The 50th Foot raised in 1755 became the West Kents in 1782, the 97th raised in 1824 were linked as 1st and 2nd Battalions in 1881.

The Royal West Kents wore royal blue facings and the white horse badge of Kent which is also in the County Arms.

The Regiments last battle honour was it greatest achievement. In 1944 the Japanese push into India was checked at Kohima by the West Kents supported by two Indian Battalions. They were cut off, fighting night and day and were driven onto a small hill position, the battle lasted sixteen days until relieved. The Japanese dead numbered over four thousand.

The Colours are laid up in All Saints Church Maidstone.

1961.03.01 amalgamated with 1st Bn, The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment), to form 1st Bn, The Queen's Own Buffs, Royal Kent Regiment

Battle Honours WW1

The Great War [18 battalions]: Mons, Le Cateau, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, La Bassée, Messines 1914 '17, Ypres 1914 '15 '17 '18, Hill 60, Gravenstafel, St. Julien, Frezenberg, Loos, Somme 1916 '18, Albert 1916 '18, Bazentin, Delville Wood, Pozières, Guillemont, Flers-Courcelette, Morval, Thiepval, Le Transloy, Ancre Heights, Ancre 1916 '18, Arras 1917 '18, Vimy 1917, Scarpe 1917, Oppy, Pilckem, Langemarck 1917, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Passchendaele, Cambrai 1917 '18, St. Quentin, Rosières, Avre, Villers Bretonneux, Lys, Hazebrouck, Kemmel, Amiens, Bapaume 1918, Hindenburg Line, Épéhy, Canal du Nord, St. Quentin Canal, Courtrai, Selle, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914-18, Italy 1917-18, Suvla, Landing at Suvla, Scimitar Hill, Gallipoli 1915, Rumani, Egypt 1915-16, Gaza, El Mughar, Jerusalem, Jericho, Tell 'Asur, Palestine 1917-18, Defence of Kut al Amara, Sharqat, Mesopotamia 1915-18

Afghanistan 1919

Battle Honours WW2

The Second World War: Defence of Escaut, Forêt de Nieppe, North-West Europe 1940, Alam el Halfa, El Alamein, Djebel Abiod, Djebel Azzag 1942, Oued Zarga, Djebel Ang, Medjez Plain, Longstop Hill 1943, Si Abdallah, North Africa 1942-43, Centuripe, Monte Rivoglia, Sicily 1943, Termoli, San Salvo, Sangro, Romagnoli, Impossible Bridge, Villa Grande, Cassino1, Castle Hill, Liri Valley, Piedimonte Hill, Trasimene Line, Arezzo, Advance to Florence, Monte Scalari, Casa fortis, Rimini Line, Savio Bridgehead, Monte Pianoereno, Monte Spaduro, Senio, Argenta Gap, Italy 1943-45, Greece 1944-45, Leros, Malta 1940-42, North Arakan, Razabil, Mayu Tunnels, Defence of Kohima, Taungtha, Sittang 1945, Burma 1943-45

1. awarded for Cassino I and Cassino II.

 

Queen's Own Royal West Kent Museum, Maidstone (Army Museums Ogilby Trust)

