Victoria Rifles has been through many names changes and several milestones over the years:
Name | Date |
St George’s Volunteers | 1792 |
Duke of Cumberland’s Sharpshooters | 1803 |
Royal Victoria Rifle Club | 1835 |
Formal embodiment as a Rifle Club | 1852 |
Enrolled as a Rifle Regiment | 1853 |
1st (Victoria Rifle Club) Middlesex Rifle Volunteer Corps | 1859 |
1st Middlesex Rifle Volunteer Corps | 1860 |
Formally attached to the King’s Royal Rifle Corps | 1881 |
1st Middlesex (Victoria and St. George’s) VRC & 1st Volunteer Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps | 1892 |
Regimental Centenary – Private Inspection at Buckingham Palace by King Edward VII | 1903 |
9th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Queen Victoria’s) | 1908 |
Creation of the second and third battalions 2/9th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Queen Victoria’s) 3/9th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Queen Victoria’s) | 1914 |
3/9th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Queen Victoria’s) redesignated as: 9th (Reserve) Battalion, London Regiment (Queen Victoria’s) | 1916 |
2nd and 3rd/Reserve Battalion demobilised | 1919 |
9th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Queen Victoria’s Rifles) | 1920 |
9th London Regiment (Queen Victoria’s Rifles) | 1922 |
Queen Victoria’s Rifles, Kings Royal Rifle Corps | 1937 |
Reformation of 2nd Bttn | 1939 |
Retitled 7th Battalion (Queen Victoria’s Rifles) Kings Royal Rifle Corps 8th Battalion (Queen Victoria’s Rifles) Kings Royal Rifle Corps | 1941 |
7th Battalion, The King’s Royal Rifle Corps, (Queen Victoria’s Rifles) | |
Formation of Queen Victoria’s Rifles Cadet Corps | 1942 |
Queen Victoria’s Rifles Cadet Corps reformed and retitled: 2nd Cadet Battalion, The King’s Royal Rifle Corps | 1945 |
Merger of 1st & 2nd Cadet Battalions, The King’s Royal Rifle Corps | 1951 |
Merged with 11th Battalion, The King’s Royal Rifle Corps (Queen’s Westminsters) Regiment to create Queen’s Royal Rifles | 1961 |
4th Battalion, The Royal Green Jackets | 1967 |
7th Battalion, The Rifles | 2007 |
Regimental Nicknames & Titles
More infomally the Regiment was known in the 19th Century as “The Victorias” and in the first half of the 20th Century at the “Queen Vics” or simply “the Vics“. Given the Forces’ affection for TLAs1 the Regiment’s name was normally shortened to QVR.
The British Press has bestowed a range of sobriquets upon the Regiment including “the Father of the Territorial Force” (the West London Gazette, Oct 24 1914),
Origins
The history of the Rifle Volunteer movement stems from the need and desire to raise and train volunteers to counter the threat from Napoleon.
The Crimea, the Orsini Incident and the Imperial calls on the Army led to further formalisation, until in 1860 the 1st Middlesex Rifle Volunteer Corps was formalised as Second in the Order of Precedence of the Volunteer Corps behind the Exeter and South Devon Volunteer Rifle Corps.
This evolution ends in 1961 with their merger with the Queen’s Westminsters as the Queen’s Royal Rifles and the passing of the Victoria Rifles name into history.
Today the traditions of the Regiment are embodied in the 7th Battalion, the Rifles.
- Three Letter Abbreviations