REGIMENTAL HISTORY

Introduction

The Manchester Regiment (63^rd and 96^th Regiments of Foot) amalgamated in 1958 with the King’s Liverpool Regiment (8^th 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 1^st 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: