Cavalry Barracks, Hounslow

In 1793, the area became a permanent barracks for troops using the heath when permanent buildings were erected as part of the British response to the threat of the French Revolution. The establishment of large Army barracks inland (rather than as part of the nation's coastal defences) was a novelty in England which, up until this time, had been resisted; people (remembering James II) objected not just to the idea of barracks but to the whole concept of a standing army .[1] A change of policy came about, however, after the French Revolution, when fears of a French invasion were matched by fears of home-grown insurrection. In 1792, plans were drawn up by Pitt's government for six barracks, strategically placed on the outskirts of provincial industrial towns, to house cavalry units which could, if required, be mobilised to maintain public order. A seventh was built on the outskirts of London, at Hounslow. These barracks all shared common features: troopers were accommodated in first-floor barrack rooms above the stables, which were arranged in two long blocks either side of a parade ground, while officers were quartered in a separate building in the centre (a departure from the earlier English tradition whereby officers' quarters were adjacent to and adjoining those of the men).[1]

In 1818, the War Department (prompted by concerns at the effect of a recent Enclosure Act on the availability of public open space) acquired some 300 acres (120 ha) of Hounslow Heath to serve as a training ground. In August that year, the Prince Regent conducted a review of the troops of the 12th Lancers and the Royal Horse Artillery on the Heath; one of many similar reviews that took place there over the years.[4]

Florence Nightingale undertook some of her early training at Hounslow.[5]

In June 1846, Private Frederick John White was flogged after a Court-martial sentenced him to 150 lashes for insubordination at Hounslow Barracks. He died a month later, making him the last soldier to die after a flogging in the British Army. White was buried in nearby St Leonard's churchyard, Heston. Calls for abolition of flogging were made in Parliament; it was eventually outlawed in 1881.[6]

Fusiliers' Block of 1876, built as part of the expansion of the site.

In 1873, a system of recruiting areas based on counties was instituted under the Cardwell Reforms, and the barracks became the depot for the two battalions of the 7th Regiment of Foot,[7] and the site was significantly expanded to create infantry barracks alongside the cavalry accommodation. In 1875, the barracks also became the depot for the 57th (West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot and the 77th (East Middlesex) Regiment of Foot.[7] Following the Childers Reforms, the 57th and 77th regiments amalgamated to form the Middlesex Regiment and the 7th Foot became the Royal Fusiliers. Both the Royal Fusiliers and the Middlesex Regiment had their depots in the barracks in 1881.[7] By 1884, the barracks had its own railway station on the newly created London Underground.[8] In My Early Life, Winston Churchill recalls travelling on the Underground Railway to Hounslow Barracks two or three times a week whilst living at his mother's house in Knightsbridge, around 1896.[9]

The Middlesex Regiment relocated from Hounslow Barracks to the newly built Inglis Barracks in 1905.[10] During the First World War, the barracks was, among other things, headquarters of the Officer Commanding No 10 District, Eastern Command (a district comprising the counties of Kent, Middlesex, Surrey and Sussex, as well as the garrison town of Woolwich (excluding Territorial troops)).[11] Between the wars, as well as being the depot of the Royal Fusiliers, Cavalry Barracks continued to house a succession of different regiments of horse. The last horsed cavalry regiment to be stationed at Hounslow was the Royal Scots Greys, which departed in 1938.[11]

During World War II, the barracks served as Headquarters, Eastern Command from 1939 to 1941, General Headquarters of the Home Forces from 1941 to 1944, and again Headquarters, Eastern Command from 1944 (continuing so until 1968).[11] Over the course of the war, many different regiments or units were stationed or billeted at the barracks. On 2 January 1940, work began on converting 27 acres (11 ha) of adjacent farmland into a hutted camp (Beavers Lane Camp), with additional accommodation for 1500 troops. The farm buildings were used as MT offices and sheds.[11] In late 1941, the 70th Battalion the Middlesex Regiment moved into Hounslow Cavalry Barracks. Known as the "Young Soldiers Battalion", because they were all 18- and 19-year-old volunteers, they remained there at the barracks until they moved over the road into Beavers Lane Camp in 1942. Hounslow was the first time the troops had been formed together as a battalion since their formation in May 1940, having been scattered in small units in and around London guarding Vulnerable Points (VPs).[12]

After the Second World War, the barracks continued to serve as Headquarters Eastern Command until 1968[13] (although a separate underground 'War Headquarters' was established at Wilton Park in 1954).[14] The Royal Fusiliers vacated their section of the barracks in 1949 (having had their depot there since the 1870s). In 1968, with the disestablishment of Eastern Command, the barracks became Headquarters, Southern Command, with Lieutenant-General David Peel Yates (the last Commander-in-Chief, Eastern Command) remaining at Hounslow as Commander-in-Chief, Southern Command.[15] Until the 1970s, Cavalry Barracks was also home to the (Army's) West London Communication Centre and the Hounslow Regimental Pay Office manned by members of the Royal Army Pay Corps (whose predecessors had been at Hounslow since at least the early 1900s).[16]

From 1981 to 1986, Cavalry barracks was the home of the 1st battalion the Grenadier Guards. During their stay, they mounted public duties in London and Windsor. They were also responsible for providing military support to the civilian services at Heathrow Airport at the time of high terrorist threat from the IRA. The Battalion also deployed from Hounslow to South Armagh in Northern Ireland. Then the 2nd Bn Scots Guards were there until 1992, carrying out regular public duties, then moving to Redford Barracks in Edinburgh.[17]

View through the main gate, with the Keep just visible to the left.

In 2007, MPs expressed concern in a report that some of the Victorian buildings at Cavalry Barracks were so bad that troops staying in tented camps in Afghanistan had better living conditions than those at Hounslow. Between March 2010 and mid-2011, the Ministry of Defence built 396 en-suite bed spaces in six new accommodation blocks to house 354 junior ranks and 42 for senior non-commissioned officers under their SLAM (single living accommodation modernisation) project to improve military accommodation.[18] In 2011, the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards moved into the barracks, remaining there for three and a half years, after which the 1st Battalion Irish Guards was stationed there from 2015.[19]

In November 2016, the Ministry of Defence announced that the site would close in 2020.[20] This was later extended to 2021,[21] and the 1st Battalion Irish Guards moved to their new home at Aldershot Garrison in June 2021, while the barracks, acquired by Hounslow Council, will be developed as a sustainable living project.[22][23][2]

In 2021, Inland Homes submitted a planning application for redevelopment of the site to provide 'new homes, public open space, commercial, leisure and community space, and much more'.[41] Under revised proposals, the Grade II listed buildings are to be retained and restored, but ten locally listed buildings will be demolished (including the 18th-century Farrier's Shop to the left of the main entrance);[42] another (a tin chapel) is due to be relocated. Several new residential blocks and other buildings, of up to five storeys in height, are proposed.[42]