56th Regiment of Foot

Known as The West Essex Regiment

Chronology

• 1755 raised at Newcastle and Gateshead as the 58th Regiment of Foot under the colonelcy of Lord Charles Manners
• 1756 became the 58th Regiment of Foot
• 1782 became the 56th Regiment of Foot
• 1804 2nd Battalion raised
• 1813 3rd Battalion raised
• 1881 amalgamated with the 44th (East Essex) Regiment of Foot to become 2nd Battalion Essex Regiment
• 1958 merged with the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment to form the 3rd East Anglian Regiment (16th/44th Foot)
• 1964 became 3rd Battalion of the new Royal Anglian Regiment
• 1992 3rd Battalion disbanded

Service in British India

• 1805 Bombay
• 1857 Indian Mutiny

World War 1

The 2nd Garrison Battalion, Essex Regiment was formed in Halton Park in January 1916 and moved to India, where it then remained until the end of 1918. It was based at Nasirabad as part of the Nasirabad Brigade, 5th (Indian) Division.

Charles Dixon, was in B Company based at Inkerman Barracks, Nasirabad. There is a photograph taken at Landi Kotal Fort, NWF. He was also based at Mount Abu Sanitorium in May 1918 This was during the hot season when many troops were sent to hill stations.

A company is reported to have gone to Basra in Mesopotamia for work on Lines of Communication.

Regimental flash

The flash, also known as a pagri (puggaree) badge, or Foreign Service Helmet badge, was generally affixed to the pagri on the sun helmet. Based on the regimental nickname the Purple Pompadours, the flash was a tall strip of purple material.

Regimental histories

• The Essex Regiment, 2nd Battalion (56th) (Pompadours) by John Wm. Burrows [1927] Series: Essex units in the War, 1914-1919 ; v. 2. Available at the British Library UIN: BLL01009576056 . Also 2nd edition 1937. UIN: BLL01001096558
• The Depot, 1st & 2nd Garrison, 3rd, 4th (Res), 12th, 14th, 18th, 19th & Training Res Bns, the Essex Regiment 1914-1921. Series: Men of essex ; v. 6 The Essex Branch of the Western Front Association [2002?] Limited ed. of 50 numbered copies. Available at the BL UIN: BLL01009917819
• The Essex Regiment, 1929-1950 by Colonel T. A. Martin. 1952. Available at the BL UIN: BLL01001096547

Regimental journal

The Essex Regiment Gazette commenced in 1909 and was suspended from 1914-1921.
The British Library holds copies from Vol. 7, no. 1 (July 1921) UIN: BLL01001096549

External links

• 56th (West Essex) Regiment of Foot Wikipedia
  
• Essex Regiment Wikipedia
  
• Royal Anglian Regiment Wikipedia
  
• 56th (West Essex) Regiment of Foot including deployments Regiments.org, an archived site
• The Essex Regiment including deployments: 1st Battalion, 2nd Battalion Regiments.org, an archived site
• Essex Regiment Museum at the Chelsmford Museum, Essex.
• Royal Anglian Regiment Museum www.royalanglianmuseum.org.uk. Covers the Royal Norfolk Regiment (9th Foot), the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment (10th Foot), the Suffolk Regiment (12th Foot), the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment (16th Foot), the Royal Leicestershire Regiment (17th Foot)), the Essex Regiment (44th Foot/ 56th Foot]), and the Northamptonshire Regiment (48th/ 58th Foot)
  • Includes Virtual Tour/History Wall with Antecedent Regiments/The Essex Regiment (44th/56th Foot) (click or hover mouse)
• Essex Record Office appears to hold some material relating to the Essex Regiment, but probably a limited amount.
• "The high cost of life in India" 14 July 2016. British Library Untold lives blog. States that inspection of two pages of the Bombay Burial Register, covering 26 March-9 July 1812 reveals nineteen entries for burials of individuals connected with the 47th Regiment, and a further 15 for the 2/56th Regiment.
• 2nd Bn The Essex Regiment embarked for India from Malta in Sept 1892, but left behind in Malta a depot detachment of 67 men. maltaramc.com
• Memorial to those who died 2nd Bn The Essex Regiment 1925-1928 at All Souls Church, Cawnpore. indian-cemeteries.org, now archived.
• From a collection of postcards at the ETH-Bibliothek Zürich, sent by F.G. Prew, a soldier, believed to be in the 2nd Battalion, Essex Regiment, to Adolf Feller of Switzerland, during the late 1920s and early 1930s
  • Trooping the Colours at Landikotal probably sent 1928/1929 (although stated to be 1931) with message "A View of my Regt. trooping the colours on Arras Day 28th March in recognition of the victory won on that day in the Great War. Our Band & Drums are seen on the right of the colour company." Note: As a result of the battalion’s heroics on 28 March 1918 the 2nd Battalion Essex Regiment annually celebrated, between the years 1919-1939, what was known as "Arras Day" to commemorate their distinguished action.
  • Regimental March Past, March 28th 1929, Landikotal with message
  • There were postcards of, or sent from several locations including Cawnpore, (see the ETH-Bibliothek Zürich website), Landi Kotal, Nowshera, Peshawar , and during the summer months Kailana in 1928 and Murree in 1930-31

Historical books online

• Historical Record of the Fifty - Sixth, or the West Essex Regiment of Foot: containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1755, and of its subsequent services to 1844 1844. Google Books. Indian Service commences page 29 in 1805 in Bombay