In 1703, it was part of an expeditionary force in the West Indies and Newfoundland, losing many men to disease before returning to Ireland in 1704. Back in Flanders in 1710, it took part in the sieges of Douai and Bouchain and when the war ended in 1713, it resumed garrison duties in Ireland. With the exception of the 1719 Vigo expedition, it did not see action again until 1744.[5]
When the War of the Austrian Succession began in 1740, the regiment was based in Edinburgh; by 1744, many of its men were Scots and recruiting officers warned to exclude 'Jacobites and Irish Papists.'[6] The unit was then commanded by Charles Howard and thus known as 'Howard's Regiment'; when it joined the army in Flanders, this clashed with another regiment also commanded by a Howard. To avoid confusion, they were referred to by the colour of their facings, one becoming 'Green Howards' and the other, 'Buff Howards'.[7]
The Green Howards fought at the Battle of Fontenoy in May 1745, with a short period in England during the 1745 Jacobite Rising. It took part in the Battle of Rocoux and the Battle of Lauffeld before the 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ended the war, after which it became part of the garrison of Gibraltar.[8] While there, the 1751 army reforms retitled it the 19th Regiment of Foot.[9] It returned to Britain in 1752 and spent most of the next decade on garrison duty in Scotland and Northern England.[10]
During the 1756 to 1763 Seven Years' War, it took part in the capture of Belle Île in April 1761, where it suffered over 200 casualties. The next 20 years were spent on garrison duty in Gibraltar and Scotland, until 1781, when it served in the disastrous southern campaign in the closing stages of the American Revolutionary War.[11] In 1782, all foot regiments without a special designation were given a county title "to cultivate a connection with the County which might at all times be useful towards recruiting"[12] and so the regiment was redesignated the 19th (1st North Riding of Yorkshire) Regiment.[9]
With the end of the American War, the regiment was stationed in Jamaica, a notoriously unhealthy posting where it was common for units to lose 100% of their strength every two years.[13] It remained there until 1791, when it returned to Britain; in 1796, it was posted to India, the also saw action at the Siege of Seringapatam in April 1799 during the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War.[14]
The Two Howards
The regiment was known as the Green Howards from 1744. At that time, regiments were known by the name of their colonel. The 19th regiment's colonel was Hon. Sir Charles Howard. However, at the same time, the 3rd Regiment of Foot had been commanded by its colonel Thomas Howard, since 1737. To tell them apart (since they both would have been known as 'Howard's Regiment of Foot'), the colours of their uniform facings were used to distinguish them. In this way, one became 'Howard's Buffs' (eventually simply The Buffs), while the other became the Green Howards. Although the Green Howards were referred to unofficially as such from then on, it was not until 1921 that the regiment was officially retitled as the Green Howards (Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment).[15] Under the Childers Reforms, all non-royal English infantry regiments were to wear white facings from 1881. In 1899, the regiment was able to reverse this decision with the restoration of the grass green facings formerly worn by the 19th Foot.[16]
Kandyan Wars
In April 1801 the regiment was deployed to Ceylon for service in the Kandyan Wars.[14] The regiment lost six officers and 172 other ranks in a massacre there in June 1803 and then remained on the island to enforce British rule.[17] The regiment did not return to England until May 1820.[18]
The Victorian era
The regiment saw action at the Battle of Alma in September 1854 and at the Siege of Sevastopol in winter 1854 during the Crimean War and then saw action again during the Indian Rebellion.[19] In 1875, Princess Alexandra, Princess of Wales presented new colours to the 1st Battalion at Sheffield, and consented to the regiment bearing her name, thus becoming the 19th (1st Yorkshire North Riding – Princess of Wales's Own) Regiment of Foot.[20] The regiment adopted a cap badge consisting of the Princess's cypher "A" combined with the Dannebrog or Danish cross and topped by her coronet. The Princess became Queen Alexandra in 1901, and was the regiment's Colonel-in-Chief from 1914 until her death in 1925.[21]
Childers Reforms
The regiment was not fundamentally affected by the Cardwell Reforms of the 1870s, which gave it a depot at Richmond Barracks in North Yorkshire from 1873, or by the Childers reforms of 1881 – as it already possessed two battalions, there was no need for it to amalgamate with another regiment.[22] Under the reforms the regiment amalgamated with the militia battalions and rifle volunteers in its designated regimental district and became The Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire Regiment) on 1 July 1881.[23]
The 1st battalion was stationed at Nova Scotia from 1884, moved to the Mediterranean in 1888 where it was stationed at Malta but also saw action in Egypt, then moved to Jersey in 1895 followed by Ireland in 1898. After a brief spell in Gibraltar in 1899, the battalion was posted to South Africa as reinforcement for the Second Boer War, where it was involved in the Relief of Kimberley and the battles of Diamond Hill (June 1900) and Belfast (August 1900). The battalion returned to the United Kingdom in September 1902.[24]
The 2nd battalion was in Ireland from 1881 to 1886, when it returned to garrison back home in England. From early 1890 the battalion was stationed in British India, where it took part in military campaigns on the North-West Frontier.[24] The battalion had various postings, including at Sitapur and Benares until late 1902 when it was posted to Cawnpore.[25]
A 3rd (Militia) Battalion, formed from the 5th West York Militia in 1881 was a reserve battalion. It was embodied in December 1899, and 700 men embarked on the SS Assaye in February 1900 for service in South Africa during the Second Boer War.[26] Many of the officers and men returned home in May 1902 on the SS Sicilia.[27]
