| By Author | [ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z | Other Symbols ] |
| By Title | [ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z | Other Symbols ] |
| By Language |
|
Download this book: [ ASCII ] Look for this book on Amazon Tweet |
Title: Historical Record of the Thirty-ninth, or the Dorsetshire Regiment of Foot: containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1702, and of its subsequent services to 1853.
Author: Cannon, Richard
Language: English
As this book started as an ASCII text book there are no pictures available.
*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Historical Record of the Thirty-ninth, or the Dorsetshire Regiment of Foot: containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1702, and of its subsequent services to 1853." ***
This book is indexed by ISYS Web Indexing system to allow the reader find any word or number within the document.
THIRTY-NINTH, OR THE DORSETSHIRE REGIMENT OF FOOT: CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF
THE FORMATION OF THE REGIMENT IN 1702, AND OF ITS SUBSEQUENT SERVICES TO
1853. ***
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have been
placed at the end of each major section.
The three changes noted in the ERRATA have been applied to the etext.
The eleven other occurrences of ‘Kurnool’ have not been changed.
A superscript is denoted by ^x or ^{xx}, for example M^c or Esq^{re}.
Basic fractions are displayed as ½ ⅓ ¼ etc; other fractions are shown
in the form a/b, for example 1/10 or 1/25.
The tables in this book are best viewed using a monospace font.
Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book.
[Illustration:
BY COMMAND OF His late Majesty WILLIAM THE IV^{TH}.
_and under the Patronage of_
Her Majesty the Queen.
HISTORICAL RECORDS,
_OF THE_
British Army
_Comprising the_
_History of every Regiment_
_IN HER MAJESTY’S SERVICE_.
_By Richard Cannon Esq^{re}._
_Adjutant-General’s Office, Horse Guards._
London.
_Printed by Authority._]
HISTORICAL RECORD
OF
THE THIRTY-NINTH,
OR THE
DORSETSHIRE REGIMENT OF FOOT:
CONTAINING
AN ACCOUNT OF THE FORMATION OF THE REGIMENT
In 1702,
AND OF ITS SUBSEQUENT SERVICES
To 1853.
COMPILED BY
RICHARD CANNON, ESQ.,
ADJUTANT GENERAL’S OFFICE, HORSE GUARDS.
Illustrated with Plates.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY GEORGE E. EYRE AND WILLIAM SPOTTISWOODE,
PRINTERS TO THE QUEEN’S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY,
FOR HER MAJESTY’S STATIONERY OFFICE.
PUBLISHED BY PARKER, FURNIVALL, AND PARKER,
MILITARY LIBRARY,
30, CHARING CROSS.
1853.
GENERAL ORDERS
_HORSE GUARDS_,
_1st January, 1836_.
His Majesty has been pleased to command that, with the view of
doing the fullest justice to Regiments, as well as to Individuals
who have distinguished themselves by their bravery in Action with
the Enemy, an Account of the Services of every Regiment in the
British Army shall be published under the superintendence and
direction of the Adjutant-General; and that this Account shall
contain the following particulars, viz.:--
---- The Period and Circumstances of the Original Formation of
the Regiment; The Stations at which it has been from time to time
employed; The Battles, Sieges, and other Military Operations
in which it has been engaged, particularly specifying any
Achievement it may have performed, and the Colours, Trophies,
&c., it may have captured from the Enemy.
---- The Names of the Officers, and the number of
Non-Commissioned Officers and Privates Killed or Wounded by the
Enemy, specifying the Place and Date of the Action.
---- The Names of those Officers who, in consideration of their
Gallant Services and Meritorious Conduct in Engagements with the
Enemy, have been distinguished with Titles, Medals, or other
Marks of His Majesty’s gracious favour.
---- The Names of all such Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers,
and Privates, as may have specially signalized themselves in
Action.
And,
---- The Badges and Devices which the Regiment may have been
permitted to bear, and the Causes on account of which such Badges
or Devices, or any other Marks of Distinction, have been granted.
By Command of the Right Honorable
GENERAL LORD HILL,
_Commanding-in-Chief_.
JOHN MACDONALD,
_Adjutant-General_.
PREFACE.
The character and credit of the British Army must chiefly depend
upon the zeal and ardour by which all who enter into its service
are animated, and consequently it is of the highest importance that
any measure calculated to excite the spirit of emulation, by which
alone great and gallant actions are achieved, should be adopted.
Nothing can more fully tend to the accomplishment of this desirable
object than a full display of the noble deeds with which the
Military History of our country abounds. To hold forth these bright
examples to the imitation of the youthful soldier, and thus to
incite him to emulate the meritorious conduct of those who have
preceded him in their honorable career, are among the motives that
have given rise to the present publication.
The operations of the British Troops are, indeed, announced in the
“London Gazette,” from whence they are transferred into the public
prints: the achievements of our armies are thus made known at the
time of their occurrence, and receive the tribute of praise and
admiration to which they are entitled. On extraordinary occasions,
the Houses of Parliament have been in the habit of conferring on
the Commanders, and the Officers and Troops acting under their
orders, expressions of approbation and of thanks for their skill
and bravery; and these testimonials, confirmed by the high honour
of their Sovereign’s approbation, constitute the reward which the
soldier most highly prizes.
It has not, however, until late years, been the practice (which
appears to have long prevailed in some of the Continental armies)
for British Regiments to keep regular records of their services
and achievements. Hence some difficulty has been experienced in
obtaining, particularly from the old Regiments, an authentic
account of their origin and subsequent services.
This defect will now be remedied, in consequence of His Majesty
having been pleased to command that every Regiment shall, in
future, keep a full and ample record of its services at home and
abroad.
From the materials thus collected, the country will henceforth
derive information as to the difficulties and privations which
chequer the career of those who embrace the military profession. In
Great Britain, where so large a number of persons are devoted to
the active concerns of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, and
where these pursuits have, for so long a period, been undisturbed
by the _presence of war_, which few other countries have escaped,
comparatively little is known of the vicissitudes of active service
and of the casualties of climate, to which, even during peace, the
British Troops are exposed in every part of the globe, with little
or no interval of repose.
In their tranquil enjoyment of the blessings which the country
derives from the industry and the enterprise of the agriculturist
and the trader, its happy inhabitants may be supposed not often to
reflect on the perilous duties of the soldier and the sailor,--on
their sufferings,--and on the sacrifice of valuable life, by which
so many national benefits are obtained and preserved.
The conduct of the British Troops, their valour, and endurance,
have shone conspicuously under great and trying difficulties; and
their character has been established in Continental warfare by the
irresistible spirit with which they have effected debarkations in
spite of the most formidable opposition, and by the gallantry and
steadiness with which they have maintained their advantages against
superior numbers.
In the Official Reports made by the respective Commanders, ample
justice has generally been done to the gallant exertions of the
Corps employed; but the details of their services and of acts of
individual bravery can only be fully given in the Annals of the
various Regiments.
These Records are now preparing for publication, under His
Majesty’s special authority, by Mr. RICHARD CANNON, Principal Clerk
of the Adjutant-General’s Office; and while the perusal of them
cannot fail to be useful and interesting to military men of every
rank, it is considered that they will also afford entertainment and
information to the general reader, particularly to those who may
have served in the Army, or who have relatives in the Service.
There exists in the breasts of most of those who have served, or
are serving, in the Army, an _Esprit de Corps_--an attachment
to everything belonging to their Regiment; to such persons a
narrative of the services of their own Corps cannot fail to prove
interesting. Authentic accounts of the actions of the great, the
valiant, the loyal, have always been of paramount interest with
a brave and civilized people. Great Britain has produced a race
of heroes who, in moments of danger and terror, have stood “firm
as the rocks of their native shore:” and when half the world has
been arrayed against them, they have fought the battles of their
Country with unshaken fortitude. It is presumed that a record of
achievements in war,--victories so complete and surprising, gained
by our countrymen, our brothers, our fellow-citizens in arms,--a
record which revives the memory of the brave, and brings their
gallant deeds before us,--will certainly prove acceptable to the
public.
Biographical Memoirs of the Colonels and other distinguished
Officers will be introduced in the Records of their respective
Regiments, and the Honorary Distinctions which have, from time to
time, been conferred upon each Regiment, as testifying the value
and importance of its services, will be faithfully set forth.
As a convenient mode of Publication, the Record of each Regiment
will be printed in a distinct number, so that when the whole shall
be completed the Parts may be bound up in numerical succession.
INTRODUCTION
TO
THE INFANTRY.
The natives of Britain have, at all periods, been celebrated for
innate courage and unshaken firmness, and the national superiority
of the British troops over those of other countries has been
evinced in the midst of the most imminent perils. History contains
so many proofs of extraordinary acts of bravery, that no doubts can
be raised upon the facts which are recorded. It must therefore be
admitted, that the distinguishing feature of the British soldier is
INTREPIDITY. This quality was evinced by the inhabitants of England
when their country was invaded by Julius Cæsar with a Roman army,
on which occasion the undaunted Britons rushed into the sea to
attack the Roman soldiers as they descended from their ships; and,
although their discipline and arms were inferior to those of their
adversaries, yet their fierce and dauntless bearing intimidated
the flower of the Roman troops, including Cæsar’s favourite tenth
legion. Their arms consisted of spears, short swords, and other
weapons of rude construction. They had chariots, to the axles of
which were fastened sharp pieces of iron resembling scythe-blades,
and infantry in long chariots resembling waggons, who alighted
and fought on foot, and for change of ground, pursuit or retreat,
sprang into the chariot and drove off with the speed of cavalry.
These inventions were, however, unavailing against Cæsar’s
legions: in the course of time a military system, with discipline
and subordination, was introduced, and British courage, being
thus regulated, was exerted to the greatest advantage; a full
development of the national character followed, and it shone forth
in all its native brilliancy.
The military force of the Anglo-Saxons consisted principally of
infantry: Thanes, and other men of property, however, fought on
horseback. The infantry were of two classes, heavy and light. The
former carried large shields armed with spikes, long broad swords
and spears; and the latter were armed with swords or spears only.
They had also men armed with clubs, others with battle-axes and
javelins.
The feudal troops established by William the Conqueror consisted
(as already stated in the Introduction to the Cavalry) almost
entirely of horse: but when the warlike barons and knights, with
their trains of tenants and vassals, took the field, a proportion
of men appeared on foot, and, although these were of inferior
degree, they proved stout-hearted Britons of stanch fidelity. When
stipendiary troops were employed, infantry always constituted a
considerable portion of the military force; and this _arme_ has
since acquired, in every quarter of the globe, a celebrity never
exceeded by the armies of any nation at any period.
The weapons carried by the infantry, during the several reigns
succeeding the Conquest, were bows and arrows, half-pikes, lances,
halberds, various kinds of battle-axes, swords, and daggers. Armour
was worn on the head and body, and in course of time the practice
became general for military men to be so completely cased in steel,
that it was almost impossible to slay them.
The introduction of the use of gunpowder in the destructive
purposes of war, in the early part of the fourteenth
century, produced a change in the arms and equipment of the
infantry-soldier. Bows and arrows gave place to various kinds of
fire-arms, but British archers continued formidable adversaries;
and, owing to the inconvenient construction and imperfect bore of
the fire-arms when first introduced, a body of men, well trained
in the use of the bow from their youth, was considered a valuable
acquisition to every army, even as late as the sixteenth century.
During a great part of the reign of Queen Elizabeth each company
of infantry usually consisted of men armed five different ways; in
every hundred men forty were “_men-at-arms_,” and sixty “_shot_;”
the “men-at-arms” were ten halberdiers, or battle-axe men, and
thirty pikemen; and the “shot” were twenty archers, twenty
musketeers, and twenty harquebusiers, and each man carried, besides
his principal weapon, a sword and dagger.
Companies of infantry varied at this period in numbers from 150
to 300 men; each company had a colour or ensign, and the mode of
formation recommended by an English military writer (Sir John
Smithe) in 1590 was; the colour in the centre of the company
guarded by the halberdiers; the pikemen in equal proportions, on
each flank of the halberdiers; half the musketeers on each flank
of the pikes; half the archers on each flank of the musketeers,
and the harquebusiers (whose arms were much lighter than the
muskets then in use) in equal proportions on each flank of the
company for skirmishing.[1] It was customary to unite a number
of companies into one body, called a REGIMENT, which frequently
amounted to three thousand men; but each company continued to carry
a colour. Numerous improvements were eventually introduced in the
construction of fire-arms, and, it having been found impossible to
make armour proof against the muskets then in use (which carried
a very heavy ball) without its being too weighty for the soldier,
armour was gradually laid aside by the infantry in the seventeenth
century: bows and arrows also fell into disuse, and the infantry
were reduced to two classes, viz.: _musketeers_, armed with
matchlock muskets, swords, and daggers; and _pikemen_, armed with
pikes from fourteen to eighteen feet long, and swords.
In the early part of the seventeenth century Gustavus Adolphus,
King of Sweden, reduced the strength of regiments to 1000 men. He
caused the gunpowder, which had heretofore been carried in flasks,
or in small wooden bandoliers, each containing a charge, to be
made up into cartridges, and carried in pouches; and he formed
each regiment into two wings of musketeers, and a centre division
of Pikemen. He also adopted the practice of forming four regiments
into a brigade; and the number of colours was afterwards reduced to
three in each regiment. He formed his columns so compactly that his
infantry could resist the charge of the celebrated Polish horsemen
and Austrian cuirassiers; and his armies became the admiration of
other nations. His mode of formation was copied by the English,
French, and other European states; but so great was the prejudice
in favour of ancient customs, that all his improvements were not
adopted until near a century afterwards.
In 1664 King Charles II. raised a corps for sea-service, styled
the Admiral’s regiment. In 1678 each company of 100 men usually
consisted of 30 pikemen, 60 musketeers, and 10 men armed with light
firelocks. In this year the King added a company of men armed with
hand grenades to each of the old British regiments, which was
designated the “grenadier company.” Daggers were so contrived as to
fit in the muzzles of the muskets, and bayonets, similar to those
at present in use, were adopted about twenty years afterwards.
An Ordnance regiment was raised in 1685, by order of King James
II., to guard the artillery, and was designated the Royal Fusiliers
(now 7th Foot). This corps, and the companies of grenadiers, did
not carry pikes.
King William III. incorporated the Admiral’s regiment in the second
Foot Guards, and raised two Marine regiments for sea-service.
During the war in this reign, each company of infantry (excepting
the fusiliers and grenadiers) consisted of 14 pikemen and 46
musketeers; the captains carried pikes; lieutenants, partisans;
ensigns, half-pikes; and serjeants, halberds. After the peace in
1697 the Marine regiments were disbanded, but were again formed on
the breaking out of the war in 1702.[2]
During the reign of Queen Anne the pikes were laid aside, and every
infantry soldier was armed with a musket, bayonet, and sword; the
grenadiers ceased, about the same period, to carry hand grenades;
and the regiments were directed to lay aside their third colour:
the corps of Royal Artillery was first added to the Army in this
reign.
About the year 1745, the men of the battalion companies of infantry
ceased to carry swords; during the reign of George II. light
companies were added to infantry regiments; and in 1764 a Board of
General Officers recommended that the grenadiers should lay aside
their swords, as that weapon had never been used during the Seven
Years’ War. Since that period the arms of the infantry soldier have
been limited to the musket and bayonet.
The arms and equipment of the British Troops have seldom differed
materially, since the Conquest, from those of other European
states; and in some respects the arming has, at certain periods,
been allowed to be inferior to that of the nations with whom they
have had to contend; yet, under this disadvantage, the bravery and
superiority of the British infantry have been evinced on very many
and most trying occasions, and splendid victories have been gained
over very superior numbers.
Great Britain has produced a race of lion-like champions who have
dared to confront a host of foes, and have proved themselves
valiant with any arms. At _Crecy_, King Edward III., at the head
of about 30,000 men, defeated, on the 26th of August, 1346, Philip
King of France, whose army is said to have amounted to 100,000
men; here British valour encountered veterans of renown:--the King
of Bohemia, the King of Majorca, and many princes and nobles were
slain, and the French army was routed and cut to pieces. Ten years
afterwards, Edward Prince of Wales, who was designated the Black
Prince, defeated at _Poictiers_, with 14,000 men, a French army of
60,000 horse, besides infantry, and took John I., King of France,
and his son, Philip, prisoners. On the 25th of October, 1415,
King Henry V., with an army of about 13,000 men, although greatly
exhausted by marches, privations, and sickness, defeated, at
_Agincourt_, the Constable of France, at the head of the flower of
the French nobility and an army said to amount to 60,000 men, and
gained a complete victory.
During the seventy years’ war between the United Provinces of the
Netherlands and the Spanish monarchy, which commenced in 1578 and
terminated in 1648, the British infantry in the service of the
States-General were celebrated for their unconquerable spirit and
firmness;[3] and in the thirty years’ war between the Protestant
Princes and the Emperor of Germany, the British Troops in the
service of Sweden and other states were celebrated for deeds of
heroism.[4] In the wars of Queen Anne, the fame of the British
army under the great MARLBOROUGH was spread throughout the world;
and if we glance at the achievements performed within the memory
of persons now living, there is abundant proof that the Britons
of the present age are not inferior to their ancestors in the
qualities which constitute good soldiers. Witness the deeds of
the brave men, of whom there are many now surviving, who fought in
Egypt in 1801, under the brave Abercromby, and compelled the French
army, which had been vainly styled _Invincible_, to evacuate that
country; also the services of the gallant Troops during the arduous
campaigns in the Peninsula, under the immortal WELLINGTON; and
the determined stand made by the British Army at Waterloo, where
Napoleon Bonaparte, who had long been the inveterate enemy of Great
Britain, and had sought and planned her destruction by every means
he could devise, was compelled to leave his vanquished legions to
their fate, and to place himself at the disposal of the British
Government. These achievements, with others of recent dates, in the
distant climes of India, prove that the same valour and constancy
which glowed in the breasts of the heroes of Crecy, Poictiers,
Agincourt, Blenheim, and Ramilies, continue to animate the Britons
of the nineteenth century.
The British Soldier is distinguished for a robust and muscular
frame,--intrepidity which no danger can appal,--unconquerable
spirit and resolution,--patience in fatigue and privation, and
cheerful obedience to his superiors. These qualities, united with
an excellent system of order and discipline to regulate and give
a skilful direction to the energies and adventurous spirit of
the hero, and a wise selection of officers of superior talent to
command, whose presence inspires confidence,--have been the leading
causes of the splendid victories gained by the British arms.[5]
The fame of the deeds of the past and present generations in the
various battle-fields where the robust sons of Albion have fought
and conquered, surrounds the British arms with a halo of glory;
these achievements will live in the page of history to the end of
time.
The records of the several regiments will be found to contain a
detail of facts of an interesting character, connected with the
hardships, sufferings, and gallant exploits of British soldiers in
the various parts of the world where the calls of their Country
and the commands of their Sovereign have required them to proceed
in the execution of their duty, whether in active continental
operations, or in maintaining colonial territories in distant and
unfavourable climes.
