This fascinating illustrated regimental history contains photographs taken over a period of 11 years. During this time the Regiment served in most parts of the Empire including areas as diverse as India and Burma, South Africa and Norway, Kenya and Brunei.The Regiment, the 51st Foot, was raised in Leeds in 1755 and is one of the six Minden Regiments where, at the Battle of Minden (1759), British infantry beat off and drove back three waves of attacking French cavalry. In 1881 the 51st King's Own Light Infantry was coupled with the 105th Madras European Light Infantry to form the 1st and 2nd Battalions, respectively, of the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. In 1927, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, was appointed Colonel-in-Chief. The recruiting area was mainly the industrial West Riding, South and North Yorkshire. The Regiment has a distinguished record and was involved in most of the great conflicts of the past 250 years.With 226 photographs from the Regiment's own archive at the Regimental Museum (housed within the Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Museum), as well as images from the Imperial War Museum, the National Archive of Canada, newspapers, the regimental journal, The Bugle, and former officers and men of the Regiment, this volume provides an interesting pictorial insight into the history of the Regiment.

The true nature and functions of a pioneer battalion were never fully understood during the war either by military or laymen. Pioneers pioneers, mused a red-hatted Staff Captain to me the other day. Sort of labor battalion, arent you? We sure are! I agreed. These words, written by Captain R. Ede England, who served with 12th King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry during the whole of the Great War, are as true today as they were when he wrote the original history of the battalion in the early 1920s. Little is known, or understood, of the contribution made by the many thousands of men who served with the original Pioneer battalions. Building and repairing roads, bridges, railway lines, gun emplacements, and laying barbed wire to protect the Front Line, were just some of the tasks that they performed on a regular basis. Fortunately, the subject of the British Armys logistical support in the war zone during the new industrialized warfare that developed between 1914 and 1918 is now being examined in greater detail. Miners Battalion, A History of the 12th (Pioneers) Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry 1914-1918 follows the battalion throughout the war and shows how the men, mainly Yorkshire miners, applied their civilian skills to the purposes of war. It also reveals that in 1918, when forced to fight as infantrymen, the battalion performed with distinction, gaining the nickname, 'the Yorkshire Guards'.