Welcome to Lightbobs.
From Wikipedia:-" Light Bobs can refer to various things:
a nickname for the British light infantry, first used during the American Wars of independence, and commonly applied to the Light Division during the Napoleonic wars.
and / or
a nickname for the 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot”
This site is dedicated to the finest regiment in the British Army,
The Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (43rd & 52nd)
and in particular two of its battalions:-
The Buckinghamshire Battalion
and
The 2nd (Airborne) Battalion,
The Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (52nd LI)
Alas the regiments are no more but their proud history and traditions were passed on to The Royal Green Jackets now part of the "Rifles".
Swift and Bold
[email protected]
My main interest is the history of the Regiment and I do not hold any individual soldiers service records
Anyone wishing to research a soldier please click here to go to my Soldier Research page.
For daily updates you can follow me on my "LIGHTBOBS" facebook page
If you wish to subscribe to the 43rd and 52nd Old Comrades Google group
- also known as Lightbobs - please contact the group owner, Roy Bailey,
at [email protected], and he will add you to the mailing list.
Why have I chosen these two battalions?
– here is a little bit about me, perhaps this will explain.
I have had an interest in military history ever since my Grandfather gave me the cap badges of the Lancashire Fusiliers and Royal Artillery as a very young lad; this led to the start of my cap badge collecting obsession which has lasted to the present day, the results of some of which will be found in the following pages.
As a youngster growing up in the Buckinghamshire railway town of Wolverton during the 1960’s and 70’s my grandfather would take me round to some of his workmates many of them first world war veterans who would sort out their old badges for me along with other bits and pieces such as bits of shrapnel that had been removed from them! They would also tell me a bit about what they had done and some of them had served alongside my Great Grandfather who had been a pre world war one territorial with G Company of the Buckinghamshire Battalion and served with them in Belgium and France. I now regret not taking more of an interest in what they told me as I cannot now remember much of what they said and now their generation has passed forever.
I spent a lot of my young life with my granddad and one of my lasting memories is of helping him polish his medals when he needed them for parades and remembrance Sunday. When I was in the Scouts I went for my “Collectors” badge with my badge collection and also the first world war medals of my great Grandfather who served in the RNAS which had been given to me by my Grandmother and to which my grandfather added his fathers Bucks Battalion medals and badges on the condition that I kept them as he had left them and looked after them, this I have done to this day. In more recent years on the passing of my grandfather his medals have joined those of his father and father in law and together with my own medals, three generations now reside together and which hopefully one day my own grandsons will take an interest in.
In the 1970s as a Cadet I wore the cap badge of my Great Grandfathers Buckinghamshire Battalion albeit with a different crown. Little did I know at the time that in the following years our military careers would be quite similar.
Christmas 1974 was a turning point for me. I was given the book “A Bridge Too Far” which I read avidly from cover to cover with this and the book “A Bridge at Arnhem” I decided that “The Airborne” was for me and I joined the army straight from school as a Junior (B)Leader with the Parachute Regiment. Later swapping the “Maroon Machine” for the “Green Machine” of the Royal Green Jackets and later joined the Territorials of the 4th (V) Royal Green Jackets the successor unit to my great grandfathers Buckinghamshire Battalion. This was the start of almost thirty years with the Reserve and Cadet forces during which the majority of the time I would be wearing the cap badge of the Royal Green Jackets and finally ending up badged to The Rifles.
I have always been a keen military historian and the history of the Royal Green Jackets really interested me and in particular the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, my county regiment.
Around 2000 I also became involved in Living History or re-enactment and the obvious choice of unit for me with my airborne and green jacket background was the
Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Living History Group who portrayed the 2nd (Airborne) Battalion 1942-45 and at that time were based at Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes. Unfortunately in the mid 2000’s Bletchley Park ceased to hold its high profile living history events but the group was reformed in the late 2000’s.
During those years I have been privileged to meet and talk too many of the survivors of the Pegasus Bridge coup de main party who were very pleased with our interest and portrayal of their exploits.
This new interest gave me the chance to use some of my collection in an educational
and beneficial way:-
Educational – “show and tell” displays for Regimental Associations, soldiers, Cadet and school groups as well as the general public.