The superiority of the British infantry has been pre-eminently set
forth in the wars of six centuries, and admitted by the greatest
commanders which Europe has produced. The formations and movements
of this _arme_, as at present practised, while they are adapted
to every species of warfare, and to all probable situations
and circumstances of service, are calculated to show forth the
brilliancy of military tactics calculated upon mathematical and
scientific principles. Although the movements and evolutions have
been copied from the continental armies, yet various improvements
have from time to time been introduced, to ensure that simplicity
and celerity by which the superiority of the national military
character is maintained. The rank and influence which Great Britain
has attained among the nations of the world, have in a great
measure been purchased by the valour of the Army, and to persons
who have the welfare of their country at heart, the records of the
several regiments cannot fail to prove interesting.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] A company of 200 men would appear thus:--
__|
| |
|__|
|
20 20 20 30 2|0 30 20 20 20
|
Harquebuses. Muskets. Halberds. Muskets. Harquebuses.
Archers. Pikes. Pikes. Archers.
The musket carried a ball which weighed 1/10th of a pound; and the
harquebus a ball which weighed 1/25th of a pound.
[2] The 30th, 31st, and 32nd Regiments were formed as Marine corps
in 1702, and were employed as such during the wars in the reign
of Queen Anne. The Marine corps were embarked in the Fleet under
Admiral Sir George Rooke, and were at the taking of Gibraltar, and
in its subsequent defence in 1704; they were afterwards employed at
the siege of Barcelona in 1705.
[3] The brave Sir Roger Williams, in his Discourse on War, printed
in 1590, observes:--“I persuade myself ten thousand of our nation
would beat thirty thousand of theirs (the Spaniards) out of the
field, let them be chosen where they list.” Yet at this time the
Spanish infantry was allowed to be the best disciplined in Europe.
For instances of valour displayed by the British Infantry during
the seventy Years’ War, see the Historical Record of the Third
Foot, or Buffs.
[4] _Vide_ the Historical Record of the First, or Royal Regiment of
Foot.
[5] “Under the blessing of Divine Providence, His Majesty ascribes
the successes which have attended the exertions of his troops in
Egypt to that determined bravery which is inherent in Britons; but
His Majesty desires it may be most solemnly and forcibly impressed
on the consideration of every part of the army, that it has been a
strict observance of order, discipline, and military system, which
has given the full energy to the native valour of the troops, and
has enabled them proudly to assert the superiority of the national
military character, in situations uncommonly arduous, and under
circumstances of peculiar difficulty.”--_General Orders in 1801._
In the General Orders issued by Lieut.-General Sir John Hope
(afterwards Lord Hopetoun), congratulating the army upon the
successful result of the Battle of Corunna, on the 16th of January
1809, it is stated:--“On no occasion has the undaunted valour of
British troops ever been more manifest. At the termination of a
severe and harassing march, rendered necessary by the superiority
which the enemy had acquired, and which had materially impaired
the efficiency of the troops, many disadvantages were to be
encountered. These have all been surmounted by the conduct of the
troops themselves: and the enemy has been taught, that whatever
advantages of position or of numbers he may possess, there is
inherent in the British officers and soldiers a bravery that knows
not how to yield,--that no circumstances can appal,--and that will
ensure victory, when it is to be obtained by the exertion of any
human means.”
HISTORICAL RECORD
OF
THE THIRTY-NINTH,
OR THE
DORSETSHIRE REGIMENT OF FOOT:
CONTAINING
AN ACCOUNT OF THE FORMATION OF THE REGIMENT
In 1702,
AND OF ITS SUBSEQUENT SERVICES
To 1853.
COMPILED BY
RICHARD CANNON, ESQ.,
ADJUTANT GENERAL’S OFFICE, HORSE GUARDS.
Illustrated with Plates.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY GEORGE E. EYRE AND WILLIAM SPOTTISWOODE,
PRINTERS TO THE QUEEN’S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY,
FOR HER MAJESTY’S STATIONERY OFFICE.
PUBLISHED BY PARKER, FURNIVALL, AND PARKER,
MILITARY LIBRARY,
30, CHARING CROSS.
1853.
ERRATA.
Page 86, line 30,--_for_ “Thansi,” _read_ “Jhansi.”
Do. line 34,--_for_ “Kurnool,” _read_ “Kurnaul.”
Page 94, line 24,--_for_ “Captain Charles Campbell (Major of Brigade)”
_read_ “Captain Marmaduke George Nixon (Major of Brigade).”
THE THIRTY-NINTH REGIMENT
BEARS ON THE REGIMENTAL COLOUR AND APPOINTMENTS
THE MOTTO “PRIMUS IN INDIS,”
TO DENOTE ITS HAVING BEEN THE FIRST KING’S REGIMENT
EMPLOYED IN INDIA;
AND THE WORD “PLASSEY,”
IN COMMEMORATION OF ITS GALLANTRY IN THAT
BATTLE, ON THE 23rd OF JUNE, 1757;
THE WORD, “GIBRALTAR,”
WITH THE DEVICE OF THE “CASTLE AND KEY,”
AND THE MOTTO, “MONTIS INSIGNIA CALPÉ,”
IN TESTIMONY OF ITS SERVICES DURING THE DEFENCE OF GIBRALTAR,
FROM 1779 TO 1783;
THE WORDS “ALBUHERA,” “VITTORIA,”
“PYRENEES,” “NIVELLE,” “NIVE,”
“ORTHES,” AND “PENINSULA,”
IN COMMEMORATION OF ITS GALLANTRY IN THE
SEVERAL ACTIONS FOUGHT DURING THE WAR
IN PORTUGAL, SPAIN, AND THE SOUTH
OF FRANCE, FROM 1809 TO 1814;
AND
THE WORD “MAHARAJPORE,”
IN TESTIMONY OF ITS DISTINGUISHED CONDUCT IN
THAT BATTLE, ON THE 29th OF DECEMBER,
1843.
THE
THIRTY-NINTH,
OR
THE DORSETSHIRE REGIMENT OF FOOT.
CONTENTS
OF THE
HISTORICAL RECORD.
Year. Page
1702. INTRODUCTION 1
” Formation of the regiment 2
” Colonel Richard Coote appointed its Colonel _ib._
” War declared against France and Spain _ib._
1703. Colonel Nicholas Sankey appointed Colonel of the
regiment _ib._
1704. Siege of _Gibraltar_ _ib._
1705. Capture of _Barcelona_ 3
1706. Occupation of Madrid by the Allied Troops _ib._
1707. Battle of _Almanza_ _ib._
” The THIRTY-NINTH and other regiments embarked for
Spain _ib._
1708. Operations of the campaign 4
1709. Action at the passage of the _Caya_ 5
1710. Storming of _Xeres de los Cabaleros_ 6
1711. Passage of the Guadiana at Jerumenha 7
” The regiment engaged in the capture of several towns in
Spain _ib._
1712. Suspension of hostilities proclaimed _ib._
1713. Treaty of Utrecht signed 8
” The regiment proceeded to Gibraltar, and afterwards to
Minorca _ib._
1714 }
to } Stationed at Minorca _ib._
1719. }
” Brigadier-General Thomas Ferrers appointed Colonel of
the regiment _ib._
” Embarked for Ireland _ib._
1720 }
and } Stationed in Ireland 8
1721. }
1722. Colonel William Newton appointed Colonel of the
regiment _ib._
1723 }
to } The regiment remained in Ireland 9
1725. }
1726. _Gibraltar_ besieged by the Spaniards _ib._
” The regiment embarked for that fortress _ib._
1727. Successful defence made by the garrison of _Gibraltar_ 10
1729. Peace concluded between Great Britain, France, and
Spain _ib._
” The regiment proceeded from Gibraltar to Jamaica 11
1730. Colonel John Cope appointed Colonel of the regiment _ib._
1732. The regiment returned from Jamaica to Ireland _ib._
” Colonel Thomas Wentworth appointed Colonel of the
regiment _ib._
1733 }
to } The regiment stationed in Ireland _ib._
1736. }
1737. Colonel John Campbell, afterwards Duke of Argyle,
appointed Colonel of the regiment _ib._
1738. Colonel Richard Onslow appointed Colonel of the
regiment _ib._
1739. Lieut.-Colonel Robert Dalway appointed Colonel of the
regiment _ib._
” War declared against Spain _ib._
1740. Lieut.-Colonel Samuel Walter Whitshed appointed Colonel
of the regiment _ib._
1741. War of the Austrian Succession 12
1742. Support rendered by the British to the Queen of
Hungary _ib._
1743. Colonel Edward Richbell appointed Colonel of the
regiment _ib._
” Battle of _Dettingen_ _ib._
1744. The regiment proceeded from Ireland to Great Britain _ib._
” War declared against France _ib._
1745. The regiment employed as Marines _ib._
1746. Arrival of Prince Charles Edward, eldest son of the
Pretender, in Scotland 13
” Battle of _Culloden_ _ib._
” Expedition against the coast of Brittany, of which the
THIRTY-NINTH formed part _ib._
” Affairs near _Port L’Orient_ _ib._
” Return of the expedition to England _ib._
1747 } The regiment again employed as Marines on board the
and } fleet _ib._
1748. }
” Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle concluded 14
1749 }
to } The regiment stationed in Ireland _ib._
1751. }
” Royal Warrant respecting the clothing, standards, and
colours of the army, and for regulating the number
and rank of regiments _ib._
1752. Colonel John Adlercron appointed Colonel of the
regiment _ib._
1754. The regiment proceeded from Ireland to the East Indies _ib._
1755. Stationed at Madras 14
1756. Aspect of affairs in India 15
” Part of the regiment selected to serve in Bengal under
Lieut.-Colonel Robert (afterwards Lord) Clive _ib._
” Defeat of Monickchund, the Governor of Calcutta, near
the Fort of _Budge-Budge_ 16
1757. Advance of the British towards _Calcutta_ _ib._
” Expedition against _Hoogly_ _ib._
” Expedition against _Bandell_ 17
” Action with the Nabob Surajee Dowlah near _Calcutta_ 18
” Treaty of peace concluded with the Nabob 19
” Renewal of hostilities _ib._
” Investment of _Chandernagore_ by the troops under
Lieut.-Colonel Clive _ib._
” Surrender of that place _ib._
” Capture of the fort of _Cutwah_ 20
” Battle of _Plassey_ 21
” The motto “_Primus in Indis_,” and the word “PLASSEY”
conferred by Royal authority on the regiment 23
” Support rendered to the Nabob by Mr. Law, the French
chief at Cossimbuzar _ib._
” Party despatched in pursuit of the French troops 24
” Manner in which the remainder of the regiment left at
Madras had been employed _ib._
” Expedition against _Nelloure_ _ib._
” Relief of _Trichinopoly_ _ib._
” Fortress of _Wandewash_ invested by the British 25
” March of the troops to Conjeveram _ib._
1758. Return of the regiment to Ireland _ib._
1759. Detachment of the regiment employed in Germany _ib._
1760 }
to } The regiment stationed in Ireland 26
1763. }
” Treaty of peace concluded at Paris _ib._
1766. Colonel Robert Boyd appointed Colonel of the regiment _ib._
1767 }
and } The regiment employed in Ireland _ib._
1768. }
1769. Embarked for Gibraltar _ib._
1770 }
to } Formed part of the garrison of that fortress _ib._
1779. }
” War with Spain _ib._
” Siege of _Gibraltar_ 27
1780. Progress of the siege 29
1781. Successful _sortie_ of the garrison 30
1782. Renewed efforts of the enemy 32
” The combined forces of France and Spain defeated 35
1783. Termination of the siege 36
” Conclusion of peace _ib._
” The word “GIBRALTAR,” with the “_Castle and Key_,”
and the motto “_Montis Insignia Calpé_,” conferred
on the THIRTY-NINTH regiment 37
” The THIRTY-NINTH designated the EAST MIDDLESEX
regiment _ib._
” The regiment returned to England 38
1783 }
to } Stationed in South Britain 38
1789. }
” Proceeded to Ireland _ib._
1790 }
to } Stationed in Ireland _ib._
1792. }
1793. War of the French Revolution _ib._
” The regiment embarked for the West Indies _ib._
1794. Expedition against _Martinique_ _ib._
” Capture of _Martinique_, _St. Lucia_, and _Guadeloupe_ 39
” Major-General Nisbett Balfour appointed Colonel of the
regiment _ib._
” Gallant but unsuccessful defence of _Guadeloupe_
against the French 40
” Surrender of the garrison _ib._
” Escape of certain of the officers of the regiment, and
their arrival in Ireland 41
1795. The regiment recruited by drafts from several corps _ib._
” Again embarked for Barbadoes _ib._
1796. Capture of _Demerara_, _Essequibo_, and _Berbice_ _ib._
1796 }
to } The regiment stationed at Demerara 42
1800. }
” Proceeded to Surinam _ib._
1802. Peace of Amiens _ib._
” Evacuation of Surinam 43
” The regiment embarked for Barbadoes _ib._
” Proceeded to Antigua _ib._
1803. Embarked for England _ib._
” Renewal of the war with France _ib._
” A second battalion added to the regiment _ib._
1804. The first battalion stationed on the coast of Sussex 44
” The second battalion embarked for Guernsey _ib._
1805. The first battalion selected for service in the
Mediterranean _ib._
” The flank companies detached to Naples 45
1806. The flank companies proceeded to Sicily _ib._
” The flank companies returned to Malta 46
” The second battalion proceeded to Ireland _ib._
1807. Embarked for England _ib._
” The County title of the regiment changed from EAST
MIDDLESEX to DORSETSHIRE _ib._
1808. The flank companies of the first battalion proceeded
from Malta to Sicily _ib._
” The second battalion embarked for Guernsey _ib._
1809. The flank companies of the first battalion employed in
the capture of the islands of _Ischia_ and _Procida_ 47
” Attempted reduction of the _Castle of Scylla_ _ib._
” The second battalion joined the army in the Peninsula 48
1810. The battalion companies of the first battalion
proceeded from Malta to Sicily 49
” The second battalion present at the battle of _Busaco_ _ib._
” Pursuit of the French towards Santarem _ib._
” Investment of _Badajoz_ 50
” Battle of _Albuhera_ _ib._
1810. Received the Royal Authority to bear the word “ALBUHERA”
on the regimental colour and appointments 51
1811. Affair of _Arroyo dos Molinos_ _ib._
” The first battalion joined the army in the Peninsula 52
” The second battalion transferred all its effective men
to the first battalion _ib._
” Embarkation of the remainder of the second battalion
for England 53
1812. _Badajoz_ again invested _ib._
” Capture of the fortress _ib._
” Advance to Burgos _ib._
1813. Battle of _Vittoria_ 54
” Received the Royal authority to bear the word “VITTORIA”
on the regimental colour and appointments 55
” Actions in the Pyrenees 56
” Received the Royal authority to bear the word “PYRENEES”
on the regimental colour and appointments 57
” France entered by the Pass of _Maya_ _ib._
” Passage of the _Nivelle_ 58
” Received the Royal authority to bear the word “NIVELLE”
on the regimental colour and appointments _ib._
” Passage of the _Nive_ _ib._
” Received the royal authority to bear the word “NIVE” on
the regimental colour and appointments 59
1814. Affair at _Garris_ _ib._
” Gallantry of the first battalion particularly noticed
by the Marquis of Wellington 60
” Battle of _Orthes_ 61
” Received the Royal authority to bear the word “ORTHES”
on the regimental colour and appointments _ib._
” Battle of _Toulouse_ _ib._
” Termination of the Peninsular War 62
” Received the Royal authority to bear the word “PENINSULA”
on the regimental colour and appointments _ib._
” The first battalion proceeded to North America _ib._
” Expedition against the state of New York 63
” Operations on Lake Champlain _ib._
” Part of the first battalion employed as Marines 64
1815. The battalion returned to Chambly _ib._
” Embarked for England _ib._
” Proceeded to Ostend _ib._
” Joined the British army at Paris _ib._
” The second battalion disbanded _ib._
1816 } The regiment formed part of the “Army of Occupation”
to } in France 65
1818. }
” Embarked for Ireland _ib._
1819 }
to } Stationed in Ireland _ib._
1823. }
” Lieut.-General Sir George Airey, K.C.H., appointed
Colonel of the regiment _ib._
1824. The regiment stationed in Ireland 66
1825. Proceeded to Chatham for embarkation, by detachments,
for New South Wales _ib._
1826 }
to } Embarked as guard over convicts proceeding to New 67
1830. } South Wales
1830. Employed in the Bathurst district 68
1831. Presentation of new colours to the regiment 69
” Address of Lieut.-General Sir Ralph Darling on that
occasion 70
1832. Embarkation of the regiment for Madras 72
1833. Lieut.-General the Honorable Sir Robert William
O’Callaghan, K.C.B., appointed Colonel of the
regiment 73
1834. The regiment engaged in active field operations against
the Rajah of Coorg _ib._
” Submission of the Rajah 75
1835. The conduct of Brigadier-General Lindesay, C.B.,
commanding the force employed in that campaign,
honored by the Royal approval 77
” The Royal authority granted for resuming the motto
“_Primus in Indis_,” and the word “PLASSEY;” also the
device of the “_Castle and Key_,” in addition to the
word “GIBRALTAR.” 78
1836. Testimonial presented to Colonel Lindesay on his
departure for England 79
1837. A detachment of the regiment employed in Canara and
Malabar _ib._
” Return of the detachment to Bangalore 80
1838. Complimentary order on the regiment quitting Bangalore _ib._
” Arrived at Bellary 81
1839. Ordered on field service 82
” Advanced to Coodamoor _ib._
” Operations against the Fort of _Kurnool_ 83
” Affair at _Zorapore_, near Kurnool 84
” Return of the regiment to Bellary 85
1840. Arrival at Kamptee _ib._
” Lieut.-General Sir Frederick Philipse Robinson, G.C.B.,
appointed Colonel of the regiment 86
1841. The regiment ordered to march to Cawnpore _ib._
” Destination changed to Agra _ib._
1842. Ordered to proceed to Ferozepore _ib._
1843. Returned to Agra 87
” Presentation of new colours to the regiment _ib._
” Address of Lord Ellenborough, the Governor-General of
India, on that occasion _ib._
” The regiment formed part of the “Army of Exercise”
assembled at Agra 90
” Aspect of affairs in the Gwalior state 91
” Battle of _Maharajpore_ 92
” Received the Royal authority to bear the word
“MAHARAJPORE” on the regimental colour and
appointments 94
” Honors conferred on the officers and men _ib._
1844. Return of the regiment to Agra 96
1843. Gallant conduct of certain volunteers from the Thirteenth
to the THIRTY-NINTH regiment, at the storming of the
heights of Truckee 97
1846. Volunteering of the regiment to other corps in India 99
1847. Embarked for England 100
” Complimentary orders by the Commander-in-Chief in India
on the regiment quitting that country 101
1848. Removed from Portsmouth to Hull 102
” Proceeded to Preston, in Lancashire _ib._
1849. Stationed at Preston _ib._
1850. Removed to Ireland _ib._
1852. Lieut.-General George Burrell, C.B., appointed Colonel
of the regiment 103
1853. Major-General Richard Lluellyn, C.B., appointed Colonel
of the regiment 104
” CONCLUSION _ib._
SUCCESSION OF COLONELS OF THE THIRTY-NINTH REGIMENT.
