created for 785 recruits and 20 sergeants with new buildings for the officers. Married family housing was also provided, and a chapel. In 1856 further building work was carried out, and a total of 1,120 men were housed there every year. After training they were deployed to India. [1] The area and men were absorbed into the British Army after the Indian Mutiny in 1857, and in 1861 the barracks was bought by the War Office. The barracks became the depot of the Brigade of Guards in the 1860s. [2]
In 1873 a system of recruiting areas based on counties was instituted under the Cardwell Reforms and the barracks became the depot for the 44th (East Essex) Regiment of Foot and the 56th (West Essex) Regiment of Foot. [3] Following the Childers Reforms, the 44th and 56th regiments amalgamated to form the Essex Regiment with its depot in the barracks in 1881. [3]
The regiment saw active service in the Second Boer War and both World Wars. Following the amalgamation of the regiment with the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment to form the 3rd East Anglian Regiment in 1958 the site was sold to the Ford Motor Company. [2] The Essex Regiment Chapel is located in Eagle Way. The chapel was built in 1857 and is a Grade II listed building. It was originally built for the East India Company, but with the establishment of the Essex Regiment Depot at Warley, the chapel became the regiment's "home" church. The chapel's interior contains displays of regimental history, memorials, heraldry and regimental colours. The chapel is open by appointment, and on regimental heritage days. [2]
The chapel is nearby to the Warley (Brentwood) Army Reserve drill hall, which is the headquarters of 124 (Essex) Transport Squadron, part of 151 Regiment RLC. [4]
The site of the old regimental depot and barracks became the headquarters of the Ford Motor Company, a housing estate and a Depot for Brentwood District (now Borough) Council. With the departure of the Ford Motor Company in 2019, [5] the majority of the remaining site was developed for housing. The chapel, the officers' mess (now Marillac Nursing Home) and one of the regimental gyms (Keys Hall) remain. [6]
The 54th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army. The division was raised in 1908 following the creation of the Territorial Force (TF) as the East Anglian Division. During the First World War the division fought at Gallipoli and in the Middle East. The division was disbanded after the war but reformed in the Territorial Army in 1920. During the Second World War it was a home service division and did not see any combat service abroad and was disbanded in late 1943 but many of its component units went to see service in the Normandy Campaign and North-western Europe from June 1944 to May 1945.
The Essex Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1958. The regiment served in many conflicts such as the Second Boer War and both World War I and World War II, serving with distinction in all three. It was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 44th Regiment of Foot and the 56th Regiment of Foot.
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.
Warley is a suburb of Brentwood in Essex, situated to the south of the town. It was notable for being home to the British headquarters of Ford Motor Company prior to their office closure.
The 44th Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment in the British Army, raised in 1741. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 56th Regiment of Foot to form the Essex Regiment in 1881.
The 56th Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment in the British Army, active from 1755 to 1881. It was originally raised in Northumbria as the 58th Regiment, and renumbered the 56th the following year when two senior regiments were disbanded. It saw service in Cuba at the capture of Havana in the Seven Years' War, and was later part of the garrison during the Great Siege of Gibraltar in the American Revolutionary War. During the French Revolutionary Wars it fought in the Caribbean and then in Holland. On the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars the 56th raised a second battalion in 1804 as part of the anti-invasion preparations; both saw service in India and in the Indian Ocean, with the first capturing Réunion and Mauritius. A third battalion was formed in the later years of the war, but was disbanded after a brief period of service in the Netherlands.
The Royal Lincolnshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army raised on 20 June 1685 as the Earl of Bath's Regiment for its first Colonel, John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath. In 1751, it was numbered like most other Army regiments and named the 10th Regiment of Foot. After the Childers Reforms of 1881, it became the Lincolnshire Regiment after the county where it had been recruiting since 1781.
The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment was the final title of a line infantry regiment of the British Army that was originally formed in 1688. After centuries of service in many conflicts and wars, including both the First and Second World Wars, the regiment was amalgamated with the Essex Regiment in 1958 to form the 3rd East Anglian Regiment. However, this was short-lived and again was amalgamated, in 1964, with the 1st East Anglian Regiment and 2nd East Anglian Regiment, and the Royal Leicestershire Regiment to form the present Royal Anglian Regiment.
The Suffolk Regiment was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army with a history dating back to 1685. It saw service for three centuries, participating in many wars and conflicts, including the First and Second World Wars, before being amalgamated with the Royal Norfolk Regiment to form the 1st East Anglian Regiment in 1959 which, in 1964, was further amalgamated with the 2nd East Anglian Regiment, the 3rd East Anglian Regiment and the Royal Leicestershire Regiment to create the present Royal Anglian Regiment.
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.
36 (Eastern) Signal Regiment was a Territorial Army (TA) signal unit of the British Army's Royal Corps of Signals (RCS). The regiment was formed following the formation of the TAVR in 1967, and was disbanded in 2009 following a reorganisation in the RCS. Though not disbanded, the regiment continues its lineage as a squadron, with its own former squadrons forming troops within said squadron.
Brentwood is a town in the Borough of Brentwood, in the county of Essex in the East of England. It is in the London commuter belt, situated 20 miles (30 km) east-north-east of Charing Cross and close by the M25 motorway. In 2017, the population of the town was estimated to be 54,885.
DMS Whittington, otherwise known as Defence Medical Services Whittington, is a military base in Whittington, Staffordshire, near Lichfield in England. It is home to the Staffordshire Regiment Museum, the Headquarters of the Surgeon General and subordinate medical headquarters, and the location of the Defence College of Health Education and Training.
Fulwood Barracks is a military installation at Fulwood in Preston, Lancashire, England.
Invicta Park Barracks is a military installation in Maidstone, Kent.
Gibraltar Barracks is a military installation located on Out Risbygate, Bury St Edmunds.
Wellesley Barracks is a military installation in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England.
Roussillon Barracks was a military installation in Chichester.
The Essex Brigade, later 161st Brigade and 161st Infantry Brigade, was a volunteer infantry formation of the British Army in existence from 1888 until 1941, and again from 1947. It served at Gallipoli and in Palestine during the First World War and returned to Egypt in the early part of the Second World War before transferring to the British Indian Army and redesignated 161st Indian Infantry Brigade. In peacetime and during the wars the brigade was an integral part of the 54th Infantry Division and contained mostly battalions of the Essex Regiment.
The 6th (Volunteer) Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment was a part-time infantry unit of the British Army part of the Territorial Army (TA). Originally formed in 1971 from the expansion of many cadres, the battalion would eventually be disbanded in 1999 and formed sub-units in the new East of England Regiment. Today, the battalion's successors still form part of the Army Reserve (AR) component of the Royal Anglian Regiment's only remaining reserve unit, the 3rd (V) Bn.