The Royal Welch Fusiliers was a regiment of the British Army, part of the Prince of Wales' Division. It was founded in 1689 to oppose James II and the imminent war with France. The regiment was numbered as the 23rd Regiment of Foot, though was one of the first regiment to be granted the honour of a fusilier title and so was known as The Welch Regiment of Fusiliers from 1702. The 'Royal' accolade was earned fighting in the war of Spanish Succession in 1713.
It is one of the oldest regiments in the regular army, hence the archaic spelling of the word Welch instead of Welsh. In the Boer War and throughout World War I, the army officially called the regiment 'The Royal Welsh Fusiliers' but the archaic 'Welch' was officially restored to the Regiment's title in 1920 under Army Order No.56. During those decades, the regiment itself unofficially used the 'Welch' form. As of 2004, it was one of five line infantry regiments never to have been amalgamated in its entire history, the others being:
Soldiers of this regiment are distinguishable by the unique feature of the "flash", consisting of five overlapping black silk ribbons (seven inches long for soldiers and nine inches long for officers) on the back of the uniform jacket at neck level [link]. This is a legacy of the days when it was normal for soldiers to wear pigtails. In 1808, this practice was discontinued, but the RWF were serving in America when the order to discontinue the use of the flash was issued. Upon their return they decided to retain the ribbons with which the pigtail was tied, and were granted this special concession by the King. The Army Board attempted to remove the Flash during the First World War citing the grounds that it would help the Germans identify which unit was facing them. The King refused, stating that "The enemy will never see the backs of the Royal Welch Fusiliers". As a fusilier regiment, the RWF wears a hackle, which consists of a plume of white feathers worn on headress and mounted behind the cap-badge.
The regiment saw particularly notable service during World War I, becoming forever associated with the terribly destructive action at Mametz Wood in 1916. During this war, several writers served with the regiment, including the poets, Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves and David Jones and Hedd Wyn. Their memoirs have resulted in the activities of this regiment being vividly recorded for posterity. Ford Madox Ford wrote movingly of the Welsh soldiers he commanded in his four-volume novel Parade's End.
The regimental museum is located in Caernarfon, Wales, and the official headquarters are at Wrexham.
As with the Royal Regiment of Wales, the regiment has traditionally had a goat mascot. The tradition dates from at least 1775, and possibly from the regiment's formation. The goat is given full honours of an officer by all ranks and attended to by the Goat Major.
In 2004, it was announced that, as part of the restructuring of the infantry, the Royal Welch Fusiliers would amalgamate with the Royal Regiment of Wales to form a new large regiment, The Royal Welsh. This merger took place on the 1st March2006, leaving only two Welsh regiments in the British Army: the Welsh Guards and the Royal Welsh. The Royal Welch Fusiliers is now the name of the first battallion of the new regiment.
