Taranaki Regiment

The Taranaki Regiment
Cap badge of the Taranaki Regiment
Active	1858–1948
Country	New Zealand
Branch	New Zealand Military Forces
Type	Infantry
Garrison/HQ	New Plymouth
Engagements	New Zealand Wars Second Boer War First World War Second World War
Commanders
Honorary Colonel	The Earl of Liverpool
Notable commanders	Harry Atkinson William Malone George Bertrand

The Taranaki Regiment was a territorial infantry regiment of the New Zealand Military Forces. The regiment traced its origins to the Taranaki Volunteer Rifle Company, a volunteer corps formed in 1858 and which saw service in the New Zealand Wars. The volunteer corps also provided men to the New Zealand contingents sent to South Africa during the Second Boer War and in 1911 became the 11th Regiment (Taranaki Rifles). During the First World War, the regiment provided a company to each of the battalions of the Wellington Infantry Regiment and saw combat at Galipolli and on the Western Front. After the war the regiment was renamed the Taranaki Regiment and remained in New Zealand for home defense during the Second World War. Men from the regiment, however, served with the 19th, 22nd, 25th and 36th Battalions of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force. In 1948, the Taranaki Regiment was amalgamated with the Wellington West Coast Regiment and became the Wellington West Coast and Taranaki Regiment.