1st Division (United Kingdom)

1st Division 1st Infantry Division
1st Division sign used in World War I. The international signal pennant for '1'.
Active	1809–1818 1854–1856 1899–1960
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Infantry
Size	Division
Engagements	Peninsular War Battle of Talavera Battle of Salamanca Siege of Tarragona Battle of Vitoria Siege of San Sebastián Battle of the Pyrenees Battle of the Bidassoa (1813) Battle of Toulouse (1814) Battle of Quatre Bras Battle of Waterloo Crimean War Battle of Alma Battle of Balaclava Battle of Inkerman Second Boer War Battle of Belmont Battle of Graspan Battle of Modder River Battle of Magersfontein Battle of Boshof First World War Battle of Mons First Battle of the Marne First Battle of the Aisne First Battle of Ypres Battle of Aubers Ridge Battle of Loos Battle of the Somme Battle of Pozières Battle of Passchendaele Battle of Épehy Second World War Battle of France Fondouk El Kourzia Tunisia Campaign Battle of Anzio Battle of Monte Cassino Liri Valley Gothic Line
Commanders
Notable commanders	HRH The Duke of Cambridge Lord Methuen Harold Alexander Kenneth Anderson Gerald Templer Charles Loewen Richard Gale Horatius Murray
Insignia
1st Infantry Division sign used in World War 2.

The 1st Infantry Division was a regular army infantry division of the British Army with a very long history. The division was present at the Peninsular War, the Crimean War, the First World War, and during the Second World War and was finally disbanded in 1960.

The British 1st Division was originally formed in 1809 by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington for service in the Peninsula War, drawing initially from two British brigades and one Hanoverian brigade of the King's German Legion. During the Peninsula War it was involved in most of the engagements between the Allies and France including the Battle of Talavera, Battle of Salamanca in 1812, Siege of Tarragona (1813), Battle of Vitoria, Siege of San Sebastián, Battle of the Pyrenees, Battle of the Bidassoa (1813), Battle of Toulouse (1814).

(April 1814)

Napoleon Bonaparte's returned during the Congress of Vienna. On 13 March, seven days before Napoleon reached Paris, the powers at the Congress of Vienna declared him an outlaw; four days later the United Kingdom, Russia, Austria and Prussia, members of the Seventh Coalition, bound themselves to put 150,000 men each into the field to end his rule. This set the stage for the last conflict in the Napoleonic Wars and for the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, the restoration of the French monarchy for the second time and the permanent exile of Napoleon to the island of Saint Helena, where he died in May 1821.