Year. Page
1702. Richard Coote 105
1703. Nicholas Sankey _ib._
1719. Thomas Ferrers 106
1722. William Newton _ib._
1730. Sir John Cope, K.B. _ib._
1732. Thomas Wentworth 107
1737. John Campbell, afterwards Duke of Argyle _ib._
1738. Richard Onslow 108
1739. Robert Dalway _ib._
1740. Samuel Walter Whitshed 109
1743. Edward Richbell _ib._
1752. John Adlercron _ib._
1766. Sir Robert Boyd 110
1794. Nisbett Balfour _ib._
1823. Sir George Airey, K.C.H. 111
1833. The Honorable Sir Robert William O’Callaghan, G.C.B. 114
1840. Sir Frederick Philipse Robinson, G.C.B. 115
1852. George Burrell, C.B. 117
1853. Richard Lluellyn, C.B. _ib._
APPENDIX.
Page
Memoir of Colonel George Wilson, formerly Lieut.-Colonel
of the regiment 119
Memoir of Major-General, Sir Charles Bruce, K.C.B.,
formerly Lieut.-Colonel of the regiment 120
Memoir of Major-General, Sir Patrick Lindesay, K.C.B. and
K.C.H., formerly Lieut.-Colonel of the regiment 121
PLATES.
Page
Colours of the regiment _to face_ 1
Costume of the regiment 104
[Illustration: THIRTY-NINTH REGIMENT.
_For Cannon’s Military Records_]
HISTORICAL RECORD
OF
THE THIRTY-NINTH,
OR THE
DORSETSHIRE REGIMENT OF FOOT.
[Sidenote: 1700.]
[Sidenote: 1701.]
The long-expected decease of King Charles II. of Spain occurred on
the 1st of November 1700, and the circumstance of his bequeathing
his crown to Philip, Duke of Anjou, second son of the Dauphin of
France, involved the several Powers of Europe in a lengthened
contest, which has been designated the “_War of the Spanish
Succession_.” England would, probably, have abstained from becoming
a principal in the war, had not Louis XIV., upon the death of James
II. at St. Germains, on the 16th of September 1701, proclaimed
that monarch’s son, known as the Pretender, as King of England,
Scotland, and Ireland, which so aroused the feelings of the English
people as to lead the nation to support with ardour Charles,
Archduke of Austria, the second son of Leopold, Emperor of Germany,
in his efforts to obtain the throne of Spain, particularly as it
was considered that the anticipated union of the crowns of France
and Spain would be inimical to the “balance of power” in Europe.
[Sidenote: 1702.]
Active preparations for war commenced, and the THIRTY-NINTH was
one of the regiments raised at this period, and has been since
retained on the establishment of the army.[6] The regiment was
raised in Ireland by Colonel Richard Coote, under the authority of
a royal warrant dated the 13th of February 1702, and continued to
be stationed in that country for the five following years.
The sudden decease of King William III. on the 8th of March 1702,
did not retard the breaking out of hostilities, for his views were
carried into effect by his successor Queen Anne, who declared war
against France and Spain on the 4th of May following, and the Earl
of Marlborough was appointed to command the forces in Flanders,
with the rank of Captain-General.
[Sidenote: 1703.]
Colonel Nicholas Sankey was appointed to the colonelcy of the
regiment on the 17th of March 1703, in succession to Colonel
Richard Coote, deceased.
[Sidenote: 1704.]
_Gibraltar_, a name which, in subsequent years, is so gloriously
connected with the THIRTY-NINTH regiment,[7] was taken in July
1704 by the British and Dutch marines, aided by the seamen, under
Major-General the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt, and Admiral Sir George
Rooke. In October following, the French and Spaniards endeavoured
to retake the fortress, but after a siege of some months they
desisted from the attempt in March 1705.
[Sidenote: 1705.]
[Sidenote: 1706.]
While the army under the Duke of Marlborough was pursuing a
victorious career in Flanders and Germany, the troops which had
been employed in Portugal and Spain had likewise gained important
successes. In October 1705, the allied troops under the Earl of
Peterborough captured _Barcelona_, and that celebrated city was
successfully defended by them in April and May of the following
year. Madrid was taken possession of by the Earl of Galway in June
1706, and the fortunes of Charles III. appeared in the ascendant;
but the delay of that prince to avail himself of these advantages,
by marching at once to the capital of Spain, enabled Philip V. to
collect an army superior in numbers to the Allies, and Madrid was
again occupied by the enemy in August of the same year.
[Sidenote: 1707.]
On the 25th of April 1707, the allied forces under the Earl of
Galway were defeated by the Duke of Berwick at _Almanza_[8], which
materially changed the aspect of affairs in Spain.
Additional troops were shortly afterwards selected for embarkation
for Portugal, and the THIRTY-NINTH was one of the regiments
directed to proceed to that country.
Accordingly the Fifth, Twentieth, THIRTY-NINTH, and a newly raised
regiment commanded by Colonel Stanwix (since disbanded), having
been selected for this service, sailed from Cork on the 22nd of
May 1707, and landed at Lisbon on the 8th of June. This seasonable
reinforcement arriving soon after the defeat of the allied army
at Almanza, in the south-east of Spain, and at the moment when
the enemy, having captured Serpa and Moura in the Alemtejo, had
seized on the bridge of Olivenza in Portuguese Estremadura, and
menaced that important place with a siege, its presence revived the
drooping spirits of the Portuguese.
These four regiments being the only British troops in that part
of the country, were disembarked with every possible expedition,
and marched to the frontiers under the command of the Marquis
de Montandre, when the enemy immediately ceased to act on the
offensive, and retired. The four regiments having halted at
Estremos, a strong town of the Alemtejo, situated in an agreeable
tract on the Tarra, remained in this pleasant quarter during the
summer heats, and afterwards encamped in the fruitful valley of the
Caya, near Elvas, having detached parties on the flanks to prevent
the enemy making incursions into Portugal, in which service the
regiments were engaged until November, when they went into quarters
in the frontier towns of Portugal.
[Sidenote: 1708.]
In the spring of 1708 the regiment again took the field, and was
encamped at Fuente de Sapatores, between Elvas and Campo Mayor. The
British division was soon afterwards increased to six regiments,
by the arrival of the Thirteenth foot, and a newly raised regiment
(Paston’s) from England. The little army in the Alemtejo was
commanded by the Marquis de Fronteira, but the characteristic
inactivity of the Portuguese occasioned the services of the
THIRTY-NINTH to be limited to defensive operations. The regiment
was encamped in the autumn at Campo Mayor, and afterwards went into
cantonments.
[Sidenote: 1709.]
The regiment moved from its quarters in the spring of 1709, and
became engaged in active operations. It was first encamped near
Estremos, and proceeded from thence to Elvas on the 23rd of April
1709; the regiment was subsequently encamped with the army on
the banks of the _Caya_, where the Earl of Galway, who had been
removed from the army in Catalonia, appeared at the head of the
British division.
On the 7th of May, the French and Spaniards, commanded by the
Marquis de Bay, marched in the direction of Campo Mayor; when the
Portuguese generals, contrary to the Earl of Galway’s advice,
resolved to pass the _Caya_, and attack the enemy. The Portuguese
cavalry and artillery took the lead, and having passed the river
and gained the opposite heights, opened a sharp cannonade; but upon
the advance of their adversaries to charge, the squadrons faced
about and galloped from the field, leaving their cannon behind.
The British division, arriving at the moment, repulsed the enemy;
the leading brigade, consisting of the Thirteenth, Stanwix’s and
Galway’s regiments, commanded by Brigadier-General Thomas Pearce,
charging furiously, recaptured the Portuguese guns; but the
three regiments, pressing forward too far, were surrounded and
made prisoners, and with them Major-General Sankey, the Colonel
of the THIRTY-NINTH; and the Earl of Barrymore, together with
Brigadier-General Thomas Pearce, fell into the hands of the enemy.
At the same time the Fifth, Twentieth, THIRTY-NINTH, and Lord
Paston’s regiments, though deserted by the whole of the cavalry,
made a determined stand, bearing the brunt of the enemy’s
reiterated attacks with admirable firmness, until the Portuguese
infantry had retired; then moving to the rear in firm array, while
the balls flew thickly on every side, and the Earl of Galway’s
horse was shot under him, the enemy advanced in full career,
threatening the destruction of this little band; yet, with ranks
unbroken and steady tread, these undaunted English calmly retraced
their steps, exhibiting one of the noblest spectacles of war,
and occasionally punishing the temerity of their pursuers with a
cool and deliberate resolution, which laid a thousand Spaniards
dead upon the field, and impressed the enemy, and likewise the
Portuguese, with a sense of British courage and magnanimity. Thus
they effected their retreat, with the loss of only one hundred and
fifty men killed and wounded, and passed that night at Arronches.
The THIRTY-NINTH acquired great honour by its gallantry on this
occasion. The regiment was afterwards encamped at Elvas, was
subsequently in position on the banks of the Guadiana, and again
passed the winter in cantonments in the Alemtejo.
[Sidenote: 1710.]
The casualties of the preceding campaign having been replaced by
recruits from England, the regiment again took the field in the
spring of 1710, and was employed in the Alemtejo; but the army
was weak and unequal to any important undertaking, and the French
having obtained some success in the province of Tras os Montes,
occasioned a detachment to be sent thither. In the autumn the army
advanced across the Guadiana, and on the 4th of October arrived
at the rich plains of _Xeres de los Cabaleros_, on the river
Ardilla, in Spanish Estremadura. It was determined to attack this
place by storm on the following day, and the Fifth, Twentieth,
and THIRTY-NINTH regiments, having been selected to perform this
service under the command of Brigadier-General Stanwix, advanced
at four in the afternoon to attack the works near St. Catherine’s
gate by escalade. A few minutes after the regiments had commenced
the assault, the Governor sent proposals to surrender, which were
agreed to, and the garrison, consisting of seven hundred men,
became prisoners of war. The army afterwards retired to Portugal by
the mountains of Orlor, and went into quarters.
During this summer, the army on the other side of Spain gained two
victories--one at _Almanara_, and the other at _Saragossa_,--and
afterwards advanced to Madrid, when the most pressing instances
were made by King Charles III. and General Stanhope to induce
the army of Portugal to advance upon the Spanish capital; but
the Portuguese generals were unwilling to engage in so great an
undertaking.
[Sidenote: 1711.]
The THIRTY-NINTH, during the campaign of 1711, formed part of the
army which assembled at Olivenza in May, and having passed the
Guadiana by a pontoon bridge at Jerumenha, advanced against the
enemy, who took refuge under the cannon of Badajoz. The regiment
was afterwards engaged in the capture of several small towns, and
in levying contributions in Spanish Estremadura; but the summer
passed without any occurrence of importance, excepting a discovery
made by the Earl of Portmore, who commanded the British troops in
Portugal, of a clandestine treaty in progress between the crown of
Portugal and the enemy, in which the former had agreed to separate
from the Allies; to give an excuse for this, a mock battle was to
have been fought, in which the British troops were to have been
sacrificed. This treaty was broken off, but the British Government
soon afterwards entered into negotiations with France.
The claimant of the Spanish throne, Charles III., was in October
1711 elected Emperor of Germany by the title of Charles VI., his
brother Joseph having died at Vienna in the preceding April. This
circumstance materially affected the war, and inclined Great
Britain to agree to peace, for the consolidation of Spain with
the empire of Germany would have perilled the balance of power in
Europe as much as the anticipated union of the crowns of France and
Spain. The course of events had also shown, that a French, and not
an Austrian prince, was the choice of the Spanish nation.
[Sidenote: 1712.]
The regiment remained in Portugal, and during the summer of
1712 was encamped on the pleasant plains of the Tarra. In the
autumn a suspension of hostilities was proclaimed at the camp by
Major-General Pearce, and the regiment went into cantonments.
[Sidenote: 1713.]
On the 11th of April 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht was signed, and
by its provisions the fortress of _Gibraltar_ and the island of
_Minorca_, which had been taken by the English during the war, were
ceded to Great Britain. The THIRTY-NINTH proceeded in the first
instance to Gibraltar; but in the course of the year 1713, the
regiment was selected to form part of the garrison at Minorca.[9]
[Sidenote: 1719.]
Upon the decease of Lieut.-General Nicholas Sankey, in March 1719,
His Majesty King George I. appointed, on the 11th of that month,
Brigadier-General Thomas Ferrers to be Colonel of the THIRTY-NINTH
regiment.
The THIRTY-NINTH regiment remained at Minorca until the year 1719,
when it embarked for Ireland, in which country it was stationed for
some years.
[Sidenote: 1722.]
Colonel William Newton was appointed by King George I. to the
colonelcy of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 28th of September
1722, in succession to Brigadier-General Thomas Ferrers, removed to
the Seventeenth regiment of foot.
[Sidenote: 1726.]
Spain had relinquished its claim on _Gibraltar_ with reluctance;
and that country having resolved to engage in war with Great
Britain, a large army, under the command of the Count de las
Torres, was assembled in Andalusia towards the end of 1726, in
order to commence hostilities with the siege of this important
fortress, for which purpose the Spaniards had made very extensive
preparations.
The British Government resolved to send certain regiments to
reinforce the garrison of Gibraltar, and six men-of-war were also
fitted out at Portsmouth with all possible expedition. Admiral Sir
Charles Wager was appointed to command the fleet, on board of which
three regiments of infantry, Anstruther’s, Disney’s, and Newton’s
(Twenty-sixth, Twenty-ninth, and THIRTY-NINTH regiments), were
embarked. On the 24th of December 1726, Sir Charles Wager arrived
at Portsmouth, and shortly afterwards sailed for Gibraltar, but
was detained for some time at Spithead by the southerly winds. Two
other regiments of infantry, Middleton’s and Hayes’s (Twenty-fifth
and Thirty-fourth), were ordered to embark at Cork, for the purpose
of joining Sir Charles Wager, and of reinforcing the garrison of
Gibraltar.
[Sidenote: 1727.]
Admiral Sir Charles Wager arrived in the Bay of Gibraltar on
the 2nd of February 1727, after a voyage of fourteen days from
Portsmouth. In the previous month the Spanish troops, under
General Count de las Torres, had encamped before the fortress,
and the bringing up of cannon and mortars occupied several weeks.
In February they commenced constructing batteries before any
declaration of war had been made, and persisted in the work,
notwithstanding the remonstrances of the Lieut.-Governor, Colonel
Jasper Clayton.
The garrison opened its fire upon the besiegers towards the end of
February, and the reverberation of the thunder of the cannon and
mortars among the mountains of Andalusia, proclaimed the strenuous
efforts of the enemy, and the gallant defence made by the garrison.
The tremendous fire of the Spaniards produced little effect beyond
the bursting of many of their own cannon, and rendering others
useless. The siege was continued until thousands of the enemy had
perished, while very little loss was sustained by the garrison.[10]
In the early part of June the fire slackened; and shortly
afterwards hostilities ceased, in consequence of preliminary
articles for a treaty of peace having been agreed upon. Thus the
fortress of _Gibraltar_ was a second time preserved, and continued
to form one of the trophies of British prowess.
[Sidenote: 1729.]
Peace having been concluded between Great Britain, France, and
Spain, in November 1729, the regiment was ordered to proceed from
Gibraltar to Jamaica, and it embarked for that island in the
course of the year following.
[Sidenote: 1730.]
Colonel John Cope was appointed to the colonelcy of the
THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 10th of November 1730, in succession
to Brigadier-General William Newton, deceased.
[Sidenote: 1732.]
In the year 1732 the regiment returned from Jamaica to Ireland.
Colonel Thomas Wentworth was appointed to the colonelcy of the
THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 15th of December 1732, in succession
to Colonel John Cope, removed to the Fifth fusiliers.
The regiment continued to be stationed in Ireland during 1733 and
ten following years.
[Sidenote: 1737.]
Colonel John Campbell, afterwards Duke of Argyle, was appointed
to the colonelcy of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 27th of June
1737, in succession to Colonel Thomas Wentworth, who was removed to
the Twenty-fourth regiment.
[Sidenote: 1738.]
Upon Colonel Campbell being removed to the Twenty-first Royal
North British Fusiliers on the 1st of November 1738, King George
II. appointed Colonel Richard Onslow to the colonelcy of the
THIRTY-NINTH regiment from that date.
[Sidenote: 1739.]
Colonel Onslow was removed to the Eighth regiment of foot on
the 6th of June 1739, and the colonelcy of the THIRTY-NINTH was
conferred, from the same date, on Lieut.-Colonel Robert Dalway.
While the regiment was stationed in Ireland, war was proclaimed
on the 23rd of October 1739, by Great Britain against Spain, in
consequence of the Spanish depredations in the West Indies.
[Sidenote: 1740.]
Lieut.-Colonel Samuel Walter Whitshed was promoted from the Eighth
dragoons to the colonelcy of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 28th
of December 1740, in succession to Colonel Dalway, removed to the
Thirteenth dragoons.
While the war was being carried on between Great Britain and Spain,
the decease of Charles VI. Emperor of Germany, on the 20th of
October 1740, and the support given by France to Charles Albert,
Elector of Bavaria, in opposition to the claims of the Archduchess
Maria Theresa, the eldest daughter of the late Emperor, to her
father’s hereditary territories, occasioned the contest that is
designated the “War of the _Austrian Succession_.”
[Sidenote: 1742.]
The Elector of Bavaria was chosen Emperor of Germany at Frankfort
on the Maine, and crowned as Charles VII. on the 11th of February
1742; and in the summer of that year the King of England sent an
army of sixteen thousand men, under Field-Marshal the Earl of
Stair, to Flanders, in order to support the Queen of Hungary, Maria
Theresa.
[Sidenote: 1743.]
Colonel Edward Richbell was appointed to the colonelcy of the
THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 14th of June 1743, in succession to
Colonel Samuel Walter Whitshed, who was removed to the Twelfth
dragoons.
The battle of _Dettingen_ was fought on the 27th of June 1743,
and is remarkable as the last action in which a British monarch
was present; but King George II. at this period did not act as a
principal in the war, his troops having been furnished as allies to
the Austrians.
[Sidenote: 1744.]
On the 9th of March 1744, the THIRTY-NINTH regiment proceeded from
Ireland to Great Britain, and was employed on board the fleet, as
_Marines_, for two years.
War was at last declared by France against Great Britain on the
20th of March 1744, and a counter-declaration was made by the
latter country on the 29th of the same month; thus these two
powers, from auxiliaries, now became principals in the contest.
[Sidenote: 1745.]
In January 1745, the Emperor Charles VII. died at Munich, and
Francis, Grand Duke of Tuscany, consort of Maria Theresa, became
a candidate for the imperial crown; this circumstance changed the
aspect of affairs in Germany, and led to the re-establishment of
the House of Austria in the imperial dignity.
In July Prince Charles Edward, eldest son of the Pretender, arrived
in Scotland, and being joined by several clans, obtained some
advantages; but after advancing as far as Derby, he retreated
towards the north in December following.
[Sidenote: 1746.]
The hopes of the Pretender were annihilated by the battle of
_Culloden_ on the 16th of April 1746, and part of the military
force of the kingdom becoming available for other services, an
expedition proceeded against the coast of Brittany. Sixteen sail
of the line under Admiral Lestock, and eight frigates, conveying
five thousand troops (of which the THIRTY-NINTH formed part),
exclusive of Marines, under Lieut.-General St. Clair, sailed from
Plymouth on the 14th of September, in order to make an attack on
_Port L’Orient_, the principal station for the French East India
Company’s shipping and stores.
