Eight corps of rifle volunteers were raised in Herefordshire in 1860. The corps were brought together as the 1st Administrative Battalion. The Herefordshire Rifle Volunteers in February 1861 and consolidated as the 1st Herefordshire (Hereford and Radnor) Rifle Volunteers Corps in 1880. In 1881 it nominally became the 3rd Volunteer Battalion, King's Shropshire Light Infantry, but preferred to retain its own county volunteer title.

In 1908 it became the 1st Battalion, The Herefordshire Battalion, The King's Shropshire Light Infantry and, shortly afterwards, 1st Battalion, The Herefordshire Regiment (TF). With the formation of the Territorial Army in 1920, it was originally proposed that the regiment should become a heavy artillery regiment. However as a result of a huge outcry in the county it was reformed as infantry as The Herefordshire Regiment (TA), without the Radnorshire Companies. The link with Radnorshire was broken. In 1947 it became The Herefordshire Light Infantry. Amalgamated in 1967.

Later History

During the First World War the 1st Battalion served at Gallipoli, landing at Suvla Bay on 9th August 1915. After the withdrawal in December that year, the Battalion was sent to Egypt and later took part in the Palestine Campaign. In June 1918 it was transferred to the Western Front, for the last few months of the war.

1st Battalion The Herefordshire Regiment Landing at Suvla Bay, Gallipoli, 1915

During the 2nd World War the 1st Battalion, together with the 4th Battalion KSLI, served with 11th Armoured Division in the North West Europe campaign. The Regiment took part in the last operation of the campaign (Operation BLACKOUT), on 23rd May 1945, when the puppet government of Grand-Admiral Doenitz was toppled. The Regiment took his car pennants into ‘safekeeping’.

The Capture of Grand-Admiral Doenitz - May 1945

In 1947, in recognition of its war service, and its association with the KSLI, the Regiment was given the honour of becoming ‘Light Infantry’ and was renamed the Herefordshire Light Infantry (TA). In 1967 the Regiment was amalgamated with the TA battalions of the Light Infantry Regiments, to form the Light Infantry Volunteers, later the 5th Bn the Light Infantry. The Herefordshire Light Infantry was one of only four TA County Regiments, and the only one ever to become ‘Light Infantry’.

King's Shropshire & Hereford Light Infantry Association
Contact: Light Infantry Office, Copthorne Barracks, Shrewsbury, SY3 8LZ
Tel: 01743 236060 ext 2425