The Glovers Company is proud of its affiliation to 21st Special Air Service Regiment (Artists) (Reserves) which dates from 1955. The Regiment is one of the two Reserve Army Special Air Service Regiments and is based in London and the south of England and Wales.
The History of the Regiment
The modern regiment is descended from a Victorian Volunteer unit, the Artists Rifles. The Rifle Volunteer movement began in response to a scare of the threat of invasion from France. Units were either locally recruited or based on professional and sporting links. The Artists Rifles was originally formed in 1860 at the suggestion of Edward Stirling, a student at the Royal Academy and the Artists Rifles company originally met to train at the Academy. Many famous artists joined and the first colonel was Sir Frederick Leighton who became President of the Royal Academy.
During the nineteenth century the Artists Rifles was firmly established as part of the Rifle Volunteer movement, though its official title changed as the movement developed and with the formation of the Territorial Force in 1908.
1860 38th Middlesex (Artists) Rifle Volunteers
1881 20th Middlesex (Artists) Rifle Volunteers
1908 28th Battalion London Regiment (Artists Rifles)
Among the artists who served in the Regiment were G F Watts, J E Millais, Holman Hunt, William Morris, Dante Gabriel Rosetti, Edward Burne-Jones and a host of lesser-known men. Other recruits came from the world of the theatre and music hall, but membership soon expanded to include medical and other students from London University and by the end of the century about half those serving in the Regiment worked in the City of London in financial and legal services. After changing headquarters locations several times the Artists built their own drill hall in Duke’s Road, Euston.
Although the Artists Rifles never saw action as a unit during the Volunteer period the Regiment did provide the largest contingent in the City Imperial Volunteers formed at the initiative of the Lord Mayor in 1900 to serve in South Africa during the Second Boer War.
When the Territorial Force was formed the War Office was keen to turn the Artists Rifles into an officer-producing unit but this was resisted and it was agreed that the regiment could continue as an infantry battalion as long as it provided a proportion of its men to serve as Territorial officers in the event of mobilization.
Artists Rifles Memorial at the Royal Academy
Thus when war came in August 1914 the regiment expanded and while the 1st Battalion sailed for France in October 1914 a 2nd Battalion was formed at Gidea Park in Essex which became an Officer Cadet Battalion. In France the 1st Battalion did not join other Territorial battalions in reinforcing Regular Army divisions but was retained as a support unit for General Headquarters at St Omer and later Montreuil with the additional role of training officers. The First Fifty officers were commissioned in November 1914 and the 1st Battalion provided a stream of junior officers for the British Expeditionary Force until the middle of 1917. In all 10256 men were commissioned from the Artists during the First World War. They served in every regiment and corps of the British Army and over a thousand joined the new flying services. Many used their civilian expertise as engineers, accountants, doctors and other professions in specialist roles as the Army expanded. The Artists also established a Machine Gun School for GHQ which trained specialist machine gunners, many of whom went on to join the new Tank Corps.
In June 1917 the 1st Battalion was re-deployed and served as an infantry battalion for the rest of the war in the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division. Their first major action was on 30 October at Passchendaele during the 3rd Battle of Ypres. Of the 500 men who attacked, 350 became casualties. From December 1917 the battalion fought in the Cambrai and Somme areas during the German Spring Offensive and the 100 Days Offensive which brought the war to an end. On 11 November 1918 the battalion was operating just south of Mons.
Sir Douglas Haig inspecting an Artists Rifles Guard of Honour, St Omer 1916
Over 15,000 men were enlisted in the Artists Rifles during the First World War; 2003 were killed in action or died and another 4,000 became casualties. Most of these were of course serving with other regiments after commissioning &c. In addition, the work of painters such as John and Paul Nash, sculptors like C S Jagger, the poets Wilfred Owen and Edward Thomas, the playwright R C Sherrif and many other writers has had a major influence on how the First World War is remembered. For example, one of the most famous depictions of war in the trenches is John Nash’s famous “Over the Top” which shows a counterattack by the 1st Battalion over Welsh Ridge, near Marcoing, Cambrai on 30 December 1917. Nash himself took part, leading a bombing section. In 2018 the Artists Rifles Association dedicated a memorial on Welsh Ridge as part of the First World War Centenary Commemorations.
'Over the Top' by John Nash shows a counterattack by the 1st Battalion over Welsh Ridge during the First World War.
