Davies Street drill hall

Coordinates: 51°30′48″N 0°08′54″W / 51.51328°N 0.14836°W

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Davies Street drill hall
Mayfair, London
Davies Street drill hall
Davies Street drill hall Location within London
Coordinates	51°30′48″N 0°08′54″W / 51.51328°N 0.14836°W / 51.51328; -0.14836
Type	Drill Hall
Site history
Built	1890
Built for	War Office
In use	1890-Present
Garrison information
Occupants	F Company 7th Battalion The Rifles

The Davies Street drill hall is a former military installation in Davies Street, London.

History

The original drill hall on the site, which was designed by Charles Herbert Shoppee as the headquarters of the 1st Middlesex (Victoria and St George's) Volunteer Rifle Corps, was built by E. Lawrance and Sons and completed in December 1890.^[1] It was opened by the Duchess of Westminster.^[1] That unit amalgamated with the 19th Middlesex (St. Giles's and St. George's, Bloomsbury) Volunteer Rifle Corps and to form the 9th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Queen Victoria's) in 1908.^[2] The battalion was mobilised at the drill hall in August 1914 before being deployed to the Western Front.^[3]

When the London Regiment was broken up and the battalions reallocated to other units in August 1937, the hall became the home of the Queen Victoria's Rifles, The King’s Royal Rifle Corps.^[2]

On 30 November 1940, during the Second World War, the building was badly damaged by a bomb.^[4] It was agreed to rebuild the hall to a design by Trenwith Wills and it was rebuilt by James Miller and Partners between 1950 and 1952.^[1] In 1952, following another re-organisation, the unit based at the drill hall was renamed the 7th Battalion The King's Royal Rifle Corps (Queen Victoria’s Rifles).^[2] That unit evolved to become the 4th (Volunteer) Battalion, Royal Green Jackets in 1967; F (Royal Green Jackets) Company the London Regiment in 1999; F Company, Royal Rifle Volunteers in 2006; and F Company, 7th Battalion, The Rifles the following year.^[2]

F Company transferred to the London Regiment and moved to the Hammersmith Road drill hall in 2017.^[5]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Sheppard, F H W (1980). "'Davies Street Area: Davies Street, East Side', in Survey of London: Volume 40, the Grosvenor Estate in Mayfair, Part 2 (The Buildings)". London: British History Online. pp. 69–76. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Drill Hall Register: A list of the locations of London Drill Halls since 1908" (PDF). Retrieved 14 May 2017.
^ "The London Regiment". The Long, Long Trail. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
^ "QVR Drill Hall W1". West End At War. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
^ "Duke of Westminster locked in feud with Army reservists as notice served on their headquarters to build luxury hotel". The Telegraph. 12 April 2017. Retrieved 15 July 2018.

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