City of London Rifles

City of London Rifles
Cap badge of the City of London Rifles
Active	1860–1961
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Territorial Army
Type	Infantry Battalion Searchlight Regiment Anti-Aircraft Regiment
Role	Infantry Air Defence
Part of	London Regiment
Nickname(s)	Printers' Battalion (2nd London RVC) Havelock's Temperance Battalion (48th Middlesex RVC) Cast Iron Sixth (6th Londons) Halls and Balls Light Infantry (6th Londons)
Engagements	Second Boer War Western Front (World War I) The Blitz North West Europe
Commanders
Notable commanders	George Cruikshank (48th Middlesex RVC)

The City of London Rifles (CLR) was a volunteer regiment of the British Army, originally raised as the 'Printers' Battalion'. It saw a great deal of action as an infantry regiment in World War I. During World War II it served in the air defence role, first as a searchlight regiment in the United Kingdom, and later as an anti-aircraft artillery regiment in North West Europe.

The 2nd City of London Rifle Volunteer Corps (RVC), founded in 1860, was one of many RVCs raised as a result of an invasion scare the previous year. Based in Little New Street and recruiting in the Fleet Street and Farringdon Road area of the City of London, it was known as the 'Printers’ Battalion', drawing volunteers mainly from the nearby printing works of Eyre & Spottiswoode; later two companies were provided by Harmsworth's Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail. Among the first officers to be commissioned were George A. Spottiswoode and William Spottiswoode. In 1872 the 2nd City of London absorbed the 48th Middlesex RVC, known as 'Havelock's Temperance Volunteers'. This unit had been founded by the cartoonist and Temperance campaigner George Cruikshank and named after Major-General Sir Henry Havelock, a hero of the Indian Mutiny and pioneer of Temperance Clubs in the army. Like the Printers', this unit was recruited mainly from London artisans, but had suffered financial difficulties. When Cruikshank was forced to retire due to his great age, he was replaced as commanding officer by Lt-Col Cuthbert Vickers, a wealthy shipowner. Vickers went on to command the combined unit, whose headquarters was established at Cooks Court, Carey Street (just behind the Royal Courts of Justice on Fleet Street). It adopted the Rifle green uniform with red facings of the 48th Middlesex (similar to the Regular King's Royal Rifle Corps), but replaced the shako and cocks' feathers plume with the Rifle busby.