Newbury veteran recalls service in Royal Berkshire Regiment

The Royal Berkshire Regiment served the nation worldwide for almost 80 years. And now one Newbury resident has been recalling his service in it.

The regiment officially formed in 1881 and notably served in the Second Boer War and both World Wars.

The Berkshire Regiment earned its ‘royal’ title after the Battle of Tofrek in 1885, becoming The Princess Charlotte of Wales’ Royal Berkshire Regiment.

Brian Barlow, 93, has always lived in Newbury. One of his earliest memories was witnessing the bombing of his home town on Wednesday, February 10, 1943.

Mr Barlow, then age 13, was waiting at the bus stop after school with some friends between St John’s post office and the former District Hospital, when a lone German bomber appeared on the skyline above Newtown Road.

“All we could hear was bang, bang, bang and next up went the church,” said Mr Barlow.

“We didn’t know the school had been bombed, because in the middle of the road then was the old London Apprentice pub, so we couldn’t see past that.”

The machine gunning and bombing destroyed St John’s Church, St Bartholomew’s almshouses and the Senior Council School, killing 15 people, including three schoolchildren known to Mr Barlow.

While other pupils resumed their schooling at Shaw House, Mr Barlow left at 14 to work at the glider manufacturer Elliotts of Newbury.

The 1944 Education Act later increased the school leaving age to 15 and made education freely available to all.

Aged 17, Mr Barlow volunteered for service in the Royal Berkshire Regiment, claiming he was a year older.

His father had served with the regiment in India before him.

In 1947, King George VI became the colonel-in-chief of the regiment, which assembled on Newbury Market Place to receive the Freedom of the Borough honour that July.

LCpls Brian Barlow and Ted Warne stood in the honour guard inspected by Newbury mayor AV Bradshaw and General Sir Miles Dempsey.

Mr Barlow’s first posting was overseas to Israel at the onset of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Two months later, he was transferred to the Royal Hampshire Regiment in Austria. He left shortly after and married in 1953.

The Royal Berkshire Regiment disbanded in 1959, merging with the Wiltshire Regiment to form the The Duke of Edinburgh’s Royal Regiment.

It merged again with the Gloucestershire Regiment in 1994 to become the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment.

It leaves behind a long and proud military legacy.