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Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry

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1422656

Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry

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Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry

The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (DCLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1959.

The regiment was created on 1 July 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms, by the merger of the 32nd (Cornwall Light Infantry) Regiment of Foot and the 46th (South Devonshire) Regiment of Foot. The DCLI also incorporated the militia and rifle volunteers of Cornwall.

In 1959 the regiment merged with the Somerset Light Infantry (Prince Albert's) to form the Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry. However, this was amalgamated with the Durham Light Infantry, the King's Shropshire Light Infantry and the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry to form The Light Infantry which was also merged, in 2007, with the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment, the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment and the Royal Green Jackets to form The Rifles, which continues the lineage of the DCLI.

The regiment was created on 1 July 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms, by the merger of the 32nd (Cornwall Light Infantry) Regiment of Foot and the 46th (South Devonshire) Regiment of Foot, which became respectively the 1st Battalion and the 2nd Battalion of The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. The DCLI also incorporated the militia and rifle volunteers of Cornwall.

While stationed in Ulster in the 1890's, the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry competed in the Mid-Ulster Cup football competition. They reached the 1895 final, and beat Glenavon F.C. 5-0 at Gilford, County Down to win the cup.

Under the Childers system, one regular battalion of each regiment was to be at a "home" station, while the other was abroad. Every few years, there was to be an exchange of battalions. In the period from the regiment's formation to the outbreak of the Second Boer War the two regular battalions were stationed as follows:

In October 1899 war broke out between the United Kingdom and the Boer Republics. The 2nd Battalion arrived in South Africa in the following month, where it took part in minor actions on the western border of the Cape Colony. In February 1900 it became part of the 19th Brigade. It saw action against the Boers at Paardeberg, and in March 1900 entered Bloemfontein. It continued to take part in a series of skirmishes until the end of the war. The 1st Battalion took no part in the war, moving from India to Ceylon in December 1900 where its soldiers guarded Boer prisoners of war.

Following the war in South Africa, the system of rotating battalions between home and foreign stations resumed as follows:

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