The 2nd Gloucestershire Rifle Volunteers was a Volunteer unit of the British Army recruited in Gloucestershire from 1859. After becoming a Volunteer and later Territorial Force battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment (the 'Glosters'), it fought on the Western Front and in Italy during World War I. Its 1st Line battalion fought a last-ditch defensive action at the Piave and one of its number won a Victoria Cross in the closing weeks of the war. The 2nd Line battalion was involved in an epic rearguard action at Holnon Wood during the German spring offensive. In the early part of World War II the battalion distinguished itself at the defence of Ledringhem before being evacuated from Dunkirk. It then served as a unit of the Reconnaissance Corps with 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division through the campaign in North West Europe. It returned to the Glosters in the postwar Territorial Army until amalgamated with other units in 1967.
Volunteer Force
An invasion scare in 1859 led to the emergence of the Volunteer Movement, and Rifle Volunteer Corps (RVCs) began to be organised throughout Great Britain to supplement the Regular Army and Militia. The City of Bristol Rifles raised on 13 September 1859 became the 1st Gloucestershire RVC, and soon grew to be an independent battalion-sized unit. The remaining Gloucestershire RVCs were all company-sized or smaller units: 2nd (Gloucester Docks Company) Gloucestershire RVC, raised 21 October 1859 under Captain William Vernon Guise (later Sir William Guise, 4th Baronet) 3rd (Gloucester City) Gloucestershire RVC, raised 21 October 1859 under Capt Thomas de Winton 4th (Stroud) Gloucestershire RVC, raised 5 September 1859 under Capt Henry Daniel Cholmeley, disbanded by August 1861 5th (Stroud) Gloucestershire RVC, raised 6 September 1859 under Capt J. Watts Haliwell 6th (Stroud) Gloucestershire RVC, raised 7 September 1859 under Capt John Dutton Hunt, absorbed into 1st Gloucestershire Light Horse Volunteers and 5th Gloucestershire RVC in 1865 7th (Cheltenham) Gloucestershire RVC, raised 20 September 1859 under Capt Robert Dwarris Gibney, disbanded September 1864 8th (Tewkesbury) Gloucestershire RVC, raised 6 December 1859 as a half company under Lieutenant James Primatt Sargeaunt, raised to a full company 7 November 1860, disbanded 1876–7 9th (Cirencester) Gloucestershire RVC, raised 13 February 1860 under Capt Allen Alexander Bathurst (later 6th Earl Bathurst) 10th (Cotswold Rifles) Gloucestershire RVC at Cheltenham, raised 1 March 1860 under Capt Herbert W. Wood 11th (Dursley) Gloucestershire RVC, raised 9 March 1860 under Capt John Vizard 12th (Forest of Dean) Gloucestershire RVC, raised 21 April 1860 under Capt Sir Martin Hyde Crawley–Boevey, 4th Baronet 13th (Odd Fellows – Cheltenham) Gloucestershire RVC, raised 23 March 1860 under Capt Edmund P, Morphy, disbanded 1874 14th (Cheltenham) Gloucestershire RVC, raised 3 July 1860 under Capt Sir Alex Ramsay, disbanded September 1864 15th (Stow-on-the-Wold) Gloucestershire RVC, raised 3 December 1860 as a subdivision under Lt Cecil C.V.N. Pole; brought up to a full company in December 1868 16th (North Cotswold Rifles) Gloucestershire RVC at Moreton-in-Marsh, raised 23 November 1860 under Capt Sir John Maxwell Steele-Graves, 4th Baronet, moving to Chipping Campden in 1862
A number of the original officers of these RVCs had previous military experience, for example, Ensign Theodore Preston of the 2nd RVC was formerly in the 43rd Foot, Capt Sir William Vernon Guise in the 75th Foot, Capt de Winton of the 3rd RVC in the Royal Artillery, Capt Bathurst of the 9th RVC in the North Gloucestershire Militia, Capt Wood of the 9th RVC as a lieutenant-colonel in the 4th Madras Native Infantry, Lt Shapland Swiny of the 9th RVC as a captain in the Royal Dublin City Militia, Capt Sir Martin Crawley-Boevey of the 12th RVC as a captain in the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars and Capt Morphy of the 13th RVC in the Monaghan Militia. The Honorary Chaplain of the 11th (Dursley) RVC was the Rev Sir George Prevost, 2nd Baronet, son of Lt-Gen Sir George Prévost and Rural dean of Dursley.