The 4th (Militia) Battalion, formed from the North York Rifles in 1881 was also a reserve battalion. It was embodied for service on 5 May 1900, disembodied on 2 July 1901, and re-embodied again for service during Second Boer War in South Africa. 555 officers and men returned to Southampton by the SS Tagus in October 1902, following the end of the war, and was disbanded at the Richmond barracks.[28]
In July 1902, the regiment was redesignated as Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire Regiment).[21][29]
In 1908, the Volunteers and Militia were reorganised nationally, with the former becoming the Territorial Force and the latter the Special Reserve;[30] the regiment now had one Reserve and two Territorial battalions.[31][9]
The 6th (Service) Battalion landed at Suvla Bay in Gallipoli as part of the 32nd Brigade in the 11th (Northern) Division in August 1915; the battalion was evacuated to Egypt in January 1916 and then moved to France in July 1916 for service on the Western Front.[32]
The 7th (Service) Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 50th Brigade in the 17th (Northern) Division in July 1915 for service on the Western Front.[32] The 8th (Service) Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 69th Brigade in the 23rd Division in August 1915 also for service on the Western Front.[32] The 9th (Service) Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 69th Brigade in the 23rd Division in August 1915 also for service on the Western Front but moved to Italy in November 1917 and then returned to France in September 1918.[32] The 10th (Service) Battalion landed at Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the 62nd Brigade in the 21st Division in September 1915 also for service on the Western Front.[32] The 12th (Service) Battalion, formed as the "Middlesbrough Pals" by the Mayor and Town of Middlesbrough, landed at Le Havre as pioneer battalion to the 40th Division in June 1916 also for service on the Western Front.[32] The 13th (Service) Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 121st Brigade in the 40th Division in June 1916 also for service on the Western Front but, after returning to the United Kingdom in June 1918, moved to Murmansk in November 1918.[32]
Second World War
During the Second World War, the regiment was again increased in size, although not to as large an extent as in the 1914–1918 conflict. In all, twelve battalions saw service:
6th and 7th Battalions (both formed as 2nd Line duplicates of the 4th and 5th, when the Territorial Army was doubled in size in 1939), served with 69th Brigade, originally with the 23rd (Northumbrian) Division but later the 50th Division, saw service in France, North Africa, Sicily and North West Europe.[37]
8th Battalion was formed for home defence.[38] Originally raised in August–September 1939, in the Middlesbrough area, from the Home Guard and those unfit to serve overseas. The 8th and 13th were amalgamated in June 1941, in September 1943 it was classed as a Garrison Battalion, renamed as the 30th Battalion and went to Italy, and French North Africa (Algiers and Tunisia). It was disbanded after six years service.[39]
The 11th, 12th and 13th Battalions were all formed in 1940.[9][42]
In 1942, the 12th Battalion was converted to armour as the 161st Regiment Royal Armoured Corps, but retained its Green Howards cap badge on the black beret of the Royal Armoured Corps as did all other infantry units converted in the same way.[43] In October 1943 it was then converted again, this time to the reconnaissance role, as 161st (Green Howards) Regiment in the Reconnaissance Corps. It never went into action as a regiment, but provided a replacement squadron to the 43rd (Wessex) Reconnaissance Regiment, which had suffered heavy losses when its transport was sunk on the way to France to fight in the Battle of Normandy.[44]
A and B (Green Howards) companies of the Tyne-Tees Regiment, based in Scarborough and Middlesbrough respectively, merged with the Prince of Wales's Own Regiment and Duke of Wellington's Regiment companies of the East and West Riding Regiment to form the 4th Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment.[47] Following further mergers, in 2012, the 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards) was removed from the order of battle.[48]
Traditions
Each year, all companies in the battalion took part in a competition, consisting of sports and military skills tests, to win the right to be named 'King Harald's Company', after the regiment's Colonel-in-Chief. The winning company was given a special flag bearing the King's personal cypher, the Company Sergeant Major was presented with a special pace stick, and all members of the company were permitted to wear a special red badge on the arm of their uniform.[49]
The precise date on which the regiment adopted the green facings from which it derived its name is uncertain, with yellow known to have been the colour of the lapels in 1709. However the official Cloathing Book of 1742 shows full green facings being worn on the standard red coats of the era. Thereafter the actual shade of the regimental colour changed at various times from yellow-green to a dull green. White facings were worn from 1881 until 1899 when green was restored. The remaining features of the Green Howard's uniform followed the normal British infantry progression from red coat to scarlet tunic to khaki service dress and battle dress.[54]
^"Training Depots 1873–1881". Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 10 February 2006. Retrieved 16 October 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) The depot was the 4th Brigade Depot from 1873 to 1881, and the 19th Regimental District depot thereafter
^These were the 3rd Battalion (Special Reserve), with the 4th Battalion at South Parade in Northallerton (since demolished) and the 5th Battalion at North Street in Scarborough (since demolished) (both Territorial Force). The 4th Battalion moved to Thirsk Road in Northallerton in 1911.
Forty, George (1998). British Army Handbook 1939–1945. Stroud: Sutton Publishing. ISBN978-0753703328.
Lt-Col H.F. Joslen, Orders of Battle, United Kingdom and Colonial Formations and Units in the Second World War, 1939–1945, London: HM Stationery Office, 1960/London: London Stamp Exchange, 1990, ISBN 0-948130-03-2/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2003, ISBN 1-843424-74-6.
Powell, Geoffrey (2015). The History of the Green Howards. Pen & Sword Military. ISBN978-1473857964.