The story of the King's Own Regiment is long and glorious as the unit shared in the greatest triumphs of the British Army.

Formed in 1680 to garrison the English colony of Tangiers in North Africa, the 4^th quickly established a reputation as a hard-fighting yet fashionable Regiment. It was honoured by King George I who adopted it as his "Own" Regiment in 1715. This is how the 4^th received the sobriquet of "King's Own". In 1745 at Falkirk, the 4^th was the only Regiment that did not break lines and therefore were able to cover the retreat of the Crown forces from the Jacobite enemies.

The King's Own successfully received the charge of the Highlanders at Culloden in 1746 and was able to break them in savage hand-to-hand fighting. (Remarkably, some veterans of this action were still with the Regiment when it embarked for America in 1774!)

The 4^th gained fresh glory in the swamps and forests of the West Indies from 1759 to 1762, storming the fortresses and crushing the armies of imperial France and Spain.

Arriving in Boston from England in June, 1774, the Regiment served with distinction as part of the main army in America until October, 1778. The 4^th's Light Infantry and Grenadier companies were brigaded with other elite "Flank" companies at the start of the war. The King's Own Lights were one of only two British companies on Lexington Green in April of 1775, and we took all the hits at Concord's Old North Bridge later that same day. We also suffered heavily at the Battle of Bunker Hill.

The Regiment continued to serve with distinction throughout the Revolutionary War, with the Light Company showing particular honor. As just one of many examples: on August 27th, 1776, the British invasion force outflanked and destroyed the American advanced corps on Long Island, New York. Success was made possible because the British achieved a total surprise. The American pickets on Jamaica Pass - all mounted officers - were surrounded and captured without a shot being fired. The commander-in-chief paid great tribute to the skill, stealth and audacity of the officers and men who made this capture: the Light Company of the 4^th Foot.

The 4^th left America in October, 1778, as part of the British expedition against the French West Indies where they again served with distinction. The Regiment spent the 1790's in Canada on the frontiers observing the storm of the Indian Wars. They fought the French and their allies in Holland, Flanders, Germany, Sweden and Denmark, before heading to Spain. They fought all through Wellington's War in the Peninsula, fighting at Corunna, Badajoz, Salamanca and Vittoria.

The last man enlisted into the King's Own during the American Revolutionary War did not leave the service until 1810, after a remarkable 29 years service. He only just missed the Regiment's return to America in 1814 for the expedition to the Chesapeake. In this campaign, the King's Own chased the militia from the field at Bladensburg and captured Washington, DC. Yes, we were the guys who looted & burnt the White House. After that the 4^th returned to Europe for the great battle of Waterloo.

After more colonial service in various parts of the world, the lads of the 4^th fought the Russians at the Alma and endured the horrors of the winter siege of Sevastopol in the Crimea (1854-55).

Battalions of the King's Own fought all over the world in the Great War (World War I). Some of the Battle Honours acquired between 1914 and 1918 against the Turks may sound familiar to modern ears: Samarra, Tikrit, Ramadi, Fallujah, and Baghdad. In World War Two, the 1st Battalion of the Regiment again fought in Iraq. This time destroying the pro-Nazi regime almost single-handedly.

In 1959, the King's Own was merged with the Border Regiment to form the King's Own Royal Border Regiment. In 2005, plans for new mergers were announced with the King's Regt and the Queen's Lancashire Regt, to be known as the King's, Lancashire and Border Regt. The King's Own glorious history is certain to live on!