Artists' Rifles
Encyclopedia
The Artists Rifles is a volunteer regiment
of the British Army
. Raised in London in 1859 as a volunteer light infantry unit, the regiment saw active service during the Boer Wars and World War I
, earning a number of battle honours; however, it did not serve outside of Britain during World War II
, as it was used as an officer training unit at that time and disbanded in 1945. In 1947 it was re-established to resurrect the Special Air Service Regiment
. Today, the full title of the Regiment is 21 Special Air Service Regiment (Artists) (Reserve).
which developed in the face of potential French
invasion after Felice Orsini
's attack on Napoleon III was linked to Britain
. The group was organised in London
by Edward Sterling, an art student, and comprised various professional painters, musicians, actors, architects and others involved in creative endeavours. It was established on 28 February 1860 as the 38th Middlesex (Artists) Rifle Volunteer Corps, with headquarters at Burlington House
. Its first commanders were the painters Henry Wyndham Phillips
and Frederic Leighton
. The unit's badge, designed by William Wyon
, shows the heads of the Roman gods Mars
and Minerva
in profile.
In September 1880, the corps became the 20th Middlesex (Artists) Rifle Volunteer Corps, with headquarters at Duke's Road, off Euston Road
, London (now The Place
, home of the Contemporary Dance Trust). It formed the 7th Volunteer Battalion of the Rifle Brigade from 1881 until 1891 and the 6th Volunteer Battalion from 1892 to 1908. During this period, the Artists Rifles fought in the Boer Wars as part of the City Imperial Volunteers. Following the formation of the Territorial Force
, the Artists Rifles was one of twenty-eight volunteer battalions in the London and Middlesex
areas that combined to form the new London Regiment
. It became the 28th (County of London) Battalion of the London Regiment on 1 April 1908.
and universities
; on this basis, following the outbreak of the First World War
, a number of enlisted members of the Artists Rifles were selected to be officers in other units of the 7th Division. This exercise was so successful that, early in 1915, selected Artists officers and NCOs were transferred to run a separate Officers Training Corps, the remainder being retained as a fighting unit. Over fifteen thousand men passed through the battalion during the war, more than ten thousand of them becoming officers. The battalion eventually saw battle in France in 1917 and 1918, and suffered higher casualties than those of any other battalion, including 2,003 killed, 3,250 wounded, 533 missing and 286 prisoners of war. Members of the Regiment won eight Victoria Crosses, fifty-six Distinguished Service Orders and over a thousand other awards for gallantry.
In the early 1920s the unit was reconstituted as an infantry regiment within the Territorial Army, as the 28th County of London Regiment. In 1937, this regiment became part of the Prince Consort's Own Rifle Brigade.
The regiment was not deployed during the Second World War
, functioning again as an Officers Training Corps throughout the war.
It was disbanded in 1945, but reformed in the Rifle Brigade in January 1947 and transferred to the Army Air Corps in July as the 21st Special Air Service
Regiment (Artists Rifles). The number 21 SAS was chosen to perpetuate two disbanded wartime regiments 1 SAS and 2 SAS, with the 1 and the 2 being reversed into 21. 21 SAS was active during the Malayan Emergency
and in many subsequent conflicts. In 1952, members of the Artists' Rifles who had been involved in special operations in Malaya formed 22 SAS, the modern special forces
regiment - the only time a Territorial Army unit has been used to form a unit in the Regular Army and remain a parent of a regular unit.
For much of the Cold War
21 SAS's role was to provide stay-behind parties
in the event of a Warsaw Pact
invasion of western Europe (as part of the Corps Patrol Unit alongside 23 SAS and the Honourable Artillery Company
).
The Regiment's current role is to provide depth to the United Kingdom Special Forces
(UKSF) group through the provision of individual and collective augmentation to the regular component of UKSF and standalone elements up to task group (Regimental) level, focused upon support and influence (S&I) operations to assist conflict stabilisation.
Support Squadron provides support staff to UKSF(R) activities including personnel such as drivers from the RLC
, REME
weapon technicians, combat medics, Intelligence Corps personnel and Ops room staff.
for their battle honours
Regiment
A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...
of the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
. Raised in London in 1859 as a volunteer light infantry unit, the regiment saw active service during the Boer Wars and World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, earning a number of battle honours; however, it did not serve outside of Britain during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, as it was used as an officer training unit at that time and disbanded in 1945. In 1947 it was re-established to resurrect the Special Air Service Regiment
Special Air Service
Special Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...
. Today, the full title of the Regiment is 21 Special Air Service Regiment (Artists) (Reserve).