The Memorial on Welsh Ridge dedicated by the Artists Rifles Association in 2018
In 1920 the Artists Rifles was re-formed as a Territorial Army unit but when war threatened again in the 1930s and plans were made for mobilization the Artists were allocated to the London District officer-producing group. When war broke out the battalion was used to form 163 Officer Cadet Training Unit (OCTU) at Hythe and later 164 OCTU at Colchester. Thus the Artists Rifles did not see active service as a unit during the Second World War though many former Artists served as officers in other Army units and in the Royal Air Force. For example, 7 pre-war members of the Artists Rifles took part in Operation CHARIOT, the raid on St Nazaire (and the commander of the Commando force was Lt Col Charles Newman VC who commanded the post-war unit in the 1950s). A significant number served in the intelligence services.
Other former Artists held a number of senior positions during the war. A V Alexander was First Lord of the Admiralty in Churchill’s War Cabinet. Lt Gen John Crocker commanded 1st British Corps in Normandy and other Artists’ generals included Harry Willans, one of the first Territorials to be promoted to general rank. Sir Bruce White led the planning and construction of the Mulberry Harbour and Sir Barnes Wallis designed the Wellington bomber and Dambusters’ Bouncing Bomb.
Royal Warrant creating the SAS and 21 SAS (Artists)
However after the war it was uncertain that the Artists Rifles would survive in the re-organized Territorial Army. Fortunately, the War Office decided that it had been too hasty in disbanding the Special Air Service in 1946. The SAS had been raised in the Middle East for operations behind enemy lines and had gone on to serve around the Mediterranean (including forming the Special Boat Service) and in North-West Europe.With the development of the Cold War it was realised that special operations skills might still be needed and it was agreed to form a Territorial SAS unit. The Artists Rifles had the drill hall and other facilities on which to base the new regiment and so on 8 July 1947 a Royal Warrant was signed ordering the formation of “21st Battalion, Special Air Service Regiment, (Artists Rifles) (Territorial Army)”. This soon became 21st Special Air Service Regiment (Artists ) TA and began training for operations in Europe or the Middle East.
After a couple of years volunteers were recruited from 21 SAS for a special forces unit to fight in Korea. They were actually deployed to Malaya to fight the Communist Insurgency there and joined a new unit known as the Malayan Scouts. In 1952 this became 22nd SAS Regiment as a Regular Army unit. In 1959 a second Territorial unit, 23 SAS, was formed, recruiting in the north of England and Scotland.
Initially 21 SAS trained for the sort of offensive operations behind enemy lines that the SAS had undertaken in the Second World War, deploying by parachute, jeep or canoe. As the Army began to consider a future war in Europe, possibly involving nuclear weapons, this was no longer seen as practical. From 1959 the Territorial units were re-organized as long-range penetration patrols, providing strategic intelligence for Commander 1st British Corps in the event of war in Northern Germany.
Once the Cold War ended the role of the Territorial Regiments was re-considered but they continued as part of the newly titled Reserve Army. The regiment is now formally known as 21st Special Air Service Regiment (Artists) (Reserves) and is an integral part of the United Kingdom Special Forces group and often train with other European armies.
The Affiliation
The affiliation between the Glovers Company and 21 SAS (Artists) began in 1955 when many Livery Companies were undertaking sponsorship of units with connections to the City of London. The Glovers Company chose the Artists Rifles because two of its Past Masters had served in the Regiment. One of them had been the brother of the 1955 Master Glover, Ernest Frank. That brother, Harold Frank, had served in the Artists for many years before 1914, had gone to France with the 1st Battalion and, as a Company Sergeant Major, had been wounded during the action on Welsh Ridge. Lt Col Ian Lapraik, the commanding officer, enthusiastically accepted the invitation and the Glovers Court formally affiliated to the Artists Rifles at the Court Meeting of 26 April and an illuminated scroll was subsequently presented to the Regiment.
Since then a number of Artists have become Liverymen of the Glovers Company, including Colonel Lapraik and other former commanding officers. In 1993-94 the Master Glover was John Gratwick who had been commissioned from the Artists during World War II. One of his last acts as Master was to admit another former Artist, Michael Orr, who became Master Glover in 2015.
Members of the Regiment regularly attend Glovers’ functions and it has been a tradition for the Company to present uniform gloves to newly commissioned officers. In return the Regiment has invited members of the Livery to their headquarters to observe training and meet members of the Regiment. Among the donations made by the Glovers to support the unit over the years, canoes (christened The Master Glover) have been provided for the Artists Rifles teams in the annual Devizes-Westminster Canoe Race in which the Artists have a fine record of success.
Glover Lt Col Ian Lapraik after being awarded the DSO) & MC at Buckingham Palace 1946
Glovers Sponsorship Announcement
Artists Rifles Team competing in the annual Devises-Westminster Canoe Race
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