WELCH REGIMENT

[Greg Bloomfield]

The Welsh Regt changed the spelling to WELCH in 1920, why?

I have heard that it may have been because some dignitary or other mistakenly spelt it with a 'C' and nobody had the heart to correct him/her. I know somebody here will know so please put me out of my misery and this is one of life's irrelevances that has always bothered me.

Greg

[Old Tom]

Hello,

Don't know! But my recollection is that either Sassoon or Graves referred to the regiment as Welch, and this was during the war.

Old Tom

[Dragon]

I quote from David Langley's 'Duty Done'. He was most helpful to me when I asked his advice about which spelling to use on the Drill Hall website.

"............in 1727 there is the ‘King’s Own Royal Regiment of Welch Fusiliers’. Again, in 1768 the spelling was most commonly Welch, but by 1815, the year of Waterloo, Welsh was the preferred version and retained this official status, confirmed at the time of the Cardwell reforms of 1880/1 until 1920. Thus, during the Great War and for a short time afterwards, all official publications such as the Army List, Orders of Battle and ODIGW together with SDIGW unequivocally used Welsh [and not just for RWF, but also the Welsh Regiment]. Regimental badges and Colours also bore this spelling."

He told me that the exact year of change prior to Waterloo has never been traced, as far as he is aware.

Gwyn

[Gibbo]

In Goodbye to All That, Sassoon referred to his own regiment as the Royal Welch Fusiliers & their fellow countrymen as the Welsh Regiment, From his book, it appears that Welch was used within the regiment before the name was officially changed.

See also this thread

[jay dubaya]

The Welch Regiment can trace its origins from its constituent regiments back to the Regiment of Invalids formed from - among others - Pensioners of the Royal Hospital Chelsea (hence the name) in 1688.