British Army light infantry regiment formed from Gibraltar Defence Force.
The Royal Gibraltar Regiment is a British Army line infantry unit within British Forces Gibraltar. Formed in 1958 from the Gibraltar Defence Force, it includes an integrated artillery troop and serves as a defence engagement force for the United Kingdom and Gibraltar within the Queen's Division.
The Royal Gibraltar Regiment is an infantry regiment of the British Army and part of British Forces Gibraltar for the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. It is a line infantry unit with a light infantry role and is included in the British Army as a defence engagement force. The regiment forms part of the Queen's Division. The regiment was formed in 1958 from the Gibraltar Defence Force as an infantry unit with an integrated artillery troop. Its origins, however, are linked to earlier local defence organisations in Gibraltar. Historical evidence records local civilians enrolled to defend Gibraltar from at least 1720, and by 1755 an armed organisation of local men, known as the Genoese Guard, was mounting guard to prevent desertion from the garrison. Local Gibraltarians also supported British military operations in later conflicts. During the Great Siege of Gibraltar, 160 local labourers volunteered for demolition tasks. In the Sudan Campaign, 100 local men served as transport drivers, known as Los Carreteros Del Rey, and received the Egyptian War Medal with a Suakin 1885 clasp. During the First World War, around 400 Gibraltarians volunteered, undertaking duties including stretcher bearing for casualties arriving by hospital ship.
