html> Medals of The Royal Berkshire Regiment
 

Medals of the Regiments:
The Royal Berkshire Regiment

 
 
Royal Berkshire Regiment Cap Badge

awaiting more insignia pics
  
 The badge of the Regiment, a 'China Dragon' -  awarded
 for the Regiment's service in the 1st Opium War.
 
Kipling and King 

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The Royal Berkshire Regiment ( Princess Charlotte of Wales's)

1744 - 1959
 
 
 
Titles
pre 1881 post 1881
   
49th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) (Hertfordshire) Regiment of Foot 1st Battalion, The Princess Charlotte of Wales's (Berkshire Regiment)
66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot 2nd Battalion, The Princess Charlotte of Wales's (Berkshire Regiment)
   
 
Earliest recognised formation: 49th: 1744, when raised as  Trelawney's Regiment. Allocated the 49th Regiment o foot in 1755
66th: 1755, when raised as the 2nd Battalion of the 19th Regiment of Foot. renumbered the 66th Foot in 1758
 
Motto: ??
 
Regimental Journal:  The China Dragon
 
WWI: Battle Honours; 55 Victoria Crosses; 2 Died; 7140
WWII:    Battle Honours;  25 Victoria Crosses; 0 Died; ???
 
Amalgamated: 1959, with  The Wiltshire Regiment (Duke of Edinburgh's), to form The Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment (Berkshire and Wiltshire)
 
 
A  2nd Battalion of the 66th served 1803 - 1817
 

The Peninsula War 1808 - 1814 2nd Battalion, 66th Regiment. ( *suffered 65% casualties at Albuhera)

Military General Service Medal 1793 - 1814

 
clasp:

Talavera

Busaco

Albuhera*

Vittoria

Pyrenees

Nivelle

 
number: 9756 99110 10437  
 
clasp:

Nive

Orthes

Toulouse

    Total Medals Max clasps
number: 4352 92   172 9
 

 

 

Battle Honours: Douro, Talavera, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, Peninsula.

 
 
 

Nepal War 1814-16 1st Battalion 66th Regiment

Army of India Medal 1799 - 1826

clasp:

Nepaul

number: 90
 

 

 
 
 

1st Anglo-Chinese War (1st Opium War) 1840-42 49th Regiment.

China Medal 1840-42

number: ?
 

Battle Honour:  A dragon superscribed 'China' was permitted to be borne on the colours

 
 
 

Crimean War  1854 - 1856 49th Regiment

Crimea Medal 1854 -56

 
Clasp: →..none...

Alma

Balaklava

Inkermann

Sebastopol

 Medals 
Number: ?690 16679 1867992* 
 

*Our best interpretation of the main roll only. Grand total would be equal to or higher than Sebastopol clasps.

 

Battle Casualties;

Action.KilledDied of Wounds'Wounded'Dangerously
Wounded
Severely
Wounded
Slightly
Wounded
MissingTotal
The Battle of the Alma 2- 13- -- -15
First bombardment of Sebastopol, first battle of Inkermann and minor actions 3- 23 133 -24
The Battle of Inkermann 43- -13 6329 -148
Assault on the Quarries 173* -8 4114 184
First Attack on the Redan 2- -- 11 -4
Final Attack on the Redan 3- -2 1016 -31
2nd, 3rd, 4th, & 5th Bombardments of Sebastopol and Minor Actions. 341 -19 4354 2153
Magazine explosion at the French Siege Train 1- -- 2- -3

Grand Total:     

321

*Wounded Mortally

 

Men who served in the Crimea also eligible for:

Turkish Crimea Medal 1855

 


VCs: 3;    Owens,  Walters,  Conolly.  see VC page

 
 

Battle Honours:  Alma; Inkerman Sevastopol.

 
 
 

Afghan War 1878-1880  66th Regiment

Afghanistan Medal 1878 -1880

 
A major part of the regiment that was serving under Lieut-Colonel Galbraith was completely annihilated in a last stand action at the Battle of Maiwand 27th July 1880.
 
"Colonel St. John reports from Kandahar as follows:— From the accounts of one of Ayub's officers
 present at the action of Maiwand, it appears that a stand was made by a remnant of the 66th Regiment
round the colours in an enclosure; informant estimated their number at 100 and states that they were
 surrounded by the whole army, and that when all  but eleven were killed,  these made
 a desperate charge, all perished,  fighting bravely to the last man."
 

