In the interwar period it formed the two senior searchlight regiments of the Territorial Army, which defended Southern England during The Blitz.

[1] Their role was to supplement the regular Royal Engineers (RE) in wartime by operating searchlights to defend major ports in conjunction with minefields controlled by Volunteer companies of Submarine Miners, RE.

In earlier life he had been an infantry officer in the Rifle Brigade and the 57th Foot before going onto the Reserve List in 1880,[5][6] but had spent much of his service in India designing military steam wagons.

Early in the Second Boer War, Colonel Robert Baden-Powell improvised searchlights to deter night attacks during the Siege of Mafeking.

[8] Crompton was promoted to lieutenant-colonel,[9] Mentioned in Dispatches[10] and made a Companion of the Bath[11] for his efforts and was later given the honorary rank of colonel.

[19] By the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, the London Electrical Engineers had grown to six companies based at Regency Street.

[20][21][22] Searchlight units were immediately deployed to the South Coast of England and the Thames Estuary to form light barriers against surface raiders.

The army established a 25-mile wide searchlight belt stretching from Northumberland to Sussex, with a double ring round London.

Although these were used with some success for a few months, exposing a light drew heavy fire from the enemy, and the dangerous work earned the detachments the nickname of 'the suicide brigade'.

It carried out a variety of duties, ranging from installing electric lighting for hospitals, water pumps and laundry equipment, to erecting a printing works and building a trench locomotive.

During the German spring offensive of 1918, 351 and 354 E &M Companies were entrusted with destroying electrical installations and water supplies ahead of the advancing enemy.

[2] This large anti-aircraft effort was quickly scaled down after the Armistice, but the Searchlight Experimental Establishment continued as civilian body, with several officers of the London Electrical Engineers still attached.

[20][37][38][39] In September 1938, 26th AA Bde was split in two, the two London Electrical Engineer battalions remaining with 38th Light Anti-Aircraft Brigade at the Duke of York's Headquarters.

In February 1940, 306 AA Co took over some S/L sites on the East Coast that were positioned to pick up low-flying aircraft laying Parachute mines in the mouth of the Humber.

[46] When heavy German night air raids on the UK (The Blitz) began in late summer 1940 the London Inner Artillery Zone (IAZ) had 73 S/L positions operated by 26th and 27th (LEE) and 75th (Middlesex) S/L Rgts, controlled from a central operations room at Brompton, working directly under HQ No 11 Group, Fighter Command at Uxbridge.

75th S/L operated a 'fixed azimuth' line of S/Ls and sound detectors across the flight paths to the IAZ, while the two LEE regiments cooperated with the HAA guns in the urban area.

[37][62][63] With the lower threat of attack by the weakened Luftwaffe, AA Command was being forced to release manpower for the planned invasion of Normandy (Operation Overlord).

All Home Defence searchlight regiments were reduced in February 1944, and 26th (LEE) S/L Rgt lost 529 Bty, which commenced disbandment on 2 April.

Until late 1942 (when it was joined by a Royal Marines unit) it was the only searchlight regiment in Middle East Forces, and frequently had detachments serving over a wide area.

[68][69][70] On 22 May, at St Matthews Hill near Canea, Battery Serjeant-Major William Egglesfield of 304th S/L Bty called for a volunteer and went out with Gunner L.E.P.

[72] By 26 May, after continuous German attack from the air and by airborne troops, the defences round Canea finally collapsed and Suda had to be abandoned.

[73] While the Battle of Crete was progressing, two Troops of 306 Battery were serving with 4 AA Bde in the defence of Tobruk, which resisted months of air attack.

McLaren, Royal Corps of Signals, who escaped from a German Prisoner of War camp in Italy in September 1943 and succeeded in reaching the Allied lines, for which he was awarded a Mention in Dispatches.

[81] As Eighth Army pursued the Axis forces across North Africa, AA units followed to defend its lines of communication.

[37][47][55] When the TA was reconstituted on 1 January 1947, 26th Searchlight Regiment and its three remaining batteries (303, 321, 339) was placed in suspended animation at Benbow Barracks, Blandford Camp.

The war-raised personnel then reformed the regiment in the Regular Army, redesignated from 1 April as 118th Searchlight Rgt with 357, 358, 359 S/L btys (now unmixed).

[37][47][91][92] The 27th (LEE) S/L Rgt was reconstituted in the TA on 1 January 1947 as 562 Searchlight Regiment RA (27th London Electrical Engineers).

Finally, on 1 May 1961, 624 LAA Regiment merged into a TA infantry battalion of the Royal Fusiliers and the London Electrical Engineers lineage ended.