The regiment was formed on 1 July 1881 through the amalgamation of two regiments of foot and a militia regiment: •
65th (2nd Yorkshire) Regiment •
84th (York and Lancaster) Regiment • 3rd West York Light Infantry Militia (two battalions) Under the original scheme of amalgamation announced in March 1881 the title of the new regiment was to be
The Hallamshire Regiment. This reflected the fact that the regimental district included an area of
West Riding of Yorkshire known as
Hallamshire. The proposed title was unpopular with the amalgamating units, who sought a more "suitable title... which at the same time would identify the regiment with the county (Yorkshire), which the word 'Hallamshire' entirely fails to do." Four different titles were proposed, and following a vote of the officers of all four battalions, the title
York and Lancaster Regiment was chosen. The regiment inherited the title "York and Lancaster" from the 84th Foot to which had been awarded in 1809. The 84th was one of the few
Regiments of Foot lacking a county designation and the title was given in recognition of the fact that the unit had been raised in York in 1793, with a second battalion in
Preston, Lancashire in 1808.
Sudan, 1884 The 1st battalion of the new regiment had spent 11 years in India (as the 65th Reg) 1871–1882. They were moved to Aden to be held in reserve for the Egyptian Campaign. After 18 months, they shipped on the Serapis to Trinkitat, Sudan, arriving 28 February 1884. The next day they came under gun fire and made a bayonet charge, capturing two Krupp guns. Later that day seven were killed and 35 wounded at the
Battle of El Teb. The 1st battalion was reported as 421 strong when at
Souakim, 14 March, before losing 32 killed and 25 wounded. They embarked on the troopship
HMS Jumna on 29 March, arriving at Dover on 22 April 1884.
Second Boer War . Sir
George Stuart White greets Major
Hubert Gough on 28 February. Painting by
John Henry Frederick Bacon (1868–1914) The 1st battalion embarked for South Africa as part of the reinforcements for the Second Boer War in late 1899. It took part in the
Relief of Ladysmith.
Service in the Empire Following the end of the war in South Africa in 1902, the 1st battalion was sent to
British India, where it replaced the 2nd battalion in
Mhow. The 2nd battalion returned home, for the first time since 1883. In 1908, the Volunteers and Militia were reorganised nationally, with the former becoming the
Territorial Force and the latter the
Special Reserve; the regiment now had one Reserve and two Territorial battalions. The 22 battalions consisted of the two regular battalions, the depot battalion, six
Territorial Force battalions, nine Service, two Reserve, one Transport and one Labour battalion. Of these battalions, 17 saw service overseas. During the
Battle of the Somme, eight battalions of the Yorks and Lancs' went over the top on the
first day, 1 July 1916, suffering huge casualties. Eleven battalions of the regiment fought during the Somme offensive. The 1st Battalion saw action in the
Second Battle of Ypres and the
Battle of Loos. The battalion was then shipped to the
Balkans as part of the
British Salonika Army where it would remain until the end of the war. The
2nd Battalion was stationed in
Ireland with the
16th Brigade when war broke out. The battalion arrived on the
Western Front in September 1914 with the
6th Division as part of the original
British Expeditionary Force. south of
Armentières during the
Race to the Sea.
Territorial Force The
1/4th (Hallamshire) Battalion and the
1/5th Battalion landed at
Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the
3rd West Riding Brigade in the
West Riding Division in April 1915 for service on the Western Front. The
2nd Battalion (part of the
14th Infantry Brigade) was involved in the defence of
Heraklion, during the
Battle of Crete in 1941. Most of their casualties in this battle were suffered in the withdrawal by the
Royal Navy which came under heavy air attack from the
German Luftwaffe. On returning to
Egypt, they became part of the
70th Infantry Division used in the breakout from
Tobruk, where they suffered heavy casualties as one of the lead battalions. In 1942, they were transferred, along with the rest of the 70th Infantry Division, to
India and
Burma where they took part in the
Second Chindit Campaign and the
Arakan offensive toward the end of the war.
