54th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)

The 54th Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade of the British Army that saw active service in both the First and Second World Wars.

The brigade was originally raised in September 1914, as the 54th Brigade, in the First World War as part of Kitchener's New Armies and joined the 18th (Eastern) Division, serving with it throughout the war mainly on the Western Front from 1915 to 1918.

The brigade spent the early years of the Second World War in the United Kingdom on home defence and training duties, anticipating a German invasion.

With the rest of the division, the brigade was sent to Singapore, under the command of Brigadier Edward Backhouse, in 1942 and, after the Battle of Singapore against the Imperial Japanese Army, surrendered along with the rest of the Singapore garrison.

They became prisoners of the Japanese for the next three years in harsh and degrading treatment.

A platoon of 'D' Company of the 7th (Service) Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment passing through a French village on its way to the line, sometime in 1916. The officer at the head of his platoon is Lieutenant Douglas Keep, who was killed in action the following year.