The lineage book, part I

So far I have detailed the background and history of my interest in the British Army and why a new publication on the topic would be welcome. In this post I will elaborate on the early start of my interest in lineages back in 1996 and how this gradually evolved into the current compilation.

As soon as I continued the discussion with mr Mills on lineages it was not long before I obtained the "Lineage Book" by Frederick. This book was, and still is, really amazing and contributed greatly to my knowledge of the British Army.

However, since the book published in 1984 it did obviously not contain information later than the late 1970s. It was not long before I started to make notes myself and put it together in digital form. Information was mostly and kindly received from mr Mills, and also the internet proved a valuable source as well. Another important way for obtaining bits and pieces was to contact the several regiments by letter.

This all contributed to a sort of private publication that dealt with the Territorial Army from 1967 on. The year 1967 was chosen because in that year the TA was dissolved and reconstituted as the TAVR, and forms in my opinion a milestone in the history of the TA. Though this was a nice way to organise my notes, and though it was good exercise in writing, there were some flaws.

(Besides of this the changes to the Regular Army were recorded as well, but that was a minor work compared to the work on the TA!)

Most important flaw was the ommitance of the regular regiments and their history. Allthough not needed per se, a brief outline of the regular regiment's lineage would give a nice background and embedding.

This proved a turning point in the history of the lineage book, and this all took place by 1999 - 2000. By that time the SDR was also being implemented and as such formed a nice moment to pinpoint the TA's lineage in a single piece of work.

To be continued .....