Paddington Rifles

The Paddington Rifles was a volunteer unit of the British Army which had a number of titles. It was formed in 1860 and abolished in 1912.

Formation
Tensions rose between the United Kingdom and France following an assassination attempt on Emperor Napoleon III in January 1858. It emerged that the would-be assassin, Felice Orsini had travelled to England to have the bombs used in the attack manufactured. On 29 April 1859 war broke out between France and the Austrian Empire (the Second Italian War of Independence), and there were fears that Britain might be caught up in a wider European conflict.

On 12 May 1859 the Secretary of State for War, Jonathan Peel issued a circular letter to lord lieutenants of counties in England, Wales and Scotland, authorising the formation of volunteer rifle corps and of artillery corps in defended coastal towns.

In January 1860 a committee was formed in the Paddington area with the object of forming a rifle volunteer corps locally. The corps was duly formed and accepted into service as the 36th Middlesex Rifle Volunteer Corps on 29 February 1860. In 1880 the Middlesex units were renumbered and the 36th became the 18th Middlesex Rifle Volunteer Corps. In the following year the corps was affiliated to the Rifle Brigade as a volunteer battalion.

Although Paddington was removed from Middlesex in 1889 to become part of the new County of London in 1889, no change to county designation was made. A slight renaming occurred in 1891 to 18th Middlesex Volunteer Rifle Corps.

Although they saw no active service as a unit, they provided Active Service Companies as reinforcements to the Rifle Brigade during the Second Anglo-Boer War, and were awarded the battle honour "South Africe 1900-'02".

In 1908 reserve forces were reorganised with the creation of the Territorial Force. All rifle volunteer units within the County of London became battalions of the new London Regiment. The unit's title became the 10th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Paddington Rifles).

In its final years the Paddington Rifles suffered from poor recruitment, failing to reach its required establishment. It was accordingly disbanded on 31 May 1912 with existing soldiers transferred to the 3rd (City of London) Battalion. A new 10th Battalion, based in Hackney, was raised in its place.