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.[1]
  • 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.[2]
  • 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",[3] 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.[4]
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.
Mentioned in Ramage and the Saracens by Dudley Pope. [5]
Mentioned in Sea Devil by Richard P. Henrick. [6]
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
  • 114th Queen's Own Royal Strathspeys
From the James Ogilvie books by Philip McCutchan aka Duncan MacNeil
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)
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.
An Irish regiment serving in India mentioned in "The Ballad of Boh da Thone" by Rudyard Kipling.
  • Blankshire Highlanders
A sample Scottish regiment used in Court of the Lord Lyon Information Leaflet No. 4: Petitions For Arms [7]
  • 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
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.[8]
  • 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).
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.
  • 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
From Brian Callison's 1972 novel The Dawn Attack.[9]
From Edwyn Gray's 1985 novel Crash Dive 500[10]
  • 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.
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)
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
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
Richard Sharpe's regiment in the Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell
  • 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
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
    1. MacKenzie, S. P. (2006). British War Films 1939 - 1945: The Cinema and the Services. Hambledon Continuum. p. 21. ISBN 1-85285-586-X.
    2. Laumer, Keith. "Bolos: Honor of the Regiment". Baen eBooks. Retrieved 2018-08-28.
    3. "Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators (TV Series): The Chimes at Midnight". IMDb. Retrieved 2020-04-12.
    4. Binder, Dave (2002). "Spike Milligan Is Dead at 83; Ringleader of Zany Comedians". New York Times. Retrieved 2018-08-28.
    5. Pope, Dudley (1988). Ramage and the Saracens. Fontana. ISBN 0-00-617709-3.
    6. Henrick, Richard P. (1990). Sea Devil. Zebra Books. ISBN 0-8217-3089-4.
    7. "Information Leaflet No. 4 Petitions For Arms". Archived from the original on 2001-07-07. Retrieved 2018-08-28.
    8. Collard, Paul Fraser (2013). The Scarlet Thief. Headline Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-4722-0026-6.
    9. Callison, Brian (1972). The Dawn Attack. Fontana. ISBN 0-00-616630-X.
    10. Gray, Edwyn (2018). Crash Dive 500. Wolfpack Publishing. ISBN 978-1-64119-546-1.
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