Dates: 1881 -
The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment (West Riding) was an infantry regiment of the British Army, forming part of the King’s Division.
Regiments were named after it’s Colonel, at this time, Colonel George Hastings, 8th Earl of Huntingdon, was authorised to raise a new regiment, which he did in and around the city of Gloucester. The regiment was named Huntingdon’s Regiment after its Colonel.
In 1751 regiments were given numbers, the regiment from that time became officially known as the 33rd Regiment of Foot.
In 1782 the title was changed once again to the 33rd (First Yorkshire West Riding) Regiment, formalising its association with the West Riding of Yorkshire which had already been long established.
The Duke of Wellington died in 1852 and in the following year Queen Victoria, in recognition of the regiment’s long ties to him, ordered that the regiment’s title be changed so after 70 years the units title changed to the 33rd (The Duke of Wellington’s) Regiment.
Following the Cardwell Reforms in 1881, the 76th Regiment of Foot and the 33rd amalgamated to become the Halifax Regiment (Duke of Wellington’s Own) then the Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment).
The two regiments became, respectively, the 1st and 2nd Battalions of The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment.
In 1948, both battalions merged to become one, the Regiment was now 1st Bn the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment
On 6 June 2006 further amalgamations took place, which would see, The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment , the Prince of Wales’s Own Regiment of Yorkshire and The Green Howards to form The Yorkshire Regiment (14th/15th, 19th and 33rd/76th Foot).
Nine soldiers from the The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment have been awarded the Victoria Cross.
Corporal Wayne Mills of the 1st Battalion became the first recipient of the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross in 1994, whilst serving with the UN in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY).