The troops landed in Quimperlay Bay on the morning of the 20th of
September, and marched on the following day in two columns against
_Plymeur_, which surrendered, and on the following day advanced to
within a mile of _Port L’Orient_. Some affairs took place between
the 21st and 26th of September, and the town was cannonaded; but
the enemy having assembled a formidable force, it was determined to
withdraw the troops, and they were accordingly re-embarked.
The British troops landed on the peninsula of _Quiberon_ on the
4th of October, and captured a fort mounting eighteen guns; and
after destroying all the forts and guns, together with those on the
islands of Houat and Hedic, the force was re-embarked, sailed for
England, and arrived at Spithead on the 26th of October.
[Sidenote: 1747.]
During the years 1747 and 1748, the regiment again served as
_Marines_ on board the fleet.
[Sidenote: 1748.]
On the 7th of October 1748, the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was
signed, which terminated the war, and the regiment was again
stationed in Ireland, where it remained upwards of five years.
[Sidenote: 1751.]
In the royal warrant, dated the 1st of July 1751, for establishing
and maintaining uniformity in the clothing, standards, and colours
of the army, and regulating the number and rank of regiments, the
facings of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment were directed to be _green_.
The first, or King’s colour, was the Great Union; the second, or
regimental colour, was of _green_ silk, with the Union in the upper
canton; in the centre of the colour the number of the rank of the
regiment, in gold Roman characters, within a wreath of roses and
thistles on the same stalk.
At this period the uniform of the regiment was cocked hats bound
with white lace; scarlet coats faced and turned up with green, and
ornamented with white lace; scarlet waistcoats and breeches; white
gaiters, white cravats, and buff belts.
[Sidenote: 1752.]
Colonel John Adlercron was appointed to the colonelcy of the
THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 14th of March 1752, in succession to
Brigadier-General Edward Richbell, removed to the Seventeenth foot.
[Sidenote: 1754.]
In the beginning of 1754, the THIRTY-NINTH proceeded from Ireland
to the East Indies, being the _first_ King’s regiment employed in
that country.
[Sidenote: 1756.]
The regiment remained at Madras until 1756, when events transpired
which occasioned a portion of the THIRTY-NINTH to be embarked for
Bengal. Upon the decease of Allaverdy Khan, in April 1756, Surajah
Dowlah was proclaimed Soubah, or Nabob of Bengal. During nearly
half a century the British at Calcutta had pursued a profitable
commerce in peace; but the new ruler soon evinced his hostility
to them, and taking the field shortly afterwards, with a numerous
army, invested Calcutta, which was captured by him on the 20th of
June. Then followed that awful sacrifice of life in the “_Black
Hole_,” a dungeon at Calcutta only eighteen feet square, into which
one hundred and forty-six of the prisoners were thrust, and on the
following morning only twenty-three survived,--their unfortunate
companions having perished from suffocation.
Dark was the cloud which hung over the affairs of the East India
Company at this period; self-preservation made it imperative to
adopt measures of retaliation, and it was a proud epoch in the
career of the THIRTY-NINTH when a portion of the regiment was
selected for service in Bengal, where the subsequent successes,
obtained under Lieut.-Colonel Clive, dispersed the prevailing
gloom, and paved the way for British ascendancy in India.
The intelligence of these events reached Madras in August 1756,
and it was determined to send a force to Bengal, of which
Colonel Adlercron, of the THIRTY-NINTH, claimed the command, but
Lieut.-Colonel Robert (afterwards Lord) Clive, was eventually
appointed to command the troops. The armament consisted of nine
hundred Europeans and fifteen hundred Sepoys: two hundred and fifty
of the Europeans belonged to the THIRTY-NINTH regiment, and the
remainder were the best men of the Company’s troops. The naval
squadron comprised the Kent of 64 guns, Cumberland of 70, Tiger of
60, Salisbury of 50, Bridgewater of 20, and a fire-ship; to which
were added, as transports, three of the Company’s ships, and two
smaller vessels. The fleet under Rear-Admirals Watson and Pocock
having the troops on board, sailed from Madras on the 16th of
October 1756, and anchored in the river Hoogly, off Fulta, twenty
miles from Calcutta, on the 15th of December, with the exception
of the Cumberland, in which Admiral Pocock had hoisted his flag,
which grounded on the sandheads off Saugur, but afterwards bore up
to Vizagapatam. The fleet left Fulta on the 27th of December, and
anchored in the afternoon of the day following at Mayapore, a town
ten miles below the fort of _Budge-Budge_.
It was determined to attack this fort on the following day, and it
was resolved to lay an ambuscade in order to intercept the retreat
of the garrison towards Calcutta. All the men of the THIRTY-NINTH
who had arrived, being one hundred and twenty, remained on board
the ships of war; but five hundred Europeans, with the Sepoys, and
two field-pieces, landed, and marched from Mayapore, at sunset,
under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Clive. Monickchund, the
Governor of Calcutta, attempted to make a stand near the fort of
_Budge-Budge_, but was defeated, and forced to return to Calcutta.
Meanwhile the Kent, having outsailed the other ships, anchored
before Budge-Budge, and alone silenced the cannon of that fort,
which was abandoned by the garrison during the night of the 30th of
December.
[Sidenote: 1757.]
The fleet left Budge-Budge on the 31st of December, and anchored,
on the 1st of January 1757, between the forts of Tanna and Aligur,
which were abandoned by the enemy without firing a shot. On the
following morning Lieut.-Colonel Clive, with the greater portion of
the Europeans and Sepoys, landed, and advanced towards _Calcutta_.
At nine o’clock the Kent and Tiger anchored before the British
fort, which, after a brisk cannonade, was deserted by the enemy,
and also the town shortly afterwards, when a detachment from the
ships under Captain Eyre Coote, of the THIRTY-NINTH, (afterwards
Lieut.-General Sir Eyre Coote, K.B.), hoisted the British colours
in the fort, as the troops under Lieut.-Colonel Clive had not then
arrived.
_Hoogly_, a town about twenty-three miles above Calcutta, was the
next object of attack: one hundred and seventy of the THIRTY-NINTH
regiment, with two hundred Sepoys, were embarked on this service
on the 4th of January, sailed on the following day, and arrived
before the place on the 10th of that month, the delay having been
caused by one of the vessels having struck on a sandbank. The fort
was garrisoned by two thousand men; three thousand more had been
sent from Moorshedabad to guard the town, but these retreated upon
the landing of the British troops, remaining, however, within a few
miles distance. The fort was battered until night, and although the
breach was scarcely practicable, it was resolved to storm it before
dawn. At the main gate a false attack was made, while Captain
Coote, of the THIRTY-NINTH, with the other division, accompanied by
some sailors, mounted the breach undiscovered by the garrison, who
no sooner saw their assailants on the ramparts, than they quitted
their posts and fled. Three Europeans and ten Sepoys were killed in
the attack. The booty taken in the expedition against Hoogly was
estimated at 15,000_l._ sterling.
On the 12th of January Captain Coote, with fifty of the
THIRTY-NINTH regiment, and twice that number of Sepoys, marched to
_Bandell_, a large village three miles off, where they destroyed
several granaries of rice, but on their return were surrounded
by the fugitive garrison and the troops sent from Moorshedabad,
from whom they disengaged themselves without loss. On the 19th of
January the portion of the THIRTY-NINTH employed on this service,
with the smaller vessels, returned to Calcutta.
While this expedition was in progress, the news of the war, which
had been declared between Great Britain and France in May of the
previous year, was received in India. The Nabob, Surajee Dowlah,
exasperated by the attack of Hoogly, commenced his march towards
Calcutta, and the British made every preparation to oppose his
approach. On the 30th of January the Nabob’s forces commenced
their passage of the river about ten miles above Hoogly, and
arrived before Calcutta on the 3rd of February. In the afternoon
of that day, a numerous body of the enemy commenced entrenching
themselves in a large garden, within a mile and a half of the
British camp. Upon this Lieut.-Colonel Clive immediately advanced
with the greater portion of his troops, and six field-pieces. The
attack of so numerous a force appeared extremely hazardous, and
Lieut.-Colonel Clive restrained the action to a cannonade, which
continued only for an hour, in order that the troops might be
enabled to regain the camp before dark. Negotiations for peace
had been proposed by Lieut.-Colonel Clive, and failed; it was
therefore determined to attack the Nabob’s camp in the morning. At
midnight five hundred and sixty-nine sailors, armed with firelocks,
were landed from the ships of war: the Europeans amounted to six
hundred and fifty, the artillerymen to one hundred, and the Sepoys
to eight hundred. Shortly before dawn on the 5th of February,
the British line came upon the advance-guards of the enemy, who
fled after discharging their matchlocks and some rockets: one of
the latter struck the cartouch-box of a Sepoy, set fire to the
charges, which exploded, and communicated the mischief to several
others: the dread of catching this fire threw the division into
confusion, but fortunately none of the enemy were at hand to take
advantage of this accidental circumstance, and Captain Coote, of
the THIRTY-NINTH, who marched at the head of the grenadiers, in the
rear of the Sepoys, rallied them, and restored the line of march.
A desperate contest ensued, during which Ensign Martin Yorke, of
the THIRTY-NINTH, with a platoon of the regiment, rescued one of
the field-pieces which was on the point of being captured by the
enemy. The British sustained a loss in killed of twenty-seven
Europeans, twelve seamen, and eighteen Sepoys: seventy Europeans,
twelve seamen, and thirty-five Sepoys were wounded. The Nabob
lost twenty-two officers of distinction, six hundred men, four
elephants, five hundred horses, some camels, and several bullocks.
A treaty of peace was concluded between the Nabob and the East
India Company on the 9th of February, and hostilities terminated.
It was, however, perceived that the Nabob was only temporising,
and it was ascertained that he had sent a present of one hundred
thousand rupees to the government of _Chandernagore_, then in
possession of the French; and that Nuncomar, the governor of
Hoogly, had received instructions to assist the French in case they
should be attacked by the British.
Lieut.-Colonel Clive then resolved upon placing Meer Jaffier,
one of the distinguished chieftains in Bengal, on the musnud,
or government-seat, and of deposing the Nabob Surajee Dowlah,
the former having engaged, in the event of his being elevated
to the viceroyship, to aid in expelling the French from Bengal.
Accordingly, _Chandernagore_, on the Hoogly, sixteen miles above
Calcutta, was invested by Lieut.-Colonel Clive on the 14th of
March, and, after a gallant defence, the place surrendered on the
24th of that month. A part of the garrison escaped, and joined the
Nabob’s army.
Lieut.-Colonel Clive marched into Chandernagore with the King’s
troops, on the following day. Admiral Watson, in his despatch of
the 31st of March, 1757, stated that “all the officers and men
behaved with great spirit and resolution on this occasion; as did
also the _Land Forces_, who kept up a good and constant fire the
whole time from two batteries and two guns which they had raised
very near the fort.”
Meer Jaffier having signed the treaty with Admiral Watson,
Lieut.-Colonel Clive, and the other counsellors, it was determined
to commence operations. On the 12th of June, the troops which
were at Calcutta, with one hundred and fifty seamen from the
squadron, proceeded to join the army quartered at Chandernagore.
The necessary preparations having been made, the army marched from
Chandernagore on the following day, leaving a hundred seamen to
garrison the fort, so that every soldier might serve in the field.
The British army arrived and halted on the 16th of June at Patlee,
a town on the western shore of the Cossimbuzar river. Twelve miles
above Patlee was situated the Fort of Cutwah, which commanded
the passage of the river. Captain Coote was detached on the 17th
against Cutwah, which was taken two days afterwards.
The main body of the army arrived at Cutwah in the evening, and
encamped on the plain. The rainy season commenced on the following
day with such violence that the troops were compelled to strike
their tents, and shelter themselves in the houses of the town.
The co-operation of Meer Jaffier appearing doubtful at this period,
made Lieut.-Colonel Clive hesitate as to crossing into the island
of Cossimbuzar, and at all risks attack the Nabob Surajee Dowlah.
A council of war consisting of sixteen officers was summoned; and
contrary to the usual practice of taking the voice of the youngest
officer first, and ascending from this to that of the president,
Lieut.-Colonel Clive at once declared for remaining at Cutwah, and
to continue there during the rainy season. Eight other officers
were of the same opinion, and only seven voted for immediate
action. Captain Eyre Coote, of the THIRTY-NINTH, was one of the
latter, and argued, “that the soldiers were at present confident of
success, and that a stop so near the enemy would naturally quell
this ardour, which it would be difficult to restore; that the
arrival of the French troops with Mr. Law would add strength to the
Nabob’s force and vigour to his councils; that they would surround
the English army, and cut off its communication with Calcutta,
when distresses, not yet foreseen, might ruin it as effectually as
the loss of a battle. He therefore advised that they should either
advance and at once decide the contest, or immediately return to
Calcutta.”
Lieut.-Colonel Clive’s anxieties were not alleviated by the
sanction of the majority. He retired into the adjoining grove,
and remained for nearly an hour in deep meditation; the result
was that he determined to act on the opinion of Captain Coote and
the minority, by giving orders for the passage of the river of
Cossimbuzar, a branch of the Ganges.
At sunrise on the 22nd of June, the British troops commenced to
pass the river, and all were landed on the opposite shore by four
in the afternoon. After a march of fifteen miles they arrived at
one o’clock on the following morning at _Plassey_, and immediately
occupied the adjoining grove. The guards being stationed, the
remainder of the wearied soldiers were allowed a short interval
of repose, which was broke at daybreak, when the Nabob’s hosts
issued from their entrenched camp, amounting to about fifteen
thousand cavalry, thirty-five thousand infantry, and upwards of
forty pieces of cannon.[11] This was a fearful disparity of numbers
when contrasted with the small army under Lieut.-Colonel Clive,
which consisted of two thousand one hundred Sepoys, one hundred
Topasses[12], one hundred Malabar Portuguese, six hundred and
fifty European infantry, and one hundred and fifty artillerymen,
including fifty seamen, together with eight six-pounders and one
howitzer.
The Nabob commenced the attack by six o’clock, and his numerous
artillery kept up a heavy cannonade for some hours, which was
warmly responded to by the British. Lieut.-Colonel Clive sheltered
his troops in the adjacent grove; and they were ordered to sit
down, while the field-pieces alone answered the enemy’s cannon from
behind the bank. At eleven o’clock Lieut.-Colonel Clive consulted
his officers at the drumhead, when it was resolved to maintain the
cannonade during the day, and at midnight to attack the enemy. At
noon a heavy shower of rain covered the plain, and damaged the
enemy’s powder to such on extent that his fire slackened, but the
British ammunition remained serviceable.
A crisis had arrived, and Lieut.-Colonel Clive, no longer acting on
the defensive, became the assailant. Seizing the opportunity, he
advanced, and obtained possession of a tank, and two other posts
of consequence, which the enemy vainly attempted to recover. A
successful attack was then made upon the eminence and angle of the
Nabob’s camp, defended by forty French soldiers (the men who had
escaped from the garrison of Chandernagore), and their two pieces
of cannon were captured. This was followed by a general rout, and
the discomfited enemy was pursued for six miles: upwards of forty
pieces of cannon, abandoned by the fugitives, fell into the hands
of the victors.
In this astonishing victory, which laid the foundation of the
British dominion in Bengal, five hundred of the enemy were killed,
while the army under Lieut.-Colonel Clive sustained a loss of only
twenty-two killed and fifty wounded.
It appears from a manuscript journal kept by Captain Eyre Coote,
now in the library of the Honourable East India Company, that the
following officers of the THIRTY-NINTH were present in the battle
of _Plassey_: namely, Captains Archibald Grant, and Eyre Coote;
Lieutenant John Corneille; and Ensigns Joseph Adnett, and Martin
Yorke.
The motto “_Primus in Indis_,” and the word “_Plassey_,” borne
by royal authority on the regimental colour and appointments of
the THIRTY-NINTH, are proud memorials of its having been the
first King’s regiment which served in India, and of the gallantry
displayed in this battle.[13]
Lieut.-Colonel Clive, accompanied by a guard of two hundred
Europeans, and three hundred Sepoys, entered the city of
Moorshedabad on the 29th of June, and saluted Meer Jaffier as
Nabob, who received the usual homage from the people as Soubah of
Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa. Surajee was subsequently taken prisoner,
and fell a victim to the dagger of the son of Meer Jaffier.
Mr. Law, who was the French chief at Cossimbuzar, had collected
nearly two hundred French European troops, and was proceeding
to the assistance of the late Nabob;--when within a few hours’
march of him, he was taken prisoner, and Mr. Law, receiving that
intelligence, advanced no further. Lieut.-Colonel Clive thereupon
detached a party in pursuit under the command of Captain Coote,
of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment, consisting of two hundred Europeans
and five hundred Sepoys, who were to be joined by two thousand
of Meer Jaffier’s cavalry. After long and harassing marches, in
which the troops suffered much fatigue, Captain Coote received
orders to return, and arrived at Moorshedabad in September, when
his detachment was subsequently stationed in the factory at
Cossimbuzar. The rest of the troops, which had served at Plassey,
proceeded to Chandernagore, that station being considered more
healthy than Calcutta.
While the portion of the THIRTY-NINTH had been thus engaged in
Bengal, the remainder of the regiment left at Madras had not been
unemployed. An expedition having been determined upon against
_Nelloure_, Major Francis Forde, of the THIRTY-NINTH, was selected
to command the force selected for that service, which consisted of
one hundred Europeans, fifty-six Caffres, and three hundred Sepoys.
He effected a junction with the army of the Nabob of Arcot, or
of the Carnatic, at Serapely on the 25th of April 1757. Two days
afterwards the troops encamped before _Nelloure_. A practicable
breach having been made, at sunrise on the 5th of May the assault
was commenced; but in consequence of the Sepoys being seized with
a panic, the attack was not successful. The troops subsequently
returned towards Serapely, where Major Forde received express
orders to return to Madras, in order to prevent the designs of the
French on _Trichinopoly_.
In consequence of the danger to which _Trichinopoly_ was exposed,
Colonel Adlercron marched from Madras on the 26th of May with three
hundred Europeans, being the whole of the THIRTY-NINTH at that
station, together with five hundred Sepoys, thirty of the King’s
artillery, and four field-pieces. Intelligence having been received
of the relief of Trichinopoly by Captain Caillaud, who had been
selected to command the expedition against Madura[14], Colonel
Adlercron was directed to invest the fortress of _Wandewash_, and
accordingly marched towards that place on the 5th of June. On the
following day he entered the town; but before the heavy cannon
could arrive, the greater part of the French army from Trichinopoly
reached Pondicherry, and marched to the relief of Wandewash, upon
which Colonel Adlercron withdrew from the town, and encamped a
few miles off. Several marches and countermarches were afterwards
made, but no general engagement took place, and it being seen that
nothing but the certainty of advantage would bring the enemy from
his entrenched camp to action, the troops marched for Conjeveram
on the 26th of July, at which place they arrived on the 28th of
that month, where five hundred Europeans and fifteen hundred Sepoys
remained in cantonments under the command of Major Francis Forde,
of the THIRTY-NINTH, and the rest of the troops returned to the
garrisons and stations from whence they had been drawn.
