The Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry (DCLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army which existed from 1881 to 1959.
The regiment was created on 1 July 1881 by the merger of the 32nd (Cornwall Light Infantry) Regiment of Foot and the 46th (South Devonshire) Regiment of Foot. The DCLI also incorporated the militia and rifle volunteers of Cornwall. The regimental home from 1859, the time of the Militia and Volunteers, was at Bodmin’s Victoria Barracks.
In 1959 the regiment merged with the Somerset Light Infantry (Prince Albert’s) to form the Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry (SCLI). This in turn was amalgamated with the Durham Light Infantry (DLI), the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry (KSLI) and the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI) to form a new regiment, The Light Infantry, in 1968. In 2007 The Light Infantry was in turn merged with the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment, the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment and the Royal Green Jackets to form The Rifles, which continues the lineage of the DCLI to this day.