This is a list of battalions of the Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment), which existed as an infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 1961.
Original composition When the 3rd (The East Kent) Regiment of Foot became the Buffs (East Kent Regiment) in 1881 under the Cardwell-Childers reforms of the British Armed Forces, four pre-existent militia and volunteer battalions of Kent were integrated into the structure of the regiment. Volunteer battalions had been created in reaction to a perceived threat of invasion by France in the late 1850s. Organised as "rifle volunteer corps", they were independent of the British Army and composed primarily of the middle class. The only change to the regiment's structure during the period of 1881-1908 occurred in 1888, when the two militia battalions of the regiment amalgamated.Frederick, pp. 203–5.
BattalionFormedFormerlyRegular1st15721st Battalion, 3rd Regiment of Foot2nd18572nd Battalion, 3rd Regiment of FootMilitia3rd (Militia)17601st Battalion, East Kent Militia4th (Militia)18762nd Battalion, East Kent MilitiaVolunteers1st Volunteer18592nd Kent (East Kent) Rifle Volunteer Corps2nd (The Weald of Kent) Volunteer18605th Kent (The Weald of Kent) Rifle Volunteer Corps
Reorganisation
The Territorial Force (later Territorial Army) was formed in 1908, which the volunteer battalions joined, while the militia battalions transferred to the "Special Reserve". All volunteer battalions were renumbered to create a single sequential order.
BattalionFormerly4th 1st Volunteer Battalion5th (The Weald of Kent)2nd (The Weald of Kent) Volunteer Battalion
First World War
The Buffs fielded 15 battalions and lost over 6,000 officers and other ranks during the course of the war. The regiment's territorial components formed duplicate second and third line battalions. As an example, the three-line battalions of the 4th Buffs were numbered as the 1/4th, 2/4th, and 3/4th respectively. Many battalions of the regiment were formed as part of Secretary of State for War Lord Kitchener's appeal for an initial 100,000 men volunteers in 1914. They were referred to as the New Army or Kitchener's Army.James, pp. 44–5. The Volunteer Training Corps were raised with overage or reserved occupation men early in the war, and were initially self-organised into many small corps, with a wide variety of names. Recognition of the corps by the authorities brought regulation and as the war continued the small corps were formed into battalion sized units of the county Volunteer Regiment. In 1918 these were linked to county regiments.
BattalionFormedServedFateRegular1st1572Western Front2nd1857Western Front, SalonikaSpecial Reserve3rd (Reserve)1760BritainTerritorial Force1/4th 1859India, AdenSee Inter-War1/5th (The Weald of Kent)1860India, MesopotamianSee Inter-War2/4thCanterbury, September 1914BritainDisbanded in November 19172/5th (The Weald of Kent)Ashford, September 1914BritainDisbanded in November 19173/4th, 4th (Reserve) from 8 April 1916Canterbury, July 1915BritainDisbanded in 19193/5th (The Weald of Kent), 5th (The Weald of Kent) (Reserve) from 8 April 1916Ashford, March 1915BritainAbsorbed into the 4th (Reserve) Battalion on 1 September 191610th (Royal East Kent & West Kent Yeomanry)Sollum, 1 February 1917, from the 1/1st Royal East Kent Yeomanry and 1/1st Queen's Own West Kent YeomanryWestern FrontDisembodied 1919New Army6th (Service)Canterbury, August 1914Western FrontDisbanded in 19197th (Service)Canterbury, September 1914Western FrontDisbanded in 19198th (Service)Canterbury, September 1914Western FrontDisbanded on 13 February 19189th (Reserve)Dover, October 1914BritainBecame the 29th Training Reserve Battalion of the 7th Reserve Brigade on 1 September 1916Others1st (Home Service) GarrisonDover, 29 April 1916BritainBecame 2nd Battalion, Royal Defence CorpsVolunteer Training CorpsWestlake p. 1191st Battalion (Cinque Ports) Kent Volunteer Regimentlater the 1st Volunteer Battalion, Buffs (East Kent Regiment)HytheDisbanded post war2nd Battalion (St. Augustine's) Kent Volunteer Regimentlater the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, Buffs (East Kent Regiment)CanterburyDisbanded post war4th Battalion (Thanet) Kent Volunteer Regimentlater the 3rd Volunteer Battalion, Buffs (East Kent Regiment)ThanetDisbanded post war
Inter-War By 1920, all of the regiment's war-raised battalions had disbanded. The Special Reserve reverted to its militia designation in 1921, then to the Supplementary Reserve in 1924; however, its battalions were effectively placed in 'suspended animation'. As World War II approached, the Territorial Army was reorganised in the mid-1930s, many of its infantry battalions were converted to other roles, especially anti-aircraft.
