The History of The Suffolk Regiment does not stop within Suffolk...
The Suffolk Regiment was a county regiment. It had its Depot in the west Suffolk market town of Bury St. Edmunds, and outposts of the Territorial Army in Ipswich, Sudbury, Lowestoft, Felixstowe and Leiston. But, as far back as 1880's, the Suffolk Regiment was closely linked with the county of Cambridgeshire.
When the Cambridgeshire Regiment was formed in 1908 as part of the Haldane Reforms of the British Army, the permanent staff for the newly created regiment came from the Suffolk Regiment and so began a close link which continued even after the Suffolk Regiment had been amalgamated with the fusing of the two regiments into one unit: the Suffolk and Cambridgeshire Regiment (T.A.)
The county also had its own yeomanry unit, the Duke of York's Own, Loyal Suffolk Hussars. In existence from 1793 until 1961, they were predominantly a mounted territorial force until 1917 when they fought as dismounted infantry in the Middle East and later on the Western Front. Here, they came under the wing of the Regiment as the 15th (Suffolk Yeomanry) Battalion, and although they later parted company once again to become a unit of the Royal Artillery, they proudly bore the county designation until their own amalgamation in 1961.
We therefore include these two units as being part of our Regimental Family and take an interest in their history and traditions also well.
Likewise, there were also other smaller units that were considered 'part' of the Regiment during its existence such as the 'Suffolk Platoon' of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (A.T.S.) which was formed in 1938, and the twenty-seven Battalions of Suffolk Home Guard, who wore the Regimental Badge. These units played an important role in the Nations defence and rightly deserve a place within our Regimental family.
If you would like to know more about these members of our extended family, please click on the photographs below to find out more about them.
