CitySolicitor City Solicitors meet Royal


Fusiliers and lock up the Tower Continued from cover


At that time regiments were equipped with matchlock muskets, but the Ordnance Regiment was armed with flintlock “fusils”, a new French design of musket, safer for use near carts of gunpowder due to its covered flash- pan. (An early “fusil” is displayed in the museum.) Matchlocks would have carried the risk of igniting open- topped barrels of gunpowder.


The Fusiliers were the first regiment of foot to be titled Royal and to be formed upon English soil, rather than by renaming private or mercenary regiments brought home from European service. The United Red and White Rose within the Garter with Crown over it, the traditional Royal emblem marked upon all the King’s ordnance of war, was adopted as the Regiment’s badge. After the Glorious Revolution of 1688-9 the Fusiliers departed the Tower to fight on many foreign shores. Except for brief visits, they did not return to be permanently stationed in London until the 1st Battalion again made its home in the Tower in 1880. The regiment became the 7th Regiment of Foot (Royal Fusiliers) in 1751 and under the reforms of 1881, in which all infantry regiments were given a territorial title, the Royal Fusiliers were designated the ‘City of London Regiment’.


William IV dispensing with Loyal Toast


William visited the Regiment several times as King and was so impressed by their loyalty that he decreed that the Royal Fusiliers may ignore the Loyal Toast traditionally given to the sovereign, so the officers would continue sitting and talking when the toast was given at dinner.


10 • City Solicitor • Issue 77 The World Wars


Between 1914 and 1918, 65 battalions wore the uniform of the Royal Fusiliers - 45 of which served overseas. There were 235,476 Royal Fusiliers, mainly Londoners, serving in every theatre of operations from North Russia to East Africa. They included 17 ‘pals’ battalions, some drawn from particular City professions such as the 10th (Stockbrokers) Battalion. The Regiment won 13 VCs, including the


The Fusiliers were the first


regiment of foot to be titled Royal...


first two awarded in 1914 to Pte Godley and Lt Dease at Mons, halting for several hours the German advance over a railway canal bridge into Mons. Dease died after being shot several times; Godley, although badly injured, was captured and survived the war. The Regimental War Memorial in High Holborn is dedicated to 21,941 Fusiliers who gave their lives. There were 838 decorations for gallantry and 842 Fusiliers were mentioned in dispatches for gallant service. Two Fusiliers, Corporal Sullivan and Sergeant Pearse (Australians who had re-enlisted in the British Army) won (Pearse posthumously) the last two Victoria Crosses of the Great War - in North Russia assisting White Russian Forces.


In the Second World War the Regiment provided 17 Battalions. Many battalions were given new functions - for example the 10th Battalion became a searchlight regiment, and others became anti-aircraft, anti-tank or reconnaissance units. The 2nd


Battalion were engaged throughout the withdrawal through Belgium and France where the remnants were evacuated from Dunkirk. The 1st, 8th and 9th Battalions were active in the Middle Eastern and African campaign and in the Italian campaign. The 1st and 2nd Battalions fought almost alongside each other at the Battle of Monte Cassino in 1943.


Amalgamation


With the end of National Service the Royal Fusiliers Depot in the Tower closed in 1960 and the reduction in the TA saw the departure of Tower Company, City of London Battalion Royal Fusiliers in 1967. On 23 April 1968 the regiment was amalgamated with the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers (5th Foot) (“fusiliers” from 1836), The Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers (6th Foot) (“fusiliers” from 1967) and the Lancashire Fusiliers (20th Foot) (“fusiliers” from 1881) to form The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.


Lancashire Landing


6 VCs before Breakfast! At dawn on 25 April 1915, the 1st Battalion, The Lancashire Fusiliers, landed on “W Beach”, which was heavily covered in barbed wire, at the southernmost tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula. The Turks waited until the Fusiliers were almost ashore before opening fire. Despite heavy losses the Fusiliers kept a toehold on the beach and eventually advanced up both sides of the cliff


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