The Suffolk Regiment

Our History

An introduction to the Regiment

The Regiment was formed in 1685 when King James II ordered Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk, to raise a regiment to suppress the Monmouth Rebellion.

Initially, the Regiment depended on the Suffolk Militia for recruits and maintained recruiting parties in the County. The 1751 Army reforms saw it become the 12th Regiment of Foot and the links with the County of Suffollk were first formally recognized in 1782. The Depot of the Regiment was established in Bury St Edmunds with the building of Gibraltar Barracks in 1878, relocating from its previous location at Yeomanry Yard. In 1881, the title of the Regiment was changed from the 12th Regiment of Foot to the Suffolk Regiment.

1685-1913 - Early Battle Honours

The Regiment gained many significant battle honours prior to the First World War. These include Dettingen and Minden.

At the Battle of Dettingen in 1743, during the War of the Austrian Succession, King George II placed himself at the head of the Allied Army. Inspired by his courage and calmness, the troops attacked with redoubled vigour and routed the French. This was the last occasion on which a British King led his troops into battle.

At the Battle of Minden in 1759, during the Seven Years' War, the Regiment were part of the British troops alongside the Prussian Army under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick. On August 1st, the Allied Army, 60,000 strong, met the French Army, 70,000 strong on the plains of Minden and routed it. Tradition suggests that while the British Army were advancing into battle, they passed through some German gardens, plucked red and yellow roses and placed them in their head-dresses. Minden Day is still celebrated at Gibraltar Barracks on the nearest Saturday to 1st August.

The crest of the Suffolk Regiment is a Castle and Key with the motto "Montis Insignia Calpe" underneath. The honour was given to the Regiment for the distinguished part it took in the siege of Gibraltar, 1779-83. "Montis Insignia Calpe" means "The Arms of Mount Calpe", Mount Calpe being the old Roman name for Gibraltar. The motto of the Regiment is 'Stabilis'. This means 'to stand firm' or 'steady' and comes directly from the family arms of Colonel Scipio Duroure.

In 1796 the regiment paid the first of many visits to India, remaining there for the next ten years in operations against the French and local rulers, most notably in helping to overthrow Tippoo Sultan, the ruler of Mysore, at the battle of Seringapatam in 1799.

The 1st Battalion saw active service in the Second Afghan War (1878-1880) and on the North-West Frontier in 1888. At the time of the Boer War (1899-1902), approximately 90% of the strength of the battalion were Suffolk men.

20th Century

1914-1918

During the course of the Great War the Regiment expanded to 23 Battalions. The 2nd Battalion formed part of the original British Expeditionary Force sent to France in August 1914. The other Regular Army battalion, the 1st, spent most of the war in Salonika. More battalions were created as part of Kitchener’s New Army; these new units – the 7th, 8th, 9th, 11th and 12th Battalions – all served on the Western Front. In all, six battalions of the regiment were engaged on the Somme in 1916 and five in the battles at Arras in 1917.

Of the two Territorial battalions, the 4th spent the war in France while the 5th served in Gallipoli and then in Egypt and Palestine. Towards the end of the war the Suffolk Yeomanry were converted to Infantry and transferred to the Suffolk Regiment where they served as the 15th Battalion, in Egypt and Palestine.

360 officers and 6,513 other ranks of the regiment were killed during the war.

1939-1945

During the 1939-1945 War the regiment expanded again. The 1st Battalion went to France with the British Expeditionary Force in 1939, taking part in the fighting in France and Belgium, the evacuation from Dunkirk and subsequently returned to France on D-Day fighting through to Germany until the end of the war.

The 2nd Battalion was in India when war broke out, took part in the Burma Campaign and the fighting in the Arakan and at Imphal in March 1944. At the end of the war the battalion was stationed in Lahore.

The 4th and 5th Battalions (T.A.) were part of the ill-fated 18th Division. The Division, comprising mostly of Territorials from the eastern counties, left for the Middle East in October 1941, was diverted to Singapore when Japan entered the war, and on the fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942 spent three and a half years as Far East Prisoners of War, many being involved in the construction of the infamous Burma – Thailand Railway.

The 7th Battalion was formed in May 1940. In 1941 it became the 142nd Regiment Royal Armoured Corps, but still wearing the Suffolk cap badge, it fought in North Africa and Italy until it was disbanded in January 1945.

1945 – 1959

After the war, the 2nd Battalion was disbanded and the 5th Battalion (T.A.) was not reformed. This meant that the Suffolk Regiment was once again, as before 1858, a one Regular Battalion Regiment, with a Territorial Battalion (the 4th) covering the whole of Suffolk.

In 1946 the Depot at Bury St Edmunds saw the first intakes of National Servicemen who served for 18 months with the Regular Battalion and then 3 years in the Territorial Army.

Between 1946 and 1949 the 1st Battalion saw service in Egypt, Palestine and Greece before sailing for Malaya in July 1949 where it spent the next 3½ years involved in jungle warfare against Communist infiltration. During its service in Malaya the regiment gained a first-class reputation for jungle warfare and played a leading part in suppressing the communist threat.

On returning to the United Kingdom the battalion stayed in Colchester for a short time before moving to Trieste in 1953 to take up internal security duties. In 1954 it moved to Wuppertal in Germany. Leaving Germany in 1956 for Cyprus, on its last overseas posting, the battalion was involved in the EOKA campaign against General Grivas.

In May 1959 the Battalion returned to England and on 29 August 1959 was amalgamated with the 1st Battalion The Royal Norfolk Regiment to form the 1st East Anglian Regiment.

Present Day

The 1st Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment predominately recruits from the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire.

Links with the former Suffolk Regiment and the county are maintained through “B (Suffolk) Company” which proudly continues the linage from 1685 to the present day.