Early years When the regiment was formed,
Kent was one of five counties (the others being
Surrey,
Staffordshire,
Lancashire and
Yorkshire) that was split to create more than one regiment. Kent was split into two areas, with those in West Kent forming the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment, while those in East Kent becoming the
Buffs (East Kent Regiment). The dividing line that separated the two regimental areas was east of the
River Medway. The regiment's recruitment area covered both the towns and rural areas of West Kent and a number of south-east London suburbs that were later included in the
County of London. The Childers reforms also affiliated
Militia and
Volunteer battalions with their local county regiments, giving the Royal West Kents the following organisation:
Regulars • 1st Battalion – former 50th Foot • 2nd Battalion – former 97th Foot
Militia •
3rd Battalion – former 1st Battalion,
West Kent Light Infantry • 4th Battalion – former 2nd Battalion, West Kent Light Infantry, disbanded 1894
Volunteers • 1st Volunteer Battalion – former 1st Kent Rifle Volunteer Corps • 2nd Volunteer Battalion – former
3rd Kent (West Kent) Rifle Volunteer Corps • 3rd Volunteer Battalion – former
4th Kent (Royal Arsenal) Rifle Volunteer Corps • 4th Volunteer Battalion – new battalion raised in 1900
1881–1914 The 1st Battalion fought at the second battle at
Kassassin on 9 September 1882 and at the
Battle of Tel el-Kebir a few days later during
Anglo-Egyptian War. It then spent two years on garrison duty in
Cyprus before being transferred to
Sudan, where it fought at the
Battle of Ginnis during the
Mahdist War. It spent the years up to the outbreak of the
First World War on garrison duty, including at
Ceylon (together with the 2nd battalion) and
Malta. In 1899, at least twenty members of the regiment raped an elderly Burmese woman in Rangoon, who subsequently died. The matter was initially covered up by military authorities, but when the viceroy,
Lord Curzon, upon learning of the affair, dismissed many of the men involved and punished the regiment by sending it to
Aden for two years without any leave. The 2nd Battalion was deployed to
South Africa shortly after its formation, in the aftermath of the
First Boer War. It was then posted to
Ireland and spent the remaining years of the 19th century in the United Kingdom before being sent to
Egypt in 1899. After only six months, they returned to the United Kingdom in March 1900, to mobilize into a new
8th Division going to South Africa which was in the middle of the
Second Boer War. A total of 1,030 officers and men of the regiment left Southampton in the
SS Bavarian in March 1900, but the regiment's only action was a
skirmish at Biddulphsberg, alongside the 2nd battalions of the
Grenadier and
Scots Guards. It stayed in South Africa until early November 1902, when it left
Cape Town for
Ceylon, then served in
Hong Kong,
Singapore,
Peshawar and
Multan before the outbreak of the First World War. By the time the
Territorial Force was created in 1908, the suburban area of West Kent had been transferred to the County of London, so the 2nd and 3rd Volunteer battalions became the
20th (County of London) Battalion (Blackheath and Woolwich) in the new
London Regiment. The 4th Volunteer Battalion was disbanded, and the 1st VB was formed into the 4th and 5th Battalions of the QORWK in the
Kent Brigade of the TF's
Home Counties Division. The regiment now had one Reserve and three Territorial battalions.
Regular Army The 1st Battalion, which was a
Regular Army unit stationed in
Dublin at the outbreak of war in August 1914, was one of the first units to be moved to France where it became part of the
13th Brigade in the
5th Division. Among its first major engagements were the
Battle of Mons on 23 August and the
Battle of Le Cateau three days later. In October, the battalion made a heroic stand at the
Battle of Neuve Chapelle; being the only unit not to fall back. Out of 750 men, only 300 commanded by a
lieutenant and a
second lieutenant survived. Apart from a brief period from December 1917 to April 1918, when it was moved with the 5th Division to the
Italian Front, the 1st Battalion was stationed on the
Western Front for the duration of the war.
Territorial Force The 1/4th and 1/5th battalions were both part of the
Kent Brigade, alongside the 4th and 5th (
Weald)
Buffs (East Kent Regiment), of the
Home Counties Division and were both sent to
British India in late October 1914. Soon after arrival the division was broken up and both battalions were later sent to
British Indian Army brigades, the 1/4th joining, in February 1918, the
3rd Quetta Brigade of the
4th (Quetta) Division, the 1/5th to the
54th Indian Brigade in the
18th Indian Division.
War memorial in Brenchley Gardens, Maidstone. A war memorial (the
Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment Cenotaph) to the regiment's dead of the First World War stands in Brenchley Gardens in Maidstone. Designed by
Sir Edwin Lutyens, who was responsible for
the Cenotaph in London among many other war memorials, the memorial is a cenotaph almost identical to that on Whitehall but reduced to two-thirds scale and lacking adorning flags. It was unveiled on 30 July 1921 by
Major General Sir Edmund Leach,
colonel of the regiment, and dedicated by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Inter-war period At the end of the war, the 1st Battalion was transferred back to India, where it fought (along with the Territorial 1/4th Battalion) in the
Third Anglo-Afghan War and then helped put down a
Mahsud tribal rebellion in the
Northwest Frontier in 1920. It spent the next decade in India and returned home to the United Kingdom in 1937. The 2nd Battalion returned to India from Mesopotamia in 1919, and to the United Kingdom in 1921, briefly becoming part of the
British Army of the Rhine. It was stationed at various garrisons in the United Kingdom until 1937, when it moved to
Palestine to help with the suppression of the
Arab revolt. In 1939, it was moved to
Malta. The
London Regiment had ceased to function in 1916, the battalions reverting to the administrative control of their pre-1908 affiliated Regular regiments – the QORWK in the case of the 20th Londons, which reformed in the new
Territorial Army as the
20th London Regiment (The Queen's Own). In 1935, the 20th Londons was selected for conversion to the searchlight role as
34th (The Queen's Own Royal West Kent) Anti-Aircraft Battalion of the
Royal Engineers, later 34th (The Queen's Own Royal West Kent) Searchlight Regiment of the
Royal Artillery. Despite transfer to the RE, the battalion continued to wear its Kentish White Horse cap badge and 20th Londons buttons.
