The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United States as 'The French and Indian War.'

However, parliamentary delays meant that it was 4 March 1756 before a special act of parliament created four battalions of 1,000 men each to include foreigners for service in the Americas.

Prevost recognised the need for soldiers who understood forest warfare, unlike the regulars who were brought to America in 1755 by General Edward Braddock.

The officers were also recruited from Europe – not from the American colonies – and consisted of English, Scots, Irish, Dutch, Swiss and Germans.

[8] Among the distinguished foreign officers given commissions in the 60th (Royal Americans) was Henry Bouquet, a Swiss citizen, whose forward-looking ideas on tactics, training and man-management (including the unofficial introduction of the rifle and more practical clothing suited to bush-fighting) would come to be accepted as standard in the British Army many years in the future.

To reward and maintain their service and loyalty, Parliament passed the American Protestant Soldier Naturalization Act 1762 (2 Geo.

3. c. 25), which offered British naturalization to those officers, engineers and soldiers who had or would serve for two years, with certain conditions and on the model of the Plantation Act 1740.

The new regiment at first lost several outlying garrisons such as Fort Michilimackinac, later a detachment fought under Bouquet's leadership at the victory of Bushy Run in August 1763.

During the rest of the 1800s, the unit also was active in China, Canada (Wolseley expedition), Afghanistan, India, Burma and South Africa.

The regiment was deployed during the Second Boer War from the outset playing a key role in the first battle at Talana Hill.

[16] Private Frederick Corbett also received the Victoria Cross for his action at Kafr Dowar, Egypt, on 5 August 1882; his VC was later rescinded when he was convicted of embezzlement, theft, and being absent without leave.

[23] The 2nd Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 2nd Brigade in the 1st Division in August 1914 for service on the Western Front[22] and saw action at the Battle of Aubers Ridge in May 1915.

[24] The 3rd Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 80th Brigade in the 27th Division in December 1914 for service on the Western Front[22] and saw action at the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915.

[25] The 4th Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 80th Brigade in the 27th Division in December 1914 for service on the Western Front and saw action at the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915[26] but moved to Salonika in November 1915 before returning to France in June 1918.

Rifleman John Beeley was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for his actions during Operation Crusader in North Africa in late 1941.

[37] The 2nd Battalion, KRRC, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Wilson, was part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) that landed in France in May 1940.

Two officers of note served with the battalion in its final campaign of the war, Roland Gibbs and Edwin Bramall.

[37] The 1st Battalion of the Queen Victoria's Rifles (QFR) was a Territorial Army (TA) unit which had been closely associated with the KRRC.

[41] The regimental collection is held by the Royal Green Jackets (Rifles) Museum which is based at Peninsula Barracks in Winchester.

[43] The 1st Cadet Battalion owes its foundation to the Reverend Freeman Wills, who was commissioned into the Volunteer Army in the rank of captain on 26 July 1890.

In 1894 he applied to Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, Colonel-in-Chief, to affiliate to the regiment, with the title of 1st Cadet Battalion, the King's Royal Rifle Corps.

There were to be many ups and down in later years, especially when recognition of the Cadet Force was withdrawn between the two world wars, but fortunately the enthusiasm and commitment of those involved consistently triumphed over the parsimony of governments.

Four were killed in action, one serving with the 1st Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps at the Battle of Dundee, and the others with units of the C.I.V.s.

The announcement of this privilege was made to the battalion by King George V, then Prince of Wales, when, accompanied by Queen Mary, he distributed the prizes at the Guildhall in the City of London.

Over the next three years the unit expanded to five companies, which in April 1945 led to it being re-titled the 2nd Cadet Battalion, The King's Royal Rifle Corps.