63rd Regiment of Foot

Also known as The West Suffolk Regiment and later The Manchester Regiment

Chronology

• 1758 formed as 63rd Regiment of Foot by redesignation of 2nd Battalion, 8th (The King's) Regiment
• 1782 renamed the 63rd (the West Suffolk) Regiment of Foot
• 1881 united with 96th Regiment of Foot to become 1st Battalion The Manchester Regiment
• 1958 amalgamated with the King's Regiment (Liverpool) to form the King's Regiment.
• 2006 amalgamated with the King's Own Royal Border Regiment and the Queen's Lancashire Regiment to form the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's Lancashire and Border)

1st Garrison Battalion WW1

"Formed at Knowsley Park, Liverpool in September 1915 and commanded by Lieutenant Colonel H W K Bretherton, a retired Territorial Force officer. Composed of officers and men permanently unfit for active service but considered fit for garrison duty overseas. They left Prescot at 9.15pm on 24 February 1916, arriving Devonport at 10 am the following day. Sailed at 4.30pm on board Kinfauns with an escort of two destroyers. On 5 March they passed Alexandria and then on into the Suez Canal. Arrived Bombay, India on 14 March 1916. Moved to Fyzabad where they stayed until end July 1918. To Singapore… The Battalion returned to UK in December 1919 and was disbanded on 27 February 1920.” HQ was initially based in Allahabad A diary, including a description of the journey to India of a “unit of middle-aged and medically downgraded men”, and letters home may be found in 1st Garrison Battalion The Manchester Regiment, India, Singapore, Hong Kong & Siberia by Robert Bonner

External Links

Historical books online

• Some Recollections in the Life of Lieut.-Col. P.P. Nevill, late Major 63rd Regiment 1864 Archive.org In 1838 the 63rd regiment was in Burma. page 227
• The History of the late 63rd (West Suffolk) Regiment by Major James Slack 1884 Archive.org

Other

• 63rd Regiment of Foot Wikipedia
  
• The Manchester Regiment Wikipedia
  
• The King's Regiment Wikipedia
  
• Duke of Lancaster's Regiment Wikipedia
  
• 63rd (West Suffolk) Regiment of Foot including
  • deployments Regiments.org, an archived website
    
• Manchester Regiment including deployments:
  • 1st Battalion, 2nd Battalion Regiments.org, an archived website
    
• The Manchester Regiment Image Archive from the Manchester Regiment Archive. manchester-regiment.org.uk
  
• Museum of the Manchester Regiment at Ashton Town Hall, Market Place, Ashton-under-Lyne
  
• Manchester Regiment Archives at the Tameside Local Studies and Archives Centre, Central Library, Ashton-under-Lyne
  
• A Tale of 3 brothers Biography of 3 soldiers who served with 63rd in India and Burma (indian-cemeteries.org)
  
• “The Regimental History of the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment” army.mod.uk, now an archived webpage.

The constituent regiments are the 4th, 8th, 30th, 34th, 40th, 47th, 55th, 59th, 63rd, 81st, 82nd and 96th Regiments of Foot.