The Forester Brigade was an administrative formation of the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 from 1948 to 1964. The Brigade administered the regular infantry

Infantry

Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...

 battalions of the English Midlands

English Midlands

The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...

.

After the Second World War the British Army had fourteen infantry depots, each bearing a letter. The depots were territorially organised, and Infantry Depot F at Strensall

Strensall

Strensall is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of the City of York in North Yorkshire, England, on the River Foss north of York and north-east of Haxby. Prior to 1996 it had been part of the Ryedale district. It covers an area of 2,908 acres....

 was the headquarters for the county regiments of Derbyshire

Derbyshire

Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...

, Leicestershire

Leicestershire

Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...

, Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...

, Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...

 and Warwickshire

Warwickshire

Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...

. In 1948, the depots adopted names and this depot became the Midland Brigade, with all regiments being reduced to a single battalion at the same time.

The Midland Brigade was formally formed on 14 July, 1948, combining the depots of four regiments:

• The Royal Warwickshire Regiment
• The Royal Lincolnshire Regiment
  The Royal Lincolnshire Regiment
  The Royal Lincolnshire Regiment was raised on June 20, 1685 as the Earl of Bath's Regiment for its first Colonel, John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath. In 1751 it was numbered like most other Army regiments and named the 10 Regiment of Foot. After the Childers Reforms of 1881 it became the Lincolnshire...
  
  
• The Royal Leicestershire Regiment
• The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment)

Under the Defence Review

1957 Defence White Paper

The 1957 White Paper on Defence was a British white paper setting forth the perceived future of the British military. It had profound effects on all aspects of the defence industry but probably the most affected was the British aircraft industry...

 announced in July, 1957, the infantry of the line was reorganised: accordingly, in 1958, the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment was transferred to the East Anglian Brigade

East Anglian Brigade

The East Anglian Brigade was an administrative formation of the British Army from 1948 to 1968. The Brigade administered the regular infantry regiments of eastern England....

 and the Midland Brigade was renamed as the Forester Brigade.

From 1958 all regiments in the Brigade adopted a common cap badge: "A Maltese cross

Maltese cross

The Maltese cross, also known as the Amalfi cross, is identified as the symbol of an order of Christian warriors known as the Knights Hospitaller or Knights of Malta and through them came to be identified with the Mediterranean island of Malta and is one of the National symbols of Malta...

 voided, the points pommelled, and thereon, on a mount, an antelope statant gorged with a ducal coronet and chained within The Garter

Order of the Garter

The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St...

, the whole encircled with a chaplet of oak-leaves issuant from a scroll inscribed 'Forester Brigade' and ensigned with, upon a mount, a tiger passant guardant. The badge combined parts of the cap badges of the Royal Warwicks, Royal Leicesters and Sherwood Foresters.

In 1963, the Royal Warwickshire Regiment was transferred to the Fusilier Brigade

Fusilier Brigade

The Fusilier Brigade was an administrative formation of the British Army from 1958 to 1968. The Brigade combined the depots of the English infantry regiments designated as fusiliers.The Brigade was created as part of the defence reforms announced in July 1957...

, and in the following year the Royal Leicestershire Regiment joined the East Anglian Brigade and the Sherwood Foresters moved to the Mercian Brigade

Mercian Brigade

The Mercian Brigade was an administrative formation of the British Army from 1948 to 1964. The Brigade administered the regular infantry from the area of England between the Trent, Mersey and Severn rivers that roughly corresponded to the ancient kingdom of Mercia.After the Second World War the...

. With this, the Forester Brigade was disbanded.