The regiment was raised by Henry Herbert at Ludlow on 16th. March 1689 following the 1688 Glorious Revolution and exile of James II. In 1702 it was designated a fusilier regiment and became The Welch Regiment of Fusiliers, the prefix 'Royal' was added in 1713, then confirmed in 1714 when George I named it The Prince of Wales's Own Royal Regiment of Welsh Fusiliers. After the 1751 reforms that standardised the naming and numbering of regiments, it became the 23rd. Foot (Royal Welsh Fuzileers).
It retained the archaic spelling of Welch, instead of Welsh, and Fuzileers for Fusiliers, these were engraved on swords carried by regimental officers during the Napoleonic Wars. After the 1881 Childers Reforms, its official title was The Royal Welsh Fusiliers, but 'Welch' continued to be used informally until restored in 1920 by Army Order No.56.
It should not be confused with the Welch Regiment, a different unit formed in 1881 from the 41st. and 69th. which recruited in South and West, rather than North Wales, and became part of the Royal Regiment of Wales or RRW in 1969.
In March 2006 the Royal Welch Fusiliers were amalgamated with the RRW and became 1st. Battalion, Royal Welsh, with RRW as the 2nd. Battalion.
Uniform.
Soldiers of this regiment were distinguishable by the unique feature of the 'flash', consisting of five overlapping black silk ribbons, seven inches long for soldiers and nine inches long for officers, on the back of the uniform jacket at neck level. This is a legacy of the days when it was normal for soldiers to wear pigtails. In 1808, this practice was discontinued but when the order was issued the RWF were serving in Nova Scotia and had not received the instruction when the regiment departed to join an expedition to the West Indies. In 1834 the officers of the 23rd. Foot were finally granted permission by William IV to wear this non-regulation item as a distinction on the full dress uniform as 'a peculiarity whereby to mark the dress of that distinguished regiment'. This was extended to all ranks in 1900.
Khaki service dress replaced the scarlet tunic as the principal uniform, and the Army Council attempted to remove the flash during the First World War, citing the grounds that it would help the Germans identify which unit was facing them. As Fusilier officer Robert Graves reported, "the regiment retorted by inquiring on what occasion since the retreat from Corunna, when the regiment was the last to leave Spain, with the keys of the town postern (a back or side entrance) in the pocket of one of its officers, had any of His Majesty's enemies seen the back of a Royal Welch Fusilier?," and the matter remained 'in abeyance throughout the war'. The efforts of the regiment to retain the distinction was further reinforced at a medal ceremony when King George V saw an officer of the regiment in the line. He ordered an About Turn and seeing the flash still on the tunic said "don't ever let anyone take it from you!" The wearing of the flash on service dress was extended to other ranks in 1924.
As a fusilier regiment, the RWF wore a hackle, which consisted of a plume of white feathers mounted behind the cap-badge of the modern beret. The full dress of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, as worn by the entire regiment until 1914, included a racoon-skin hat, bearskin for officers, with a white hackle and a scarlet tunic with the dark blue facings of a Royal regiment. This uniform continued to be worn by the RWF's Corps of Drums and the Regimental Pioneers until the merger of 2006.
Regimental goat.
As with the Royal Regiment of Wales, the regiment traditionally had a goat, never called a mascot. The tradition dated back to at least 1775, and possibly to the regiment's formation. The goat was always named 'Billy'.
The regiment was awarded the following battle honours:
Namur 1695, Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, Malplaquet, Dettingen, Minden, Egypt
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Peninsular War: Corunna, Martinique 1809, Albuhera, Badajoz, Salamanca, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Orthes, Toulouse, Peninsula
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Napoleonic War: Waterloo
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Crimean War: Alma, Inkerman, Sevastopol
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Lucknow, Ashantee 1873–1874, Burma 1885–1887, Relief of Ladysmith, South Africa 1899–1902, Pekin 1900
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First World War: Mons, Le Cateau, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914 '18, La Bassée 1914, Messines 1914 '17 '18, Armentières 1914, Ypres 1914 '17 '18, Langemarck 1914 '17, Gheluvelt, Givenchy 1914, Neuve Chapelle, Aubers, Festubert 1915, Loos, Somme 1916 '18, Albert 1916 '18, Bazentin, Delville Wood, Pozières, Guillemont, Flers-Courcelette, Morval, Le Transloy, Ancre Heights, Ancre 1916 '18, Arras 1917, Scarpe 1917, Arleux, Bullecourt, Pilckem, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, Cambrai 1917 '18, St. Quentin, Bapaume 1918, Lys, Bailleul, Kemmel, Scherpenberg, Hindenburg Line, Havrincourt, Épéhy, St. Quentin Canal, Beaurevoir, Selle, Valenciennes, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914–1918, Piave, Vittorio Veneto, Italy 1917–1918, Doiran 1917 '18, Macedonia 1915–1918, Suvla, Sari Bair, Landing at Suvla, Scimitar Hill, Gallipoli 1915–1916, Rumani, Egypt 1915–1917, Gaza, El Mughar, Jerusalem, Jericho, Tell 'Asur, Megiddo, Nablus, Palestine 1917–1918, Tigris 1916, Kut al Amara 1917, Baghdad, Mesopotamia 1916–1918
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Second World War: Dyle, Defence of Escaut, St. Omer-La Bassée, Caen, Esquay, Falaise, Nederrijn, Lower Maas, Venlo Pocket, Ourthe, Rhineland, Reichswald, Goch, Weeze, Rhine, Ibbenburen, Aller, North-West Europe 1940 '44–45, Madagascar, Middle East 1942, Donbaik, North Arakan, Kohima, Mandalay, Ava, Burma 1943–1945
Victoria Crosses.
The following members of the regiment were awarded the Victoria Cross:
Captain Edward William Derrington Bell - Crimean War, 20th. September 1854
Colour Sergeant Luke O'Connor - Crimean War, 20th. September 1854
Lieutenant Thomas Bernard Hackett - Indian Rebellion of 1857, 18th. November 1857
Lt. Colonel Charles Doughty-Wylie - First World War, 26th. April 1915
Company Sergeant Major Frederick Barter - First World War, 16th. May 1915
Corporal Joseph John Davies - First World War, 20th. July 1916
Private Albert Hill - First World War, 20th. July 1916
Corporal James Llewellyn Davies - First World War, 31st. July 1917
Corporal John Collins - First World War, 31st. October 1917
Lance Corporal Henry Weale - First World War, 26th. August 1918
Lance Sergeant William Herbert Waring - First World War, 18th. September 1918