26th (Service) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (Bankers)

26th (Service) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (Bankers)
Cap badge of the Royal Fusiliers
Active17 July 1915–27 March 1920
Allegiance United Kingdom
Branch New Army
TypePals battalion
RoleInfantry
SizeOne Battalion
Part of41st Division
Garrison/HQLondon
PatronLord Mayor and Corporation of London
EngagementsBattle of the Somme
Battle of Messines
Third Battle of Ypres
German spring offensive
Hundred Days Offensive
Commanders
Colonel of
the Regiment
Sir Charles Johnston (1914–15)
Sir Charles Wakefield (1915–16)

The 26th (Service) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (Bankers) (26th RF) was an infantry unit recruited as part of 'Kitchener's Army' in World War I. It was raised in the summer of 1915 by the Lord Mayor and City of London and recruited mainly from bank clerks and accountants. It served on the Western Front from May 1916, seeing action on the Somme and at Ypres. It was sent to the Italian Front, returning to the west in time to be flung into the breach during the German spring offensive. It then took part in the final advance to victory, eventually reaching the Rhine as part of the Army of Occupation.