Shortly afterwards orders were received from England recalling the
THIRTY-NINTH regiment, when most of the men, and certain of the
officers, entered the East India Company’s service.
[Sidenote: 1758.]
The regiment remained in India until the end of the year 1758,
when it returned to Ireland, on the western coast of which it was
wrecked.
[Sidenote: 1759.]
After remaining in Ireland some time, and being recruited to
its establishment, the regiment was greatly reduced by a large
detachment sent to Germany to join the British troops serving under
Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick. No record has been preserved by the
regiment of the services of this detachment, and the research made
to supply the deficiency has not been attended with success.
[Sidenote: 1763.]
The Seven Years’ War, which had commenced in 1756, while the
regiment was serving in India, was terminated by the peace
concluded at Paris in February 1763.
[Sidenote: 1766.]
Colonel Robert Boyd was appointed from the First foot guards to the
colonelcy of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 6th of August 1766,
in succession to Lieut.-General Adlercron, deceased.
[Sidenote: 1767.]
During the years 1766, 1767, and 1768, the regiment continued to be
stationed in Ireland.
[Sidenote: 1769.]
In the year 1769 the THIRTY-NINTH again proceeded to Gibraltar; and
while serving in that garrison, events transpired which enabled the
regiment to acquire additional honor.
[Sidenote: 1779.]
The possession of this fortress by the English had been regarded
by the Spaniards with great jealousy, but every effort for its
recovery had signally failed. The contest between the colonists
in North America and Great Britain, seemed to offer the Spanish
monarch a favourable opportunity for regaining possession of
Gibraltar. The French monarch, in the previous year, had concluded
a treaty of defensive alliance with the American colonies,
which involved Great Britain in a war with France. The Court of
Versailles subsequently engaged that of Madrid to take a part in
the contest, and on the 16th of June 1779 the Spanish ambassador
presented a manifesto at St. James’s, equivalent to a declaration
of war, and immediately departed from London; and shortly
afterwards the siege of Gibraltar was commenced by the Spaniards,
the anticipated reduction of that important fortress being one of
the principal objects which induced Spain to become a party in the
contest.
Gibraltar was accordingly beset, by sea and land, by the Spanish
fleets and armies. The following return shows the strength of the
garrison at the commencement of the blockade on the 21st of June
1779:--
British. Officers. Men.
Royal Artillery 25 460
Royal Engineers 8 114[15]
12th foot 29 570
39th ” 29 557
56th ” 27 560
58th ” 28 577
72nd ” (Royal Manchester
Volunteers), disbanded in
1783 33 1013
---- ---- 4030
Hanoverian.
Hardenberg’s regiment 29 423
Reden’s ” 27 417
De La Motte’s ” 33 423
---- ---- 1352
Total ---- 5382
The THIRTY-NINTH regiment was commanded by Brevet Lieut.-Colonel
William Kellett, major of the corps, and the garrison, mustering
five thousand three hundred and eighty-two men, was under the
orders of General the Right Hon. George Augustus Eliott, afterwards
Lord Heathfield. Being thus blockaded by sea and besieged by
land, the troops at Gibraltar became cut off from communication
with other countries, and the garrison appeared a little world
within itself.[16] The arrangements for the defence were devised
with judgment, and executed with skill. The soldiers cheerfully
conformed to the strict rules which their circumstances rendered
necessary, and severe exercise and short diet became habitual to
them; at the same time the great importance of the place, and the
determined character of General Eliott and his garrison, occasioned
this siege to be regarded with universal interest by the several
nations of Europe.
The following officers of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment were
appointed to the staff at Gibraltar: Captain James Horsburgh,
from town-major, to be adjutant-general; Captain William Wilson
and Lieutenant Richard Henry Buckeridge, to be aides-de-camp to
Lieut.-General Robert Boyd, Colonel of the THIRTY-NINTH, and
Lieut.-Governor of Gibraltar.
On the 20th of August the marksmen of the garrison were embodied
into a company of two non-commissioned officers and sixty-four men,
and the command was given to Lieutenant Charles Burleigh of the
THIRTY-NINTH regiment.
As the enemy’s works progressed, the pavement of the streets was
taken up, the towers of conspicuous buildings were pulled down, the
guard-houses unroofed, the stone sentry-boxes removed, traverses
raised, a covered way commenced, and every measure adopted to
lessen the effects of a bombardment.
In Colonel Drinkwater’s Work on the siege of Gibraltar, from which
the particulars relating to the THIRTY-NINTH, in connection with
that event, have been chiefly collected, is given the following
account of an experiment recommended by Captain John Mercier of
the regiment; “namely, to fire out of guns 5½ inch shells, with
short fuses, which were tried on the 25th of September, and found
to answer extremely well. These small shells, according to Captain
Mercier’s method, were thrown with such precision, and the fuses
cut by calculation with such exactness, that the shell often
burst over their heads, and wounded them before they could get
under cover. This mode of annoyance was eligible on several other
accounts: less powder was used, and the enemy were more seriously
molested. The former was an advantage of no small consequence,
since it enabled the Governor to reserve, at this period, what
might be probably expended to the greater benefit of the service
on a future occasion. It will also account for the extraordinary
number of shells which were discharged from the garrison.”
[Sidenote: 1780.]
Early in 1780 provisions became short, and the soldiers willingly
submitted to privation; but soon afterwards the garrison was
relieved by a fleet from England: the wants of the troops were,
however, not supplied in many important articles.
[Sidenote: 1781.]
The Spaniards renewed the blockade by sea, and sent nine fire-ships
into the harbour, but failed in their attempt to destroy the
shipping. Provisions again became deficient: vegetables were
cultivated on the rock with partial success: a precarious supply of
several articles was obtained from the Moors, and in April 1781 the
garrison was again relieved.
The siege was continued, and a severe bombardment reduced a great
portion of the town to a heap of ruins.
The efforts of the enemy were deliberately watched by the Governor,
General Eliott, who kept his garrison close within the fortress
until a favourable opportunity occurred for a sally, and on the
evening of the 26th of November the following garrison order was
issued:--
“COUNTERSIGN, STEADY.--All the grenadiers and light infantry in
the garrison, and all the men of the Twelfth and Hardenberg’s
regiments, with the officers and non-commissioned officers on
duty, to be immediately relieved and join their regiments; to
form a detachment, consisting of the Twelfth and Hardenberg’s
regiments complete; the grenadiers and light infantry of all
the other regiments[17]; one captain, three lieutenants, ten
non-commissioned officers, and a hundred artillery; three
engineers, seven officers, ten non-commissioned officers,
overseers, with a hundred and sixty workmen from the line,
and forty workmen from the artificer corps; each man to have
thirty-six rounds of ammunition, with a good flint in his
piece, and another in his pocket; the whole to be commanded by
Brigadier-General Ross, and to assemble on the red sands, at
twelve o’clock this night, to make a _sortie_ upon the enemy’s
batteries. The THIRTY-NINTH and Fifty-eighth regiments to parade
at the same hour, on the Grand Parade, under the command of
Brigadier-General Picton, to sustain the _sortie_, if necessary.”
At midnight the soldiers assembled for this enterprise; the moon
at first shining brightly on the sands, but between two and three
o’clock darkness overspread the place, and the troops silently
issued from the fortress. They were challenged and fired upon by
the enemy’s sentries, but the British soldiers rushed forward,
overpowered the Spanish guards, and captured the batteries in
gallant style: the defenders of the works fled in dismay, and
communicated the panic to the troops in their rear. The wooden
batteries were soon prepared for ignition; the flames spread
with astonishing rapidity, and a column of fire and smoke arose
from the works, illuminating the surrounding objects and casting
a lurid glare upon this unparalleled scene, of which words fail
to give an adequate description. In an hour the object of the
_sortie_ was effected: the Spaniards, being dismayed, did not
venture to interrupt the work; trains were laid to the enemy’s
magazines, and the soldiers withdrew. As they entered the fortress,
tremendous explosions shook the ground, and rising columns of
smoke, flame, and burning timber, proclaimed the destruction of
the enemy’s immense stores of gunpowder to be completed. General
Eliott declared in orders:--“The bearing and conduct of the whole
detachment--officers, seamen, and soldiers--on this glorious
occasion, surpass my utmost acknowledgments.”
For some days the Spaniards appeared confounded at their disgrace:
the smoke of the burning batteries continued to rise, and no
attempt was made to extinguish the flames; but several executions
took place in their camp, probably of persons who fled so
precipitately from the batteries. In the beginning of December
they began to arouse themselves, and a thousand workmen commenced
labouring to restore the batteries, in which they were retarded by
the fire of the garrison. The gallant defenders of the fortress
were equally indefatigable: every serjeant, drummer, musician,
officer’s servant, and private soldier was required to use the
musket, shovel, and pickaxe, as his services became necessary.
The Spaniards, by their heavy fire on the fortress, had already
spoiled three sets of guns; but the Court of Madrid appeared
determined to obtain possession of Gibraltar. An immense collection
of ordnance of larger calibre was provided, several batteries
were prepared, and the Duke of Crillon assumed the command of the
besieging army. He was assisted by a celebrated French engineer,
Monsieur d’Arcon, and by Admiral Moreno: a French army likewise
arrived to take part in the siege. At the same time stupendous
preparations were made on a new principle, and floating batteries
were constructed with great art and labour, which were reckoned the
most perfect contrivance of the kind ever seen.
[Sidenote: 1782.]
A crisis was evidently approaching, and in the spring and summer
of 1782, the garrison of Gibraltar made preparations with calm
determination for the hour of trial: both officers and men were
fully impressed with the importance of the fortress confided to
their care, and their successful resistance against the efforts
of the Spanish army and navy for upwards of two years, inspired
them, if possible, to greater exertions. All the damaged works were
carefully repaired, new ones were constructed, vast subterraneous
works were made, and forges for heating red-hot shot were
prepared.[18] The effect of the red-hot shot was proved on some
of the enemy’s wooden batteries on the sands, which were speedily
destroyed.
Princes of the royal blood of France, the Spanish nobility, and
other celebrated characters of Europe, visited the camp of the
Duke of Crillon, who naturally anticipated the most signal success
from his extensive preparations. The new batteries on shore were
unmasked, and fired a volley of sixty shells, which was succeeded
by the thunder of one hundred and seventy guns of large calibre.
Gibraltar was thus assailed by a storm of iron, which threatened to
reduce the place to a heap of ruins; and this was only a prelude to
the tremendous fire which was afterwards opened upon the garrison.
The ten battering ships took their station before the fortress on
the 13th of September, in the presence of the combined fleets of
France and Spain: the enemy’s camp and the neighbouring hills were
crowded with spectators from various parts of Europe to witness the
effect of these stupendous vessels; and such a storm of war was
opened upon the place, as had probably never been equalled since
the invention of cannon. The batteries of the fortress answered
this tremendous fire with vigour, and the deafening thunder of four
hundred pieces of heavy artillery was heard for several miles. For
some hours the attack and defence were so equally well supported,
as scarcely to admit any appearance of superiority in the cannonade
on either side. The wonderful construction of the battering ships
appeared to bid defiance to the heaviest ordnance: shells rebounded
from their tops, and a thirty-two pound shot scarcely seemed to
make any impression on them. The effect of the red-hot shot was
doubted; sometimes smoke came from the ships, but the fire-engines
within soon occasioned it to cease, and the result was uncertain:
the fire was, however, persevered in, and incessant showers of
red-hot bullets, shells, and carcases flew through the air. In the
afternoon the red-hot shot had performed its work, and volumes of
smoke issued from the flagship: the admiral’s second ship was soon
perceived to be in the same condition, and confusion prevailed. The
Spaniards expected that the firing of red-hot bullets could not
be persevered in beyond a few rounds; but the fire was continued
with the same precision and vivacity as cold shot; this occasioned
the enemy’s cannonade to abate, and about eight o’clock it almost
totally ceased. The battering ships made signals to inform the
combined fleets of their extreme danger and distress, when several
boats were sent to their assistance.
At this period the fire of the garrison produced great carnage, and
the most pitiable cries and groans were heard, as the incessant
showers of shot and shells were poured into the floating batteries.
Soon after midnight one ship was in flames, and by two o’clock it
appeared one sheet of fire from head to stern; a second was soon
in the same condition, and the light of the conflagration enabled
the British artillery to point their guns with precision, when
soon after three o’clock six more ships exhibited the effects of
the red-hot shot. The burning ships exhibited one of the grandest
spectacles of destruction ever beheld; and amidst this exciting
scene the British seamen pushed off in boats to rescue the
Spaniards from the blazing vessels. They preserved between three
and four hundred, and while they were thus engaged, one of the
ships blew up with a dreadful explosion; four others met the same
fate before seven o’clock, and another shortly afterwards, and the
remainder burnt to the water’s edge, their magazines having been
inundated. Not one could be preserved as a trophy.
During the hottest period of “the enemy’s cannonade (Colonel
Drinkwater relates), the Governor was present on the King’s
bastion, whilst Lieut.-General Boyd took his station upon the
South bastion, animating the garrison by their presence, and
encouraging them to emulation. The exertions and activity of the
brave artillery in this well fought contest deserve the highest
commendations. To their skill, perseverance, and courage, with the
zealous assistance of the line (particularly the corps in town, the
THIRTY-NINTH, and the late Seventy-second regiment), was Gibraltar
indebted for its safety against the combined powers, by sea and
land, of France and Spain.”
The Colonel also adds the following singular circumstance. When
Lieut.-General Boyd laid the foundation stone of the King’s bastion
in 1773, upon fixing the stone in its place, he remarked that “this
is the first stone of a work which I name the ‘King’s Bastion;’ may
it be as gallantly defended, as I know it will be ably executed;
and may I live to see it _resist the united efforts of France and
Spain_!” This wish was fully accomplished.
In this manner the mighty efforts of France and Spain ended in
defeat and destruction, while the conduct of the garrison of
Gibraltar elicited the admiration of the nations of Europe. In
England the most enthusiastic applause was universal; illuminations
and other modes of testifying the joy of the people followed the
receipt of the news of the destruction of the supposed invincible
battering ships, and every family which could boast a defender of
Gibraltar belonging to it, was proud of the honor. The loss of the
garrison on the 13th and 14th of September, was limited to one
officer, two serjeants, and thirteen private soldiers killed; five
officers and sixty-three rank and file wounded: that of the enemy
exceeded two thousand officers and soldiers.
Although the enemy gave up all hopes of reducing Gibraltar by
force of arms, yet some expectation was entertained, that, if the
blockade was continued, the garrison might be forced to surrender
from the want of provisions; the combined fleet therefore remained
in the bay, the besieging army continued in the lines, and about
a thousand shots were fired every day from the Spanish batteries.
The garrison was encouraged to continue resolute in the defence of
the fortress by assurances of their Sovereign’s favour and high
approbation. The principal Secretary of State, writing to General
Eliott, stated,--“I am honored with His Majesty’s commands to
assure you, in the strongest terms, that no encouragement shall be
wanting to the brave officers and soldiers under your command. His
royal approbation of the past will no doubt be a powerful incentive
to future exertions; and I have the King’s authority to assure
you, that every distinguished act of emulation and gallantry,
which shall be performed in the course of the siege by any, even
of the lowest rank, will meet with ample reward from his gracious
protection and favour.”
In October the combined fleet was much damaged by a storm, and
soon afterwards a British naval force arrived, and the garrison
was again relieved, when two regiments, the Twenty-fifth and
Fifty-ninth, landed to take part in the defence of the fortress.
[Sidenote: 1783.]
After the garrison was thus relieved and reinforced a third time,
the Court of Madrid relinquished the idea of recovering Gibraltar
either by force or stratagem; negotiations ensued, and in February
1783 the Spanish army withdrew, the preliminary articles for a
treaty of peace having been signed in the preceding month. Thus
terminated the siege of _Gibraltar_, which is celebrated in the
military annals of the eighteenth century; and the successful
defence of that fortress ranks amongst the noblest efforts of
the British arms: it exceeded in duration the famous siege of
Ostend in the beginning of the seventeenth century; and it is a
proud circumstance in the services of the THIRTY-NINTH, that the
regiment had _twice_ shared in the defence of Gibraltar, having (as
stated at page 9) been present when the place was besieged by the
Spaniards in the year 1727.
The THIRTY-NINTH regiment was rewarded, with the other corps which
took part in this long and arduous service, with the thanks of the
Sovereign, and of the Houses of Parliament, and with the honor
of bearing on the regimental colour and appointments the word
“GIBRALTAR,” with the “_Castle and Key_,” and the motto “_Montis
Insignia Calpé_,” in commemoration of its services during the
siege.[19]
The loss of the regiment during the siege was--
+--------------------+----------+----------+---------+--------------+
| | Officers.|Serjeants.|Drummers.|Rank and File.|
| +----------+----------+---------+--------------+
|Killed | 1 | 3 | 1 | 16 |
|Died of wounds | 1 | 1 | - | 6 |
|Disabled by wounds | - | - | - | 10 |
|Wounded, that | | | | |
| recovered | 3 | 5 | 1 | 44 |
|Died of diseases | - | 1 | - | 37 |
| +----------+----------+---------+--------------+
| Total | 5 | 10 | 2 | 113 |
+--------------------+----------+----------+---------+--------------+
During the period the THIRTY-NINTH were engaged in the defence of
Gibraltar, county titles were given to the several regiments of
infantry; and the communication with England having become free,
the THIRTY-NINTH received directions to assume, in addition to the
numerical title, the designation of “THE EAST MIDDLESEX” regiment,
in order that a connexion between the corps and that part of the
county should be cultivated, which might be useful in promoting
the success of the recruiting service. The letter conveying His
Majesty’s pleasure that county titles should be conferred on the
infantry, was dated the 31st of August 1782.
In November 1783 the THIRTY-NINTH regiment quitted Gibraltar, and
on its arrival in England was for some time stationed in South
Britain.
[Sidenote: 1789.]
The regiment proceeded from Great Britain to Ireland in May 1789.
[Sidenote: 1790 to 1792.]
During the years 1790, 1791, and 1792, the regiment continued to be
stationed in Ireland.
[Sidenote: 1793.]
While the regiment was stationed in Ireland, the National
Convention of France declared war against Great Britain and
Holland. This occurred on the 1st of February 1793, and in
September following, the THIRTY-NINTH regiment, under the command
of Lieut.-Colonel Stephen Fremantle, embarked from Ireland for
Barbadoes, in order to take part in an attack on the French West
India Islands.
[Sidenote: 1794.]
An armament was assembled at Barbadoes in the beginning of 1794,
under Lieut.-General Sir Charles, afterwards Earl Grey, K.B.,
and Vice-Admiral Sir John Jervis, K.B., for the capture of
_Martinique_, and the THIRTY-NINTH had the honor to share in this
enterprise. This island had been captured by the British in 1762,
but was restored to France at the Peace of Fontainebleau of the
following year. The expedition sailed from Carlisle Bay, Barbadoes,
early in February, and landing at three different points on the
island of _Martinique_, on the 5th, 6th, and 8th of that month,
drove the enemy from several strong posts. Fort Royal and Fort
Bourbon were afterwards besieged; the former was captured on the
20th of March, and the latter surrendered two days afterwards. The
loss of the regiment on this service was limited to a few soldiers
killed and wounded.
