The 63rd Foot was raised in 1757, the 96thFoot in 1824 and became the 1st & 2nd Battalions The Manchester Regiment in 1881

When first formed the badge was the city coat of arms but later the badge just had the plain fleur de leys which originated from the old 63rd Foot.

In 1942 the 1st Battalion was captured at the fall of Singapore, but a small party had departed earlier to England to form a new battalion to preserve the regiment, 370 men died in the POW camp.

The Colours are in Manchester Cathedral together with the memorials in the regimental chapel.

1958.09.01 amalgamated with 1st Bn, The King's Regiment (Liverpool), to form 1st Bn, The King's Regiment (Manchester and Liverpool)

Battle Honours WW1

The Great War [42 battalions]: Mons, Le Cateau, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, La Bassée 1914, Armentières 1914, Givenchy 1914, Neuve Chapelle, Ypres 1915 '17 '18, Gravenstafel, St. Julien, Frezenberg, Bellewaarde, Aubers, Somme 1916 '18, Albert 1916 '18, Bazentin, Delville Wood, Guillemont, Flers-Courcelette, Thiepval, Le Transloy, Ancre Heights, Ancre 1916 '18, Arras 1917 '18, Scarpe 1917, Bullecourt, Messines 1917, Pilckem, Langemarck 1917, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, St. Quentin, Bapaume 1918, Rosières, Lys, Kemmel, Amiens, Hindenburg Line, Épéhy, Canal du Nord, St. Quentin Canal, Beaurevoir, Cambrai 1918, Courtrai, Selle, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914-18, Piave, Vittorio Veneto, Italy 1917-18, Doiran 1917, Macedonia 1915-18, Helles, Krithia, Suvla, Landing at Suvla, Scimitar Hill, Gallipoli 1915, Rumani, Egypt 1915-17, Megiddo, Sharon, Palestine 1918, Tigris 1916, Kut al Amara 1917, Baghdad, Mesopotamia 1916-18

Battle Honours WW2

The Second World War: Dyle, Withdrawal to Escaut, Defence of Escaut, Defence of Arras, St. Omer-La Bassée, Ypres-Comines Canal, Caen, Esquay, Falaise, Nederrijn, Scheldt, Walcheren Causeway, Flushing, Lower Maas, Venlo Pocket, Roer, Ourthe, Rhineland, Reichswald, Goch, Weeze, Rhine, Ibbenburen, Dreirwalde, Aller, Bremen, North-West Europe 1940 '44-45, Gothic Line, Monte Gridolfo, Coriano, San Clemente, Gemmano Ridge, Montilgallo, Capture of Forli, Lamone Crossing, Defence of Lamone Bridgehead, Rimini Line, Montescudo, Cesena, Italy 1944, Malta 1940, Singapore Island, Malaya 1941-42, North Arakan, Kohima, Pinwe, Shwebo, Myinmu Bridgehead, Irrawaddy, Burma 1944-45

 

Museum of the Manchesters (Army Museums Ogilby Trust)

Deployment

1st Battalion

1814 63rd Regiment of Foot
redesignated on disbandment of 2nd Battalion
1815 West Indies
1819 England
1820 Ireland
1826.12 Portugal
1828.07? England
1828 Australia
1833 India
1838 Burma
1842 India
1847 England
1851 Ireland
1854 Crimea
1856 Nova Scotia
1862 Canada
1865 England
1867 Ireland
1870 India
1880 Afghanistan
1881.07.01 1st Battalion, The Manchester Regiment
1881 India
1882 Egypt
1883 England: Shorncliffe
<1883.08> London: Tower of London
1883.09 Warley
<1885> Shorncliffe
1888 Ireland: Tipperary
1891 Kinsale
1893 Limerick
1894 England: Aldershot
1897 Gibraltar
1899.06 Natal
1899 South Africa
1903 Singapore
1904 India: Sitapur
1906 Secunderabad
1909 Kemptee
1911 Jullunder
1914.10 Lahore Division/BEF
1916.01.08 Mesopotamia
1918.04.23 Egypt
1918.06.24 Palestine
1919 England: Aldershot
1920.03.02 Ireland: Ballincolig
1922 Channel Islands
1923 Germany Army of Occupation
1927 England: Shorncliffe
1931 Gosport
1933 West Indies
1935 England: Catterick
1936 Egypt
1937? Palestine
1938 Singapore MG bn
1939 Singapore
1942.02.15 captured by the Japanese in Malaya
1942.05.05 re-formed in UK by redesignation of 6th Battalion
1942 UK 55 Div
1944 NW Europe
1945 Germany
1947 UK
1948.04.05 amalgamated with 2nd Battalion without change of title
1948 Germany 2 Div, BAOR
1951 Malaya
1954 Germany: Wuppertal
1956.04 Germany: Wuppertal 11 Bde
1958.09.01 amalgamated with 1st Bn, The King's Regiment (Liverpool), to form 1st Bn, The King's Regiment (Manchester and Liverpool)

2nd Battalion

1824.01.28 96th Regiment of Foot
raised at Manchester
1824 England
1824 Nova Scotia
1825 West Indies
1828 Nova Scotia
1835 England
1836 Ireland
1839 England
1839 New South Wales
1844 New Zealand
1847 New Zealand
1849 India
1854 Ireland
1856 Gibraltar
1857 England
1860 Ireland
1862 England
1862 Cape of Good Hope
1865 India
1875 England
1881.07.01 2nd Battalion, The Manchester Regiment
1881 Malta
1882 Egypt
1882 India: Multan
1886 Agra
1890 Sialkot
1893 Chakratta
1895 Dinapore
1897 Aden
1898 Manchester
1899 Ireland-
1900.04 South Africa
1902 England: Aldershot
1904 Channel Islands: Guernsey
1907 Portsmouth
1909 Mullingar
1912 Ireland: Curragh
1914.08. France and Flanders 5 Div
1915.12 France and Flanders 32 Div
1919 India: Kemptee
1920
Iraq
53 Bde, 18 Div
1922 Jubbulpore
1925 Burma: Rangoon
1928 Maymyo
1929 India: Secunderabad
1932 Sudan
1933 England: Strensall
1937 Aldershot MG bn, 2 Div
1939.09 France & Belgium BEF Troops
1940.06 UK
1941.11 UK 2 Inf Div
1942.06 India/Burma
1945 India
1947 UK converted back to infantry
1948.04.05 amalgamated with 1st Battalion