List of fictional regiments of the British Army

The following is a list of British and Empire regiments that have appeared in various works of fiction. It also includes some which have been used as placeholders in more official works.

The list encompasses regiments of the British Army and also those of the pre-independence British Indian Army.

British Army

Cavalry regiments

• 1st King's Lancers

Cavalry/armoured regiment featured in the episode 'The Orderly Officer' of the British television series Redcap (1964-1966)

• 2nd Lancers

James George Mostyn's former regiment in the Boysie Oakes novel The Airline Pirates by John Gardner

• 6th Light Dragoons

In A Close Run Thing by Allan Mallinson

• 16th Light Hussars,

The cavalry regiment in 105th Foot. The Prince of Wales Own Wessex Regiment series of Napoleonic War novels by Martin McDowell

• 17th Dragoons ("The Sailors")

In The Anti-Death League by Kingsley Amis

• 22nd Lancers (Duke of Suffolk's Own)

Herbert Curzon's regiment in The General by C.S. Forester

• 23rd Royal Lancers

In Farewell Again, a 1937 film.

• 27th Lancers

In The Charge of the Light Brigade, a 1936 film - later a real regiment

• 37th and 39th The Duke of Clarence's Own Lancers, The Bright Seraphim

In Rumpole of the Bailey series 4 episode 5, 'Rumpole and the Bright Seraphim' by Sir John Mortimer

• 10th Sabre Squadron, 49th Earl Hamilton's Light Dragoons

In the Alms for Oblivion series of novels by Simon Raven

• 140th Hussars (Prince Arthur's Own)

From Ravenshoe by Henry Kingsley

• The Dampshire Yeomanry

From the comic opera Cox and Box (1866)

• Derbyshire Dragoon Guards

Featured the episode 'True Love' of the British television series Red Cap (2001-2004)

• Life Guards Greens

From various novels by William Makepeace Thackeray

• Light Armoured Brigade

From the Thursday Next novels by Jasper Fforde

• Queen Charlotte's Own South Wessex Dragoons

From the Dr David Audley/Colonel Jack Butler novels by Anthony Price as Audley's World War II tank regiment. Also featured in Keith Laumer's "For the Honor of the Regiment" as a part of the lineage of a Mark XXX Bolo of the 3rd Battalion, Dinochrome Brigade.

• Royal Western Dragoon Guards

From The Regiment trilogy by Christopher Nicole

• Wessex Light Tank Armoured Brigade

From The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde

• The White Hussars

From The Rout of the White Hussars by Rudyard Kipling

Infantry regiments

• 1st Arkshire Regiment

Regiment in which the murderer, Ian Mcclurgy, is serving in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, when he receives letters about his mother's death through misfeasance at a residence for the elderly, in "The Chimes at Midnight", second episode of the British detective series "Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators".

• 1st Decadents Greens

A regiment created by King Auberon in "The Napoleon of Notting Hill" by "G.K. Chesterton".

• 1st Heavy Things, 3rd Armoured Thunderboxes, 3rd Collapsing Fusiliers, 3rd Disgusting Fusiliers, 3rd Heavy Nudists (Bloodnok: "Oh, what a cap badge they had!"), 3rd Long Things, 3rd Mounted Cash Registers, 3rd Mounted NAAFI, 3rd Regular Army Deserters, Zsa Zsa Gabor's 3rd Regular Husbands, 4th Dynasties, 4th Mudguards, Roper's Light Horse, 3rd Filthmuck Fusiliers, 3rd Bombay Irish, and 56th Heavy Underwater Artillery. Spike Milligan served in the 56th Heavy Regiment, RA.

Various regiments with which Major Bloodnok (played by Peter Sellers of The Goon Show) claimed to have served, or which were otherwise mentioned in the Goon Show.

• 3rd Foot and Mouth Regiment ("The Devils in Skirts")

A Highland Regiment portrayed in the 1968 film Carry On up the Khyber

• 4th Musketeers

From the 1967 comedy film "How I Won the War"

• 4/29 London Regiment, Duke of Connaught's Own

Mentioned in The General by C.S. Forester.

• 65th Foot (there were several historical regiments with this number)

Mentioned in Ramage and the Saracens by Dudley Pope.

