Under the Childers system, one regular battalion of each regiment was to be at a "home" station, while the other was abroad. Every few years, there was to be an exchange of battalions. In the period from the regiment's formation to the outbreak of the Second Boer War the two regular battalions were stationed as follows:
In October 1899 war broke out between the United Kingdom and the Boer Republics. The 2nd Battalion arrived in South Africa in the following month, where it took part in minor actions on the western border of the Cape Colony. In February 1900 it became part of the 19th Brigade. It saw action against the Boers at Paardeberg, and in March 1900 entered Bloemfontein. It continued to take part in a series of skirmishes until the end of the war.[8] The 1st Battalion took no part in the war, moving from India to Ceylon in December 1900[9] where its soldiers guarded Boer prisoners of war.[6]
Following the war in South Africa, the system of rotating battalions between home and foreign stations resumed as follows:
Neither militia nor volunteer battalions were liable for service outside the United Kingdom. However, in the Second Boer War, both volunteer battalions contributed "Active Service Companies" that reinforced the regular battalions, and were awarded the battle honour "South Africa 1900–1901".[11]
In 1908 reserve forces were reorganised by the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 (the Haldane Reforms). The militia was renamed the "Special Reserve", with the duty of providing trained recruits in time of war. The volunteer battalions became part of the new Territorial Force, which was organised into 14 infantry divisions which were called upon to serve abroad.[12] On 1 April 1908 the three reserve battalions were accordingly redesignated as the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion at the regimental depot, the 4th (Territorial Force) Battalion at New Bridge Street in Truro and the 5th (Territorial Force) Battalion at Honey Street in Bodmin.[13]
First World War
The war saw a large expansion of the regiment. This was done in two ways: by the formation of duplicate units to the existing territorial battalions, and by the raising of wartime "new army" or "service" battalions. The following battalions of the DCLI saw active service in the conflict:[14]
During the war the regiment was increased to seven battalions. However, only the 1st, 2nd, 5th and the 7th (Home Service) Battalion, later to become the 30th, served overseas.[15]
In 1954, the 1st Battalion was posted to Jamaica, the last battalion to be posted to the West Indies for a full, three-year term.[18]A Company detached on transit, posted to Prospect Camp, in the Atlantic archipelago of Bermuda. The Bermuda Garrison no longer received a full regular army infantry battalion, as the part-time Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (BVRC) (retitled Bermuda Rifles in 1949) and Bermuda Militia Artillery (BMA) had long-since taken on most of the responsibility for local defence. A Company was the last regular unit posted on garrison to Bermuda, with its departure constituting the withdrawal of the garrison from the one-time Fortress Bermuda. The officer commanding A Company, Major J. Anthony Marsh, DSO, a Second World War veteran of the Special Air Service, took permanent residence in Bermuda after leaving the regular army, retiring from military service in 1970 as a lieutenant-colonel, having commanded the Bermuda Militia Artillery and the Royal Bermuda Regiment (a 1965 amalgam of the BMA and the Bermuda Rifles).[19]E Company also detached, being posted to British Honduras.[20] In 1957, A and E companies reunited with the rest of the battalion in England, before being posted to Osnabrück in Germany, where it remained until 1959.[15]
The 1st Administrative Battalion, Cornwall Rifle Volunteers was first formed in June 1960 consisting of 21 Rifle Volunteer Corps or "Companies" the last being raised in January 1861.[21]
In 1947 after the Second World War and as part of the demobilization the 4th and 5th battalions merged to create the new 4th/5th Battalion.[21][22] The battalion had the following structure upon formation:[23]
In 1968 after further changes after the 1966 Defence White Paper all the unit was moved under control of the new larger regiment, The Light Infantry.[21] Later on in 1971 the unit was re-formed and consisted of the following:[23]
The regimental war memorial was erected here in 1924; it was the work of Leonard Stanford Merrifield and was in the form of a statue on pedestal and steps made from bronze and granite; it has been listed Grade II*.[31]
Literature
Surfing Tommies is a 2009 play by the Cornish author Alan M. Kent which follows the lives of three members of the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry on a journey from the mines of Cornwall to the fields of Flanders, where they learned to surf with South African troops.[32]
Notable members
Recipients of the Victoria Cross
Eight soldiers of the DCLI were awarded the VC including:
John Moore, a Major of the 32nd regiment who died at the Siege of Lucknow
Harry Patch, a supercentenarian, the last Tommy, served on the Western Front of the Great War. (d. July 2009) Patch was the last male First World War veteran living in Europe and the last British male known to have been born in the 1890s.
Major-General David Tyacke (born 1915 at Breage, Cornwall; d. 2010); Colonel 1957–59 (afterwards deputy colonel of the Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry)[34]
From 32nd Regiment of Foot: Roliça, Vimiero, Corunna, Salamanca, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, Peninsula, Waterloo, Goojerat, Mooltan, Punjaub, Lucknow
From 46th Regiment of Foot: Dominica, Sevastopol, Gibraltar 1704–05, Dettingen, St. Lucia 1778,
Early wars: Tel el Kebir, Egypt 1882, Nile 1884–85, Paardeberg, South Africa 1899–1902,
The Great War (15 battalions): Mons, Le Cateau, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, La Bassée 1914, Armentières 1914, Ypres 1915 '17, Gravenstafel, St. Julien, Frezenberg, Bellewaarde, Hooge 1915, Mount Sorrel, Somme 1916 '18, Delville Wood, Guillemont, Flers-Courcelette, Morval, Le Transloy, Ancre 1916, Bapaume 1917 '18, Arras 1917, Vimy 1917, Scarpe 1917, Arleux, Langemarck 1917, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, Cambrai 1917 '18, St. Quentin, Rosières, Lys, Estaires, Hazebrouck, Albert 1918, Hindenburg Line, Havrincourt, Canal du Nord, Selle, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914–18, Italy 1917–18, Struma, Doiran 1917 '18, Macedonia 1915–18, Gaza, Nebi Samwil, Jerusalem, Tell 'Asur, Megiddo, Sharon, Palestine 1917–18, Aden
The Second World War: Defence of Escaut, Cheux, Hill 112, Mont Pincon, Noireau Crossing, Nederrijn, Opheusden, Geilenkirchen, Rhineland, Goch, Rhine, North-West Europe 1940 '44-45, Gazala, Medjez Plain, Si Abdallah, North Africa 1942–43, Cassino II, Trasimene Line, Advance to Florence, Incontro, Rimini Line, Italy 1944-45
^ abSwinson, Arthur (1972). A Register of the Regiments and Corps of the British Army. London: The Archive Press. ISBN0-85591-000-3.[page needed]
^Wickes, HL (1974). Regiments of Foot: A History of the Foot Regiments of the British Army. Reading, Berks.: Osprey Publishing. ISBN0-85045-220-1.[page needed]