Fundraising –displays for the Royal British Legion, Help for Heroes and Project65.
ADDENDUM
Since setting up this site in 2010 the original task that I set myself of detailing the history of just two battalions of the Regiment has somewhat been left behind and has now become an obsession as a way as Poirot would say of “keeping the old grey cells active”.
In 2010 I joined the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum (SOFO) as a Volunteer Researcher. SOFO is the main repository for the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry’s Museum archive collection formerly housed in Oxford’s Slade Park Barracks. This was like being a kid in a sweet shop and my “grey cells” went into overdrive!
Being with SOFO has given me more opportunities of using some of my collection at various open days and events promoting the museum such as the “We Have Ways Fest”, Silverstone, “Airborne Assault”, Duxford and many in house exhibitions.
The centenary of the First World War led to all battalions of the Regiment during the period 1914-1919 being researched, transcribed and added to the website.
This naturally led on to the next phase of expansion with the Second World War Battalion histories being added and later further expanded to take in the post war years from 1946 right through to when the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry’s separate existence came to an end when it was amalgamated into the “new large regiment”, the Royal Green Jackets in 1966.
In 2017 my “Lightbobs” website was awarded a Rifles Colonel-in-Chiefs Commendations Certificate awarded to:
Mr S Berridge, Buckinghamshire (The Rifles) Battalion ACF
The Regimental Secretary The Rifles citation read:-
“Former SMI Stephen Berridge's contribution to the preservation of the Regiment's heritage is exceptional. He has single-handedly developed a web-record of the regimental history of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. This is acknowledged as one of the finest, if not the finest, e-archive of the history of any British regiment and is widely used by historians, veterans, Rifles cadets, researchers and journalists. He also circulates a daily sitrep, 'On this Day', highlighting what took place in some of the units of the Regiment across 266 years of its service. This has become a source of great interest and drawn many old officers and riflemen into actively participating in the preservation of the heritage of The Rifles. No other individual has created such a valuable e-archival resource for the regiment and he richly deserves a Colonel in Chiefs Award for his role in preserving the heritage of the Regiment and, even more importantly, in creating an outstanding research resource for generations to come.”
Since setting up this site in 2010 the original task that I set myself of detailing the history of just two battalions of the Regiment has somewhat been left behind and has now become an obsession as a way as Poirot would say of “keeping the old grey cells active”.
In 2010 I joined the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum (SOFO) as a Volunteer Researcher. SOFO is the main repository for the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry’s Museum archive collection formerly housed in Oxford’s Slade Park Barracks. This was like being a kid in a sweet shop and my “grey cells” went into overdrive!
Being with SOFO has given me more opportunities of using some of my collection at various open days and events promoting the museum such as the “We Have Ways Fest”, Silverstone, “Airborne Assault”, Duxford and many in house exhibitions.
The centenary of the First World War led to all battalions of the Regiment during the period 1914-1919 being researched, transcribed and added to the website.
This naturally led on to the next phase of expansion with the Second World War Battalion histories being added and later further expanded to take in the post war years from 1946 right through to when the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry’s separate existence came to an end when it was amalgamated into the “new large regiment”, the Royal Green Jackets in 1966.
In 2017 my “Lightbobs” website was awarded a Rifles Colonel-in-Chiefs Commendations Certificate awarded to:
Mr S Berridge, Buckinghamshire (The Rifles) Battalion ACF
The Regimental Secretary The Rifles citation read:-
“Former SMI Stephen Berridge's contribution to the preservation of the Regiment's heritage is exceptional. He has single-handedly developed a web-record of the regimental history of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. This is acknowledged as one of the finest, if not the finest, e-archive of the history of any British regiment and is widely used by historians, veterans, Rifles cadets, researchers and journalists. He also circulates a daily sitrep, 'On this Day', highlighting what took place in some of the units of the Regiment across 266 years of its service. This has become a source of great interest and drawn many old officers and riflemen into actively participating in the preservation of the heritage of The Rifles. No other individual has created such a valuable e-archival resource for the regiment and he richly deserves a Colonel in Chiefs Award for his role in preserving the heritage of the Regiment and, even more importantly, in creating an outstanding research resource for generations to come.”
