West Sussex County Council: Military History (Royal Sussex Regiment)

Links to Sections

• Introduction
• Remembering the Somme

The archives deposited in the West Sussex Record Office since 1979 consist of documents, photographs, audio-visual records and printed works derived from both official and private sources covering the history of the Regiment from its establishment in 1701 as the 35th Regiment of Foot to its amalgamation in The Queen's Regiment in 1966.

To date the collection comprises some 200 boxes of documents, 25,000 photographs, 1,250 printed books and 50 films.

Of particular interest are Lieutenant John Hildebrand's detailed recollections of the Napoleonic Wars; the illustrated diary of Captain Lionel Trafford of the ill-fated expedition to relieve General Gordon at Khartoum in 1884-85; and 600 photographs taken in South Africa by 2^nd Lieutenant Rowland Paget during the Boer War.

First World War items include:

• Official series of Nominal Rolls
• Casualty Lists
• Unit War Diaries 
• Battalion Orders
• Diaries and Service Papers of officers and other ranks 

The Record Office also has the CD version of Soldiers Died in the Great War and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's indexes and lists for the Royal Sussex Regiment in the two World Wars.

The County Archivist would welcome the donation of any records relating to the Regiment for preservation in the archives.

The Catalogue

The archives are listed in The Royal Sussex Regiment. A Catalogue of Records by A.E. Readman Price £9 including p&p.  An on-line catalogue of The Royal Sussex Regiment is now available using the Record Office Search Online.

The Research Service

Although surviving personal service records are kept at the Public Record Office at Kew, London, information can often be found in the regimental archives at the Record Office. Details about search charges are available on the Research Service page.