Oxford UOTC History
Historical images from the Oxford University Officer Training Corps
A Short History
OUOTC was first formed in 1642 as the Oxford University Volunteers, a bodyguard for King Charles 1, during the civil war. Whilst the force was disbanded after the war, its brief existence gives the unit a claim to be one of the oldest military units in the country.
OUOTC has taken many forms since 1642, being reformed during the Monmouth rebellion and the nineteenth century French invasion scares, but it owes its present form to the 1908 Haldane reforms of the Army prior to the Great War. Perhaps its best title or nickname was 'The Bughooters', given to describe the uniform worn in the 1870s.