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:

1^st (Regular) Battalion	868	12^th (Service) Battalion (K2)	1,002
2^nd (Regular) Battalion	1,095	13^th (Service) Battalion (K3)	117
3^rd (Regular) Battalion	82	1^4th (Service) Battalion (K3)	6
4^th (Extra Reserve) Battalion	21	15^th Battalion (no record that it was raised)
1/5^th (TF) Battalion	475	16^th (Service) (1^st City Pals) Battalion	627
2/5^th (TF) Battalion	248	17^th (Service) (2^nd City Pals) Battalion	676
3/5^th (Reserve TF) Battalion	13	18^th (Service) (3^rd City Pals) Battalion	654
1/6^th (TF) Battalion	617	19^th (Service) (4^th City Pals) Battalion	557
2/6^th (TF) Battalion	259	20^th (Service) (5^th City Pals) Battalion	644
3/6^th (Reserve TF) Battalion	7	21^st (Service) (6^th City Pals) Battalion	691
1/7^th (TF) Battalion	548	22^nd (Service) (7^th City Pals) Battalion	623
2/7^th (TF) Battalion	323	23^rd (Service) (8^th City Pals) (Bantams) Battalion	281
3/7^th (Reserve TF) Battalion	3	24^th (Service) (Oldham Pals) Battalion	161
1/8^th (Ardwick) (TF) Battalion	544	25^th (Reserve) Battalion	9
2/8^th (Ardwick) (TF) Battalion	125	26^th (Reserve) Battalion	7
3/8^th (Ardwick) (Reserve TF) Battalion	32	27^th (Reserve) Battalion	7
1/9^th (TF) Battalion	439	28^th (TF) Battalion
2/9^th (TF) Battalion	231	29^th Battalion
3/9^th (Reserve TF) Battalion	10	1^st Garrison Battalion	22
1/10^th (TF) Battalion	447	2^nd (Home Service) (Garrison) Battalion	3
2/10^th (TF) Battalion	120	51^st (Graduated) Battalion
3/10^th (Reserve TF) Battalion	10	52^nd (Graduated) Battalion
11^th (Service) Battalion (K1)	681	53rd (Young Soldier) Battalion