Childers Reforms

The Childers Reforms of 1881 reorganised the infantry regiments of the British Army. The reforms were done by Secretary of State for War Hugh Childers during 1881, and were a continuation of the earlier Cardwell Reforms.

The reorganisation was effected by General Order 41/1881, issued on 1 May 1881, amended by G.O. 70/1881 dated 1 July, which created a network of multi-battalion regiments. In England, Wales and Scotland, each regiment was to have two regular or "line" battalions and two militia battalions. In Ireland, there were to be two line and three militia battalions. This was done by renaming the numbered regiments of foot and county militia regiments. In addition, the various corps of county rifle volunteers were to be designated as volunteer battalions. Each of these regiments was associated by headquarters location and territorial name to its local "Regimental District". The reforms became effective on 1 July.

From 1881, regimental seniority numbers were officially abolished and battalions came to be known by their number within the regiment and the regimental district name. Unofficially, the regiments were still referred to by their numbers by their officers and men, as tradition, and several regiments, such as " The Buffs" (the Royal East Kent Regiment), the Cameron Highlanders, and the " Black Watch", lobbied to keep their distinct names as part of their battalion titles.

In practice, it was not always possible to apply the scheme strictly: the Cameron Highlanders initially had only one regular battalion, while several regiments had more or fewer militia regiments than specified by the initial scheme. In addition, the King's Royal Rifle Corps and the Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own) had no local regimental districts, and their affiliated militia and volunteer battalions were selected not on a territorial basis, but due to their "rifle" traditions. This structure lasted until 1948, when every regiment of line infantry had its regular battalions decreased to one, with only the three original Guards Division regiments retaining two regular battalions.

Also in 1881, short service was increased to seven years with the colours, and five with the reserve, of the twelve-year enlistment period that the Cardwell Reforms had introduced. See Lord Childers: 'In the second place, we propose that the terms of enlistment should remain 12 years, as now, but that the period with the colours should be seven instead of six years...'. He also introduced the ability for time-served soldiers to extend service in the reserve by four years, albeit classed as the second division, or Section D, of the First Class Army Reserve. See Lord Childers: 'The Bill is a very simple one, and it has been in print for some time. egulation of the Forces Act.It contains certainly two important clauses – one to enable the Chelsea Commissioners to grant certain pensions... and the other to enable the Crown to increase the Reserve by allowing men, after their 12 years' engagement, to volunteer for four years more into a second Reserve. See Lord Childers: 'The only clause of importance was the 5th, which related to the Reserves, and which enabled a second Reserve to be formed for four years of men who had completed their 12 years' engagement. The remainder of the Bill would not require much discussion.'.

Standardisation of uniforms and colours

For reasons of economy and efficiency, an attempt was made to have the facings of uniforms standardised: Royal regiments would have dark blue facings, English and Welsh regiments would have white facings, Irish regiments would wear green facings (in effect only the Connaught Rangers as all other Irish Regiments were 'Royal Regiments'), and Scottish regiments would have yellow facings. Officers' uniforms had lace in distinctive national patterns: rose pattern for England and Wales, thistle for Scotland and shamrock for Ireland. In the case of regular battalions, the lace was gold, while that of the militia battalions was silver. There were also attempts to assimilate regimental insignia and remove "tribal" uniform distinctions. This was less successful, as regimental tribalism and tradition caused much criticism. Two regiments that displayed a strong reaction were the 75th and the 92nd that were grudgingly joined together to become the Gordon Highlanders. The 75th went so far as to commission a marble monument to themselves in Malta where they were based at the time. They had spent so long away from Scotland that they were effectively an English unit that had to relearn how to wear kilts. The 92nd, though they lost much less identity in the amalgamation, staged a mock funeral procession to themselves, complete with a full-size coffin with the number '92' on it.

During 1890, The Buffs succeeded in being allowed to resume the wearing of buff facings, initially at regimental expense and design. Within a few years, a number of other regiments had replaced white facings with traditional colours. After 1935, the ruling on blue facings for royal regiments effectively lapsed. That year, in celebration of his silver jubilee, King George V designated three regiments as royal. In each case, they were ''"permitted to retain their present facings"''. During 1939, the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, who had worn blue facings since 1881, were issued buff regimental colours ''"by request and gracious permission"''. In 1946, three more infantry regiments were designated as "royal" for services during World War II. Of these, only the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment replaced its (white) facings with blue.

Regiments created

* Berwickshire, Dumfriesshire, Roxburghshire and Selkirkshire were transferred to the regimental district of the King's Own Scottish Borderers district 1887.

† Huntingdonshire was originally included in the regimental district of the Suffolk Regiment. There were no volunteer units recruited in the county from 1889 until 1900, when the 4th (Huntingdonshire) Volunteer Battalion, The Bedfordshire Regiment was formed. In 1908, it became part of the 5th Battalion of the Bedfords. In 1914, the Huntingdonshire companies were transferred to a newly formed Huntingdonshire Cyclist Battalion, affiliated to The Northamptonshire Regiment. The successors to the cyclist unit continued to be part of the Northamptons.The Huntingdonshire Battalion (Regiments.org)

‡ It was originally proposed to disband the Royal Irish Fusiliers during 1922. However, the 2nd battalion of that regiment and of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers were disbanded instead. During 1924, the two regiments formed a single "corps" sharing a depot and regimental district consisting of Counties Armagh, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone. In 1937, the regiments were again separated, with each forming a second battalion the next year.

Sources

*

See also

*List of Regiments of Foot
* List of British Army regiments (1881)
* Cardwell Reforms
* Haldane Reforms

References

*
*{{cite book , title=The Victorian army at home: the recruitment and terms and conditions of the British regular, 1859-1899 , last=Skelley, first=Alan Ramsay , edition=illustrated, publisher=Taylor & Francis , year=1977 , isbn=978-0-85664-335-4

External links

Transcript of a speech on the reforms given by Hugh Childers in 1882
* The Highland Regiment


19th-century history of the British Army
1881 in the United Kingdom
19th-century military history of the United Kingdom
1881 in military history
British defence policymaking
Military reforms
Reform in the United Kingdom
Lists of British Army units and formations