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Featuring below are various videos of the Regiment

 

The Back Badge

For their gallantry in fighting back to back during the Battle of Alexandria1801, the Regiment was given the unique honour of wearing a badge at the back of their caps. This honour has prevailed. 


On the 1st February 2007 RGBWLI merged with the DDLI to become 1 Rifles. The regular battalions of the Rifles wear the Back Badge with  ceremonial dress,and officers and warrant officers wear it on side hats.  The Back Badge is also  worn by the Band and Bugles of The Rifles on the ‘shako’


ALEXANDRIA 1801

The Regiment, then the 28th Foot (North Gloucestershire) under the Command of General Sir Ralph Abercromby landed in Egypt against strong French opposition. They marched onwards to Alexandria where they brought the French army to Battle.

The 28th. took up a defensive position on a line of low sand hills. On their right was an old Roman fort, which stood on a slight rise close to the shore, and to the front of this was an unfinished redoubt, which was manned by the 28th. Between them, the fort and the redoubt formed the key position, for if either was taken, then the British flank could be turned.

Under the cover of the pre-dawn darkness and sand dunes, two columns of French infantry headed straight for the British right. Heavy fighting ensued and as more French columns joined the attack, the 28th. Becamecut off. The British musketry drove off the French onslaught but a brigade of French infantry moved through the gap between the 28th. and the rest of the British line. A counter attack by the 42nd Foot drove off this attack but they in turn went too far and were themselves indanger from French cavalry. The battle raged all along the line, but nowhere as fiercely as on the right, with the 28th fighting to their front and flanks. More French cavalry joined in, supported by more infantry. Some of the cavalry broke through the 42nd and formed up to charge the 28th in the rear. With no reserves available at this critical point in the battle, Lt. Col.Chambers, who had taken over command following the serious wounding ofthe C.O. Col. Paget, gave the historic order "Rear rank, 28th! Right about face!"


The rear ranks turned and with exemplary discipline waited until the French cavalry were a few horse lengths away. They then fired one devastating volley, causing heavy casualties amongst the cavalry and forcing them to withdraw.

Back Badge day is celebrated on the 21st day of March each year. A Church Service & Reunion is held in Gloucester on the weekend nearest to the 21st.   The event for 2023 is scheduled to take place on the 18th March 2023, see the events page for further details. 

The Regimental Colours

queenscol 1920w PhotoRoom

The Queens Colour (1920)

The Regimental Colours (1920)

Colours' is the name given to the flags representing different regiments of the British Army.

Infantry colours, and their cavalry counterparts, known as Standards and Guidons, are among the most sacred of symbols of the Army.

The flags embody the honour, spirit and heritage of the regiments that proudly carry them, according to the National Army Museum.

Historically, they acted as a rallying point in the heat and smoke of battle, so that soldiers could easily spot their unit by its Colours.

They are also a focus of regimental pride.

Losing the Colours to the enemy was the greatest disgrace for a regiment as it symbolised complete defeat, the National Army Museum explains, while capturing an enemy's Colours (or equivalents like the Eagle Standard and Turkish crescent) was seen as a major achievement for a soldier in battle.

British and Commonwealth infantry regiments usually have two Colours, collectively called a stand.

 

The King's/Queen's Colour – representing the regiment's loyalty towards the sovereign or a nation – is typically a union flag trimmed with gold fabric, and with the regiment's insignia in the centre. 

The Regimental Colour is a flag of a single colour, usually the colour of the regiment's uniform facings (collar, lapels and cuffs), again trimmed, and with the insignia in the centre.

Handmade from precious silks, silver and gilt threads, the Colours are used on the regiment's most important occasions and bear the battle honours, or those inherited from its predecessors, and symbols of the battalions.

It is thought they carry the spirits of all those who fought and died in their name since the founding of the regiment.

When a battalion is presented with new Colours, the old stand is normally laid up in the church or chapel associated with the regiment.

Regimental Nicknames

The Gloucestershire Regiment 28th/61st. have acquired several nicknames during their long history, The Old Braggs, Sliver Tailed Dandies, The Flowers of Toulouse but the one that has endured and is now recognised as the official nickname of the Regiment is the 'Slashers'. Today the Battalion's Rugby & Soccer teams are identified as the 'Slashers'. 

So how did the nickname 'Slashers' originate?

It dates back in fact to 1764 when the 28th found themselves on garrison duties in Montreal during a bitter Canadian winter. A certain Thomas Walker, a wealthy City merchant and magistrate was making life for the 28th and their families very difficult. He opposed the military government at every opportunity and being a local magistrate used his position to harass the soldiers unfairly.

 The winter was severe and with no barrack accommodation in Montreal, he ensured that the officers and men were given the poorest and most uncomfortable quarters available. Soldiers and their families were regularly being evicted from their billets into the bitter winter cold for no good reason. 

Matters were eventually brought to a head. The men of the 28th had had enough and decided amongst themselves that it was time to deal with Mr. Thomas Walker. 

On the evening of the 6th December 1764 a group of men armed and disguised stormed into Walkers home whilst he was sitting at the dinner table with family and guests. The party scattered in fear of their lives and Walker tried in vain to reach for his weapons in the next room. He was attacked and it was said, defended himself with spirit, he was however overpowered and in the ensuing struggle a sword was drawn and half of his right ear was slashed off and taken as a trophy by his fleeing assailants.

