The 31st Foot was raised in 1702 as Villiers Marines and the 70th Foot in 1756 with both becoming the Surrey Regiment in 1782.

1881.07.01 The East Surrey Regiment
organised as the county regiment of East Surrey , encompassing its Militia and Volunteer infantry [see below] and uniting two regular battalions:
1st Battalion, redesignation of 31st (Huntingdonshire) Regiment of Foot
2nd Battalion, redesignation of 70th (Surrey) Regiment of Foot

1889 parts of Essex absorbed into new County of London
1908.04.01 1st Vol Bn and 4th Vol Bn transferred to The London Regiment upon creation of T.F.
1916.07.07 21st Bn and 23rd Bn of The London Regiment re-affiliated
1959.10.14 amalgamated with The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey), to form
The Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment
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The East Surrey facings were white and its badge based on the Guildford Borough Coat of Arms.When it amalgamated with the Queens to form The Queens Royal Surrey Regiment the new badge incorporated the crown and star.

The Colours are in All Saints Church Kingston on Thames and there are other colours and memorials in Canterbury Cathedral. In 1966 the new Regiment was named The Queens Regiment.

Battle Honours WW1

The Great War [18 battalions]: Mons, Le Cateau, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, La Bassée 1914, Armentières 1914, Hill 60, Ypres 1915 '17 '18, Gravenstafel, St. Julien, Frezenberg, Bellewaarde, Loos, Somme 1916 '18, Albert 1916 '18, Bazentin, Delville Wood, Pozières, Guillemont, Flers-Courcelette, Morval, Thiepval, Le Transloy, Ancre Heights, Ancre 1916, Arras 1917 '18, Vimy 1917, Scarpe 1917, Messines 1917, Pilckem, Langemarck 1917, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, Cambrai 1917 '18, St. Quentin, Bapaume 1918, Rosières, Avre, Lys, Estaires, Hazebrouck, Amiens, Hindenburg Line, Épéhy, Canal du Nord, St. Quentin Canal, Courtrai, Selle, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914-18, Italy 1917-18, Struma, Doiran 1918, Macedonia 1915-18, Egypt 1915, Aden, Mesopotamia 1917-18, Murman 1919

Battle Honours WW2

The Second World War: Defence of Escaut, Dunkirk 1940, North-West Europe 1940, Tebourba, Fort McGregor, Oued Zarga, Djebel Ang, Djebel Djaffa Pass, Medjez Plain, Longstop Hill 1943, Tunis, Montarnaud, North Africa 1942-43, Adrano, Centuripe, Sicily 1943, Trigno, Sangro, Cassino4, Capture of Forli, Argenta Gap, Italy 1943-45, Greece 1944-45, Kampar, Malaya 1941-42

 

The Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment Museum, Guildford (Army Museums Ogilby Trust)

Deployment

1st Battalion

1881.07.01 1st Battalion, The East Surrey Regiment
1881 Ireland: Buttevant
1882 Gibraltar
1884.12.22 at sea
1884 India: Rhaniket
<1889> Allahabad
<1894> Agra
<1897> Jhansi
1903 England: Aldershot
1906 Channel Islands: Jersey
1908 England: Plymouth
1910 Ireland: Kinsale
1912 Dublin
1914 Curragh
1914.08 France and Flanders 5 Div
1917.11 Italy
1918.04 France and Flanders
1918.06 North Russia
1919 England
1919 Ireland: Dublin
1921 Palestine
1922 Egypt
1923 China: Hong Kong
1926 India: Rawalpindi
1928 Garhial
1931 Lahore
1935 Fyzabad
1937 Sudan
1939.01 England: Colchester
1939.09 France & Belgium 4 Inf Div, BEF
1940.06 UK
1943.03 North Africa (Tunisia) 11 Bde, 78 Inf Div
1944.01 Italy 11 Bde, 78 Inf Div
1945.01 Greece
1945.05 Greece
1948.07.12 amalgamated with 2nd Battalion without change of title
1949 Italian Somaliland
1950 England: Colchester 19 Bde
1951 Libya & Egypt
1955 Germany: Charles Barracks - Braunschweig from18/07/1955-27/01/1958
1958.01 UK
1958.07 Cyprus
1958 Libya
1958.09 UK
1959.10.14 amalgamated with 1st Bn, The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey), to form 1st Bn, The Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment

2nd Battalion

1881.07.01 2nd Battalion, The East Surrey Regiment
1881 India: Bengal
1884 Sudan
1885 England: Dover
1888 Guernsey
1891 Ireland: Tipperary
1893 Malta
1895 England: Dover
1899 England : ?
1899.10.20 at sea ships: Lismore Castle, Harlech Castle
1899.11.08 Natal: Durban
1899.11 South Africa 2 Bde
1903 India: Lucknow
1906 Mhow
1911 Burma: Theyetmyo
1912 Schwebo
1914 India: Chaubathia
1915.01 France and Flanders 28 Div
1915.11 Macedonia
1919 Ireland: Dublin
1922 England: Aldershot 2 Bde
1924 Jersey
1927 Gibraltar
1929 England: Catterick
1933 Shorncliffe
1937 Shorncliffe MG bn, 4 Div
1938.08 China: Shanghai
1940.09 Malaya
1941.12.19 temporarily amalgamated due to heavy casualties at Singapore with 1st Bn, The Leicestershire Regiment, to form The British Battalion
1942.05.29 re-formed in UK by redesignation of 11th Battalion
1942.05 UK 43 Inf Div
1942.09 UK 77 Inf Div
1945.01 UK 45 Inf Div
1944.08 UK 61 Inf Div
1946 Palestine
1948? Egypt
1948.07.12 disbanded (technically "amalgamated" with 1st Battalion at Thessalonika)