While the brigade of grenadiers under the command of His Royal
Highness Prince Edward, afterwards Duke of Kent, the brigade of
Light Infantry under Major-General Dundas, and the Sixth, Ninth,
and Forty-third regiments under Colonel Sir Charles Gordon,
proceeded to _St. Lucia_, which island was captured on the 4th of
April, the THIRTY-NINTH remained to garrison _Martinique_.
An expedition subsequently proceeded from Martinique against
_Guadeloupe_: a determined resistance was experienced at this
place, but the island was captured by the 20th of April. Sir
Charles Grey stated in his public despatch, that he “could not find
words to convey an adequate idea, or to express the high sense he
entertained of the extraordinary merit evinced by the officers and
soldiers in this service.”
France did not view with indifference the loss of these valuable
possessions, and in June a French armament arrived at _Guadeloupe_
for the recovery of that island. In the night attack on the French
camp at _Point Gabbare_ on the 13th of June 1794, the THIRTY-NINTH
regiment, under the command of Major Henry Magan[20], greatly
distinguished itself, and was thanked in general orders by Sir
Charles Grey. In this severe conflict the enemy precipitated
themselves into the sea in order to swim across the harbour to
Point-à-Pitre; but few succeeded in the desperate attempt, many
being drowned, and more shot by the British infantry, who followed
them closely in their flight. One hundred and seventy-nine of
the enemy were left dead on the field, while the loss of the
British was limited to seven men killed and twelve wounded. The
enemy’s camp, colours, baggage, and ammunition, with one piece of
artillery, fell into the hands of the victors.
Major-General Nisbett Balfour was appointed colonel of the
THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 2nd of July 1794, in succession to
General Sir Robert Boyd, K.B., deceased.
During the remainder of the operations the THIRTY-NINTH regiment
remained at _Berville_. Several skirmishes took place at various
poets, but the troops suffered so severely from the climate at
Guadeloupe, and the arduous duties they had to perform, that on the
1st of September only three hundred and eighty-nine soldiers could
be mustered fit for duty.[21]
Lieut.-Colonel Colin Graham, of the Twenty-first Royal North
British Fusiliers, was appointed to the command of the troops
in Basse Terre; and he defended _Berville_ camp with the utmost
gallantry, until the 6th of October, when he was forced to
surrender, his force having become reduced by excessive exertion,
and the unhealthiness of the climate, to one hundred and
twenty-five rank and file fit for duty.
By the articles of capitulation the British troops were to march
out with the honors of war, and it was agreed to send the garrison
to England on board French ships, as soon as transports were ready.
The latter part of the agreement was not, however, complied with,
as they remained prisoners for more than a year afterwards, during
which time many of them died. The garrison consisted of the flank
companies of the Seventeenth, Thirty-first, and Thirty-fourth
regiments; the Thirty-ninth, Forty-third, Fifty-sixth (three
companies), and Sixty-fifth regiments. Their loss in the different
actions between the 27th of September and the 6th of October
amounted to two officers killed and five wounded; twenty-five
non-commissioned officers and privates killed, and fifty-one
wounded.
The whole island of Guadeloupe, with the exception of Fort Matilda,
had been recaptured by the French under General Victor Hughes: this
fort was defended by the troops under Lieut.-General Prescott until
the 10th of December, when it was evacuated by the British.
During this campaign the THIRTY-NINTH regiment lost several
officers, who died of fever or other disorders, amongst whom was
Lieut.-Colonel Stephen Fremantle. Captain George Bell and some few
officers escaped with the colours of the regiment, and arrived in
open boats at the Islands of the Saints; in the beginning of the
forthcoming year, they proceeded to Ireland.
[Sidenote: 1795.]
The regiment, having speedily recruited its ranks by large drafts
from the One hundred and fourth and other corps, was again destined
to proceed to the West Indies, and it embarked for Barbadoes
towards the end of the year 1795.
[Sidenote: 1796.]
Great Britain now began to see her former allies converted into
enemies; and Holland, having become united to France in the early
part of the previous year, was styled the Batavian Republic. In
April 1796, a secret service having been ordered by Lieut.-General
Sir Ralph Abercromby, then Commander-in-chief in the West Indies,
the THIRTY-NINTH, and the late Ninety-third and Ninety-ninth
regiments, with a detachment of the Royal Artillery, were embarked
at Barbadoes on this expedition, which proved to be against the
Dutch colonies of _Demerara_, _Essequibo_, and _Berbice_. The
troops were under the orders of Major-General John Whyte, and
the THIRTY-NINTH regiment was commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Thomas
Hislop. The force sailed for its destination on the 15th of April,
and arrived on the coast of Demerara on the 21st of that month:
on the following day the Governor and Council were summoned to
surrender the colony to His Britannic Majesty, and the capitulation
was signed on the 23rd of April. The British troops accordingly
occupied the fort and colony, and Lieut.-Colonel Hislop was
left as Commandant of Demerara and Essequibo; but Major-General
Whyte proceeded to take possession of the neighbouring colony of
_Berbice_, which accepted the terms offered to Demerara.[22]
The THIRTY-NINTH remained at Demerara, upon the capitulation
of that colony, and, in September, it received six hundred and
ninety-one men, from the Ninety-third and Ninety-ninth having been
directed to be drafted into the regiment. This raised the regiment
to fifty-two serjeants, twenty-two drummers, and one thousand and
ninety-three rank and file.
[Sidenote: 1797 to 1799.]
During the years 1797, 1798, and 1799, the THIRTY-NINTH regiment
continued to be stationed at Demerara. On the 1st of November 1799,
the regiment had been reduced by deaths to twenty-five serjeants,
ten drummers, and four hundred and sixty-eight rank and file.
[Sidenote: 1800.]
In October 1800 the regiment proceeded from Demerara to Surinam.
[Sidenote: 1801.]
The regiment remained at Surinam during the year 1801.
[Sidenote: 1802.]
On the 27th of March 1802, a definitive treaty of peace was signed
at Amiens between the French Republic, Spain, and the Batavian
Republic, on the one part, and Great Britain on the other.
The principal features of the treaty were, that Great Britain
restored all her conquests during the war, excepting Trinidad
and Ceylon, which were ceded to her, the former by Spain, and
the latter by the Batavian Republic. Portugal was maintained in
its integrity, excepting that some of its possessions in Guiana
were ceded to France. The territories of the Ottoman Porte were
likewise maintained in their integrity. The Ionian Republic was
recognised, and Malta was to be restored to the Knights of St. John
of Jerusalem. The French agreed to evacuate the Neapolitan and
Roman States, and Great Britain all the ports that she held in the
Adriatic and the Mediterranean.
Surinam was evacuated in December 1802, and the THIRTY-NINTH
regiment embarked for Barbadoes, and proceeded thence to Antigua.
[Sidenote: 1803.]
In the beginning of March 1803, the THIRTY-NINTH embarked for
England; and the regiment, consisting of thirty-three serjeants,
nineteen drummers, and three hundred and fifteen rank and file,
under the command of Lieut.-Colonel George Bell, arrived at
Spithead on board the “Thalia” transport, on the 22nd of April.
During its service on the different stations in South America,
upwards of two thousand men had fallen victims to the climate.
The Peace of Amiens was of short duration, and on the 18th of May
1803 war was declared against France. Preparations were accordingly
made by the British Government to meet the emergency, and the
“_Army of Reserve Act_” was passed in July following, for raising
men for home service by ballot, by which a second battalion was
added to the THIRTY-NINTH regiment.[23] The second battalion was
placed on the establishment from the 9th of July 1803, and was
composed of men raised in Cheshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire, and
Worcestershire. The chief part of the men immediately afterwards
volunteered for general service, whereby the first battalion of the
regiment became available for foreign service.
At this period, Napoleon Bonaparte, the Chief Consul of France,
was making preparations for the invasion of England, for which
purpose he collected an immense flotilla at Boulogne. The threat of
invasion aroused the patriotism of the British people, and the most
strenuous measures were adopted to defeat this design; volunteer
and yeomanry corps were formed in every part of the kingdom, and
all parties united in one grand effort for the preservation of
their native land.
[Sidenote: 1804.]
In May 1804 Napoleon was invested with the dignity of Emperor of
the French, and on the 26th of May of the following year he was
crowned at Milan as King of Italy.
[Sidenote: 2nd Batt.]
Further measures of defence were adopted by Great Britain, and
the “_Additional Force Act_” was passed on the 29th of June
1804.[24] Under the provisions of this act, the second battalion
was augmented with men raised in the county of Shropshire, and its
establishment was subsequently fixed at the same strength as the
first battalion, namely, forty-four serjeants, twenty-two drummers,
and eight hundred rank and file. The second battalion, which, since
its formation, had been quartered at Battle, in Sussex, embarked
at Plymouth on the 27th of November 1804 for Guernsey, under the
command of Lieut.-Colonel George Wilson.
[Sidenote: 1st Batt.]
In the year 1804, during the threatened invasion, the first
battalion was stationed on the coast of Sussex.
The first battalion, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel the
Honorable Robert William O’Callaghan, which was selected to proceed
with the expedition under Lieut.-General Sir James Craig to the
Mediterranean, embarked at Portsmouth on the 26th of March 1805,
and arrived at Malta on the 22nd of July following, where it formed
part of the garrison.
In the autumn of 1805, Napoleon led his army into Germany to
crush the confederacy forming against his interests. From the
commencement of the war with England, Naples was occupied by French
troops; but at this period a treaty of neutrality was concluded
between France and Naples, the French troops were withdrawn, and
the King of Naples was bound not to admit the fleets or armies of
any power engaged in hostilities with France into his ports or
territories. While the war in Germany was undecided, the flank
companies of the first battalion of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment were,
in November 1805, detached to Naples, and landed at that city on
the 22nd of that month. A Russian armament also arrived at Naples.
The Emperor Napoleon being triumphant in Germany, seized the moment
of victory to denounce vengeance against the King of Naples for
permitting a British and Russian armament to enter his ports and
land on his shores; and on the morning after signing the Treaty
of Presburg, Napoleon issued a proclamation declaring that “the
Neapolitan dynasty had ceased to reign.” This was followed by the
march of a numerous French army, under Joseph Bonaparte, to take
possession of Naples: the Russians withdrew; and the British, under
Lieut.-General Sir James Craig, were too few in numbers to think
of defending that kingdom against the numerous forces sent to that
devoted country.
[Sidenote: 1806. 1st Batt.]
The flank companies of the first battalion embarked from Naples
in January 1806, and proceeded to Sicily, to which island the
King and Queen of Naples had resorted, and which was preserved
in their interest by the British. The Neapolitans abandoned
their royal family to its fate, and submitted to the dictates of
Napoleon, who issued a decree conferring the crown of Naples on
his brother Joseph. The city of Naples was illuminated, and the
nobles were eager to show their attachment to their new sovereign.
Insurrections occurred in several places; but the French arms were
successful, and the provinces became tranquil.
The flank companies returned to Malta in February 1806.[25]
[Sidenote: 2nd Batt.]
The second battalion remained at Guernsey until the 26th of
February 1806, when it proceeded to Ireland, and arrived at Cork on
the 15th of March. Having been a short time stationed in the county
of Cork, it proceeded to Dublin, and, after performing garrison
duty for some months, received orders to transfer all its limited
service men to a garrison battalion, and all its disposable men to
the first battalion at Malta.
[Sidenote: 1807.]
Being thus reduced to a skeleton, the officers and non-commissioned
officers proceeded to England in January 1807, for the purpose
of recruiting the ranks of the second battalion, and arrived at
Liverpool on the 30th of that month. Having distributed recruiting
parties to various stations, the head-quarters marched to Edmonton
and Enfield, near London.
On the 29th of October 1807, His Majesty King George III. was
pleased to direct that the county title of the THIRTY-NINTH
regiment should be changed from EAST MIDDLESEX to DORSETSHIRE.
[Sidenote: 1808. 1st Batt.]
The flank companies of the first battalion proceeded from Malta to
Sicily in May 1808.
[Sidenote: 2nd Batt.]
The recruiting continued from the militia and in the ordinary mode
with such success that the second battalion was soon increased
to five hundred strong; and after being some time stationed at
Berry-Head, embarked from thence for Guernsey, where it arrived
on the 24th of May 1808. Subsequently, a general volunteering
from the militia took place, when the battalion was augmented to
about seven hundred rank and file, and being organised in the
course of a short period, Lieut.-General Sir John Doyle, Bart.,
then Lieut.-Governor of Guernsey, was so pleased with the general
appearance of the corps as to express his entire satisfaction with
it, and to report the battalion fit for immediate foreign service.
[Sidenote: 1809. 1st Batt.]
In June 1809, Lieut.-General Sir John Stuart, commanding in chief
in the Mediterranean, resolved to menace the capital and kingdom
of Naples, as a diversion in favour of the Austrians, who were
contending against numerous difficulties in their war with France.
The flank companies of the first battalion were employed on this
service; and after menacing a considerable extent of coast, which
produced much alarm, the romantic and fruitful island of _Ischia_,
celebrated for the beauty of its scenery, and situated in the Bay
of Naples, about six miles from the coast, was attacked. A landing
was effected in the face of a formidable line of batteries, from
which the enemy was speedily driven. The siege of the castle was
undertaken, and in a few days the garrison was forced to surrender.
The island of _Procida_ surrendered on being summoned. Two valuable
islands were thus rescued from the power of the Grand Duke of Berg,
General Murat, upon whom the Emperor Napoleon had, in the preceding
year, conferred the sovereignty of Naples, in succession to Joseph
Bonaparte, who had been nominated by his brother to be King of
Spain; and one thousand five hundred regular troops, with one
hundred pieces of ordnance, were captured. An attempt was, at this
period, made to reduce the castle of _Scylla_; but the large force
which the enemy possessed in Calabria, rendered this impracticable.
[Sidenote: 2nd Batt.]
The assumption of the sovereignty of Spain by Joseph Bonaparte,
although the strongest places and most commanding positions in
the Peninsula were occupied by French troops, had excited the
indignation of the Spanish people, who solicited, and readily
obtained, the aid of Great Britain; and the latter power had,
in April 1809, sent Lieut.-General Sir Arthur Wellesley with
reinforcements to Portugal, to save that country from invasion, and
also to assist the Spaniards in their struggle for independence.
The second battalion was selected to proceed to join the army in
the Peninsula under the command of Lieut.-General the Honorable
Sir Arthur Wellesley: it embarked on the 22nd of June 1809 for the
Tagus, and arrived at Lisbon on the 2nd of July. The battalion
shortly afterwards proceeded with a division, consisting of
reinforcements, under the command of Brigadier-General Catlin
Crawfurd, who endeavoured, by a forced march, to arrive in time
for the battle of _Talavera_, which was fought on the 27th and
28th of July, and for which victory Lieut.-General the Honorable
Sir Arthur Wellesley was raised to the peerage by the title of
Viscount Wellington. When the second battalion arrived at Sarza
la Mayor, a despatch was received from Sir Arthur Wellesley,
ordering the brigade and detachments to halt and bivouac at Niza
until his arrival with the head-quarters at Badajoz, after which
the battalion was stationed at the village of Torre Mayor: here it
suffered severely from sickness, which at that season of the year
is prevalent in Estremadura, and particularly on the banks of the
Guadiana. On the 3rd of September the head-quarters arrived at
Badajoz, and the army was distributed about Elvas, Campo Mayor, and
other places adjacent; but when Viscount Wellington broke up from
the Guadiana in the month of December, and crossed the Tagus, he
left Major-General Rowland Hill (afterwards Viscount Hill), with a
force of 10,000 men, British and Portuguese, at Abrantes: among the
former was the second battalion of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment.
[Sidenote: 1810. 1st Batt.]
In the summer of 1810, Joachim Murat, King of Naples, assembled
upwards of a hundred heavy gunboats, a number of others more
lightly armed, and about four hundred transport boats, and brought
thirty thousand troops to the coast of Calabria for the purpose
of invading Sicily. The battalion companies, under the command of
Brevet-Lieut.-Colonel Cavendish Sturt, accordingly proceeded from
Malta, in June 1810, to Sicily, where they were employed in the
defence of the island against the threatened invasion.
[Sidenote: 2nd Batt.]
The second battalion accompanied the force under Major-General
Rowland Hill in all its movements in Portugal and on the frontiers
of Spain, and in August 1810 was one of the corps of the second
division, when it formed, by forced marches, the memorable
junction with Viscount Wellington on the heights of _Busaco_.
Lieut.-Colonel George Wilson being appointed to the charge of a
brigade, Major Patrick Lindesay, afterwards Major-General Sir
Patrick Lindesay[26], commanded the battalion, which formed part
of the right of the army in the battle at _Busaco_, on the 27th of
September, but the battalion was not engaged in the action. When
General Regnier attacked the position held by the third and fifth
divisions, Major-General Hill withdrew towards his left to support
them: it was unnecessary, however, these divisions having repulsed
the enemy, and he therefore continued in his original position.
After the battle of Busaco, the second battalion accompanied the
army in its retrograde movement to the Lines of _Torres Vedras_,
where it remained until orders were given to advance in pursuit of
the French troops towards Santarem, when it crossed the Tagus with
the corps under Major-General Hill, and occupied cantonments at
Almeirem, immediately opposite the head-quarters of the enemy.
[Sidenote: 1811. 2nd Batt.]
In consequence of the French army retreating from Portugal
into Spain, the second battalion of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment
accompanied the second division in its movements towards the
frontiers, and was present at the expulsion of the enemy from the
fortress of Campo Mayor on the 25th of March 1811; subsequently
the battalion crossed the Guadiana at Jerumenha, and was present
with the second division in a variety of skirmishes at Los Santos
and Zafra, as well as at the investment of _Badajoz_ on the 2nd of
May, where the battalion was actively employed in making approaches
and constructing batteries against that fortress until the 14th of
May, when it marched with the corps under Marshal Sir William Carr
(now Viscount) Beresford to _Albuhera_, where the battalion arrived
on the evening of the 15th of that month, and was attacked on the
following day by the French army under Marshal Soult.
In the battle of _Albuhera_, fought on the 16th of May, the
second battalion of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment, although only four
hundred strong, bore a distinguished part. The brigade to which it
belonged, having been brought up at a critical moment, materially
assisted in deciding the fate of the day, preventing by its fire
the deployment of a heavy column of the enemy’s reserve, which
was ultimately obliged to give way with considerable loss, and
retreated in confusion across the river Albuhera.
On this occasion the second battalion had Lieutenant George Beard
and fourteen rank and file killed; Captain James Brine, Lieutenants
John William Pollard, Francis H. Hart, Ensign Charles Cox, four
serjeants, and seventy-three rank and file wounded.
For this action Major Patrick Lindesay, being in command of the
battalion, obtained the brevet rank of Lieut.-Colonel, and was
presented with a medal. Captain Charles Carthew, who commanded the
light company, was publicly thanked by Major-General the Honorable
William Stewart, commanding the division, for the gallant conduct
of himself, the officers, and company, in their skirmishing with
the enemy.
The royal authority was afterwards given for the THIRTY-NINTH to
bear the word “ALBUHERA” on the regimental colour and appointments,
to commemorate the distinguished conduct of the second battalion on
that occasion.
