Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own)

Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own)
Cap badge of the Rifle Brigade
Active	1802–1816 as 95th Rifle Regiment, 1816–1966 as Rifle Brigade
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Infantry
Role	Light infantry
Size	4 battalions in peacetime (28 during the Great War)
Garrison/HQ	Peninsula Barracks, Winchester
Nickname(s)	The Rifles The Grasshoppers The Sweeps Manningham's Sharpshooters[1]
March	I'm Ninety-Five

The Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own) was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army formed in January 1800 as the "Experimental Corps of Riflemen" to provide sharpshooters, scouts, and skirmishers. They were soon renamed the "Rifle Corps". In January 1803, they became an established regular regiment and were titled the 95th Regiment of Foot (Rifles). In 1816, at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, they were again renamed, this time as the "Rifle Brigade".

The unit was distinguished by its use of green uniforms in place of the traditional red coat. It also differed in being armed with the Baker rifle in place of smooth-bore muskets, the first regular infantry corps in the British Army to be so armed.

The Rifle Brigade performed distinguished service in both the First and Second World Wars. Post war, in 1958 the regiment formed part of the Green Jackets Brigade as 3rd Green Jackets and was amalgamated with the 1st Green Jackets (43rd and 52nd) and the 2nd Green Jackets (King's Royal Rifle Corps) to form the Royal Green Jackets on 1 January 1966.