The Royal Welch Fusiliers is the oldest Welsh infantry Regiment and has recruited from throughout Wales ever since it was formed in 1689. It has never been amalgamated or disbanded. the Regiment is a national regiment for Wales and is fiercely proud of its Welsh heritage.
The Regiment is a family Regiment in every sense of the phrase. Many sets of brothers, fathers and sons and close friends, often from the same town or village serve in the Regiment and the sense of belonging, or in the Welsh equivalent, hiraeth, is keenly felt.
During the Boer War the General under whose command the Regiment served said 'the chief reason for your success is the good feeling that exists between the officers and the rank and file. You belong to one of the most distinguished Regiments in the British Army and you may pride yourself in that you have not only maintained your reputation, but greatly enhanced it'.
It is because maintaining this family spirit is their most carefully preserved tradition, that the Royal Welch Fusiliers have continued to distinguish themselves by their professionalism and courage on operations. Twice in recent times the Regiment has won uniquely outstanding awards for gallantry on operations: in Northern Ireland in 1981 and in Bosnia in 1995. In these two tours of duty alone members of the Royal Welch Fusiliers have won two DSOs, one CGC, four MCs, one DCM, one MM and three MBEs as well as a host of minor awards.
A Brief History of the Royal Welch Fusiliers
The Royal Welch Fusiliers was raised at Ludlow, in the Welsh Marches, on the 16th March 1689. Since that date, it has seen continuous service to crown and country. It first saw service at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 and since then has been in nearly every campaign involving the British Army.The Regiment fought with distinction in Marlborough's battles from Blenheim in 1704 to Malplaquet in 1709. In 1743 it fought at Dettingen and, in 1759, was one of the six British infantry regiments that defeated the French cavalry at Minden. After taking part in the American War of Independence from 1775 - 1782, the Regiment was involved in the Napoleonic Wars and saw action in Egypt in 1801, Martinique in 1809, the Peninsula from 1810 - 1814 (where in 1811 it fought with outstanding discipline and courage at Albuhera) and finally at Waterloo in 1815.
During the Crimean War at the Alma in 1854 Sergeant Luke O'Connor won the Regiment's first Victoria Cross later becoming a Major General and Colonel of the Regiment. The Royal Welch Fusiliers were later present at the relief of Lucknow in 1857 and participated in many colonial wars before going to South Africa in 1899 and to China to raise the siege of the legations in Peking in 1900.
For World War I the Regiment is credited with 42 battalions which served in France, Flanders, Gallipoli, Palestine, Mesopotamia and Italy. In World War II the Regiment had 13 battalions, five of which fought in North West Europe, Madagascar, and Burma.
Since 1945 the Regiment has been stationed in Japan, the West Indies, Malaya, Cyprus, Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany, the Falkland Islands, Northern Ireland, Bosnia and throughout Great Britain as well as travelling extensively throughout the world on training exercises.
Traditions of the Royal Welch Fusiliers
The Royal Welch Fusiliers have a distinction that is unique amongst the British Army, and that is the right to wear the 'Flash' of five black ribbons on the collar. It is a relic of the days when soldiers wore pigtails which, because of the grease, were enclosed in what was known as a 'queue bag'. In 1808 when the Army abolished pigtails the Regiment was serving in Nova Scotia, Canada and refused to comply with the order. When eventually it dispensed with pigtails it retained the ribbons, known as a Flash, which had secured them. In 1834 an inspecting General ordered the Flash to be removed. The matter was referred to King Williams IV who officially granted the Flash 'as a peculiarity whereby to mark the dress of that distinguished Regiment'. At the time of the Great War Lord Kitchener suggested that the Flash should not be worn because it was an aiming mark for the enemy. King George V overruled him stating that the enemy would never see the backs of the Royal Welch Fusiliers. To this day the Flash is worn by all serving Royal Welchmen.The Regiment has in its ranks a goat which is not a mascot but very much a member of the Regiment. The origin of the Regimental Goat, which marches at the head of each Battalion, is unknown but, in 1777 an officer of the Regiment wrote of 'the ancientness of the custom'. Queen Victoria presented the Regiment with a Kashmir goat from the royal herd in 1844 and successive sovereigns have replaced them ever since.
Unlike any other regiment, immediately behind the goat march the Regimental Pioneers who, on ceremonial occasions, wear white buckskin aprons and carry polished picks, shovels and axes. This custom dates from before the days of good roads and bridges when pioneers prepared routes for the Regiment.
The Royal Welch Fusiliers do not celebrate battle honours but the national day of Wales, St David's Day (1st of March) is celebrated wherever there are Royal Welch Fusiliers. In Battalions the ceremony of 'Eating the Leek' is observed by the youngest soldier in each company, and by newly joined officers and guests at dinner in the Officers' Mess, whilst drummers and fifers, led by the Regimental Goat, march round the table. It is only on St David's Day that the Loyal Toast is drunk. Shortly after the 1797 Nore Mutiny when dining with the Regiment, King George IV expressed his wish that the Loyal Toast should be dispensed with as 'the loyalty of the Royal Welch is never in doubt'.
