The 39thFoot was raised in 1702 as Cootes regiment, it became the Dorsetshire Regiment in 1807.

The badge of the Dorsets includes the motto Primus in Indis, signifying that the regiment was the first to serve in India.

The Dorsets wore green facings and one of their marches was "Farmers Boy". The Museum at The Keep Dorchester houses the Marabout Gun which was captured at Fort Marabout, Alexandra in 1801. The Colours are in Sherborne Abbey.

1958.05.17 amalgamated with 1st Bn, The Devonshire Regiment, to form
1st Bn, The Devonshire and Dorset Regiment

Battle Honours WW1

The Great War [13 battalions]: Mons, Le Cateau, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, La Bassée 1914, Armentières 1914, Ypres 1915 '17, Gravenstafel, St. Julien, Bellewaarde, Somme 1916 '18, Albert 1916 '18, Flers-Courcelette, Thiepval, Ancre 1916 '18, Arras 1917, Scarpe 1917, Messines 1917, Langemarck 1917, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, St. Quentin, Amiens, Bapaume 1918, Hindenburg Line, Épéhy, Canal du Nord, St. Quentin Canal, Beaurevoir, Cambrai 1918, Selle, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914-18, Suvla, Landing at Suvla, Scimitar Hill, Gallipoli 1915, Egypt 1916, Gaza, El Mughar, Nebi Samwil, Jerusalem, Tell 'Asur, Megiddo, Sharon, Palestine 1917-18, Basra, Shaiba, Kut al Amara 1915 '17, Ctesiphon, Defence of Kut al Amara, Baghdad, Khan Baghdadi, Mesopotamia 1914-18

Battle Honours WW2

The Second World War: St. Omer-La Bassée, Normandy Landing, Villers Bocage, Tilly sur Seulles, Caen, Mont Pincon, St. Pierre La Vielle, Arnhem 1944, Aam, Geilenkirchen, Goch, Rhine, Twente Canal, North-West Europe 1940 '44-45, Landing in Sicily, Agira, Regalbuto, Sicily 1943, Landing at Porto San Venere, Italy 1943, Malta 1940-42, Kohima, Mandalay, Mt. Popa, Burma 1944-45

Victoria Crosses by Iain Stewart

Military Museum of Devon and Dorset, Dorchester

Deployment

1st Battalion

1881.07.01 1st Battalion, The Dorsetshire Regiment
1881 India: Bengal
1882 England: Chatham
1885 Malta
1886 England: ?
1888 Malta
1889 Egypt
1893 India: Meean Meer
1895 Bangalore
1898 Nowshera
1902 Ferozepore
1906 England: Gosport
1909 Farnborough
1911 Blackdown
1913 Ireland: Belfast
1914.08 France and Flanders 5 Div
1915.12 France and Flanders 32 Div
1919 Ireland: Londondery
1924 Malta
1924 Sudan
1926 Malta
1927 India: Mhow
1929 Chakratta
1933 Sialkot
1936 Landi Kotla
1938 Malta
1939.09 Malta
1943.05 Tunisia 231 Inf Bde
1943.07 Sicily
1943.09 Italy
1943.11 UK
1944.06 NW Europe
1944.12 UK
1945.05 UK
1948 Austria
1948.09.04 amalgamated with 2nd Battalion without change of title
1948 Austria
1951.06.23 1st Battalion, The Dorset Regiment
1952 Hong Kong
1954.12 Korea Commonwealth Contingent
1956.02 at sea
1955.08 Germany: Minden 11 Bde
1958.05.17 amalgamated with 1st Bn, The Devonshire Regiment, to form
1st Bn, The Devonshire and Dorset Regiment

2nd Battalion

1881.07.01 2nd Battalion, The Dorsetshire Regiment
1881 India: Cherat
1885 Aden
1886 England: ?
1887 Malta
1888 England: Portsmouth
1891 Plymouth
1893 Ireland: Belfast
1896 Enniskillen
1898 Crete
1899 Malta
1899.12 South Africa 10 Bde
1902 England: Portland
1904 Colchester
1906 India: Madras
1910 Poona 16 Bde, Poona Div
1914.08 Poona 16 Bde, Poona Div
1914.11.06 Mesopotamia
1916.02.04 amalgamated due to heavy casualties with 2nd Bn, The Norfolk Regiment to form English Battalion ("The Norsets")
1916.07.21 re-formed
1916.07 Mesopotamia Corps Troops, Tigris Corps
1917.01 Mesopotamia 3 Ind Div
1918.04.23 Egypt
1918.06 Palestine
1918.10 Syria
1919.06 at sea
1919.10 India: Bangalore
1922.01 Egypt
1922.12 Sudan
1923.04 Egypt
1924.01 England: Aldershot 5 Bde
1928 Germany Army of Occupation
1929 England: Portland
1932 Dover
1936 Palestine
1937 England: Aldershot 5 Bde
1939.09 France & Belgium 2 Inf Div, BEF
1940.06 UK
1942.06 India/Burma
1946 Japan Army of Occupation
1947 Malaya
1948.09.04 disbanded (technically "amalgamated" with 1st Battalion)