Other ranks’ cap badge Royal Warwickshire Regiment, 1940.
NAM. 1994-06-22Introduction
The Royal Warwickshire Regiment originated as Lillington’s Regiment, part of the British troops used by the Dutch Republic in its war against France in the 1670s. That regiment was brought over to Britain by William of Orange in his 1688 invasion and gained the nickname ‘The Dutch Guards’.
When line infantry regiments were ordered and numbered by seniority in 1743, this regiment became the 6th Regiment of Foot. Legend has it that the famous woman soldier, Hannah Snell, enlisted as 'James Grey' in the 6th Foot in 1745 and took part in the Jacobite rebellion.
In 1778, at the height of the American Revolutionary War, the 6th arrived in Warwickshire to recruit and four years later became the 6th (1st Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot. In 1832 King William IV granted it the title ‘Royal’.
The regimental depot was established at Warwick in 1873 and following the 1880-81 Childers Reforms, the regimental title became the Royal Warwickshire Regiment.
The 6th (1st Royal Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot on exercise while stationed at Portsmouth, 1843. Oil on canvas by Daniel Cunliffe, 1843.
NAM. 2008-08-17The regiment’s officers during the First World War included Bernard Montgomery, later the victor of El Alamein and instigator of Operation Market Garden. He won the Distinguished Service Order and was badly wounded on the Western Front.
William Slim, victorious commander of the 14th Army in Burma during the Second World War, also served with the regiment at Gallipoli, where he was wounded, and in Mesopotamia, where he gained a Military Cross. During 1939-45, 11 battalions of the Royal Warwickshire served in Europe, the Middle East and Far East.
In 1963 the regiment became the Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers. Five years later it was absorbed into the four-battalion Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.
Key facts
Motto:
- 'Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense' (meaning 'Shame on Him Who Thinks This Evil')
Nicknames:
- Dutch Guards (from their Dutch service)
- Guise’s Geese (after General John Guise)
- Warwickshire Lads
- Saucy Sixth
Titles to date:
- Colonel Lillington’s Regiment of Foot
- 6th Regiment of Foot
- 6th (1st Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot
- 6th (The Royal 1st Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot
- The Royal Warwickshire Regiment
- The Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers
- 2nd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers
- The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers
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