Colonel Basil Woodd was educated at Charterhouse and Cambridge and was commissioned into the Regiment at Hounslow in 1930.

He served with it in the U.K. in Egypt (where he became the youngest Captain in the Army) and in India, where he was Adjutant from 1935 – 1938.

A useful all rounder Colonel Basil Woodd real love in the field of sport was Polo, and he was fortunate to be playing during a period when the game in India was at its zenith and it was common to find 20-goal handicap teams in any major tournament, including the Inter Regimental. A useful and improving player, he had attained a four-goal handicap when peacetime came to an end on the outbreak of war in 1939.

He passed the Staff College in 1941 and subsequently held staff appointments in India, Ceylon and the U.K. before re-joining the Regiment as 2IC in Italy in 1945.

Thereafter he served with the regiment in Germany and the U.K. and after another staff tour became the Commanding Officer of the Regiment from 1951 to 1954 taking the regiment to Sabratha in Libya in 1952.

His final appointment was at the M.O.D. and he retired from the Army in 1957.

He held the appointment of Colonel of the Regiment from 1966 – 1972 and saw his two sons commissioned into the regiment.

It was during his tenure as Colonel that H.R.H. The Princess Anne did the Regiment the honour of assuming the appointment of Colonel-in-Chief and Colonel Basil Woodd’s sure handling of the arrangements for Her Royal Highness’s first visit to the Regiment was a major factor in making it such a success.

He was the first officer ever to hold the three appointments of Adjutant (1935 – 1938), Commanding Officer (1951 – 1954) and Colonel of the Regiment (1966 – 1972).

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