37th Regiment of Foot

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

Badge of Hampshire Regt carved in Rock

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]

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".[2]

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.[3]

Refer next section for photographs.

FIBIS Resources

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

Historical books online

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.

References

  1. sotonmate. 1/4th Hampshire after Kut Great War Forum 17 April 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  2. Broomfield, Steven. 1/5th hampshires Great War Forum 6 October 2017, with details from the book History of the Hampshire Territorial Force Association and War Records of Units, 1914-1919, authors Brigadier General G H Nicholson and Col H L Powell, published 1921. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  3. The Messenger by Oswald Early, compiled and edited by Russell Early. First published 2014 by Mereo Books. ISBN: 9781861512352