Cap Badge - Inns of Court, Officers Training Corps As a volunteer regiment the Inns of Court can trace its lineage back to the 16th century, to the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The 'Inns' are Lincoln's Inn, Gray's Inn, the Inner Temple and the Middle Temple which represent the hub of the legal profession in Great Britain, acting as a centre for legal education and controlling admission to the Bar. They set the standard for legal practice in Britain. They owe their nickname, The Devil's Own, to King George III, that being his quip when told that the regiment consisted entirely of lawyers! Naturally the regiment changed through the years, both in function and title but in 1908 it became part of the Territorial Army and took on the role of an officer training corps which it maintained throughout the First World War. In 1908 the Territorial Force was formed and the regiment became the 27th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Inns of Court); but almost immediately it was changed into an officer training unit under the designation the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps (I.C.O.T.C.) with responsibility for training literally thousands of British officers prior to their deployment on the front line. The regiment had an establishment of one squadron of cavalry (I.C.O.T.C. Squadron, formerly "B" (M.I.) Company) and three companies of infantry. In 1914, the Inns of Court Reserve Corps was formed, consisting of former members of the Inns of Court Rifle Volunteers; and in 1917 the 1st Cadet Battalion, Inns of Court was formed to train boys under military age.