Formation and 19th century
The regiment was formed in 1859, part of the widespread volunteer movementVolunteer Force (Great Britain)
The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a popular movement in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increasingly integrated with the British Army after the Childers Reforms in 1881, before forming part of the...
which developed in the face of potential French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
invasion after Felice Orsini
Felice Orsini
Felice Orsini was an Italian revolutionary and leader of the Carbonari who tried to assassinate Napoleon III, Emperor of the French.-Early:Felice Orsini was born at Meldola in Romagna, then part of the Papal States....
's attack on Napoleon III was linked to Britain
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
. The group was organised in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
by Edward Sterling, an art student, and comprised various professional painters, musicians, actors, architects and others involved in creative endeavours. It was established on 28 February 1860 as the 38th Middlesex (Artists) Rifle Volunteer Corps, with headquarters at Burlington House
Burlington House
Burlington House is a building on Piccadilly in London. It was originally a private Palladian mansion, and was expanded in the mid 19th century after being purchased by the British government...
. Its first commanders were the painters Henry Wyndham Phillips
Henry Wyndham Phillips
Henry Wyndham Phillips was a British portrait painter.His father was the portraitist Thomas Phillips. Henry also produced and exhibited a small number of paintings of subjects from the Bible...
and Frederic Leighton
Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton
Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton PRA , known as Sir Frederic Leighton, Bt, between 1886 and 1896, was an English painter and sculptor. His works depicted historical, biblical and classical subject matter...
. The unit's badge, designed by William Wyon
William Wyon
William Wyon, RA , was official chief engraver at the Royal Mint from 1828 until his death. He was influenced by the master of relief sculpture, John Flaxman. Wyon was a highly visible proponent of the Neoclassicist vogue, and was elected to the Royal Academy in 1838.Wyon was born in Birmingham,...
, shows the heads of the Roman gods Mars
Mars (mythology)
Mars was the Roman god of war and also an agricultural guardian, a combination characteristic of early Rome. He was second in importance only to Jupiter, and he was the most prominent of the military gods worshipped by the Roman legions...
and Minerva
Minerva
Minerva was the Roman goddess whom Romans from the 2nd century BC onwards equated with the Greek goddess Athena. She was the virgin goddess of poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, magic...
in profile.
In September 1880, the corps became the 20th Middlesex (Artists) Rifle Volunteer Corps, with headquarters at Duke's Road, off Euston Road
Euston Road
Euston Road is an important thoroughfare in central London, England, and forms part of the A501. It is part of the New Road from Paddington to Islington, and was opened as part of the New Road in 1756...
, London (now The Place
The Place
The Place is a dance and performance centre in Duke's Road near Euston in the London Borough of Camden. Originally the home base of the London Contemporary Dance Theatre from the 1970s, it is now the location of the London Contemporary Dance School, the Richard Alston Dance Company and the Robin...
, home of the Contemporary Dance Trust). It formed the 7th Volunteer Battalion of the Rifle Brigade from 1881 until 1891 and the 6th Volunteer Battalion from 1892 to 1908. During this period, the Artists Rifles fought in the Boer Wars as part of the City Imperial Volunteers. Following the formation of the Territorial Force
Territorial Force
The Territorial Force was the volunteer reserve component of the British Army from 1908 to 1920, when it became the Territorial Army.-Origins:...
, the Artists Rifles was one of twenty-eight volunteer battalions in the London and Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
areas that combined to form the new London Regiment
London Regiment
The London Regiment is a Territorial Army regiment in the British Army. It was first formed in 1908 in order to regiment the various Volunteer Force battalions in the newly formed County of London, each battalion having a distinctive uniform. The Volunteer Force was merged with the Yeomanry in 1908...
. It became the 28th (County of London) Battalion of the London Regiment on 1 April 1908.
20th century
The Artists Rifles was a popular unit for volunteers. It had been increased to twelve companies in 1900 and was formed into three sub-battalions in 1914, and recruitment was eventually restricted by recommendation from existing members of the battalion. It particularly attracted recruits from public schoolsIndependent school (UK)
An independent school is a school that is not financed through the taxation system by local or national government and is instead funded by private sources, predominantly in the form of tuition charges, gifts and long-term charitable endowments, and so is not subject to the conditions imposed by...
and universities
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
; on this basis, following the outbreak of the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, a number of enlisted members of the Artists Rifles were selected to be officers in other units of the 7th Division. This exercise was so successful that, early in 1915, selected Artists officers and NCOs were transferred to run a separate Officers Training Corps, the remainder being retained as a fighting unit. Over fifteen thousand men passed through the battalion during the war, more than ten thousand of them becoming officers. The battalion eventually saw battle in France in 1917 and 1918, and suffered higher casualties than those of any other battalion, including 2,003 killed, 3,250 wounded, 533 missing and 286 prisoners of war. Members of the Regiment won eight Victoria Crosses, fifty-six Distinguished Service Orders and over a thousand other awards for gallantry.
