All change for Halifax's historic Duke of Wellington's regiment HQ as school take-over plan is approved

Calderdale Council planners have given Impact Education Multi Academy Trust permission to change use of the Duke of Wellington Regimental headquarters at the old Wellesley Park barracks in Gibbet Street, Halifax, to educational use.

The permission also means the academy can remove a fence which separates the academy site from the landmark regimental building at the entrance to the school – they are already neighbours.

Internally, no changes will be result, the academy said in the application.

The building will be used as a training facility for Halifax Academy and other Impact Education Multi Academy Trust staff, and as additional space for students.

The history of the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment stretches back more than 300 years, and its ties with Halifax - its spiritual home - remain incredibly strong.

The regiment was first raised by the Earl of Huntington as the 33rd Regiment of Foot in 1702.

But by the end of the 1700’s, regiments were allocated to areas rather than just individual patrons.

The Dukes then became associated with the West Riding, to the extent they were called the West Riding Regiment at one stage.

Then in the 1800’s, the barracks were built in Halifax which became the Dukes’ training depot.

Speaking to the Halifax Courier in 2018, Michael Bray, a former Dukes member who was an Army Brigadier, said: “It was decided to rename the 33rd of Foot - regiment’s in those days had numbers not names - the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment as a memorial to the Duke after he died.

According to the Duke’s website, the regiment became the Halifax Regiment (Duke of Wellington’s) in May 1881, was renamed The Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment) in July that year.

In the first world war The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment (West Riding) played its full part in the conflict.

The Regiment had some 22 battalions in this war, all except two, were non-regulars, some 80,000 men mostly from the West Riding served in the Regiment and over 8,000 were killed.

The 2nd Battalion (Regular) was first into battle in August 1914. They lost 323 men killed or wounded in about two days. They remained in France for the whole War, being reinforced many times from the training depot in Halifax, and finished it only a few miles from where it had begun.

The Regiment also saw distinguished service in the second world war before the 1st and 2nd Battalions, the two regular Army battalions, were amalgamated into a single Battalion in June 1948.

In June 2006 the Dukes were amalgamated with the Prince of Wales’s Own Regiment of Yorkshire and The Green Howards to form, respectively, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the Yorkshire Regiment.

When Wellesley Park’s use as offices for regiment ceased they were marketed and sold by the Secretary of State for Defence, actions which confirm that it was no longer needed for military purposes.

The regiment’s strong links with Halifax however remain – the Duke of Wellington’s Regimental Museum and collection is housed at Bankfield Museum and its regimental chapel is at Halifax Minster.

In May 2019, the 18-foot tall statue commemora\ting the regiment’s historic connection with Halifax, created by sculptor Andrew Sinclair, and situated at the top of Woolshops, was unveiled by the then Mayor of Calderdale, Coun Dot Foster, and the Duke of Wellington at a special ceremony.