The City of Bristol was one of several English localities that organised an 'armed association' of volunteers for home defence during the Jacobite Rising of 1745, supplementing the professionals of the Regular Army and the embodied Militia.

[12] One such unit was the City of Bristol Rifles formed under the command of Lt-Col Robert Bush, formerly a Major in the 96th Regiment of Foot, who was commissioned on 13 September 1859.

[13][14][15][16][17][18] Bush was succeeded as commanding officer (CO) on 23 January 1866 by Brevet Colonel Philpotts Wright Taylor, formerly of the Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment, who held the position until the 1880s.

[17] A detachment of volunteers from the battalion served with the Regular 2nd Bn in the Second Boer War, winning the unit its first Battle honour: South Africa 1900–1902.

[27][28] On the outbreak of war in August 1914 the units of the South Midland Division had just set out for annual training when orders recalled them to their home depots for mobilisation.

[33][34] The South Midland Division underwent progressive training in Essex, and on 13 March 1915 received orders to embark to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France.

The area to be attacked was invisible to the leading companies and to the artillery observers, so it was not until reconnaissance of the German barbed wire had been carried out that Zero hour was set.

[25][26][44][45][46] The division was back in action on Pozières Ridge on the night of 14–15 August, fighting unsuccessfully to capture and hold 'Skyline Trench' at a cost of 70 casualties.

[25][26] The German movement began on 16 March and next day 1/4th Gloucesters sent out a patrol that pushed forward to the banks of the Somme opposite La Chapelette without meeting the enemy.

Parkinson, the acting CO of 1/4th Bn, was killed just before Zero while receiving his orders by telephone, and although one company reached its objective, two others pushed too far forwards and were forced to withdraw to avoid being surrounded.

[25][26][59][60][61][62] However, the battalion attacked at the Battle of Poelcappelle on 9 October, when 144th Bde advanced up the Poelcapelle Spur towards Westroosbeke with 1/4th Bn on the left, A and D Companies leading.

Lieutenant-Colonel Crosskey was seriously wounded and evacuated to England, but not before he had provided a detailed report, in which he blamed the exhaustion of the men after the long approach march, the mud, and the pace of the barrage.

Therefore, although the 2/4th Bn received a higher proportion of recruits it began with the experience of two companies of prewar TF men so it made rapid progress.

The attacking troops were committed to a short advance over flat, waterlogged country against strong defences including concrete machine gun emplacements.

The following night 2/4th Gloucesters and 2/8th Worcesters advanced behind a barrage to capture the village, but the wire was uncut and all that could be done was to dig in in front of it and hold the western half.

[80][81][88][89] After the Ypres offensive ended, 61st (2nd SM) Division moved south to relieve British formations exhausted by German counter-attacks after the Battle of Cambrai.

Part of the unit's role was physical conditioning to render men fit for drafting oversea, and 17th Gloucesters remained in the East Coast defences at Clacton-on-Sea and later at St Osyth for the rest of the war.

[17] In the 1930s the increasing need for anti-aircraft (AA) defence for Britain's cities was addressed by converting a number of TA infantry battalions into searchlight (S/L) units.

The brigade commanded the 'Bristol Defended Area', including potential targets such as Avonmouth Docks and the Bristol Aeroplane Company factory at Filton Aerodrome.

[105] On 1 August all S/L units were transferred to the Royal Artillery (RA), and the battalion became 66th (Gloucesters) Searchlight Regiment, RA, with the three companies redesignated as S/L batteries [14][100][106][107] Once the Phoney War ended with the German invasion of the Low Countries on 10 May, 5th AA Division's units were ordered to form picquets and flying columns equipped with rifles and LGs to combat the threat from enemy paratroop landings.

After the Occupation of France, Luftwaffe aircraft began to penetrate the Bristol area, with nuisance raids almost nightly as the Battle of Britain got under way in July.

[105][108][110][111][112] There were a few daylight raids in the West Country as the battle continued, notably on Bristol on 25 September, which severely damaged the aircraft works at Filton, but the Luftwaffe had by then lost the daylight Battle of Britain and turned to the night bombing of The Blitz, mainly directed against London, though there were scattered night raiders in the Bristol area.

The cluster system was an attempt to improve the chances of picking up enemy bombers and keeping them illuminated for engagement by AA guns or night fighters.

[124][125][126] By mid-1943, AA Command was being forced to release manpower for overseas service, particularly Operation Overlord (the planned Allied invasion of Normandy) and most S/L regiments lost one of their four batteries.

For example, the March attack directed at Bristol consisted of 80 raiders, but as they approached over Dorset they were broken up by the well-directed AA guns and night-fighters: two were shot down, the others scattered their bombs in open country, and one reached the city.

[108][127][130][131] AA Command had plenty of warning that the Germans were developing V-1 flying bombs to use against the UK, and had detailed plans in place (Operation Diver).

[100][108][134][135][136] In the last winter of the war, the S/L belt along the East Coast was thickened up to deal with Luftwaffe intruder raids mixing with returning aircraft of RAF Bomber Command to attack their airfields.

When the unit was re-raised in 1803 as the Royal Bristol Volunteers, the facing colour was changed to the blue appropriate to a 'Royal' regiment; the breeches were white and the officers' lace was silver.

The Loyal Westbury Volunteers adopted scarlet jackets with yellow skirts, pantaloons of dark mixture cloth and officers' epaulettes in gilt.

In 1918 the contribution of the TF battalions during World War I was recognised when they were permitted to adopt the famous 'Back Badge' of the Glosters (worn on the back of the headgear to commemorate the back-to-back fight of the 28th Foot at the Battle of Alexandria, 1801).