The first permanent military garrison in Colchester was established by Legio XX Valeria Victrix in AD 43, following the Roman conquest of Britain.

[3] The Legion did not see active service although a large number of legionaries went to the Crimea where they mostly died of fever without seeing the battlefields.

The Legion was disbanded in Colchester in 1857, but the majority of the remaining personnel went to the Eastern Cape as part of the Kaffraria Settlement.

This establishment was later found not to be registered for marriages, and so the affected couples were declared wed by Act of the Cape Parliament in 1858.

[4] 8th (Cyclist) Battalion, Essex Regiment, (TF) was based in Colchester at the outbreak of war in August 1914.

The German spring offensive forestalled this plan, and the regiment was remounted on 28 March and sent to the 1st Cavalry Division.

[11] During the war the town was defended by local defence volunteers of 8th Essex Battalion of the Home Guard.

Additional support throughout the area was provided by 13th Essex Battalion, made up of volunteers from the GPO who were charged with the protection of critical telecommunications infrastructure.

They took their final salute on 19 November before the Lord Lieutenant of the county, Colonel Sir Francis Whitmore.

Whitmore said, "You have, by your sense of duty, your loyalty and patriotism, contributed pages of tradition to the historical records of our nation... you took a prominent part in the defence of our country at the most critical period of the war...

"[13] During the war the town was ringed by over 120 pillboxes or other defensive structures as part of the Colchester Stop Line.

[16] They included: Home Guard anti-aircraft batteries were established on Abbey Field and engaged enemy aircraft 14 times during a 21-month period.

[20] Colchester Garrison is currently home to the British Army's 16th Air Assault Brigade Combat Team.

The core role of the BCT is to maintain the Air Assault Task Force, a rapid reaction battlegroup held at very-high readiness to deploy worldwide by parachute, helicopter and air-landing, for a full spectrum of missions, from non-combatant evacuation ops such as Operation Pitting in Afghanistan, 2021, to war fighting.

[23] The old garrison church in Military Road was a former Crimean War era hospital, similar to those shipped in prefabricated sections to Florence Nightingale at Scutari and Balaklava.