The 2nd Sussex Rifle Volunteers was a part-time unit of the British Army first raised from the county of Sussex in 1859. It later became the 4th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment. A detachment served in the Second Boer War. During the First World War, the battalion fought at Gallipoli, in Sinai and Palestine, and then in the final months of the war on the Western Front. In the Second World War, both the battalion and its duplicate served in the Battle of France and were evacuated from Dunkirk. The 4th Battalion then fought at the Second Battle of El Alamein, and served in the Middle East until the end of the war. It continued in the postwar Territorial Army until it lost its individual identity in a series of mergers from 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. A number of these were raised in Sussex, and three Administrative Battalions were formed in April 1860 to control these independent corps (other RVCs formed in the Cinque Ports of Sussex and Kent were organised in their own numerical sequence and admin battalions):
1st Administrative Battalion, Sussex Rifle Volunteer Corps
Headquarters (HQ): Chichester, moving to Worthing in 1866
8th (Storrington) Sussex RVC, formed 16 February 1860 with Sir Charles Goring, 9th Baronet as captain, transferred to 2nd Sussex Admin Bn by beginning of 1861 9th (Arundel) Sussex RVC, formed 28 February 1860 with Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 14th Duke of Norfolk (died 25 November 1860) as captain 10th (Chichester) Sussex RVC, formed 1 March 1860 with George Green Nicholls, formerly lieutenant-colonel, 90th Foot, as captain 11th (Worthing) Sussex RVC, formed 10 March 1860 12th (Westbourne) Sussex RVC, formed 8 December 1860 15th (Bognor) Sussex RVC, formed 9 April 1860, disbanded 1865
2nd Administrative Battalion, Sussex Rifle Volunteer Corps
HQ: Petworth, moving to Horsham in 1869
6th (Petworth) Sussex RVC, formed 15 February 1860 with Walter Barttelot Barttelot, formerly captain, 1st Dragoons, as captain-commandant 7th (Horsham) Sussex RVC, formed as 1st Sub-Division 1859, redesignated 2 April 1860 13th (Hurstpierpoint) Sussex RVC, formed 14 March 1860 14th (Crawley) Sussex RVC, formed 14 March1860, disbanded 1863 18th (Henfield) Sussex RVC, formed 14 June 1860 20th (Billingshurst) Sussex RVC, formed January 1860, disbanded by December 1860 without any officers being appointed 8th (Storrington) Sussex RVC, transferred from 1st Sussex Admin Bn by beginning of 1861, disbanded 1876 5th (East Grinstead) Sussex RVC, transferred from 3rd Sussex Admin Bn 1863 2nd (Cuckfield) Sussex RVC, transferred from 1st Cinque Ports Admin Bn 1870
3rd Administrative Battalion, Sussex Rifle Volunteer Corps
HQ: Brighton
1st (Brighton) Sussex RVC, formed as two companies 23 November 1859 with R. Molsom, formerly captain, Scots Fusilier Guards, as captain 2nd (Cuckfield) Sussex RVC, formed as two companies 2 December 1859 4th (Lewes) Sussex RVC, formed 25 January 1860 5th (East Grinstead) Sussex RVC, formed 9 February 1860, transferred to 2nd Sussex Admin Bn 1863 16th (Battle) Sussex RVC, formed 19 May 1860 19th (Eastbourne) Sussex RVC, formed 6 October 1860, disbanded 1868
No 3rd Sussex RVC appears to have been formed, but two others were raised: 17th (Etchingham) Sussex RVC, formed 4 June 1860, joined 5th Kent Admin Bn (New) 20th (Uckfield) Sussex RVC, formed 27 October 1870, joined 1st Cinque Ports Admin Bn
On 26 April 1860 George Nicholls (10th RVC) and Walter Barttelot (6th RVC) were promoted to major and R. Molsom (1st RVC) to lt-col, to command the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Admin Bns respectively; Barttelot was succeeded as captain-commandant of the 6th RVC on the same day by Edward Turnour, 4th Earl Winterton. The 3rd Sussex Admin Bn was broken up in 1863, by which time the 1st Sussex RVC had grown to six companies and became an independent unit, while the 5th (East Grinstead) transferred to the 2nd Admin Bn and the other RVCs of the 3rd Admin Bn transferred to the 1st Cinque Ports Admin Bn. The Very Rev Walter Hook, Dean of Chichester, was appointed honorary chaplain of the 1st Admin Bn on 13 August 1864.
Under the 'Localisation of the Forces' scheme introduced by the Cardwell Reforms of 1872, Volunteers were brigaded with their local Regular and Militia battalions. For the Sussex and Cinque Ports RVCs and Admin Bns this was in Sub-District No 43 in South Eastern District, grouped with the 35th (Royal Sussex) and 107th Regiments of Foot and the Royal Sussex Light Infantry Militia.