 

 
clasp: ...none...

Kandahar

total medals
number: 525 329 854
 
 

Total Maiwand killed recorded on the medal rolls: 481

 
Medal and Maiwand Casualty Roll for the 66th Regiment:
Officers, NCOs, Drummers, - and Other Ranks surname A-B      C-G       H-O        P-Z   
 
Also see list of  known medals

General Roberts' march, Kabul to Kandahar 9-31 August 1880

Kabul to Kandahar Star 1880

 
number: 149
 

Battle Honours: Kandahar 1880, Afghanistan 1879-80

 
1881: The 49th and 66th Regiments now become the 1st and 2nd Battalions, The Princess Charlotte of Wales's (Berkshire Regiment.)
 

Revolt of Arabi Pasha and the 1st Sudan War 1882-4, Nile Expedition 1884 (Small detachment with the Transport Corps) Suakin Expedition 1885 1st Battalion

Egypt and Sudan Medal 1882-89

 
clasp: ....none....

Tel-el-Kebir

Nile 1884

Suakin 1885

Tofrek

number: ?13* 35 ? ?**

 

* Men with the mounted infantry.

**(for their distinguished conduct in the battle of Tofrek the Berkshire Regiment was granted the prefix "Royal")

 

Recipients also entitled to a Khedive's Star  "1882" "1884" or  "1884-6" as appropriate

Battle Honours:  Tofrek, Suakin 1885.

 
 
 

Anglo - Boer War 1899 - 1902.  2nd Battalion: Entire war.

Queen's South Africa Medal 1899-1902, with or without the King's South Africa Medal 1901 - 1902

Common clasps: Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902.

 

 

Casualties:

Officers NCOs and Men
KIA & DOW/ DOD Wounded Missing / POW KIA & DOW Death from disease Wounded Missing / POW
 
1  /  1 5 - 23 79 93 10
 


VCs: 1;   House  see VC page

 

Battle Honour: South Africa 1899-1902

 
 
 

The Great War 1914 - 1918  ( 16 battalions; 12 served overseas:- )

Generally awarded the British War Medal & Victory Medal, men overseas prior to 1/1/1916 also a 1914 or 1914-15 Star.

Battalion → 1  2* 1/4 2/4 5 6 7 8 10 11 12 13
Labour**
date of first overseas service.
 (first theatre red x )
13/8
1914
5/11
1914
31/3
1915
27/5
1916
31/5
1915
26/7
1915
20/9
1915
8/8
1915
20/6
1916
24/7
1916
?/8
1916
21/9
1916
France & Flanders x x x x x x x x x x x x
Gallipoli                        
Egypt & Palestine                        
Italy    x
(29/11/17)
                 
Mesopotamia                       
Macedonia             x
(24/11/15)
         
Star
possible ?
1914 or 1914-15 x x x   x x x          
or 1914-15 only                        
VCs at a glance:                      
died
Extracted from : "Soldiers / Officers Died in the Great War" (consider approximate - in addition the regiment as a whole lost an additional  145 officers who are recorded with 'battalion not shown'  or with battalions not shown here, or who we have  not yet allocated a battalion.)
1294 1493 396 ORs 563 ORs 1030 656 208 975 6 31 8 4
36 officers
 

*In India at the start, moved to the UK

**all Labour Battalions transferred to the Labour Corps April 1917.

 
Regular Territorial Force New Armies Garrison.

 

Territorial Force War Medal 1914-19
7 officers and 62 men of the Royal Berkshire Regiment also qualified for this medal.

 


VCs: 2;    Turner, Welch.  see VC page

 

Battle Honours: Mons; Ypres 1914, 1918; Neuve Chapelle; Loos; Somme 1916, 1918; Arras 1917, 1918; Cambrai 1917, 1918; Selle; Vittorio Veneto; Doiran 1917, 1918. Retreat from Mons; Marne 1914; Aisne 1914, 1918; Langemarck 1914, 1917; Gheluvelt; Nonne Bosschen; Aubers; Festubert 1915; Albert 1916, 1918; Bazentin; Delville Wood; Pozières; Flers-Courcelette; Morval; Thiepval; Le Transloy; Ancre Heights; Ancre 1916; Scarpe 1917, 1918; Arleux; Pilckem; Polygon Wood; Broodseinde; Poelcapelle; Passchendaele; St Quentin; Bapaume 1918; Rosières; Avre; Villers Bretonneux; Lys; Hazebrouck; Béthune; Amiens; Hindenburg Line; Havrincourt; Epéhy; Canal du Nord; St Quentin Canal; Valenciennes; Sambre; France and Flanders 1914-18; Piave; Italy 191718; Macedonia 1915-18.

 
 
 

Mesopotamia & Persia 1919 - 20  1st Battalion

General Service Medal 1918 -62

clasp:

Iraq

N.W. Persia

numbers: ??
 
 
 
 1921 title changed to: "The Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales's)"
 

Operations against the Waziris and Mahsuds, North West Frontier 1919 - 24 1st Battalion

India General Service Medal 1908

clasp:
Waziristan 1921-24
numbers: ?
 
 
 
 
 

Jewish / Arab unrest, Palestine 1936 - 39 2nd Battalion

General Service Medal 1918 -62

clasp:

Palestine

numbers: ?
 
 
 
 
 

WW2 1939 - 1945  

Battalion → 1st 2nd 4th 5th 10th 30th
campaign ↓            
France and Belgium 1940.
(Dunkirk )
x   x      
North Africa & Middle East         x  
Burma x x        
Sicily / Italy         x  
N.W. Europe       x   x
 

Notes.

  6th Infantry Brigade for the duration (operating on two occasions as an Independent Infantry Brigade Group for operations in the Arakan & Burma.) Arakan/Burma service: 25/12/42-26/5/43 and 12/5/45-31/8/45 98th Indian Infantry Brigade for Burma/Arakan from Nov 1944. 149th and 8th Infantry Brigade for France and Belgium D-Day Landers under 3rd Canadian Division for the Assault phase. also served 115th Infantry Brigade NW Europe 168th London Infantry Brigade 15/2/41-15/2/44. Iraq, Palestine, Egypt Sicily, Italy. 115th Infantry Brigade  27/8/44-15/3/45 landed NW Europe 12/2/45 . Also  under 21st Army Group.
 
 
 

WW2 Stars common to the Battalion. (excluding 39-45 star )
 Key: A = Africa, P = Pacific, B =  Burma, I = Italy,  F&G = France and Germany

  B B   F&G I F&G
             
 
 

Most also entitled to the 1939-45 War Medal and many the Defence Medal

 

Battle Honours:  Dyle; Dunkirk 1940; Normandy Landing; Rhine; Sicily 1943; Damiano; Anzio; Kohima; Mandalay; Burma 1942-5. St Orner-La Bassée; North-West Europe 1940, 1944-5; Pursuit to Messina; Monte Camino; Calabritto; Garigliano Crossing; Carroceto; Italy 1943-5; Donbaik; Mao Sonsang; Shwebo; Kyaukmyaung Bridgehead; Fort Dufferin; Rangoon Road; Toungoo.

 
1949: Regulars reduced to a single Battalion, the 1st.
 

The Cyprus Emergency 1955 - 1960  1st Battalion  (November 1956- ?)

General Service Medal 1918-62

clasp:

Cyprus

numbers:?
 

C.O.;  R.B.G. Bromhead

 
 
 

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Selected Bibliography;

 
Author/ Ed.. Etc. Title Publisher
F. Loraine Petre. The Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) 49th-66th Foot.   2 volumes 403pp and 419pp Reading: The Barracks, 1925.
Brig. Gordon Blight, with a Foreword by Gen. Sir Miles Dempsey. The History of The Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales's), 1920-1947.  499 pp. London: Staples Press [1953]
From Notes compiled by W. O. J. L. Perry A Short Regimental History of The Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales's).  39 pp. Reading: Bradley & Son Ltd., 1939.
J. Percy Groves The 66th Berkshire Regiment. A Brief History of its Services at Home and Abroad, from 1758 to 1881.  159 pp. Reading: Joseph J. Beecroft, 1887
David R. C. West. With a Foreword by Lieut.-Col. G. H. Sawyer The Fighting Tenth. A Short history of the 10th Battalion, The Royal Berkshire Regiment, 1940 to 1944. (10th Royal Berks Reunion Committee.). 63 pp Marlborough: printed by J. W. Gale, I950
     
     
     
     

 

Additional Bibliography for this Page.

 
Author/Compiler Title Publisher
Officers of the Regiment. Unpublished rolls in the care of the National Archives; WO 100/ etc. -
  Additional bibliography same as Northumberland Fusiliers page  
     
     
 

 

 

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