OXFORDSHIRE & BUCKINGHAMSHIRE LIGHT INFANTRY
1741 – Colonel Fowke’s Regiment of Foot
1741 – Colonel Graham’s Regiment of Foot
1746 – Colonel Kennedy’s Regiment of Foot
1747 – 54th Regiment of Foot
1751 – Renumbered 43rd Regiment of Foot
1782 – 43rd (Monmouthshire) Regiment of Foot
1803 – 43rd (Monmouthshire) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry)
1755 – 54th Regiment of Foot
1756 – Renumbered 52nd Regiment of Foot
1782 – 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot
1803 – 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry)
1881 – The Oxfordshire Light Infantry
1908 – Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
1958 – 1st Green Jackets, 43rd and 52nd
FORMATION
The Regiment was officially formed in 1881 when the 43rd and 52nd Regiments of Foot were amalgamated as part of the Childers Reforms however, the Regiment can trace its history back a further 140 years prior to this date.
The 43rd was first raised in 1741 by as Thomas Fowke's Regiment of Foot. It saw its first actions in North America during the Seven Years War (1754–1763) fighting the French as part of General Wolfe’s force that captured Quebec. In 1751 the Regimental naming system was simplified, instead of naming after the current colonel each Regiment was assigned a ranked number according to the precedence therefore the Regiment became the 43rd Regiment of Foot. It was deployed to the West Indies in 1762 and took part in the capture of Martinique, St. Lucia and Havana.
The 52nd was first raised in 1755 by Colonel Hedworth Lambton as the 54th Regiment of Foot but was re-number as the 52nd in 1757. The 43rd then returned to North America during the American War of Independence (1775-1783) and was joined by the 52nd, fighting at the Battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill the 52nd returned to England but the 43rd continued to fight until the siege and surrender at Yorktown in 1781. In 1782 all British Regiments without Royal titles were awarded county titles in order to aid recruitment from that area therefore the Regiments became the 43rd (Monmouthshire) Regiment of Foot and 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot. The 52nd served for nine years in India from 1783, fighting during the Second and Third Anglo-Mysore Wars at the Siege of Cannanore, the battle of Seringapatam, Bangalore and Arakere, the assault on Savandroog and assault on Pondicherry.
The 43rd returned to the West Indies during the French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1802) and once again captured Martinique and St. Lucia, but were defeated at Guadaloupe in 1794. In 1803 both Regiments was re-trained and re-fitted as a Light Infantry unit and joined the 95th Regiments to form the first Corps of Light Infantry. Light Infantry provide a skirmishing screen ahead of the main body of infantry in order to delay the enemy advance. The 43rd was part of a force which captured the entire Danish Fleet at the Battle of Copenhagen (1807). In 1795 the 52nd were deployed to capture the Dutch colony of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).
During the Peninsular War both Regiments fought at the Battles of Vimiera, Corunna, Busaco, Fuentes d'Onor, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajos, Salamanca, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, Toulouse and Peninsula. Both also took part of the unsuccessful Walcheren Expedition (1809) during the War of the Fifth Coalition (1809), where the Regiment suffered greatly from Walcheren fever (thought to be a combination of malaria and typhus). The 52nd returned to the Peninsular to fight at the Battle of Waterloo (1815).
The 52nd was then on garrison duties in Canada from 1823 until 1845 with a brief spell in Barbados in 1842. After a period of 15 years of garrison duties on the home front, the 43rd was once again in action in Canada from 1836 suppressing the Lower Canada Rebellion (1837-1838), when armed rebels tried to establish the independent republics of Quebec and Ontario. In 1851 the 43rd went on to served in South Africa during the Cape Frontier Wars (1811-1858), when the native Xhosa tribes rose in armed rebellion against continuing European rule. Both Regiments went on to serve during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 fighting at the Battle of Delhi. From 1863 the 43rd took part in the New Zealand Land Wars (1845-1872), storming the Gate Pah and the assault on fort Te Ranga.
In 1881 the 52nd and 43rd were amalgamated as part of the Childers Reforms which restructured the British army infantry Regiments into a network of multi-battalion Regiments of two regular and two militia battalions, to become the Oxfordshire Light Infantry. The newly formed Regiment went on to serve in the Tirah Expedition (1897–1898) on the North-West Frontier and the Second Boer War (1899–1902) fighting at Paardeberg as well as two World Wars.
In 1908 the Regiment was re-titled as the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. In 1958 the Regiment was merged with The Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own) and the Kings Royal Rifle Corps to form The Green Jackets Brigade. In 1966 these three Regiments became the three battalions of the Royal Green Jackets and in 2007 were further merged with the Devonshire and Dorset Light Infantry, The Light Infantry and The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry to become The Rifles.