Since the creation of the standing army in 1661, when each regiment was known by the name of its current colonel, there have been many reforms and rationalizations of the British army. From 31 cavalry regiments and 113 infantry regiments in 1881, at the time of this title’s first publication in 1988, the army had reduced to just 16 regiments of armour and 39 regiments of infantry through processes of absorption and amalgamation. The Handbook of British Regiments provides insight into the lineage and history of the approximately 85 regiments and corps which formed the British army towards the end of the 1980s. Comprehensive in coverage, each has a separate entry giving factual details in a layout standardized for easy comparison, including current title, colonel-in-chief, uniform and history, amongst others. A key title amongst Routledge reference reissues, this handbook provides an accessible guide to specialists as well as lay enthusiasts, and illustrates a sense of the continuity and inherited tradition of each regiment and corps.

This book, the first in a series of British Army 'Guides', deals with the numbered regiments that existed between 1751, when the British infantry was ordered to discard their colonels' names as titles and be known in future by number only, and 1881 when numerical designations were replaced by the now familiar territorial names.

The book sets out the structure of each Line Infantry Regiment from 1881 up until the beginning of the First World War, often be seen referred to as the Regimental Family. The new Territorial or Country Regiments have all been dealt with, along with their associated Militia, Volunteer and Territorial Force Battalions and affiliated Cadet units.