The approval and publication of the establishment of the first units of Gurkha Signals took place in Malaya on 1 May 1949. This date marks the formation of the Regiment which was then designated Gurkha Royal Signals. Prior to this, however, Gurkhas had seen service in the Indian Army Signal Corps in the 1920s and 30s. During World War II others were trained and saw service in the Brigade Signal Sections but after the end of the war these men were no longer required. When the Malayan Emergency began in 1948 and 17 Gurkha infantry Division was created, Major A C Cox Royal Signals (later Brigadier) was tasked with raising Gurkha Signals Units for the Division.
In November 1948, eight Royal Signals British soldiers, together with seven Gurkha soldiers who had been transferred from the Gurkha infantry Battalions, were brought together to form the nucleus of an administrative and signals trade training team. In 1949 the first Gurkha Signals units to be formed were the Gurkha Signals Training Wing and X Independent Brigade Signal Squadron. By August 1950 the Gurkha Independent Brigade Signal Squadron had been formed and in December of that year, under the command of Major L H M Gregory, moved to Kuala Lipis in the Pahang State of Malaya to take over the responsibility for the communications of 48 Gurkha infantry Brigade - this was the Regiment's first operational task.
By 1953 communications for all Gurkha infantry Brigades were provided by the Gurkha Signal Units.
On 23 September 1954 The Royal Signals Cap Badge was replaced by the present badge at a parade in Lamjung Camp, Kuala Lumpur. This date has since been celebrated as the Regimental Birthday.
In 1955 an Army Order was published proclaiming that the Regiment would henceforth be known as the Gurkha Signals and, as such, would form a Regiment of the Brigade of Gurkhas. Also in that year the Regiment's Pipes and Drums were raised and a year later were presented with their Pipe Banner at a ceremony in St James' Palace by Her Royal Highness, the late Princess Royal.
In 1974 the Regiment celebrated its 25th anniversary and three years later, in her Jubilee year, Her Majesty The Queen granted her Royal Title of Queen's Gurkha Signals. The retitling parade was held in September 1977 at the Gun Club Hill Barracks, in Kowloon.
Members of the Regiment have operated alongside the British Gurkha and Allied troops during the Malayan Emergency, the Brunei Revolt, Hong Kong Riot in 1967, the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, the Falklands War in 1982 and the Gulf War in 1991. They have also taken part in operations in Angola, Rwanda, Turkey and Bosnia.
Queen's Gurkha Signals in the Falklands.