Territorial Army The
Hallamshire Battalion, was part of Mauriceforce (
Norwegian Campaign) in
Norway in April 1940. The battalion was part of the
146th Infantry Brigade, itself part of the
49th (West Riding) Infantry Division. The Hallamshires took part in the unsuccessful
Namsos Campaign and were evacuated back to Britain by 5 May. The Hallamshires were sent to Iceland and the United Kingdom in April 1942, not seeing active service until the battalion was landed in
Normandy soon after
D-Day in June 1944 and fought its way through
France,
Belgium (where
Corporal John Harper was awarded the regiment's fifth
Victoria Cross), and into the
Netherlands, where it was part of the bitter fighting that led to the eventual capture of
Arnhem in April 1945. The former
5th Battalion (Territorial Army), which had converted to anti-aircraft artillery in 1936, served in the
North African Campaign in 1941, as the 67th (York and Lancaster) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment,
Royal Artillery, before being transferred to India and then Burma, where it was prominent at
Imphal, and later at
Mandalay. From October 1944 to January 1945, the regiment served as infantry due to the shortage of manpower in the British Army at the time. The
6th Battalion was a 2nd Line Territorial duplicate of the 4th Battalion, formed in 1939 when the TA was doubled in size. The battalion, part of the
138th Infantry Brigade of the
46th Infantry Division, went to France, under Lieutenant Colonel
George Symes, in April 1940, and the following month experienced heavy fighting in the
St Omer-La Bassée area. Taking part in the
Dunkirk evacuation, the battalion returned to England in June 1940 and remained there on anti-invasion duties for the next two-and-a-half years. In early 1943, the battalion, now under Lieutenant Colonel
Douglas Kendrew, together with the rest of the 46th Division, was sent to
French North Africa where it became part of the
British First Army and fought in the
Tunisian Campaign until it ended in mid-May, with the battalion capturing thousands of Axis soldiers. After spending three months resting, refitting and training, the battalion then, in early September 1943, took part in the
Allied invasion of Italy, suffering very heavy casualties. The battalion, after helping in the liberation of
Naples, later participated in the breaching the
Volturno Line, and advanced up the spine of western Italy, fighting along the
Winter Line, and in the
First Battle of Monte Cassino. In March 1944, the battalion, after nearly six months of continuous action, was withdrawn to Egypt and later Palestine to rest and refit. Returning to Italy in July, the battalion fought on the
Gothic Line, before, in December 1944, being sent to Greece and returning again to Italy in April 1945.
Hostilities-only Meanwhile, the
7th Battalion, which was raised in 1940, was in India (from December 1942), but served mainly on the
North-West Frontier, before being moved to Burma in 1945, too late to contribute to the defeat of the
Japanese. The
8th and 9th battalions, both raised in 1940, after being stationed in
Northern Ireland with the
71st Brigade from 1940 to 1942, were both sent to India in 1942 where they joined the
25th Indian Infantry Division. The 8th Battalion joined the
51st Indian Infantry Brigade and the 9th Battalion the
53rd Indian Infantry Brigade. The two battalions took a significant part in the
Arakan battles of 1942–1943 and in the
battles for southern Burma in 1944 to 1945. The
10th Battalion was converted to tanks in India, becoming the 150th Regiment,
Royal Armoured Corps, in the
254th Indian Tank Brigade. The 150th Regiment used
Lee tanks with which it fought at the Battles of
Imphal,
Kohima and
Meiktila and on the advance to
Rangoon (
Operation Dracula).
Post Second World War Following the Second World War, the regiment saw service around the world, including participation in the
Suez Crisis of 1956. With the reorganisation of the army in 1968, the York and Lancaster Regiment was one of two infantry regiments that chose to be disbanded rather than amalgamated with another regiment, the other regiment being the
Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). However, although the 1st Battalion was disbanded in 1968, with the Regimental HQ closing in 1987, the traditions of the regiment were continued through the descendants of the
Hallamshire Battalion, which was constituted as two companies in the
Yorkshire Volunteers. ==Regimental museum==