25th (County of London) Cyclist Battalion

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26th (Cyclist) Volunteer Corps
25th (County of London) (Cyclists) Battalion, London Regiment
Recruiting Poster for the 25th County of London) Cyclists, c1912 (Imperial War Museum)
Active1888–1922
Country United Kingdom
Branch Territorial Army
TypeCyclist Battalion
Infantry Battalion
Garrison/HQ2 Queen's Road West, Chelsea (1890)
68 Lillie Road, West Brompton (1899)
Fulham House, London (1908)
EngagementsThird Anglo-Afghan War
Waziristan campaign (1919–20)

25th (County of London) Cyclist Battalion was a bicycle battalion of the London Regiment of the British Army.[1] The battalion was converted to a unit of the Royal Corps of Signals in 1922.[2]

26th Middlesex (Cyclists) Volunteer Corps, 1896

The unit was originally formed on 26 February 1888 as the 26th Middlesex (Cyclist) Volunteer Corps, as part of a growing interest in the use of bicycles for military uses. It originally comprised three troops lettered 'A' to 'C' and was originally linked to the King's Royal Rifle Corps.[3] It was attached to the Inns of Court Regiment and was affiliated with the Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own).[4]

In 1908 on the formation of the Territorial Force as part of the Haldane Reforms the unit became part of the newly created London Regiment.[5]

Men from the unit took part in the campaign in Waziristan (1919), 3rd Afghan War and some were present at the Amritsar Massacre in 1919.[6]

Memorials[edit]

Its First World War memorial is located in All Saints Church, Fulham.[7]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Ibbetson, Ernest (1912). The London Cyclists (Recruiting poster). Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
  2. ^ "badge, headdress, British, 25th (County of London) Battalion (Cyclists)". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 28 November 2014. Badge of pattern worn from 1908 until 1922, when the battalion was disbanded.
  3. ^ Westlake, Ray, 2007. Directory of Rifle Volunteers, Military Historical Society Special Number, p42
  4. ^ Army List, HMSO, 1892, p648
  5. ^ "The London Regiment". Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 3 March 2007. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  6. ^ A chronicle of events connected with the 25th County of London Cyclist battalion, the London regiment, and the 26th Middlesex (cyclist) V.R.C., and military cycling in general. Originally published for the 25th London (Cyclist) Old Comrades' Association, 1932; [292 pgs.]
  7. ^ "25th Cyclist's Battalion London Regiment - War Memorials Online". www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk. Retrieved 29 November 2020.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Maj R. Money Barnes, The Soldiers of London, London: Seeley, Service, 1963.
  • Ian F. W. Beckett, Riflemen Form: A study of the Rifle Volunteer Movement 1859–1908, Aldershot: Ogilby Trusts, 1982, ISBN 0-85936-271-X.
  • Osborne, Mike, 2006. Always Ready: The Drill Halls of Britain's Volunteer Forces, Partizan Press, Essex. ISBN 1-85818-509-2
  • Ray Westlake, Tracing the Rifle Volunteers, Barnsley: Pen and Sword, 2010, ISBN 978-1-84884-211-3.
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