Second World War Regular Army during
combined operations training in
Scotland, 17 November 1942. The 1st Battalion was part of the
10th Infantry Brigade of the
4th Infantry Division. Soon after the outbreak of war in September 1939, the battalion was sent to France where it became part of the
British Expeditionary Force (BEF). Unlike in the Great War the battalion was not immediately in action, and the first few months of the conflict were spent digging trenches and defensive positions in expectation of a repeat of the trench warfare of the Great War. In early May 1940 the battalion was transferred to the
132nd Infantry Brigade of the
44th (Home Counties) Infantry Division, a TA formation which also included the 4th and 5th Battalions. The battalion was reconstituted in 1944 by amalgamating the few remaining survivors (less than 100 officers and men) with the 7th Battalion and redesignating it as the new 2nd Battalion.
Territorial Army The 4th Battalion was a
Territorial Army (TA) unit that recruited primarily from
Royal Tunbridge Wells and formed part of the
132nd Infantry Brigade, serving alongside the 5th West Kents and the 4th Battalion,
Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment). The 132nd Brigade was an integral part of the
44th (Home Counties) Division and, with the rest of the division, was sent to France in April 1940 where it became part of the
British Expeditionary Force (BEF) stationed on the Franco-Belgian border. About a month after arriving, it was involved in the battles of
France and
Dunkirk and was
evacuated to England. After returning to England, the battalion spent almost the next two years on home defence against a
German invasion. The division left the United Kingdom in May 1942 and went on to serve in the
North African Campaign, at
Alam el Halfa and
El Alamein, until the 44th Division was disbanded in early 1943. The 4th Battalion was then transferred to the
161st Indian Infantry Brigade (alongside 1/
1st Punjab Regiment and 4/
7th Rajput Regiment), part of the
5th Indian Infantry Division, and fought in the
1944 Burma Campaign, where the battalion played a major role in the
Battle of the Tennis Court, part of the larger
Battle of Kohima, against the
Imperial Japanese Army. The 5th Battalion of the regiment, recruiting from
Bromley, had virtually the same service history as the 4th, with the exception that, when the 44th Division was disbanded, the 5th Battalion was transferred to the
21st Indian Infantry Brigade, now serving alongside two battalions of the
Indian Army, of the
8th Indian Infantry Division. With the rest of the division, the battalion fought in the
Italian Campaign, alongside the 1st (until it was sent to Greece) and 6th battalions for the rest of the war, and landed in
Taranto, Italy on 24 September 1943, shortly after the
initial invasion. The battalion fought in the
Moro River Campaign and later the
Battle of Monte Cassino, the
Gothic Line and the
final offensive. From 23 July until the end of the war the new 2nd Battalion was assigned to the
184th Brigade of the
61st Division. At the same time, the
Luftwaffe was so short of pilots, aircraft and fuel that serious aerial attacks on the United Kingdom could be discounted. In January 1945, the
War Office began to reorganise surplus Anti-aircraft regiments in the United Kingdom into infantry battalions, primarily for line of communication and occupation duties in North West Europe, thereby releasing trained infantry for frontline service. The
34th was one of the units selected for conversion to the infantry role, becoming 633rd (Queen's Own Royal West Kent) Infantry Regiment, Royal Artillery and joined the
308th Infantry Brigade.
Hostilities-only The 8th (
Home Defence) Battalion was raised in 1939, presumably from the
National Defence Companies and would have consisted of men with previous military experience, but who were too old or unfit for active duties, along with younger soldiers. In 1940, the younger soldiers of the battalion were split to help form the 70th (Young Soldiers) Battalion. In 1941, the battalion was redesignated the 30th Battalion and was disbanded in 1943. However, the regiment was disbanded in 1942, The 70th (Young Soldiers) Battalion was raised in 1940 from the younger soldiers of the 8th (Home Defence) Battalion and also from volunteers around the age of 18 or 19 who had volunteered for service in the British Army and, therefore, were not yet old enough to be
conscripted, with the age being 20 at that time. The battalion remained in the United Kingdom for its existence, mainly on home defence and anti-invasion duties, or guarding airfields for the
Royal Air Force. However, the battalion was disbanded in 1943 as the British government lowered the age of conscription for the
British Armed Forces from 20 to 18.
Post-war After the end of the Second World War and with
Indian independence in 1948, all infantry regiments in the British Army were reduced to only a single regular battalion. and, as a result, the 2nd Battalion was disbanded in 1948 (nominally being amalgamated with the 1st Battalion). The regiment still wore its 20th Londons cap badge, together with RA collar badges. About 1951 its personnel adopted a supplementary shoulder title of 'THE QUEEN'S OWN' in grey on black beneath the RA shoulder title and above the AA Command arm badge.
Counterinsurgencies From 1951 to 1954, the sole remaining Regular Battalion fought against the
Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) during the
Malayan Emergency. Later they took part in the
occupation of the Suez canal zone in 1956. ==Regimental museum==