In the early 1920s the unit was reconstituted as an infantry regiment within the Territorial Army, as the 28th County of London Regiment. In 1937, this regiment became part of the Prince Consort's Own Rifle Brigade.
The regiment was not deployed during the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, functioning again as an Officers Training Corps throughout the war.
It was disbanded in 1945, but reformed in the Rifle Brigade in January 1947 and transferred to the Army Air Corps in July as the 21st Special Air Service
Special Air Service
Special Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...
Regiment (Artists Rifles). The number 21 SAS was chosen to perpetuate two disbanded wartime regiments 1 SAS and 2 SAS, with the 1 and the 2 being reversed into 21. 21 SAS was active during the Malayan Emergency
Malayan Emergency
The Malayan Emergency was a guerrilla war fought between Commonwealth armed forces and the Malayan National Liberation Army , the military arm of the Malayan Communist Party, from 1948 to 1960....
and in many subsequent conflicts. In 1952, members of the Artists' Rifles who had been involved in special operations in Malaya formed 22 SAS, the modern special forces
Special forces
Special forces, or special operations forces are terms used to describe elite military tactical teams trained to perform high-risk dangerous missions that conventional units cannot perform...
regiment - the only time a Territorial Army unit has been used to form a unit in the Regular Army and remain a parent of a regular unit.
For much of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
21 SAS's role was to provide stay-behind parties
Stay-behind
In a stay-behind operation, a country places secret operatives or organisations in its own territory, for use in the event that the territory is overrun by an enemy. If this occurs, the operatives would then form the basis of a resistance movement, or would act as spies from behind enemy lines...
in the event of a Warsaw Pact
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
invasion of western Europe (as part of the Corps Patrol Unit alongside 23 SAS and the Honourable Artillery Company
Honourable Artillery Company
The Honourable Artillery Company was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1537 by King Henry VIII. Today it is a Registered Charity whose purpose is to attend to the “better defence of the realm"...
).
Current role and structure
21 SAS consists of:- 'HQ' Squadron (Regent's ParkRegent's ParkRegent's Park is one of the Royal Parks of London. It is in the north-western part of central London, partly in the City of Westminster and partly in the London Borough of Camden...
) - 'A' Squadron (Regent's Park)
- 'C' Squadron (Basingstoke/Cambridge)
- 'E' Squadron (Newport/Exeter)
The Regiment's current role is to provide depth to the United Kingdom Special Forces
United Kingdom Special Forces
The United Kingdom Special Forces is a UK Ministry of Defence Directorate which also has the capability to provide a Joint Special Operations Task Force Headquarters...
(UKSF) group through the provision of individual and collective augmentation to the regular component of UKSF and standalone elements up to task group (Regimental) level, focused upon support and influence (S&I) operations to assist conflict stabilisation.
Support Squadron provides support staff to UKSF(R) activities including personnel such as drivers from the RLC
Royal Logistic Corps
The Royal Logistic Corps provides logistic support functions to the British Army. It is the largest Corps in the Army, comprising around 17% of its strength...
, REME
Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers is a corps of the British Army that has responsibility for the maintenance, servicing and inspection of almost every electrical and mechanical piece of equipment within the British Army from Challenger II main battle tanks and WAH64 Apache...
weapon technicians, combat medics, Intelligence Corps personnel and Ops room staff.
Battle honours Artists Rifles
See Special Air ServiceSpecial Air Service
Special Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...
for their battle honours
- Boer War: South Africa 1900–01Second Boer WarThe Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
. - The Great War (3 battalions): Ypres 1917, Passchendaele, Somme 1918, St. Quentin, Bapaume 1918, Arras 1918, Ancre 1918, Albert 1918, Drocourt-Quéant, Hindenburg Line, Canal du Nord, Cambrai 1918, Pursuit to Mons, France and Flanders 1914–18.
See also
- Volunteer Force (Great Britain)Volunteer Force (Great Britain)The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a popular movement in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increasingly integrated with the British Army after the Childers Reforms in 1881, before forming part of the...
- Prince Consort's Own Rifle Brigade