Deployment

1st Battalion

1755.12.25 52nd Regiment of Foot
1756 England
1757 50th Regiment of Foot
1757.07 Isle of Wight
1757.09.08 at sea
1757.09.23 French coast: Rochefort
1757.10.01 at sea
1757.10 England
1760 Germany
1763 Ireland
1772 Jamaica
1776.07 New York
1776.08 remnants drafted to other regiments and officers sent home to re-form
1776.11 England: Salisbury
1778 at sea service with fleet: HMS Centaur, Vengeance, Defiance, Thunderer, Vigilance
1778? England: Exeter
1783 Ireland
1784 Gibraltar
1793 Mediterranean
1796 Eba
1797 Gibraltar
1797 Portugal
1799 Minorca
1801 Egypt
1802 Ireland
1804.10.01 1st Battalion, 50th Regiment of Foot
redesignated upon formation of 2nd Battalion
1807 England
1807 Denmark: Copenhagen
1807 Gibraltar
1807 England
1808.06 Spain: Cadiz
1808.07 Portugal
1809 Peninsular war
1809.01 at sea (embarked at Corunna)
1809 England: Brabourne Lees
1809 Walcheren
1809 England
1810 Portugal
1810 Peninsular war
1814 France
1814 Ireland
1814.10.24 50th Regiment of Foot
redesignated upon disbandment of 2nd Battalion
1819 West Indies: Jamaica
1826 England
1830 Ireland
1833 England
1834-35 at sea prisoner escorts in detachments
1834 Australia
1841 India
1843 Gwalior campaign
1843 India
1845 Sikh war
1846 India
1848 England
1854 Ireland
1854 Malta
1854 Gallipoli peninsula
1854 Crimea
1856 England
1856 Ireland
1857 Ceylon
1863 New Zealand
1863 Maori war
1866 Australia
1869 England
1874 Ireland
1878 Scotland
1880 England
1881.07.01 1st Battalion, The Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment)
1881 England: Colchester
1882 Egypt
1882 Cyprus
1884 Sudan
1886 Gibraltar
1889 Malta
1892 India: Chakratta
1894 Meerut
1896 Peshawar
1899 Aden
1901 Malta
1902 England: Shorncliffe
1904 Malta
1906 England: Dover
1909 Bordon
1911 Ireland: Dublin
1914.08 France and Flanders 5 Div
1917.11 Italy
1918.04 France and Flanders
1919 India: Calcutta
1919 Afghanistan
1919 India
1920? NW Frontier
1921 1st Battalion, The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment
1923 Poona
1927 Madras
1929 Bangalore
1932 Secunderabad
1935 Karachi
1937 England: Aldershot 4 Bde
1938 Shorncliffe
1939.09 France & Belgium 4 Inf Div, BEF
1940.06 UK
1943.03 North Africa (Tunisia)
1944.01 Italy 12 Bde, 4 Inf Div
1944.12.15 Greece 12 Bde, 4 Inf Div
1946 Egypt
1947 UK depot
1948.06.01 amalgamated with 2nd Battalion without change of title
1951.02 at sea
1951.03 Malaya - Part of 18th Infantry Brigade
1954.03 at sea
1954 England
1954/56 Luneberg, BAOR 8 - Germany: Minden 61 Bde
1956.04 Minden 10 Bde
1956 UK 3 Bde
1956.11 [Suez]
1956.11 UK 3 Bde
1957.01 Cyprus
1959 UK
1961.03.01 amalgamated with 1st Bn, The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment), to form 1st Bn, The Queen's Own Buffs, Royal Kent Regiment

2nd Battalion

1824.03.25 97th Regiment of Foot
raised at Winchester
1824 England
1825 Ceylon
1836 Ireland
1837 England
1839 Ireland
1840 England
1841 Ionian Islands: Corfu
1847 Malta
1848 Nova Scotia: Halifax
1853 England
1854 Greece
1855 Crimea
1856 England
1857 India
1857 Sepoy rebellion
1858 India
1867 England
1871 Ireland
1873 West Indies: Jamaica
1875 Bermuda
1877 Nova Scotia: Halifax
1880 Gibraltar
1880 South Africa
1881.07.01 1st Battalion, The Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment)
1881 South Africa
1882 Ireland: Curragh
1885 England: Chatham
1888 Portland
1892 Ireland: Dublin
1894 Enniskillen
1896 Dublin
1898 Egypt
1900.04 South Africa
1902 Ceylon
1904 China: Hong Kong
1906 Singapore
1908 India: Peshawar
1912 Multan
1915.01.30 at sea (embarked at Bombay)
1915.02.06 Mesopotamia 12 Ind Inf Bde [two coys in 30 Ind Bde]
1916.04.29 B Coy & D Coy (30 Ind Inf Bde) captured by the Turks at Kut al Amara
1916.01 Mesopotamia 34 Bde, 15 Ind Inf Div
1917.08 Mesopotamia 17 Ind Inf Div
1919.03 India
1919 UK
1921.03 Germany: Upper Silesia Army of Occupation
1921.01.01 1st Battalion, The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment
1921.04 Ireland: Dublin
1922.01 England: Woking 6 Bde
1927 Guernsey
1930 England: Aldershot 5 Bde
1934 Shorncliffe
1937 Palestine
1939 Malta
1943.06 North Africa 234 Bde
1943.09.20 Aegean 234 Inf Bde
1943.11.16 captured by the Germans at Leros
1944.05.02 reconstituted in UK by redesignation of 7th Battalion
1944.05 UK 61 Inf Div
1945 Germany
1947 UK
1948.06.01 disbanded (technically "amalgamated" with 1st Battalion)