Cavalry Barracks , Hounslow Cavalry Barracks is a British Army installation located north of Hounslow Heath in Hounslow , west London . The site , which has been used for more than two centuries by the British Army , is currently part of the Ministry of Defence ' s SLAM ( single living accommodation modernisation ) project to improve military accommodation . Hounslow was one of 40 new barracks established around London to guard against possible French invasion in the late 18th and early 19th centuries . History . The area around Hounslow Heath has been used for centuries to garrison Armies of The Crown because of its proximity to London , Windsor Castle and Hampton Court . In the 17th century , Oliver Cromwell marshalled an army on the heath at the end of the English Civil War in 1647 . James II also camped his troops here to hold military exercises in an unsuccessful attempt to intimidate the Parliament in London shortly before the Glorious Revolution . In 1793 the area became a permanent barracks for troops using the heath when permanent buildings were erected because of the possible invasion by the French during the Napoleonic Wars . The barracks became a busy depot for the London military district . Florence Nightingale undertook some of her early training at Hounslow . By 1884 the barracks had its own railway station on the newly created London Underground . In 2007 MPs expressed concern in a report that some of the Victorian buildings at Cavalry Barracks were so bad that troops staying in tented camps in Afghanistan had better living conditions than those at Hounslow . Between March 2010 and mid - 2011 , the MoD has built 396 en - suite bed spaces in six new accommodation blocks to house 354 junior ranks and 42 for senior non - commissioned officers ( SNCOs ) . Cavalry Barracks remains today the home to the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards . The regiment is currently involved in public duties in London and also preparing for their next operational tour in Afghanistan . Notable deployments . In late 1941 the 70th Bn . The Middlesex Regt DCO moved into Hounslow Cavalry Barracks . Known as the " Young Soldiers Battalion " because they were all 18 and 19 year old volunteers , they remained there at the barracks until they moved over the road into Beavers Lane Camp in 1942 . Hounslow was the first time the troops had been formed together as a battalion since their formation in May 1940 , having been scattered in small units in and around London guarding Vulnerable Points ( VPs ) . Until the 1970s , Cavalry Barracks was home to the ( Army ' s ) West London Communication Centre and the Hounslow Regimental Pay Office manned by members of the Royal Army Pay Corps . From 1981 to 1986 Cavalry barracks was the home of the 1st Bn Grenadier Guards ( 1st Foot Guards ) . During their stay they mounted public duties in London and Windsor . They were also responsible for providing military support to the civilian services at Heathrow Airport at the time of high terrorist threat from the IRA . The Battalion also deployed from Hounslow to South Armagh in Northern Ireland . Beavers Lane Camp , which was opposite the Cavalry Barracks , was the base until 1983 of 10 Signals Regiment , one of the British Army ' s communications Regiments . Beavers lane was later sold off and is now the site of a business park . Last fatality from flogging . In June 1846 Private Frederick John White was flogged after a Court - martial sentenced him to 150 lashes for insubordination at Hounslow Barracks . He died a month later making him the last soldier to die after a flogging in the British Army . White was buried in nearby St Leonard ' s churchyard , Heston . Calls for abolishment of flogging were made in Parliament ; it was eventually outlawed in 1881 .