The newly appointed Secretary of State for War, Earl Kitchener of Khartoum, issued his famous call to arms: 'Your King and Country Need You', urging the first 100,000 volunteers to come forward.

One such unit was offered by the Mayor (William Davison) and Borough of Kensington in London following a public meeting on 11 September 1914 and accepted by the WO the same day.

The flood of volunteers was ebbing, and Davison feared that he would not get the 1100 required, despite extending recruitment to neighbouring Hammersmith and to Regent Street Polytechnic.

Major Archibald Innes, formerly of the Rifle Brigade, who had won a Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in the Boer War, was recommended as commanding officer (CO) by one of the Kensington Aldermen, and Captain Randle Barnett Barker, formerly of the Royal Welch Fusiliers and a relative of the mayor's wife, was appointed second-in-command.

At one of the early parades Lieutenant-Colonel Innes asked the assembled recruits whether they wanted to be known as the 'Imperial', 'Colonial' or 'Kensington' battalion, but pointed out that if they chose the latter they would be 'adopted' by the royal borough.

Training was hindered by the same shortages of weapons, equipment and instructors as the other Kitchener battalions, although the Kensingtons were able to place contracts with local firms such as Harrods, Lillywhites and Derry & Toms, and its men were clothed in khaki service dress while many other units had to make do with temporary blue uniforms.

White City became so crowded, with troops of the Territorial Force (TF) also using the site, that on 27 October the Kensington battalion moved to Roffey Park at Horsham, Sussex, with the men billeted in local homes until huts could be built.

[3][5][7][10][6][14][15] On 4 November 1915, 33rd Division was ordered to move to France, to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) fighting on the Western Front.

From 30 December to 25 January 1916 the division trained round Busnes, then returned to the Béthune sector, where the battalions began rotating between front line and reserve trenches at Festubert and Givenchy.

22nd Royal Fusiliers received its first draft of reinforcements from 27th Bn, but had to transfer a number of men to help form the brigade Trench Mortar Battery (TMB).

[20][21] On 21 May the Germans put in a major attack on the British positions on Vimy Ridge, preceded by a heavy bombardment and the explosion of a mine.

Lieutenant-Col Barker of 22nd RF had been at Brigade HQ and volunteered to go forward through the barrage and clear things up: he replaced the Berks with the KRRC and reorganised the start time for 01.30, but 47th Division advised that moonrise at 01.00 made that impractical.

They got into the enemy front trench and held it for an hour and a half, but being unsupported they had to retire through the barrage to rejoin B Company, suffering heavy casualties.

Lieutenant-Col Barker, who had been awarded a DSO for his work at Delville Wood, was acting brigade commander and was ordered to put on raids and active patrolling to draw attention from the British attack at Flers–Courcelette on 15 September.

When the assault was launched at 05.45, 5th Brigade achieved all its objectives quickly, but 6th Bde struggled through the mud and got left behind by its creeping barrage, and the attack by 3rd Division to its north completely failed.

It moved out into No man's land at 04.30 on 14 November to gain touch with the flank battalion of 5th Bde and form a line facing the old German strongpoint of the Quadrilateral.

Two tanks sent to help bogged down and the fighting went on all day until strongpoints established on the high ground of Redan Ridge by the Fusiliers made the German positions untenable and they evacuated them.

On 13 January 1917 it returned to the Somme front, taking over a line of individual posts on the Ancre Heights facing Petit Miraumont.

They reached South Miraumont Trench but by then were weak and isolated, two platoons of C Company on the left being cut off and captured, and the rest slowly gave ground before helping to set up a defensive line just in front of Boom Ravine.

On his return he was dazed by the explosion of a rifle grenade but rallied his party, and together with a Lewis gun team from 23rd RF they held off successive attacks, maintaining the defensive flank.

2nd Division began to follow up, with 99th Bde attacking the blocking position at Grevillers Trench near Irles on 10 March once the heavy artillery had come forward.

It began patrolling – three privates of 22nd RF found themselves trapped in No man's land, and stayed out for three days observing the enemy positions until they could get back.

On 20 June the division was transferred to the Béthune sector, with 99th Bde at Cambrin, where the battalions rotated between front, support and reserve lines.

22nd RF had its battalion HQ in the captured Hindenburg Support Line, with A and B Companies north of the road in Kangaroo Trench, and C and D just east of the Canal du Nord.

Leaving B Company in Kangaroo Trench, the battalion went forward, arriving in the wood at 04.30 on 28 November and formed a defensive flank to 186th Bde's area.

22nd RF went up through the German barrage to the Canal du Nord, taking up position on the west bank at Lock 6, having lost only 7 wounded in the process.

[16][17][59][60] 'The 22nd Battalion never lost a yard of trench or failed their comrades in the day of battle' By early 1918 the BEF was suffering a manpower crisis.

[64][65][66] The following commanded the battalion during its service:[4][13][54] The cap badge of the Royal Fusiliers was a 'grenade' with the Tudor rose surrounded by a garter with the motto 'Honi Soit Qui Mal y Pense' superimposed on the 'bomb' of the grenade.

It was unveiled on 1 July 1922 in the presence of Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll and Lt-Gen Sir Francis Lloyd (who originally suggested merging the Kensington and Colonial battalions).

[72][73] In the Resurrection Chapel within St Mary Abbots is a wooden battlefield cross originally erected at Oppy Wood as a memorial to the 28 men who died there between 29 April and 3 May 1917.