Dates: 1881 -
The Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment was a regiment of the British Army.
It was formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of:
50th (Queen’s Own) Regiment of Foot
97th (Earl of Ulster’s) Regiment of Foot
It was formally known as:
1881–1920 The Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment)
1920–1921 The Royal West Kent Regiment (Queen’s Own)
1921–1961 The Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment
It was popularly, and operationally, known as the "Royal West Kents."
In 1961 it amalgamated with The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) to form The Queen’s Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment.
The Home Guard platoon in the BBC series Dad’s Army wore the cap badge of the Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment.
Traditionally, the men of West Kent are known as ’Kentish Men’, whereas those of the East are ’Men of Kent’.
The 50th (Queen’s Own) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army from 1755 to 1881.
The regiment was originally raised as the 52nd Regiment of Foot, but was renumbered in 1757 following the disbandment of the existing 50th and 51st regiments. It spent most of the Seven Years’ War in England, raiding the French coast in 1757 and fighting in Germany in 1760, where it saw action at the Battle of Warburg, the Battle of Vellingshausen, and the Battle of Wilhelmstahl.
The 97th (The Earl of Ulster’s) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1824 and amalgamated into The Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) in 1881.
The regiment was raised in 1824, taking its title from Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany and Earl of Ulster.
In November 1832, the regiment’s cricket team played the Colombo Cricket Club at the Rifle Green in Colombo, in the first recorded cricket match in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) .
The Queen’s Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army from 1961 to 1966. Its lineage is continued by the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment.
The regiment was formed on 1 March 1961, as a consequence of defence cuts implemented in the 1950s, by the amalgamation of The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) and The Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment.