The following day all hell broke loose in Montreal an inquiry was immediately launched and arrests quickly followed. Everything possible was done to try to identify the assailants to no avail. The soldiers stood by each others alibi's throughout the interrogation and nothing was ever established.

There was however plenty of evidence gathered, bloodstained jackets with 28th facings were found hidden, a Sergeant had borrowed a sword earlier in the evening. Certain soldiers were absent from their quarters at the time of the incident. But no one was brought to trial. 

It was thought however that the perpetrators were probably Sgt. Rogers, Sgt. Mee, Pte's Coleman and McLaughlan all of the 28th. It was also believed that four other private soldiers were involved and the names of two officers, Capt. Payne and Lt. Tottenham were being mentioned in hushed terms.

So from the incident of 'Walkers ear' the nickname of the 'Slashers' found its way into the Regiments vocabulary. 

In all it seems to have been a close 'Regimental Family' affair for nothing was proven and the true account of events was taken by the men of the 28th to their eventual graves. One certain fact however emerged....Nobody messes with the 28th and gets away with it!

 The Slashers however was not the first neither was it the only nickname attributed to the Glosters in their long history. 

Raised in Portsmouth, 1694, by Colonel John Gibson to be known as Gibson’s Regiment of Foot. It was the birth of a regiment which was to travel far and fight hard, and which was to win the professional respect and regard of the British Army in generations to come. In 1704 Gibson sold his regiment, as was the way among the privileged of the time, to Colonel Sampson de Lalo. De Lalo exchanged regiments with John Viscount Mordaunt, Colonel of the 21st Foot. 

in 1709 Lord Mordaunt returned to his old regiment when Colonel De Lalo was killed at Malplaquet. There was then a succession of Colonels commanding the regiment until in 1734 when Colonel Nicholas Price handed over to the most famous of the regiment’s colonels of the early days, Colonel Philip Bragg.


The regiment became a happy and much esteemed one under Colonel Bragg, who commanded it for twenty-five years until his death in 1759. He was promoted Lieutenant General in 1747, he was Master of the Royal Hospital at Kilmainham, and he became Member of Parliament for Armagh.

He must have been a commander of great character, for not only did he leave his mark on the regiment, but his name is preserved in the cherished nickname of the regiment – ‘THE OLD BRAGGS’. 

In 1742 Braggs Regiment became the 28th Foot


Long after General Bragg had died, legend has it that there was a certain brigade parade when a subsequent Colonel of the Regiment became annoyed at the special titles other colonels gave their Regiments. When his turn came he gave, the legend says, this strange word of command.


  Neither King’s nor Queen’s, nor Royal Marines.

       But 28th. Old Braggs: 
        Brass before and Brass behind.
        Never feared a foe of any kind:
        Shoulder Arms! 

Battle Honours The Gloucestershire Regiment 28th LXI

 
Ramillies Louisberg Guadaloupe 1759 -  Quebec 1759  -  Martinique 1762 -  Havannah St Lucia 1778-  Maida  Corunna- Talavera-Busaco-BarrosaAlbuhera-  Salamanca-  Vittoria-  Pyrenees-Nivelle- Nive Orthes-  Toulouse-  Peninsula-Waterloo-Chillianwallah  - Goojerat Punjaub-LMA-Inkerman-  Seevastopol- Delhi 1857-  Defence of Ladysmith
Relief of Kimberley -  Paardeberg -  South Africa 1899-1902

The Great War 1914 1918

Mons -   Retreat from Mons -  Marne 1914 - Aisne 1914/18 - Ypres 1914/15/17 -  Langemarck 1914/17 -  Gheluvelt - Nonne Bosschen Givenchy 1914 - Gravenstafel - St Julien - Frezenberg - Bellewaarde - Aubers - Loos - Somme 1916/18 - Albert 1916/18 - Bazentin - Delville Wood - Pozieres - Guillemont - Flers-Courcelette - Morval - Ancre Heights - Ancre 1916 - Arras 1917/18 - Vimy 1917 - Scarpe 1917 - Messines 1917/18 - Piclckem - Menin Road - Polygon Wood - Broodseinde - Poelcappelle - Passchendaele - Cambrai 1917/18 - St Quentin - Bapaume 1918 - Rosieres - Avre - Lys - Estaires - Hazebrouck - Bailleul - Kemmel - Bethune - Droucourt Queant - Hindenburg Line - Epehy - Canal du Nord - St Quentin Canal - Beaurevoir - Selle - Valenciennes - Sambre - France & Flanders1914/18 - Piave - Vittorio Veneto - Italy 1917/18 - Struma - Doiran 1917 - Macedonia1915-18 - Suvla - Sari Bair - Scimitar Hill - Gallipoli 1915/16 - Egypt 1916 Tigris 1916 - -Kut al Amara 1917 - Baghdad - Mesopotamia 1916/18 - Persia 1918  
 
Second World War 1939 - 1945
 
Defence of Escaut - St Omar-la Bassee - Wormhoudt - Cassel - Villiers - Bocage - Mont Pincon - Falaise - Risle Crossing - Le Harve - Zeten - North West Europe 1940 44/45 - Taukyan - Paungde - Monywa 1942 - North Arakan - Mayu Tunnels - Pinwe - 
Shweli - Myitson - Burma 1942 44/45 
Honorary Distinction: 5th Battalion. A Badge of the Reconnaissance Corps with year dates 1944-45 and scroll 'North West Europe'
 

  Korean War

 
Hill 327 'Imjin'  Korea 1950-51
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