44th Parachute Brigade was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

Territorial Army parachute brigade, active from c.1950 to 1978.

History

Formation

From 1950-1956 it was one of the brigades of

16th Airborne Division The 16th Airborne Division was an airborne infantry division of the British Territorial Army. It was first commanded by Major-General Roy Urquhart, and had its divisional headquarters in London. It was raised in 1947, to compensate for the lo ...

. From 1956 the division was reduced to the 44th Independent Parachute Brigade Group, comprising the 10th (County of London), 12th (Yorkshire), 13th (Lancashire), 15th (Scottish) and 17th (Durham Light Infantry) battalions of the Parachute Regiment. Shortly after formation, the 12th and 13th Battalions were amalgamated as 12th/13th (Yorkshire and Lancashire) Battalion. In 1967, the TA battalions were reduced again, the 12th/13th and 17th being amalgamated to reform the 4th Battalion.

Reformation in 1967

It was reformed on 1 April 1967 from 44th Independent Parachute Brigade Group (T.A.). The Brigade was the only Territorial Army Parachute formation in the Army's order of battle. The following units were part of the Brigade: * Brigade Headquarters and Defence Platoon - based in

Chelsea, London Chelsea is an affluent area in west London, England, due south-west of Charing Cross by approximately 2.5 miles. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the south-western postal area. Chelsea histori ...

289 Parachute Battery, Royal Horse Artillery The 289 Commando Troop originated as a parachute artillery regiment of the Territorial Army formed in London in 1956. It was transferred to the Royal Horse Artillery in 1960 and reduced to a battery in 1967. In 1977 it was re-roled as a Comma ...

(Volunteers) located in East Ham, London, (This was the former 289 Parachute Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery (T.A.), which had been composed of 'P','Q','R' and 'S' batteries). (This Battery left the Brigade in 1977 when it converted to 289 Commando Battery, Royal Artillery) * 131 Independent Parachute Squadron, Royal Engineers (Volunteers) - Squadron HQ in London with Troops in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, Hull and Grangemouth (In 1978 this became 131 Independent Commando Squadron (V) Royal Engineers) * 44 Parachute Brigade Signal Troop, Royal Corps of Signals (Volunteers) - Based in Chelsea with the Brigade HQ. * 4th Battalion, Parachute Regiment (V) - Battalion HQ in Pudsey with Rifle Companies in Liverpool, Oldham, Gateshead and Norton. * 10th (County of London) Battalion, Parachute Regiment - Battalion HQ in White City (West London) with Rifle Companies in White City, Finchley, Blackheath, Croydon and Aldershot * 15th (Scottish) Parachute, Parachute Regiment - Battalion HQ in Glasgow with Companies in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh * 16th (Volunteer) Independent Company, Parachute Regiment - Lincoln *

562 Parachute Squadron Royal Corps of Transport (Volunteers) 562 Parachute Squadron Royal Corps of Transport (Volunteers) was a minor unit that supported 44th Parachute Brigade (V). Organisation and history 1947 When the Territorial Army (TA) was reformed in the UK, the order of battle included the 16th ...

- Southall with detachments A Troop at West Ham and B Troop in Dulwich. * 144 Parachute Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps (Volunteers) - HQ was in Chelsea, London with detachments in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

* 44 Parachute Ordnance Field Park,

Royal Army Ordnance Corps The Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) was a corps of the British Army. At its renaming as a Royal Corps in 1918 it was both a supply and repair corps. In the supply area it had responsibility for weapons, armoured vehicles and other military equip ...

(Volunteers) - located at

Heston Heston is a suburban area and part of the Hounslow district in the London Borough of Hounslow. The residential settlement covers a slightly smaller area than its predecessor farming village, 10.8 miles (17.4 km) west south-west of Charing ...

in West London. * 1 Parachute Provost Platoon,

Royal Military Police The Royal Military Police (RMP) is the corps of the British Army responsible for the policing of army service personnel, and for providing a military police presence both in the UK and while service personnel are deployed overseas on operations ...

(Volunteers) - located at

Tulse Hill Tulse Hill is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth in South London that sits on Brockwell Park. It is approximately five miles from Charing Cross and is bordered by Brixton, Dulwich, Herne Hill, Streatham and West Norwood. History The a ...

in South London. The 44th Parachute Brigade (V) was disbanded on 31 March 1978. Only the 3 TA Parachute Battalions and 144 Field Ambulance retained their parachute role; 289 Battery RHA and 131 Squadron RE were converted to Commando units (289 reverting from RHA to RA) while the remainder of the Brigade units were either converted or disbanded.

References

External links

http://www.parachuteregiment-hsf.org/http://www.palacebarracksmemorialgarden.org
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702223109/http://www.palacebarracksmemorialgarden.org/ , date=2015-07-02 *https://web.archive.org/web/20160313081634/http://lothianpra.org.uk/ 44 Parachute Brigade Military units and formations disestablished in 1978 44 Parachute Brigade Army Reserve (United Kingdom)