Guards Machine Gun Battalion cap badge, 1916

The Guards Machine Gun Regiment was a

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscript ...

of the

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 Gurkha ...

, formed for service in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. When the

Guards Division The Guards Division is an administrative unit of the British Army responsible for the training and administration of the regiments of Foot Guards and the London Guards reserve battalion. The Guards Division is responsible for providing two b ...

was formed in August 1915, it included three

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles ...

companies A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared go ...

, with a fourth added in March 1917.Guards Machine Gun Regiment at the archive of regiments.org
/ref> In April 1917, the four companies were grouped together as a single

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions ...

named the Machine Gun Guards, before being re-designated by Royal Warrant in May 1918 as the Guards Machine Gun Regiment. In June, the regiment was reorganised into battalions:

Battalions

The battalions of the regiment were: *1st (Life Guards) Battalion – conversion of

1st Life Guards The 1st Regiment of Life Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry. It was formed in 1788 by the union of the 1st Troop of Horse Guards and 1st Troop of Horse Grenadier Guards. In 1922, it was amalgamated wi ...

*2nd (Life Guards) Battalion – conversion of

2nd Life Guards The 2nd Regiment of Life Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry. It was formed in 1788 by the union of the 2nd Troop of Horse Guards and 2nd Troop of Horse Grenadier Guards. In 1922, it was amalgamated ...

*3rd (Royal Horse Guards) Battalion – conversion of

Royal Horse Guards The Royal Regiment of Horse Guards (The Blues) (RHG) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry. Raised in August 1650 at Newcastle upon Tyne and County Durham by Sir Arthur Haselrigge on the orders of Oliver Cr ...

("The Blues") *4th (Foot Guards) Battalion – re-designation of the existing Machine Gun Guards battalion *5th (Reserve) Battalion – re-designation of Guards Machine Gun Training Centre The first three battalions served with the

1st Army First Army may refer to: China * New 1st Army, Republic of China * First Field Army, a Communist Party of China unit in the Chinese Civil War * 1st Group Army, People's Republic of China Germany * 1st Army (German Empire), a World War I field Arm ...

of the British Expeditionary Force, while the 4th Battalion remained with the Guards Division. In November 1918, after the end of the war, the three

Household Cavalry The Household Cavalry (HCav) is made up of the two most senior regiments of the British Army, the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons). These regiments are divided between the Household Cavalry Regiment sta ...

battalions resumed their old role as

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry in ...

, with the 4th Battalion disbanded in February 1919. The regimental establishment of HQ and four machine gun companies was retained until 1920, and the regiment took part in the

Trooping the Colour Trooping the Colour is a ceremony performed every year in London, United Kingdom, by regiments of the British Army. Similar events are held in other countries of the Commonwealth. Trooping the Colour has been a tradition of British infantry regi ...

ceremony in

Hyde Park, London Hyde Park is a Grade I-listed major park in Westminster, Greater London, the largest of the four Royal Parks that form a chain from the entrance to Kensington Palace through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, via Hyde Park Corner and Gre ...

to mark the

King's Official Birthday The King's Official Birthday (alternatively the Queen's Official Birthday when the monarch is female) is the selected day in the United Kingdom and most Commonwealth realms on which the birthday of the monarch is officially celebrated in those ...

in June 1919 alongside the other regiments of foot guards. On 26 February 1920 an army order was issued announcing that the regiment was to be immediately disbanded and the 1918 royal warrant cancelled.

Battalions

Footnotes

References

See also