We now move on to the Infantry which, at the beginning of August 1914, comprised the foot guards and 69 regiments of the line. The former had only been increased from three to four regiments when, by Army Order 77 of 1900, Queen Victoria had given authority for the raising of the Irish Guards. Not until 1915 did her grandson likewise sanction the formation of the Welsh Guards. Whereas the guards' regiments were usually based in and around London in order to carry out their public duties, it would be the function of line regiments to garrison the far-flung outposts of the British Empire; the usual arrangement was for one battalion to remain at home, while another went abroad. We will see that, with few exceptions, the general make-up of a line infantry regiment in 1914 was two Regular battalions and one or two Reserve. There would also be a varying number of battalions provided by the Territorial Force, but these will be dealt with in future articles. The following order, in which we see the location of each battalion as at the beginning of August 1914, is according to precedence and deals with the guards and first 35 line regiments. Also included arc the dates for those regular battalions that left for active service before the end of 1914.
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