The French army having retreated on the road to Seville, the
battalion moved forward with the corps, and on the march made many
prisoners, the hospitals and wounded having, in many instances,
fallen into the hands of the British. The enemy having been
completely driven over the Sierra Morena, the battalion retired
with the division, and was cantoned on the frontiers until the 22nd
of October, when it marched with the troops under Lieut.-General
Rowland Hill, and on the 28th of that month arrived close to the
village of _Arroyo dos Molinos_, where a division of the French
army was surprised, and about fourteen hundred prisoners, with all
its artillery and baggage, were taken. Several officers of rank
and consideration, including General Brun and Colonel the Prince
d’Aremberg, were amongst the prisoners. The light companies of the
brigade, acting in battalion, were under the command of Major Roger
Parke of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment.
General Girard, who commanded the French division, escaped, with
about five hundred men, by ascending the Sierra de Montanches, when
the second battalion of the THIRTY-NINTH was ordered to pursue
them; but the French throwing away their knapsacks, and in many
instances their appointments, they marched with such rapidity,
that the battalion could only come up with the rear-guard, which
occasionally occupied most favorable positions to cover their
retreat. After some skirmishing the French descended into the
plain: the battalion being excessively fatigued by a continued and
harassing march, from two o’clock in the morning until six in the
evening, Brevet-Lieut.-Colonel Patrick Lindesay, then in command,
finding further pursuit unavailing, tried the success of a “_ruse
de guerre_,” by riding up to the enemy with a flag of truce, and
proposing to General Girard to surrender, as no doubt he would be
intercepted by the British cavalry on the plain, and that a Spanish
corps under General Morillo was at hand. A captain and twenty men
left the column, and surrendered to the battalion, then rapidly
advancing in pursuit. The French general, mortified by the surprise
and loss of his division, declared he would rather die than
surrender. Unfortunately only one troop of cavalry arrived, and
Morillo’s force was unable to come up, so that General Girard, and
the remainder of his division, escaped by the bridge of Medellin.
In this affair the second battalion had Captain Hardress
Saunderson, one serjeant, and nine rank and file wounded.
On the following morning the second battalion rejoined the division
at Arroyo dos Molinos, and returned to Albuquerque.
[Sidenote: 1st Batt.]
Meanwhile the first battalion, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel
the Honorable Robert William O’Callaghan, had embarked from Sicily
on the 20th of August 1811, to join the army in the Peninsula, and
arrived at Lisbon in October following. The battalion moved towards
the frontiers of Portugal, and on its arrival at Crato was joined
by the second battalion on the 24th of December 1811, commanded by
Brevet-Lieut.-Colonel Patrick Lindesay.
[Sidenote: 2nd Batt.]
On the 25th of December 1811, the second battalion transferred all
its effective men to the first battalion, after which the skeleton
marched to Lisbon, where it embarked for England on the 27th of
January following.
[Sidenote: 1st Batt.]
The first battalion, thus completed to twelve hundred rank and
file, proceeded on the 26th of December to join the second division
of the army under Lieut.-General Rowland Hill.
[Sidenote: 1812. 2nd Batt.]
The portion of the second battalion, which had proceeded to
England, disembarked at Weymouth on the 2nd of March 1812.
[Sidenote: 1st Batt.]
In March _Badajoz_ was invested for the third time, and the first
battalion formed part of the covering army under Lieut.-General
Sir Rowland Hill[27] at the successful siege of this important
fortress, which was taken by the British on the night of the 6th
of April. The battalion afterwards continued with the division in
all its various movements from the frontiers of Portugal to the
Spanish capital. The victory gained at _Salamanca_ on the 22nd
of July by the army under the immediate command of the Earl of
Wellington, for which he was raised to the title of Marquis, was
followed by the surrender of Madrid to the allies, who entered
that city on the 12th of August, and were joyfully received by the
inhabitants. The situation of the British commander at Madrid was
critical; and it being deemed impracticable to remain there, the
Marquis of Wellington on the 1st of September departed from that
city, and advanced to Burgos; but the siege of the castle at that
place was not successful, and a retrograde movement was made in
order to unite with the troops under Lieut.-General Sir Rowland
Hill, information having been received that Marshal Soult and King
Joseph, with their combined forces, were advancing from Valencia,
and that their advanced guard was in the neighbourhood of Ocanna,
and moving on Madrid. Lieut.-General Hill, at the approach of
Marshal Soult, abandoned that city, and retired slowly towards
Salamanca. On the retreat from Madrid to the Tormes, the first
battalion formed part of the rear-guard of the army; here the
battalion rejoined the second division, and continued the march by
Salamanca until its arrival at Coria on the 1st of December 1812,
where it remained for the winter.
[Sidenote: 2nd Batt.]
The second battalion, upon its arrival in England in February
1812, was stationed at Weymouth until October following, when it
proceeded to Exeter, but returned to Weymouth in December.
[Sidenote: 1813. 1st Batt.]
Shortly after the arrival of the first battalion at Coria,
the THIRTY-NINTH sustained the loss of a most gallant and
distinguished officer in Colonel George Wilson, who died on the
6th of January 1813. This officer had served in the regiment
upwards of twenty-nine years, and was at the period of his decease
aide-de-camp to His Majesty King George III., lieut.-colonel of the
second battalion, colonel on the staff of the army, and commanding
the brigade to which the first battalion was attached.[28]
On the 15th of May the first battalion, still belonging to the
second division, moved forward without interruption until its
arrival at _Vittoria_ on the 21st of June: it bore a considerable
share in the battle on that day, in taking, defending, and
maintaining the village of _Subijana de Alava_, a post in front
of the left of the French line, which they considered of such
importance as to induce them to make several vigorous attacks to
repossess themselves of it, but which proved unavailing. In this
glorious action the battalion lost, in killed and wounded, above
one-third of its number. Captains Charles Carthew, Robert Walton,
and William Hicks, were wounded. Captain Hicks died of his wounds
on the 3rd of July; Lieutenant the Honorable Michael De Courcy
Meade died of his wounds on the 9th of July. Lieutenants Francis
C. Crotty, Coyne Reynolds, Thomas Baynes, and Alexander G. Speirs,
were wounded.
Two serjeants and thirty-two rank and file were killed; six
serjeants and one hundred and ninety-four rank and file were
wounded.
The French, being driven from all their defences, retreated with
such precipitation towards Pampeluna as to abandon all their
baggage, artillery, ammunition, military chests, and the court
equipage of King Joseph, whose carriage being seized, he had barely
time to escape on horseback. The defeat was the most complete that
the French had experienced in Spain.
The baton of Marshal Jourdan was taken by the Eighty-seventh
regiment, and the Prince Regent, in the name and behalf of His
Majesty, appointed the Marquis of Wellington a Field-Marshal. In
a most flattering letter, the Prince Regent thus conferred the
honor:--“You have sent me among the trophies of our unrivalled
fame, the staff of a French Marshal, and I send you in return that
of England.”
To commemorate this victory the THIRTY-NINTH subsequently received
the royal authority to bear the word “VITTORIA” on the regimental
colour and appointments. A medal was granted to Colonel the
Honorable Robert William O’Callaghan, of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment,
in temporary command of the brigade, who was specially noticed
in the Marquis of Wellington’s despatch, “as having maintained
the village of Subijana de Alava against all the efforts of the
enemy to gain possession of it;” and also to Brevet-Lieut.-Colonel
Charles Bruce, in immediate command of the first battalion.
From Vittoria the first battalion moved forward with the army on
the evening of the same day towards the _Pyrenees_. Some affairs
of little importance occurred, and on the 7th of July the French
occupied a position across the valley of Bastan; the second
battalion of the Thirty-fourth and the first battalion of the
THIRTY-NINTH regiments were moved through the mountains to turn
their right; towards evening they fell in with a piquet of the
enemy near the extremity of the valley, which was driven in, and
found to be supported by a great portion of the French army, which
kept up a heavy fire until night. From a thick fog, and the nature
of the ground, the enemy did not perceive the comparatively small
force opposed to him, nor did the battalion suffer much for the
same reason. On the morning of the 8th the enemy retired within the
French territory. Four days afterwards Marshal Soult, who had been
sent to the seat of war by Napoleon, with the rank of “Lieutenant
of the Emperor,” assumed the command of the army of Spain, when all
his energies were directed to retrieve its disasters, and to drive
the British across the Ebro.
Nothing particular occurred until the 25th of July, when Count
D’Erlon attacked the pass of _Maya_ with an overwhelming force.
This pass was occupied by the piquets of the brigade, to whose
support the battalion, with the brigade, moved forward; but on
their arrival found the pass in possession of the enemy: this
circumstance, and his great superiority of numbers, obliged the
troops to retire, which they did in good order, but with great loss.
In the subsequent action near _Pampeluna_ the battalion occupied
some strong ground on the left of the British line, and was but
little engaged. It again moved forward on the retreat of the enemy,
and on the 31st of July, two attempts having failed to carry the
heights of _Donna Maria_, the THIRTY-NINTH, being selected for a
third, happily succeeded. The enemy after this made no further
stand, but retreated beyond the Pyrenees.
In the operations of the army from the 25th to the 31st of July,
the loss of the THIRTY-NINTH was as follows:--
Lieutenants John Lord, and Trevor Williams, killed in action on
the 25th of July. Lieutenant Connell Scanlan was wounded and
taken prisoner, and died of his wounds. Captain Joseph A. Jones,
Lieutenants Francis H. Hart, Charles Cox, and Purefoy Poe, Ensigns
William Allan Courtenay and Robert Rhodes were wounded on the 25th
of July. Lieutenant William Johnston Hughes was taken prisoner.
Six serjeants and twenty-three rank and file were killed; five
serjeants and one hundred and four rank and file were wounded; two
serjeants, one drummer, and nineteen rank and file were missing.
For the several actions in the _Pyrenees_ from the 25th to the
31st of July, His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, in the name
and behalf of His Majesty, was graciously pleased to grant medals
to Colonel the Honorable Robert William O’Callaghan, commanding
the brigade, Brevet-Lieut.-Colonel Charles Bruce, commanding the
battalion; and to Captain Duncan Campbell, of the THIRTY-NINTH, in
command of the light companies of the brigade.
The THIRTY-NINTH also received the royal authority to bear the
word “PYRENEES” on the regimental colour and appointments, to
commemorate the services of the first battalion in these actions.
The enemy having been driven over the Pyrenees, the British
remained in possession of the several passes, the THIRTY-NINTH
occupying those of Maya, Roncesvalles, and Alduides, alternately,
until the 9th of November, when the battalion entered France by
the pass of Maya without opposition, except driving in the enemy’s
advance-posts, until its arrival at the river _Nivelle_, the
passage of which was contested by the French army. The battalion,
however, succeeded in crossing with trifling loss on the 10th
of November, and the enemy was afterwards driven from all his
strong and fortified positions on the heights of Sarre, where
the THIRTY-NINTH remained for the night. In commemoration of
this service the THIRTY-NINTH subsequently received the royal
authority to bear the word “NIVELLE” on the regimental colour and
appointments.
Captain George D’Arcy, of the THIRTY-NINTH, was promoted to the
brevet rank of Major on the 22nd of November 1813.
The battalion subsequently moved forward to the _Nive_, the left
bank of which it occupied until the 9th of December, when the army
crossed that river,--the THIRTY-NINTH by a ford at Laressor, under
great difficulties, as well from the depth of the river as the
opposition made by the enemy. The passage having been effected, the
enemy retired to the heights of St. Pierre, near Bayonne.
In crossing the _Nive_ the battalion had one man killed, and twelve
rank and file wounded.
On the morning of the 10th of December the division took possession
of the high ground in the neighbourhood of _Bayonne_, the
THIRTY-NINTH occupying Ville Franche on the left of the line, and
on the right bank of the _Nive_. Early on the morning of the 13th
of December, Marshal Soult made a most desperate attack on the
second division with all his force; but the battalion being on the
extreme left of the position was not materially engaged, having
only one serjeant killed, and Ensign John Burns and thirteen rank
and file wounded. The enemy, being defeated in his attack, retired
to Bayonne that night; the division still retained its position and
continued therein until the 13th of February, the THIRTY-NINTH
occupying the village of Petite Moguerre.
For the services connected with the passage of the river Nive, the
THIRTY-NINTH subsequently received the royal authority to bear the
word “NIVE” on the regimental colour and appointments. Medals were
also granted to Colonel the Honorable Robert William O’Callaghan,
commanding the battalion, and to Brevet-Lieut.-Colonel Charles
Bruce, commanding the light companies of the brigade.
[Sidenote: 2nd Batt.]
During the year 1813 the second battalion continued to be stationed
at Weymouth; and having completed its ranks from the militia, and
by means of recruiting parties, it sent several large drafts to the
first battalion in the Peninsula.
[Sidenote: 1814. 1st Batt.]
On the 13th of February 1814, the division moved forward, and
on the evening of the 15th of that month fell in with the enemy
posted on some strong heights near the town of _Garris_; after
halting a few minutes to observe him, an order was received from
the Marquis of Wellington “_to take the hill before dark_,”
when the first battalions of the Twenty-eighth and THIRTY-NINTH
regiments, composing Major-General William Henry Pringle’s brigade,
were instantly put in motion, and after crossing a deep ravine,
steadily and briskly ascended the hill in contiguous close columns.
The Twenty-eighth meeting with some little delay in the ascent,
Major-General Pringle left them, and put himself at the head of the
THIRTY-NINTH, who gained the summit under the continued fire of
the enemy without returning a single shot. The French retired from
the brow of the hill, and the battalion, wheeling to the right,
continued to drive them along the ridge until it reached a spot
where their principal force appeared to be concentrated: here they
made an obstinate resistance. The other brigades of the division
not being so soon in motion, and having a greater distance to
proceed to their points of attack, did not gain the heights for
some time, and the Twenty-eighth having proceeded in a different
direction, the THIRTY-NINTH had to sustain, in this place, the
whole efforts of the enemy for about twenty minutes. During this
time the French made three attempts to drive the battalion from the
position it had gained, and repeated instances occurred of personal
conflict, and bayonets crossing: the battalion, however, maintained
its ground, and charging in its turn, the enemy was eventually
forced to retire in confusion with the loss of several prisoners.
On the following morning Lieut.-General the Honorable Sir William
Stewart, K.B., who commanded the division, assembled the officers
in front of the battalion, and expressed to them his high
satisfaction at the gallant conduct of the corps on the preceding
evening; and at the same time offered to recommend to the notice of
the Marquis of Wellington any officer or non-commissioned officer
that Colonel the Honorable Robert William O’Callaghan might point
out: upon which Captain Duncan Campbell was recommended for the
brevet rank of Major, which he obtained on the 3rd of the following
month.
The battalion had also the proud satisfaction of being mentioned by
the Marquis of Wellington, who was an eye-witness of its conduct,
as having particularly distinguished itself on this occasion. In
his Lordship’s despatch of the 20th of February, it was stated,
“Much of the day had elapsed before the attack could be commenced,
and the action lasted till after dark, the enemy having made
repeated attempts to regain the position, _particularly in two
attacks, which were most gallantly received and repulsed by the_
THIRTY-NINTH _regiment under the command of the Honorable Colonel
O’Callaghan_, in Major-General Pringle’s brigade. The Major-General
and Lieut.-Colonel Bruce, of the THIRTY-NINTH, were unfortunately
wounded. We took ten officers and about two hundred prisoners.”
In addition to Brevet-Lieut.-Colonel Charles Bruce, who was
severely wounded, the battalion had two serjeants and eleven rank
and file killed; one serjeant and twenty-eight rank and file were
wounded.
The battalion moved forward without interruption until its arrival
in the neighbourhood of _Orthes_ on the 25th, and was present at
the battle there of the 27th of February; but the division being
employed in turning the enemy’s left, the THIRTY-NINTH did not
suffer any loss. Brevet-Major George D’Arcy, who commanded the
battalion on that day, was presented with a medal for the battle of
Orthes.
The royal authority was subsequently granted for the THIRTY-NINTH
to bear the word “ORTHES” on the regimental colour and appointments.
The battalion moved forward on the road to Toulouse, and on the
18th of March fell in with the rear-guard of the enemy, near the
village of _Castillon_, which was driven in. On this occasion
Lieutenant Charles Cox was wounded.
The THIRTY-NINTH having arrived in the neighbourhood of Toulouse,
nothing particular occurred until the battle of _Toulouse_ on the
10th of April, when the operations of the division being confined
to the left bank of the Garonne, the battalion was only occupied
in driving in the enemy’s outposts, and taking some field-works
which had been thrown up to defend the entrance to the town. In
accomplishing this, Captain Samuel Thorpe, one serjeant, and a few
men were wounded.
During the night of the 11th of April the French troops evacuated
Toulouse, and a white flag was hoisted. On the following day the
Marquis of Wellington entered the city amidst the acclamations of
the inhabitants. In the course of the afternoon of the 12th of
April intelligence was received of the abdication of Napoleon;
and had not the express been delayed on the journey by the French
police, the sacrifice of many valuable lives would have been
prevented.
A disbelief in the truth of this intelligence occasioned much
unnecessary bloodshed at _Bayonne_, the garrison of which made
a desperate _sortie_ on the 14th of April, when Lieut.-General
Sir John Hope (afterwards Earl of Hopetoun) was taken prisoner,
Major-General Andrew Hay was killed, and Major-General Stopford was
wounded. This was the last action of the Peninsular war.
A treaty of peace was established between Great Britain and France;
Louis XVIII. was restored to the throne of France, and Napoleon
Bonaparte was permitted to reside at Elba, the sovereignty of that
island having been conceded to him by the Allied Powers.
In addition to the other distinctions acquired during the war in
Spain, Portugal, and the south of France, the THIRTY-NINTH received
the royal authority to bear the word “PENINSULA” on the regimental
colour and appointments.
Shortly after the termination of the war in Europe, the first
battalion of the THIRTY-NINTH was ordered to proceed to North
America in consequence of the hostilities between Great Britain and
the United States. The battalion accordingly marched to Bourdeaux
under the command of Brevet-Lieut.-Colonel Charles Bruce, and
embarked for Canada on the 8th of June.
While the battalion was on its voyage to North America, the Duke of
Wellington, prior to the breaking up of the Peninsular army, issued
the following General Order:--
“_Bourdeaux, 14th June 1814_.
“GENERAL ORDER.
“The Commander of the Forces, being upon the point of returning
to England, again takes this opportunity of congratulating the
army upon the recent events which have restored peace to their
country and to the world.
“The share which the British army have had in producing those
events, and the high character with which the army will quit
this country, must be equally satisfactory to every individual
belonging to it, as they are to the Commander of the Forces, and
he trusts that the troops will continue the same good conduct to
the last.
“The Commander of the Forces once more requests the army to
accept his thanks.
“Although circumstances may alter the relations in which he has
stood towards them for some years so much to his satisfaction, he
assures them he will never cease to feel the warmest interest in
their welfare and honor, and that he will be at all times happy
to be of any service to those to whose conduct, discipline, and
gallantry their country is so much indebted.”
The first battalion of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment arrived at Quebec
on the 5th of August, and marched from thence to Chambly.
