The Light Infantry - Amalgamations of 2007

Amalgamations of 2007

In 2004, it was announced that the Gloucestershire element of the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment would amalgamate with the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment. Because the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment was higher in the Order of Precedence than the Light Infantry, the new battalion was to be numbered as the 1st Battalion, Light Infantry, with the other two renumbered accordingly as the 2nd and 3rd. As of 2005, this amalgamation would have involved the whole of the RGBW.

On 24 November 2005, in a change to the planned amalgamations, it was announced by the Ministry of Defence that, after discussions between The Light Infantry, the Devonshire and Dorset Light Infantry, the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry and the Royal Green Jackets, the four regiments would amalgamate to form a single, large regiment to be named The Rifles. The new regiment, which formed on 1 February 2007, contains five Regular Battalions and two TA Battalions.

• The 1st Battalion, The Light Infantry became 5th Battalion, The Rifles
• The 2nd Battalion, The Light Infantry became 3rd Battalion, The Rifles

The cap badge of The Rifles is the traditional bugle horn that The Light Infantry had as its cap badge.

The amalgamation described above has been criticised as leading to the disappearance of the Light Infantry as a separate branch of the infantry with its distinctive traditions and history. It is part of a process spread over 2006-2007 aimed at reducing and rationalising the infantry regiments into large multi-battalion units.