44th (Home Counties) Division

Home Counties Division 44th (Home Counties) Division 44th (Home Counties) Infantry Division
44th Infantry Division insignia.
Active	April 1908 – 3 December 1914 February 1920 – 31 January 1943 January 1947 – 1 May 1961
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Infantry
Size	Division
Peacetime HQ	Hounslow, Middlesex
Engagements	First World War Second World War St Omer-La Bassée Alam Halfa Second Battle of El Alamein[1]
Commanders
Notable commanders	Charles Townshend Arthur Percival Sir Brian Horrocks Sir Hugh Stockwell

The Home Counties Division was an infantry division of the Territorial Force, part of the British Army, that was raised in 1908. As the name suggests, the division recruited in the Home Counties, particularly Kent, Middlesex, Surrey and Sussex.

At the outbreak of the First World War, it accepted liability for overseas service and was posted to India in 1914 to relieve Regular Army units for service on the Western Front. On arrival in India it was effectively broken up, so it did not see active service as a complete formation. However, most of its constituent units did serve in active theatres, notably Mesopotamia from 1915 and in the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919.

Reformed in the Territorial Army (TA) in 1920 as the 44th (Home Counties) Division, the division saw active service in the Second World War in Belgium, France and North Africa (notably in the Battle of El Alamein) before again being disbanded in 1943. Once again, its component units continued to serve, in North Africa, Italy, North-West Europe, and Burma.

The division was again reformed in the TA in 1947 before being merged with the Home Counties District in 1961, thus ending its separate existence.