Description
York and Lancaster Regiment Cap Badge
The regimental cap badge of the York and Lancaster Regiment depicts the Royal Tiger with a Rose of York and Lancaster above, surmounted by Royal Ducal coronet. Below the wreath is a scroll with the title inscribed ‘York & Lancaster’.
Brief History
The York and Lancaster Regiment was officially formed in 1881 through the amalgamation of the 65th and the 84th Regiment of Foot during the Childers Reforms, but it can trace its history back over 100 years earlier than this date.
The 65th Regiment of Foot was first formed in 1756 when the 2nd Battalion of the 12th Foot (Suffolk Regiment) became independent. The Regiment went on to served in the West Indies and against the French in the Seven Years War (1756-1762). After the Regiment’s returned to England in 1763 it was promptly posted to America and took part in the American War of Independence (1775–1783) where it suffered terrible casualties at the Battle of Bunker Hill. In 1782 all British Regiments without Royal titles were awarded county titles in order to aid recruitment and the 65th became the ’65th The 2nd Yorkshire North Riding Regiment’. The Regiment returned to the West Indies in 1793-95 during the French Revolutionary War (1792–1802) and then served in India for 22 years from 1800, fighting during the 3rd Mahratta War (1817-1819) and was part of anti-pirate operations in the Persian Gulf, therefore becoming the only British Regiment awarded with the battle honour ‘Arabia’. In 1846 the Regiment was posted to Australia for 20 years where it served in the New Zealand War (1845-1872).
During WW1 the Regiment raised 22 Battalions in total during the course of World War 1 and recruited approximately 57,000 men during these years, 72 out of every 100 men were either wounded or killed. The Regiment was awarded 59 battle honours including 1,190 gallantry awards four of which were Victoria Crosses. 8,814 men of this Regiment died during the course of the war.