Regimental History

Read About Great War VCs

Introduction

The Manchester Regiment (63rd and 96th Regiments of Foot) amalgamated in 1958 with the King's Liverpool Regiment (8th of Foot) to form the King's Regiment. This year, 2003, the Regiment is 318 years old. The soldiers come mainly from those two great industrial Lancashire ports, just 30 miles apart at each end of the great River Mersey. The recent history of the King's, Difficulties be Damned! By Patrick Mileham (ISBN 0 1873907 10-9) describes the men of the regiments as 'the true repositories of Englishness with those virtues of English character - tolerance, individuality and humour.' Today, the 1st Battalion King's Regiment is an armoured infantry battalion equipped with Warrior infantry combat vehicles and based in Catterick Garrison.

The 1914-18 Great War

During the Great War, the two regiments raised a phenomenal 87 battalions and suffered over 100,000 casualties in hundreds of battles and engagements. The Manchester Regiment raised 45 battalions of which 29 served overseas. They won nearly 80 battle honours on the Western Front, Gallipoli, Italy, Palestine, Mesopotamia and in other theatres and earned 11 Victoria Crosses (see Victoria Crosses page). The Regiment lost nearly 14,000 men killed as follows:

  • 1st (Regular) Battalion 868
  • 2nd (Regular) Battalion 1,095
  • 3rd (Regular) Battalion 82
  • 4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion 21
  • 1/5th (TF) Battalion 475
  • 2/5th (TF) Battalion 248
  • 3/5th (Reserve TF) Battalion 13
  • 1/6th (TF) Battalion 617
  • 2/6th (TF) Battalion 259
  • 3/6th (Reserve TF) Battalion 7
  • 1/7th (TF) Battalion 548
  • 2/7th (TF) Battalion 323
  • 3/7th (Reserve TF) Battalion 3
  • 1/8th (Ardwick) (TF) Battalion 544
  • 2/8th (Ardwick) (TF) Battalion 125
  • 3/8th (Ardwick) (Reserve TF) Battalion 32
  • 1/9th (TF) Battalion 439
  • 2/9th (TF) Battalion 231
  • 3/9th (Reserve TF) Battalion 10
  • 1/10th (TF) Battalion 447
  • 2/10th (TF) Battalion 120
  • 3/10th (Reserve TF) Battalion 10
  • 11th (Service) Battalion (K1) 681
  • 12th (Service) Battalion (K2) 1,002
  • 13th (Service) Battalion (K3) 117
  • 14th (Service) Battalion (K3) 6
  • 15th Battalion (no record that it was raised)
  • 16th (Service) (1st City Pals) Battalion 627
  • 17th (Service) (2nd City Pals) Battalion 676
  • 18th (Service) (3rd City Pals) Battalion 654
  • 19th (Service) (4th City Pals) Battalion 557
  • 20th (Service) (5th City Pals) Battalion 644
  • 21st (Service) (6th City Pals) Battalion 691
  • 22nd (Service) (7th City Pals) Battalion 623
  • 23rd (Service) (8th City Pals) (Bantams) Battalion 281
  • 24th (Service) (Oldham Pals) Battalion 161
  • 25th (Reserve) Battalion 9
  • 26th (Reserve) Battalion 7
  • 27th (Reserve) Battalion 7
  • 28th (TF) Battalion
  • 29th Battalion
  • 1st Garrison Battalion 22
  • 2nd (Home Service) (Garrison) Battalion 3
  • 51st (Graduated) Battalion
  • 52nd (Graduated) Battalion
  • 53rd (Young Soldier) Battalion