• 75th Highlanders (there were several historical regiments with this number)

Mentioned in Sea Devil by Richard P. Henrick.

• 101st Regiment (there were several historical regiments with this number)

Harry East's regiment in Tom Brown at Oxford by Thomas Hughes

• 105th Foot, The Prince of Wales Own Wessex Regiment

The infantry regiment in 105th Foot. The Prince of Wales Own Wessex Regiment series of Napoleonic War novels by Martin McDowell

• 106th Foot ("The Glamorgan Regiment") (there were several historical regiments with this number)

The infantry regiment in Adrian Goldsworthy's series of Napoleonic War novels.

• 114th Highlanders, The Queen's Own Royal Strathspeys

From the James Ogilvie books by Philip McCutchan aka Duncan MacNeil

• 117th Foot ("The Royal Mallows")

An Irish regiment mentioned in The Adventure of the Crooked Man and The Green Flag by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

• The Bedford Light Infantry

From the BBC television series Red Cap (2001-04)

• The Black Boneens

An Irish regiment mentioned in "The Mutiny of the Mavericks" by Rudyard Kipling.

• Black Torrent Guards

An English regiment repeatedly appearing in The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson.

• The Black Tyrones

An Irish regiment serving in India mentioned in "The Ballad of Boh da Thone" as well as in the stories of the "Three Musketeers" by Rudyard Kipling.

• Blankshire Highlanders

A sample Scottish regiment used in Court of the Lord Lyon Information Leaflet No. 4: Petitions For Arms

• Blue Howards

In The Anti-Death League by Kingsley Amis

• Bombardier Guards

In both The Book of Snobs by William Makepeace Thackeray, and Put Out More Flags by Evelyn Waugh

• Caledonian Highlanders

From the 1935 Laurel and Hardy film Bonnie Scotland

• Carabinier Guards

In The Anti-Death League by Kingsley Amis

• Cardigan Regiment

In The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells

• The Cotswold Regiment

In The Regiment (TV series), BBC, 1972-3, starring Christopher Cazenove. The series depicts the Regiment's experiences from 1895 to 1904.

• Cumberland Light Infantry

Mentioned in The General by C. S. Forester

• The Cumbrians (Duke of Rutland's Own)

From the television series Soldier Soldier (1991-1997)

• The Derbyshire Regiment

From the BBC television series Red Cap (2001-04)

• The Dragons

From the 1958 film Carry On Sergeant

• Duke of Buckingham's Light Infantry ("The Sky Blues")

From Gideon's Sword Bearers by John Mackenzie

• Duke of Cambridge's Light Infantry

From The East Wind of Love and The South Wind of Love by Compton Mackenzie

• Duke of Clarence's Own Clanranald Highlanders ("The Inverness-shire Greens")

From The Monarch of the Glen and other novels by Compton Mackenzie

• The Duke of Clarence's Own South Oxfordshire Light Infantry

From The New Confessions (1987) by William Boyd. The narrator, John James Todd, serves in this regiment's 13th (Public School) service battalion during the First World War.

• Duke of Edinburgh's Own Strathspey Highlanders ("Banffshire Buffs")

From Rich Relatives by Compton Mackenzie

• The Duke of Glendon's Light Infantry (The 'Dogs')

From the 1944 film The Way Ahead

• The Duke of Manchester's Own

From Downton Abbey Season 2 (1916), Matthew Crawley's First World War I regiment.

• East Sussex Light Infantry ("The Martletts")

From William Boyd's 2012 espionage novel Waiting for Sunrise. The novel's protagonist, Lysander Rief, is in the 2/5th (Service) Battalion in 1914-15. The unit guards a civilian internment camp near Swansea. Not to be confused with the Royal Sussex Light Infantry Militia, a genuine formation disbanded before the First World War

• Flintshire Fusiliers

The name used in the writings of Siegfried Sassoon in place of his actual experiences in the Royal Welch Fusiliers

• The Fore and Fit Princess Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen-Anspach's Merther-Tydfilshire Own Royal Loyal Light Infantry ("The Fore-and-Aft")

From Drums of the Fore and Aft by Rudyard Kipling.

