High Peak Rifles
| High Peak Rifles 6th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters 40th Searchlight Regiment, RA 149th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA |
|
|---|---|
| Active | 1860–2014 |
| Country |
 United Kingdom
|
| Branch |
 Territorial Army
|
| Role |
Infantry Air Defence |
| Garrison/HQ | Chesterfield |
| Engagements | |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
Lord George Cavendish Lt-Col The Rev Bernard Vann, VC, MC |
The High Peak Rifles, later 6th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters, was a volunteer unit of Britain's Territorial Army. First raised in the High Peak area of Derbyshire in 1860, it fought as infantry on the Western Front during World War I and as an air defence unit during World War II. Its descendants remained in the Army Reserve until 2014.
The origin of the 6th Sherwood Foresters lay in the various Rifle Volunteer Corps (RVCs) formed in northern Derbyshire and the Peak District as part of the enthusiasm for the Volunteer movement during an invasion scare in 1859–60. By June 1860 there were enough company-sized RVCs in the area to form the 3rd Administrative Battalion of Derbyshire RVCs, based at Bakewell (the dates given are those of the first officers' commissions):
Lord George Cavendish of the 9th Derbyshire RVC took command of the administrative battalion with the rank of major.
In 1869 the smaller 2nd Derbyshire Admin Bn was disbanded and its remaining South Derbyshire units were transferred to the 3rd:
In 1867 Lord George Cavendish became Honorary Colonel of the battalion, and was succeeded as Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant by his son James Charles Cavendish, formerly an officer of the Royal Artillery. Most RVCs adopted 'Rifle Grey' for their uniform, but under J.C. Cavendish the units of the battalion standardised on scarlet coats with blue facings.
The unit applied to have its RVCs consolidated in 1879, the 3rd Admin Bn being renumbered as the 2nd Derbyshire RVC, still under the command of Lt-Col J.C. Cavendish. The ten constituent RVCs became lettered companies in order of seniority. This meant that the battalion had six chaplains and ten surgeons, who had previously been attached to individual corps. In the following year, under the Childers Reforms, the Volunteers were attached to their local Regular Army regiments, the 2nd Derbyshire RVC being affiliated to the Sherwood Foresters (The Derbyshire Regiment; from 1902 the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment). In 1887 it was redesignated as the 2nd Volunteer Battalion of the regiment, and later adopted the white facings of the Regular battalions, though by special permission it retained its blue Austrian knot on the sleeve, and wore coats rather than tunics.
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