Inns of Court Regiment The Inns of Court Regiment ( ICR ) was a British Army regiment which existed under that name between May 1932 and May 1961 . However , the unit traces its lineage back much further , to at least 1584 , and its name lives on within The Inns of Court & City and Essex Yeomanry ( formed through merger in 2009 ) . History . The first organised body formed by the Inns of Court in Holborn , London appears to have been in 1584 , when associations ( Trained bands ) - not of the musical variety - were formed to assist in the defence of the country from the Spanish Armada . ( The deed itself , associating the members of Lincoln ' s Inn , is still in existence , having been preserved by Thomas Egerton , then Solicitor - General , and afterwards Lord Chancellor , who was the first to sign it . ) Previously , judges had been called upon to perform functions which in these days would be hardly considered to come within the judicial office , and so members of the Inns found themselves fighting in the wars of King John or against Robert the Bruce . One such defence was organised in 1381 against Watt Tyler , during the Peasants ' Revolt ( when the Chief Justice was killed ) ; another recalls how the Chief Justice of the Exchequer , when Recorder of the city of London , was instrumental in defeating the Lancastrian attack on the city of London in 1467 ; and accounts such as ' Machyn ' s Diary ' ( 1554 ) tell of more localised defences when " On the xij day of Juin was a gret fray be - twyn the Lord Warden ' s servants of Kent and the Ines of Greys Inn and Lynkolne ( s ) Inn , and some sleyn and hurt . " Their history is just as ambiguous thereafter , although many lawyers were known to join the Royalists , and their clerks the Parliamentarians , during the English Civil War . Certainly members of The Inns were called out against the Jacobite invasion of 1745 and the Gordon riots of 1780 . Indeed , future Prime Minister , William Pitt , served in the Lincoln ' s Inn Company . The Bloomsbury and Inns of Court Volunteers were reformed in 1797 during the Napoleonic Wars . It was shortly afterwards that the Regiment gained its enduring nickname . During a review by King George III in Hyde Park in 1803 , King George used his dislike for lawyers – particularly ones carrying arms – to name the massed ranks of the Law Association as " The Devil ' s Own " . " It is understood that the King was in high health and excellent spirits at the time . When the ' Temple companies ' had defiled before him , his Majesty enquired of Lord David Erskine , who commanded them , as lieutenant colonel , what was the composition of that corps ? ' They are all lawyers , Sire , ' said Erskine . ' What ! What ! ' exclaimed the King , ' all lawyers ? all lawyers ? Call them the Devil ' s Own , call them the Devil ' s Own ! " " And the Devil ' s Own they were called accordingly . " Even at the present day this appellation has not wholly died away . The modern history of the Regiment began again in 1859 , shortly after Crimea , with the formation of the 23rd Middlesex ( Inns of Court ) Rifle Volunteer Corps . In 1881 , the unit became a battalion of the Rifle Brigade and was renamed the 14th Middlesex ( Inns of Court ) Rifle Volunteer Corps in 1889 . The Regiment then formed part of the 2nd London Volunteer Brigade and the " Grey Brigade " . In 1888 a mounted infantry detachment was formed and subsequently became known as " B " ( M . I . ) Company , and a contingent of 30 mounted infantry , 19 cyclists and 1 signaller joined the City Imperial Volunteers for service in South Africa during the Boer War . In 1908 the Territorial Force was formed and the Regiment became the 27th ( County of London ) Battalion , The London Regiment ( Inns of Court ) ; but almost immediately it was changed into an officer training unit under the designation the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps ( I . C . O . T . C . ) with responsibility for training literally thousands of British officers prior to their deployment on the front line . The Regiment had an establishment of one squadron of cavalry ( I . C . O . T . C . Squadron , formerly " B " ( M . I . ) Company ) and three companies of infantry . In 1914 , the Inns of Court Reserve Corps was formed , consisting of former members of the Inns of Court Rifle Volunteers ; and in 1917 the 1st Cadet Battalion , Inns of Court , was formed to train boys under military age . In 1920 the Regiment was reformed with an establishment of one squadron of cavalry and two companies of infantry . Its designation was changed to the Inns of Court Regiment ( ICR ) in 1932 when it was again reorganised along similar lines . The two infantry companies were converted to light tank cavalry squadrons in 1937 and two years later formed the Royal Armoured Corps Wing , Sandhurst . In 1939 the mounted squadron joined a cavalry training regiment in Edinburgh , but this was disbanded in 1940 . From January 23 , 1941 until January 15 , 1943 , the regiment was part of the 9th Armoured Division in Great Britain . From 1943 , it was under the direct command of 1 Corps , the assault formation of 21 Army Group and later led the advance of 11th Armoured Division . On D - Day , " C " Squadron of the regiment landed on Juno Beach with the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division . During the campaign in Northwest Europe of 1944 - 45 , the Inns of Court , organized as an armoured car regiment , was the reconnaissance asset of the I Corps . On 1 April 1947 , the Regiment was again reformed , as the Armoured Car Regiment of the 56th ( London ) Armoured Division , T . A . , later to become the Reconnaissance Regiment of the 54th East Anglian Division . In 1956 , the Northamptonshire Yeomanry was reduced to one squadron and amalgamated with the Inns of Court Regiment as " The Northamptonshire Yeomanry " D " Squadron , The Inns of Court Regiment " . This was reversed when , in 1961 , The Inns of Court Regiment amalgamated with the City of London Yeomanry ( Rough Riders ) to form The Inns of Court & City Yeomanry . Following further defence reforms , the unit became known as 68 ( Inns of Court & City Yeomanry ) Signal Squadron from 1 April 1969 , when , with an establishment of 8 officers and 85 other ranks , it became part of the newly formed the 71 ( Yeomanry ) Signal Regiment ( Volunteers ) , which itself had been formed from the recently disbanded yeomanry regiments .