• Fusilier Guards

From The Breaking of Bumbo (film version)

• Glamorganshire Regiment

From No More Parades and A Man Could Stand Up — by Ford Madox Ford

• Grampian Highlanders

From The New Confessions by William Boyd. The narrator's company of 13th South Oxfordshire Light Infantry (see above) are attached to this unit during the Third Battle of Ypres.

• Jackboot Guards

From The Book of Snobs by William Makepeace Thackeray

• King's Own Fusiliers

From the television series Soldier Soldier (1991-1997)

• Kings Royal Fusiliers

From the novel The Scarlet Thief by Paul Fraser Collard.

• Kintail Highlanders (Duke of Clarence's Own Inverness-shire Buffs)

In Sinister Street by Compton Mackenzie. The Kintails are also mentioned in The Stolen Soprano but this seems to be a reference to the same regiment as the similarly-named Clanranalds in Ben Nevis Goes East.

• Lennox Highlanders

Richard Hannay's regiment in Greenmantle by John Buchan. Also in André Maurois' book The Silence of Colonel Bramble (Les silences du Colonel Bramble).

• Loamshire Regiment

The "Loamshire Regiment" is a fictitious county regiment often used in Army documents as an example or placeholder. It, or the "Royal Loamshire Regiment", has been used in a number of works including the Bulldog Drummond novels, the 1943 film The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, The Four Winds of Love by Compton Mackenzie and Evelyn Waugh's Men at Arms

• Lord Martock's Foot

A mounted infantry regiment in The Feathers of Death by Simon Raven

• Loyal Highlanders (the Black Scots)

The "Loyal Highlanders" is a fictitious regiment commanded by Colonel the Hon. George Hysteron-Proteron C.B. J.P. in The Twelfth and After by J. K. Stanford. The regiment served in India, the Boer War and in France during the First World War.

• Loyal Manchester Fusiliers

From William Boyd's 2012 espionage novel Waiting for Sunrise. A fictional unit in the British First Army in 1915.

• Loyal South Riding Regiment (the Yorkshire Buffs)

Mentioned in The South Wind of Love by Compton Mackenzie

• Maclaren Highlanders

Scottish regiment in the Regiment trilogy of books by C.L. Skelton.: The Maclarens, The Regiment, and Beloved Soldiers

• The Malvern Regiment

From the television series Soldier Soldier (1991-1997)

• The Mavericks

Irish regiment mentioned by Kipling in Kim and in "The Mutiny of the Mavericks." Battle honors are given in "The Mutiny of the Mavericks" and the yellow of the regimental colors suggests yellow facing pre-Cardwell.

• The Melton Mowbray Light Infantry

From England, Their England, a 1933 novel by A. G. Macdonell. Lt Donald Cameron was attached to the 24th battalion as their artillery officer.

• North Devon Regiment

From Devil Flotilla, a 1981 novel by Edwyn Gray.

• Northdale Rifles

From The Mark of Cain, a 2007 TV film

• The North Riding Volunteers

From Downton Abbey; Lord Grantham's territorial regiment.

• No. 1 Army Assault Commando (Airborne)

The "Ackies," in Alan Judd's A Breed of Heroes and its BBC adaptation

• No. 22 Commando

From Brian Callison's 1972 novel The Dawn Attack.

• No. 98 Commando

From Edwyn Gray's 1985 novel Crash Dive 500

• Oxford Rifles

From the ITV Studios British television series Lewis episode "The Dead of Winter"

• The Pennine fusiliers

From No Man's World trilogy by Pat Kelleher

• The Prince Regent's Own South Down Fusiliers

From "The Hour of the Donkey" by Anthony Price, Territorial Regiment in which David Audley's father, Major Nigel Audley, is serving in 1940 in France.

• The Punjab Guards

From Jackboots on Whitehall, a 2010 TV film.

• Queen's Own McKamikaze Highlanders

from series 3 of Monty Python's Flying Circus

• Queens Own Royal Loyal Light Infantry

Former regiment of Peachey Carnehan and Daniel Dravot in the 1975 movie version of Kiplings's The Man Who Would Be King.