BattalionFate4thAbsorbed 5th (The Weald of Kent) Battalion, without a change in title on 26 August 19215th (The Weald of Kent)Absorbed by 4th Battalion on 26 August 1921
Second World War The Buff's expansion during the Second World War was modest compared to 1914–1918. National Defence Companies were combined to create a new "Home Defence" battalion, In addition to this, 12 of the 39 Kent battalions of the Home Guard were affiliated to the regiment, wearing its cap badge.
BattalionFormedServedFateRegular1st1572North Africa, ItalySee Post-World War II2nd1857France, North Africa, BurmaSee Post-World War IISupplementary Reserve3rd1760See Post-World War IITerritorial Army4th, (redesignation of 4th/5th Battalion)1859France, Malta, GreeceSee Post-World War II5th (The Weald of Kent)31 March 1939, as a duplicate of 4th BattalionFrance, North Africa, Sicily, ItalyDisbanded on 1 January 19476th (Home Defence)November 1939BritainRedesignated as 30th Battalion in December 19417thJuly 1940BritainConverted to 141st Regiment Royal Armoured Corps, in November 1941Joslen, p. 3728thJuly 1940, from a cadre of The Duke of Cornwall's Light InfantryBritainConverted to 9th Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery in November 19429thJuly 1940, from a cadre of the Northamptonshire RegimentBritainDisbanded 194610thJuly 1940BritainDisbanded in October 194311thOctober 1940, as a redesignation of the 50th (Holding) BattalionBritainConverted to 89th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery in November 194030thDecember 1941, as a redesignation of the 6th (Home Defence) BattalionBritainDisbanded in March 1943Others70th (Young Soldiers)September 1940BritainDisbanded January 1943 Home GuardBattalionHeadquartersFormation Sign (dark blue on khaki)BattalionHeadquartersFormation Sign (dark blue on khaki)1st AshfordKT 12nd CharingKT 23rd CanterburyKT 34th (St. Augustine's) CanterburyKT 45th WinghamKT 56th (Thanet) MargateKT 67th LymingeKT 78th (Cinque Ports)FolkestoneKT 89th FavershamKT 910th SittingbourneKT1023rd HawkhurstKT 2330th (Sheppey)SheernessKT 30
Post-World War II
In the immediate post-war period, the army was significantly reduced: nearly all infantry regiments had their first and second battalions amalgamated and the Supplementary Reserve disbanded. BattalionFate1stAmalgamated with 2nd Battalion on the 23 September 1949, without a change in title2ndAmalgamated with 1st Battalion on the 23 September 19494thRedesignated the 4th/5th Battalion on 1 January 19475thRedesignated the 4th/5th Battalion on 1 January 1947
Amalgamation In 1956, the 5th Battalion was reformed, leading to the 4th/5th Battalion being redesignated as the 4th Battalion. The 1957 Defence White Paper stated that the Buffs was due to amalgamated with the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment, to form the Queen's Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment on the 1 March 1961.
BattalionFate1stAmalgamated with 1st Battalion, The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment, to form 1st Battalion, The Queen's Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment4thTransferred to the Queen's Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment without a change in title5thTransferred to the Queen's Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment without a change in title
References
Sources J.B.M. Frederick, Lineage Book of British Land Forces 1660–1978, Vol I, Wakefield: Microform Academic, 1984, . Brig E.A. James, British Regiments 1914–18, London: Samson Books, 1978/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2001, .
The Long, Long Trail