The 1st Cinque Ports Rifle Volunteers was a part-time unit of the British Army first raised from the Cinque Ports of Kent and Sussex in 1859. It later became the 5th (Cinque Ports) Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment. During the First World War, it served on the Western front as pioneers, seeing a great deal of action at Aubers Ridge, the Somme, Ypres, and in Italy. In the Second World War, both the battalion and its duplicate served in the Battle of France and were evacuated from Dunkirk. The 5th Battalion then fought at the Second Battle of El Alamein while its duplicate unit served as an anti-aircraft regiment in the campaign in North West Europe. Neither unit was reformed after the war.
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. A number of these were formed in the Cinque Ports towns along the coast of Sussex and Kent. The 1st Cinque Ports RVC, commanded by Captain the Hon George Waldegrave, was raised out of the Hastings Rifle Club, which in all but name was the successor of the old Cinque Ports Volunteers of about 1789. The volunteers drilled at the Market Hall in George Street and began rifle practice at Rock-a-Nore, where they shot at targets set at the base of the cliffs. Later that year, Lady Waldegrave allowed them to set up a range shooting across Ecclesbourne Glen, which they used for many years until a new rifle range was opened in Warren Glen in May 1901. Most of the volunteers provided their own rifles and the corps funded its own uniforms. By the middle of 1859 it had reached 70 members, and was officially adopted on 17 December 1859.
An Administrative Battalion to control the Cinque Ports RVCs was formed at Hastings in late 1860 under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon Henry Hall Gage of the Royal Sussex Light Infantry Militia:
1st Administrative Battalion, Cinque Ports Rifle Volunteer Corps
1st (Hastings) Cinque Ports RVC, formed 17 December 1859
2nd (Ramsgate) Cinque Ports RVC, formed as 2nd Kent RVC 18 September 1859; joined April 1860; transferred to 2nd Cinque Ports Admin Battalion December 1861 3rd (Rye and Tenterden) Cinque Ports RVC, formed as 2nd Cinque Ports RVC with half-companies at Rye and Tenterden, 4 January 1860; renumbered when 2nd Kent RVC joined; Rye portion broke up by September 1861, with members joining either the 1st Cinque Ports RVC or the 1st Cinque Ports Artillery Volunteers, and HQ moved to Tenterden; transferred to 5th Kent Admin Bn December 1861 4th (Hythe) Cinque Ports RVC, formed 13 February 1860 as the 1st Subdivision, numbered 4th RVC April 1860; transferred to 2nd Cinque Ports Admin Bn December 1861 5th (Folkestone) Cinque Ports RVC, formed on 30 March 1860 as a result of a public meeting at the Old King's Arms Assembly Rooms; transferred to 2nd Cinque Ports Admin Bn December 1861 6th (Deal and Walmer) Cinque Ports RVC, formed as 3rd Subdivision at Deal on 20 April 1860 under the command of Colonel Julius Backhouse, CB, formerly of the Bengal Artillery; transferred to 2nd Cinque Ports Admin Bn December 1861 7th (Margate) Cinque Ports RVC, formed 22 March 1860; transferred to 2nd Cinque Ports Admin Bn December 1861 8th (Dover) Cinque Ports RVC, formed 30 July 1860; transferred to 2nd Cinque Ports Admin Bn December 1861 9th (Rye) Cinque Ports RVC, formed 12 December 1864 from Rye elements of 1st Cinque Ports RVC (see 3rd Cinque Ports RVC); absorbed into 1st Cinque Ports RVC 1876 2nd (Cuckfield) Sussex RVC, formed 2 December 1859; transferred from 3rd Sussex Admin Bn 1863; transferred to 2nd Sussex Admin Bn 1870 4th (Lewes) Sussex RVC, formed 25 January 1860; transferred from 3rd Sussex Admin Bn 1863 16th (Battle) Sussex RVC, formed 19 May 1860; transferred from 3rd Sussex Admin Bn 1861; absorbed into 4th Sussex RVC 1876 17th (Etchingham) Sussex RVC, formed 4 June 1860; transferred from 5th Kent Admin Bn 1861; absorbed into 4th Sussex RVC 1876 19th (Eastbourne) Sussex RVC, formed 6 October 1860; transferred from 3rd Sussex Admin Bn 1861; disbanded 1868 20th (Uckfield) Sussex RVC, formed 27 October 1870; absorbed into 1st Cinque Ports RVC 1876
The 2nd Administrative Battalion, Cinque Ports Rifle Volunteer Corps formed at Dover in December 1861 took over the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th (disbanded 1863), 7th, and 8th Cinque Ports RVCs, later joined by: 10th (New Romney) Cinque Ports RVC, formed 22 December 1864 However, the 2nd Admin Bn was broken up in 1874, its corps being either absorbed into the 5th Kent RVC or added to the 4th Kent Admin Bn.