• Queen's Own Scottish

Infantry regiment featured in the episode A Regiment of the Line of the British television series Redcap (1964-1966)

• Queen's Own West Mercian Lowlanders

From the television series Fairly Secret Army

• Redston Guards

From The Breaking of Bumbo, novel by Andrew Sinclair

• Rendleshire Fusiliers

From the film Waterloo Bridge (1940)

• Royal Cambrian Fusiliers

From the episode Crush of the British television series Red Cap (2001-2004)

• Royal Corps of Halberdiers

From the Sword of Honour trilogy by Evelyn Waugh

• Royal Cumbrian Regiment

From the 2002 film The Four Feathers

• Royal East Lancashire Rifles (143rd Foot)

Colonel Jack Butler's regiment in the novels of Anthony Price

• The Royal Loyal Musketeers ("The Mavericks")

An Irish regiment mentioned in "Kim" and "The Mutiny of the Mavericks" by Rudyard Kipling

• Royal North Surrey Regiment

In the 1902 novel and 1939 film The Four Feathers

• Royal Ordnance Fusiliers

From the television series Vera

• Royal Rutland Fusiliers

In a sketch from the British television series Rutland Weekend Television. A parody of post-WWII Japanese holdouts.

• Royal Wessex Rangers

In the British television series Spearhead (1978-1981)

• Royal Westmoreland Fusiliers

Hudson's regiment in What's Become of Waring by Anthony Powell

• South Essex Regiment/Prince of Wales' Own Volunteers

Richard Sharpe's regiment in the Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell

• The Rutland Fusiliers

From England, Their England, a 1933 novel by A. G. Macdonell. Lt Evan Davies was attached to the 17th battalion as their artillery officer.

• South Glamorgan Regiment

From "Tank Commander" by Ronald Welch; John Carey's regiment while serving as an infantryman.

• Viscount of Coleraine Rifles

From the novels Trinity and Redemption by Leon Uris.

• Weald Light Infantry

Now God be Thanked trilogy by John Masters.

• Welsh Light Infantry

In the 1986 film Milwr Bychan

• Welsh Rifles

The Century Trilogy by Ken Follett.

• Wessex Guards

Pigeon Pie by Nancy Mitford

• Wessex Fusiliers

Alms for Oblivion - a series of novels by Simon Raven

• Wessex Regiment

From the 1952 film Folly to be Wise

From the BBC television series Red Cap (2001-04)

• West Yorkshire Fusiliers (The Wyffies)

Various of Reginald Hill's Dalziel and Pascoe crime novels.

Other units and formations

• 1313 (Experimental) Battery

Anti-Aircraft unit from Carry On England

• Army Information Corps

In The Anti-Death League by Kingsley Amis

• Internal Counter-Intelligence Service

From the Doctor Who UNIT audio dramas by Big Finish.

• U.N.I.T. or United Nations Intelligence Task Force

A fictional British or international military unit in the Doctor Who universe

• Red Troop, 22nd Special Air Service Regiment

From the Ultimate Force TV series (2002-2006)

Regiments of the Indian Army

A number of works of fiction feature regiments of the pre-Independence Indian Army.

• 1st Bangalore Pioneers

Colonel Sebastian Moran's old Indian Army regiment in the Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Empty House

• 11th Poona Rifles

Captain Blumburtt's regiment in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. There was a historical regiment "The Poona Rifles", but the fictional regiment featured in the film bears little resemblance to this.

• 12th Gurkha Rifles

Colonel Arbuthnot's regiment in Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express

• 12th Indian Lancers

Major Duncan Bleek's regiment in the 1946 Sherlock Holmes film Terror by Night.

• 34th Bombay Infantry

Major John Sholto's regiment in the Sherlock Holmes story The Sign of Four

• 77th Bengal Lancers

From Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers, a 1956-57 American television show

• Royal Vindhya Horse

Rodney Bateman's father's regiment -and several others - in The Himalaya Concerto by John Masters

• Ravi Lancers

Imperial Service cavalry unit whose service with the British Army in France during the First World War serves as the central subject of the novel The Ravi Lancers by John Masters

Other colonial regiments

• 19th/45th East African Rifles

Captain Blackadder's old colonial regiment before the war in Blackadder Goes Forth

References

Footnotes

Sources

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