37th Regiment of Foot

Badge of Hampshire Regt carved in Rock

Also known as 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot

Chronology

• 1702 raised in Ireland as Thomas Meredith's Regiment of Foot also known until 1751 by the names of seven other colonels
• 1751 became 37th Regiment of Foot
• 1782 became 37th (the North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot
• 1881 united with 67th Regiment of Foot to become the 1st Battalion The Hampshire Regiment
• 1946 became The Royal Hampshire Regiment
• 1992 merged with the Queens Regiment to become The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment

British India Service

37th Regiment of Foot	succeeded by	1st Btn Hampshire Regt
1846 Ceylon		1886 Secunderabad
1857 Indian Mutiny		1888 Burma
1857 Azimghur		1891 Bareilly
1857 Arrah		1893 Raniket
1866 Bengal		1896 Mooltan
		1899 Cherat
		1903 Aden
		1925 Mhow
		1927 Multan
		1929 Razmak
		1931 Nowshera
		1934 Rawalpindi
		1935 NW Frontier
		1937 Deccan

First World War

1/4th, 2/4th, 1/5th, 2/5th, 1/6th, 1/7th, 2/7th, and 1/9th (Cyclist), Battalions, spent at least some time in India, before being transferred elsewhere, including Mesopotamia.

During their time in India, many drafts were provided for Hampshire Regiments in Mesopotamia. As an example, two War Diaries show that 1/4 Hants received drafts from 1/4 Bn India, 2/4, 1/6 Bn, 1/7 Bn, 2/7 Bn India.

1/5th Battalion "arrived in Bombay on 9th November, 1914, and proceeded to Allahabad. Volunteers were called for to go to Mesopotamia (1 officer and 50 o.r.), and in 1915 the battalion was split up and detachments sent to various spots until reassembling at Fyzabad in March 1916. They then appear to have done a Grand Tour of cantonments, even taking in several months in Burma in 1918 (!). More fun in the Punjab in early 1919, dealing with riots, before taking part in the Afghan campaign in May/June 1919 (temperatures of 125 degrees F in the tents ... nice) before departing in October and arriving back in Southampton on 8th November 1919".

Oswald S. Early was a First World War wireless operator with the 1/9th Battalion Territorial Force of the Royal Hampshire Regiment, serving from 1916 to 1919 in India, Iraq and Afghanistan. He kept a diary which was later published.

Refer next section for photographs.

FIBIS Resources

• Hampshire Regiment images
• 1/5th Hampshire Regiment in India 1914-1918 FIBIS Gallery

Regimental journal

Journal. 1st Hampshire Regiment no. 1-6 1903-1904 and The 37th Journal. 1st Hampshire Regiment no. 7-12 1904-1905. Available at the British Library
The Hampshire Regimental Journal from 1905. The British Library has some issues from 1905, but it is unclear what the holding is. The Regimental Museum, refer below, holds issues from 1905-1992. The National Army Museum may be another source.

External Links

• 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot Wikipedia

• 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot including deployments Regiments.org, an archived site
• 37th North Hampshire Regiment of Foot www.pauljerrard.com
• Royal Hampshire Regiment Wikipedia
• The Royal Hampshire Regiment including deployments: 1st Battalion, 2nd Battalion Regiments.org, an archived site.
• The Royal Hampshire Regiment British Armed Forces & National Service
• The Royal Hamphire Regiment Museum including details of the Archive www.royalhampshireregimentmuseum.co.uk
• The Royal Hampshire Regiment (The Tigers) southernlife.org.uk
• Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment Wikipedia
• Andover Family History Group
• Hampshire Genealogical Society
• 1st Battalion Hampshire Regiment left Malta 9 Jan 1886 for Bombay. maltaramc.com
• The Hampshire Regiment from The Long, Long Trail:The British Army in the Great War. There were Territorial Force battalions in India and Mesopotamia.
  • Article: All quiet on the Eastern Front: The amazing photo album which shows how our boys fared in India in WWI 16 March 2010 Daily Mail. With photographs. Private Wally Langrish 1/9 Cycle Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment. He was stationed in Bangalore and Dagshai, before going to Mesopotamia.
• A 1/4th Hampshire Regiment Signallers Diary November 1916 To September 1919 by Arthur James Foster
(1899-1973) (Ex Corporal Of The Hampshire Regiment), Edited by his son Richard Carfax-Foster. The author was in Mesopotamia, and then took part in Dunsterforce, see Norperforce
• Listen to the 2000 interview with Jack Vardy, born 1913, British private (bandsman) served with 1st Bn Hampshire Regt in India 1929-1935. He was sixteen when he arrived in India. Includes time spent in Multan, Dalhousie, Razmak where he spent sixteen months, a brief mention of the Mohmand Campaign 1935 where he acted as a stretcher bearer, Peshawar and Nowshera. Imperial War Museums

Historical books online

• "Topographical Report on the District and Station of Ghazeepore, North-West Province, Bengal" by JW Fleming, FRCS, Surgeon 37th Regiment, page 221 Army Medical Department: Statistical Sanitary and Medical Reports for the year 1859 (published 1861) Google Books
• The Hampshire Men (37th Regiment) in Upper Burmah in 1889 by Lieut-Colonel F Cochran, Commanding 1st Battalion The Hampshire Regiment 1890 HathiTrust Digital Library. Also available Archive.org
• 2/4 Battalion. Hampshire Regiment 1914-1919 Published 1920?. State Library of Victoria. Archive.org version. The Battalion was in India January 1915-April 1917, where it provided many drafts for Mesopotamia, and was then in Palestine and France.

The Wanderings of a Temporary Warrior : a territorial officer's narrative of service (and sport) in three continents by Captain Alban F L Bacon (late Hampshire Regiment) [2/4 Battalion] 1922. Archive.org. India, Egypt/Palestine, Western Front.

• Memoirs of the Great War by James Racine c 1920. Pages 80-102 cover the author's voyage to India from October 1916 and his period in India as an officer with the 2/5th Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment in Secunderabad until the Battalion was transferred to Egypt. Archive.org
• Letters from Mesopotamia in 1915 and January, 1916 from Robert Palmer 1916 Archive.org. He went with a draft from the 6th Hants, in India since November 1914, to reinforce the 1/4th Hants. Both these regiments were part of the Territorial Force. He was killed June 21, 1916, aged 27 years. The initial letters were written in India.