The 1st and 2nd Battalions, Essex Regiment merge 1948
On Wednesday 3 November 1948 the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Essex Regiment paraded with their colours at Meeanee Barracks, Colchester and were inspected by Colonel Sir Francis Whitmore KCB, CMG,DSO,TD, Lord Lieutenant of Essex.
After the inspection both battalions marched past to the Regimental Marches of their forerunners the 44th East Essex Regiment and the 56th West Essex Regiment.
Brigadier G H Wilmer, Colonel of the Essex Regiment said that he hoped that the two battalions would get their separate identity back in time but that the ceremony marked the merging of the Battalions into one new battalion to be called the 1st Essex Battalion that would maintain the traditions of its predecessors.
The battalions then closed into one and marched off to the tune of the new regimental march.
So ended over 200 years of history and tradition.