After the arrival of the reinforcements from Europe, the
Governor-General of Canada, Lieut.-General Sir George Prevost,
Bart., assembled all the disposable forces in the lower province
for an attack upon the state of New York. On the 2nd of September
the first battalion of the THIRTY-NINTH, with the other corps
employed on this service, proceeded towards the United States to
co-operate with the naval force on Lake Champlain. As the troops
approached the line of separation, the Americans abandoned their
entrenched camp on the river Chazy, and this post was occupied by
the British on the 3rd of September.
The first battalion remained at Chazy to keep up the communication,
having sent forward the light company to _Plattsburg_, a fortified
place on Lake Champlain; two officers and sixty men of the
THIRTY-NINTH were detached on board the fleet to act as marines.
The attack was made on the morning of the 11th of September; but
the defeat of the British naval force on the lake rendered it
necessary to abandon the enterprise, as the most complete success
on shore would have proved unavailing after the loss of the
shipping. The troops accordingly retired to Lower Canada.
[Sidenote: 1815. 1st Batt.]
After the failure of these operations the first battalion
returned to Chambly, where it remained until the 27th of May
1815, and then proceeded to embark at Quebec under the command
of Brevet-Lieut.-Colonel Patrick Lindesay, its services being
again required in Europe in consequence of the return of Napoleon
Bonaparte to France, who resumed his former title of Emperor of the
French, but which assumption the Allied Powers refused to recognise.
The first battalion sailed from the river St. Lawrence on the 12th
of June, and arrived at Portsmouth on the 15th of July. Meanwhile
the destiny of France had been decided on the field of Waterloo,
and Louis XVIII. had been again restored to the throne. The
battalion proceeded on the 18th of July for Ostend, disembarked
on the 21st, and immediately marched to join the British army
at Paris. On the 26th of August it was reinforced by a strong
detachment from the second battalion under Lieut.-Colonel Cavendish
Sturt, who assumed the command.
[Sidenote: 2nd Batt.]
In April 1815 the second battalion was removed from Weymouth
to Winchester Barracks, and, after having transferred all the
effective men to the first battalion, was disbanded at the latter
place on the 24th of December following.
The regiment remained near Paris until the Army of Occupation
was formed, and on the 27th of December 1815 marched to take up
the cantonments appointed for it in the Pas-de-Calais, between
the towns of Arras and St. Pol, moving annually to the camps of
St. Omer and Valenciennes until the breaking up of the Army of
Occupation in 1818.
[Sidenote: 1818.]
On the 30th of October 1818, the regiment embarked at Calais,
disembarked at Dover on the 31st, and marched to Portsmouth, where
it arrived on the 11th of November. The THIRTY-NINTH regiment
embarked for Ireland on the 17th of December following, arrived at
Cork on the 24th, and disembarked on the 26th of that month.
[Sidenote: 1819.]
The regiment proceeded on its route for Castlebar in the county of
Mayo, where it arrived on the 7th of January 1819.
[Sidenote: 1820.]
The THIRTY-NINTH marched from Castlebar to Dublin in August 1820,
and arrived at its destination on the 17th of that month.
[Sidenote: 1821.]
In March 1821, the regiment was removed from Dublin to Cork.
On the 24th of August 1821, the establishment of the regiment
was reduced from ten to eight companies, of three serjeants and
seventy-two rank and file each; and on the 26th of November it
marched from Cork to Tralee.
[Sidenote: 1822.]
In January 1822, some detachments of the regiment were employed in
suppressing a partial insurrection of the Whiteboys. Brevet-Major
George D’Arcy was attacked at Millstreet, in the county of Cork,
and beat off considerable bodies of the insurgents. Brevet-Major
Charles Carthew was also engaged with a large body of them near
Bantry, when one private of the regiment was killed.
[Sidenote: 1823.]
The regiment marched, on the 1st of October 1823, from Tralee to
Limerick.
Lieut.-General Sir George Airey, K.C.H., was appointed colonel
of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 28th of October 1823, in
succession to General Nisbett Balfour, deceased.
[Sidenote: 1824.]
On the 12th of August 1824, Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Patrick Lindesay,
C.B., was appointed Lieut.-Colonel of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment,
in consequence of the retirement of Colonel Cavendish Sturt;
Brevet-Major Donald M^cPherson succeeded to the vacant majority.
The regiment marched to Buttevant, in the county of Cork, in the
beginning of October 1824, and in this place was at length brought
together, having been continually broken into small detachments
during the whole of its service in Ireland, with the exception of a
few months while stationed in Dublin.
[Sidenote: 1825.]
On the 25th of March 1825, the regiment, in common with the rest of
the infantry, received an augmentation of two companies, raising
its establishment to forty-two serjeants, fourteen drummers,
and seven hundred and forty rank and file. These companies were
given to the two senior subalterns, Lieutenants Simon Newport and
Francis Henry Hart, whose commissions as captains were dated 7th
and 8th of April 1825. At this period it was directed that each
battalion of infantry in the United Kingdom, as well as those on
foreign stations (the East Indies excepted), should consist of six
_service_ companies of eighty-six rank and file each, and four
_dépôt_ companies of fifty-six rank and file each, making seven
hundred and forty in all. The dépôts of such regiments as were
serving at home, continued united with their respective corps.
An order was received on the 10th of July 1825, intimating that the
regiment was destined to proceed to New South Wales, and ultimately
to India. On the 19th of July, it marched to Cork to be embarked
for Chatham, from whence it was ordered to proceed to New South
Wales, as guards over convicts. The first division left Cork on the
19th, and the head-quarters on the 30th of September.
A detachment, consisting of one captain, one subaltern, one
serjeant, and twenty rank and file, embarked in the “Woodman”
convict ship on the 4th of November 1825, and proceeded to Van
Diemen’s Land and Sydney.
The last division of the regiment arrived at Chatham from Cork, on
the 25th of November 1825.
[Sidenote: 1826.]
Several detachments of the regiment proceeded to New South Wales
during the year 1826.
In the latter part of 1826, Captain Joseph Wakefield proceeded
to assist in establishing a settlement at King George’s Sound on
the southern coast of New Holland; and in the beginning of the
following year, Captain Henry Smyth was despatched to effect a
similar purpose on the northern coast, and succeeded in forming a
settlement named Fort Wellington, in Raffles’ Bay.
[Sidenote: 1827.]
The head-quarters under the command of Colonel Lindesay, were
embarked for New South Wales in the ship “Cambridge” on the 26th
of April 1827, and arrived at their destination on the 17th of
September following.
From the 4th of November 1825, to the 5th of May 1827, the whole of
the men of the service companies, together with two officers and
fifty-nine men drawn from the dépôt, were embarked for New South
Wales.
[Sidenote: 1828.]
In consequence of the breaking-up of the reserve or dépôt
companies of the regiment in the beginning of 1828, the officers
and men composing those companies proceeded by detachments to
the head-quarters in New South Wales, leaving a dépôt company
in England, on the 24th of August 1830, of two captains, two
lieutenants, one ensign, five serjeants, six corporals, four
drummers, and thirteen privates. The first detachment embarked for
New South Wales on the 1st of February 1828, and the last sailed on
the 30th of August 1830.
During the period the regiment was employed in New South Wales,
detachments were stationed at Van Diemen’s Land, at King George’s
Sound, and on the northern coast, which were distant six hundred,
fifteen hundred, and two thousand miles from the head-quarters.
[Sidenote: 1829.]
[Sidenote: 1830.]
The attention of Lieut.-General Ralph Darling, governor of the
colony, having for some time been drawn to the importance and
advantages which would result from a greater knowledge of the
interior of the country, yielded to the entreaties of Captain
Charles Sturt of the THIRTY-NINTH, and permitted him to proceed for
the purpose of prosecuting the discoveries already commenced by
other travellers. This officer departed from Sydney on his first
expedition, on the 6th of November 1828, proceeding in a westerly
direction, and remained absent until the 2nd of April 1829, when
he rejoined the regiment, having performed the task allotted to
him in a manner highly satisfactory to the government; so much so,
that having again most particularly requested permission to proceed
once more for the purpose of exploring the country in another
direction, his request was readily acceded to by the governor, and
he accordingly departed from Sydney on the 3rd of November 1829.
Proceeding southerly, he had the good fortune to make the coast at
Spencer’s Gulf, having traced a large and important river through
a vast tract of country, until it discharged its waters into the
ocean, on the point of which he emerged. Captain Sturt returned
from this expedition on the 26th of May 1830, and was subsequently
detached to Norfolk Island; but his health having received a
severe shock from the fatigue incident to his labours, he received
permission to return to England in 1832.
Serious disturbances having arisen amongst the convicts in the
Bathurst district in August 1830, large detachments of the regiment
were ordered to proceed thither, where Major Donald M^cPherson was
stationed in command, and Captain Horatio Walpole was directed
to pursue a body of those deluded men, who had fled from their
employment, and furnishing themselves by plunder with arms and
horses, bade defiance to all law and authority. He succeeded in
ascertaining the direction which they had taken, and following
them for several days over a large tract of country, finally
succeeded in capturing the whole gang without any loss on the part
of his detachment.
In the month of October of the same year, Lieut.-General Ralph
Darling addressed a letter to Colonel Lindesay, to ascertain if
the immediate services of Captain John Douglas Forbes could be
dispensed with by the regiment, as it was his wish to place him in
command of the mounted police; to which a reply was sent by Colonel
Lindesay, stating his consent to Captain Forbes being withdrawn
from his regimental duties; “for that, although he could ill be
spared, yet he did not wish to deprive the colonial government of
the services of an officer who, he had every reason to believe,
would prove both valuable and efficient.” The result fully realized
his anticipations; and on the 16th of October, Captain Forbes was
by a general order placed in command of this corps; a body of men
drawn in equal numbers from the regiments in garrison, and mounted
by government, for the more effectually assisting of the civil
power, by dispersing them over the various settled parts of the
colony. They had, at the time of Captain Forbes’s appointment,
no recognized commanding-officer, but were nominally under the
superintendence of the Major of Brigade, whose various avocations
rarely allowed him to examine into their interior economy;
consequently, their discipline had become relaxed, and their duties
were but too often performed with carelessness.
Soon after Captain Forbes assumed the command, a manifest change
took place; the mounted police rapidly became an efficient and
highly disciplined body of men, and their utility and zeal in the
discharge of their duty were universally acknowledged.
[Sidenote: 1831.]
New colours were presented to the THIRTY-NINTH by Lieut.-General
Ralph Darling, in the Barrack Square of Sydney, on the 16th of May
1831, being the anniversary of the battle of _Albuhera_, in which
engagement the second battalion of the regiment had twenty years
before distinguished itself. On this occasion the following speech
was delivered by the Lieut.-General, the ceremony of consecration
having been first performed by the Venerable Archdeacon Broughton:--
“THIRTY-NINTH! It is highly gratifying to me to present you, on
the part of your Colonel, with these colours, henceforth the
proud record of your general and distinguished services.
“It is unnecessary for me, THIRTY-NINTH, to emblazon your
achievements; your friends will ever remember, and your enemies
can never forget, that during the Peninsular War, which in
its results was as glorious to the British Arms as it was
important to the general interests of Europe, you, led on by
your present gallant Commander, fought at _Albuhera_, of which
battle this is the twentieth anniversary; that you were also
engaged with, and defeated, the enemy at _Vittoria_, at the
_Pyrenees_, the _Nivelle_, the _Nive_, and at _Orthes_. You
have indeed, THIRTY-NINTH, nobly redeemed the pledge which your
predecessors in arms first gave at the battle of _Almanza_[29],
now one hundred and twenty-four years ago, which was as
admirably seconded in the glorious field of _Plassey_, as it was
successfully followed up at the memorable defence of _Gibraltar_!
“Soldiers! It is not necessary to the fame of your corps, that
you should augment the honors which it has so gallantly acquired;
but I am sure, whenever your King and country shall require your
services, you will add fresh laurels to the noble wreath which
now so proudly adorns your banners.
“Gentlemen! In addressing you more particularly to whom this
sacred trust, the immediate charge of these colours is especially
confided, I need only point out, that they will be the objects to
which the eyes of your corps will be directed. You will protect
them with your lives; and may the Almighty, who alone can shield
you in the day of battle, guide and preserve you in the faithful
discharge of this sacred duty!”
Colonel Lindesay having made a suitable reply to the foregoing
address, the ceremony was concluded in the usual manner.
The festivity consequent on the presentation of colours was damped
by the melancholy intelligence of the death of Captain Collett
Barker, who was barbarously murdered on the 30th of April 1831,
by the native tribes on the southern coast of New Holland, near
the spot at which Captain Sturt had made the coast on his second
expedition. Captain Barker had served in the THIRTY-NINTH regiment
for a period of twenty-five years, and was highly esteemed. At
the time of his death he was returning from King George’s Sound,
where he had been for some time commandant, but which settlement
he had been ordered to deliver over to the government of Western
Australia, and had landed for scientific purposes near the spot
where he was murdered. Captain Barker had also for a considerable
period been commandant at the settlement of Fort Wellington, in
Raffles’ Bay, on the northern coast of New Holland, where his
services were highly estimated by the Colonial Government.
On the 30th of May 1831, a general order was issued, acquainting
the regiment that it was destined to proceed to India, upon the
arrival of the Fourth foot in New South Wales.
Lieut.-General Darling embarked for England on the 22nd of October
1831, leaving the administration of the government of the colony in
the hands of Colonel Lindesay, who continued to act as governor
until the arrival of Major-General Richard Bourke, C.B., on the
2nd of December. During this period the command of the regiment
devolved upon Major M^cPherson, who was withdrawn from the Bathurst
district for that purpose.
[Sidenote: 1832.]
On the 5th of July 1832, a general order was issued, directing
the head-quarters of the regiment to embark for Madras; upon
which occasion an address was unanimously voted by the civil
officers of the colony to Colonel Lindesay on his departure, as
a mark of sincere esteem and respect; and he, together with the
officers of the THIRTY-NINTH, received an invitation to a dinner,
immediately after which the address, most numerously signed, and
highly complimentary to the Colonel and to the regiment, was read
by Chief-Justice Forbes. Colonel Lindesay, in reply, expressed his
thanks for the honor conferred upon him and upon the THIRTY-NINTH
regiment.
Six companies of the regiment embarked at Sydney on the 21st of
July 1832, in three divisions, and disembarked at Madras on the
22nd of September, 10th and 14th of October. The remaining four
companies embarked at Sydney on the 3rd of December, and arrived at
Madras on the 21st of February of the following year.
The regiment was for a short period stationed at Poonamallee, about
thirteen miles from Madras.
[Sidenote: 1833.]
After receiving several contradictory orders as to its final
destination, the regiment marched on the 22nd of January 1833,
for Bangalore in the Mysore territory, where it arrived on the
14th of February. On the following day, Colonel Lindesay assumed
the command of the cantonment of Bangalore, and that of the
regiment devolved on Lieut.-Colonel M^cPherson. A week afterwards
the remainder of the corps, with the exception of forty men left
behind, had disembarked at Madras from New South Wales, under the
command of Major Thomas Poole, and joined the head-quarters on the
15th of April; the strength of the corps had also been increased by
one hundred and fifteen volunteers received from the Forty-sixth
regiment. Lieutenant Charles Cox, who had been detached under the
command of Captain Wakefield, to take charge of these volunteers,
died of cholera while on the route to Hyderabad.
Lieut.-General the Honorable Sir Robert William O’Callaghan,
K.C.B., was removed from the colonelcy of the Ninety-seventh to
that of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment, on the 4th of March 1833, in
consequence of the decease of Lieut.-General Sir George Airey,
K.C.H.
Cholera broke out among the European troops at Bangalore about the
22nd of March 1833; and in the course of fire weeks the regiment
lost Captain Thomas Meyrick, four serjeants, forty-two rank and
file, two women, and eleven children. Captain Meyrick had served
twenty-two years in the THIRTY-NINTH, fourteen of which he had been
adjutant of the regiment.
In consequence of Lieut.-Colonel M^cPherson proceeding to England
on the 15th of December 1833, on two years’ leave of absence, Major
Poole became the commanding officer of the regiment.
[Sidenote: 1834.]
Early in 1834, the regiment was called upon to take part in
active field operations against the Rajah of Coorg. This prince,
a dependent ally of the British, had for some time excited the
attention of the government by a series of cruelties and oppression
towards his subjects, and had made open preparations to resist its
authority. Confiding in the natural difficulties of his country,
he presumed to defy the arm of British power, and encouraged
proclaimed rebels to take refuge in his jungles and mountains; he
finally reached the climax of misconduct, by the outrageous act of
arresting an accredited envoy from the government, who had been
sent to endeavour to re-establish amicable relations.
A field force, consisting of upwards of seven thousand men, was
formed and divided into four columns; the command of the whole
was assigned to Colonel Patrick Lindesay, C.B., who received the
temporary rank of Brigadier, and Captain John Douglas Forbes, of
the THIRTY-NINTH, was appointed deputy assistant adjutant-general
of the force.
The regiment was directed to furnish four hundred rank and file
to form the European force of the Eastern Column; and on the 17th
of March, the following detail, under the command of Major Thomas
Poole, marched from Bangalore in light service order:--
Field Offr. Captns. Subs. Staff. Serjts. Drms. Rk. & File
1 6 12 1 25 6 400
The column rendezvoused at Periapatam, within a few miles of the
hostile country, where final arrangements were made for the attack.
It having been decided that the column should move on two points,
it was divided into two divisions, and a part of the regiment
attached to each. On the 1st of April, the head-quarters,
consisting of four companies, with the part of the column under
the personal direction of the Brigadier, marched for Bedalapoor;
and Major Poole was nominated to the command of the Infantry
Brigade, while Captain Horatio Walpole succeeded to the charge
of that portion of the regiment. Captain Smyth, with the other
three companies of the regiment, remained with the division under
Lieut.-Colonel Stewart, of the East India Company’s service.
On the 2nd of April, the Cavery was crossed, and the Coorg country
entered by both divisions; the opposition made by the enemy was
trifling, and the casualties in the regiment were very few. Captain
Smyth and one serjeant were wounded.
On the following day the troops advanced, and succeeded in carrying
all the barriers and positions opposed to them; one private was
wounded at the stockade, near Harringharry.
The difficulties of the country, both natural and artificial,
became excessive, and demanded, as they received, the very utmost
exertions of the troops to bring forward the artillery. In one
day’s march of continued labour, for upwards of fourteen hours, a
distance was gained of only five miles.
On the evening of the 4th, a flag of truce arrived from the rajah,
proposing that the troops should halt until he could conclude
a negotiation, into which he proposed entering. The Brigadier
received the flag, and consented to a truce so far as regarded
actual hostilities, provided the enemy refrained from them; but he
signified his determination to advance until the rajah surrendered
himself an unconditional prisoner.
No further opposition was experienced, and the increasing strength
of the stockades and positions, rendered it evident that, if
adequately defended, they could only have been carried at an
enormous sacrifice. The head-quarter division reached Mercara, the
capital, on the 6th; and the British ensign displayed on the walls
of its fort, speedily announced the addition which the force had
made to British power. The rajah, who had retreated to a country
palace, surrendered his person on the 10th of April, and the war
was considered at an end.
The conduct of the regiment had throughout this short campaign met
with the unqualified praise and approval of the Brigadier, who
concluded one of his despatches by saying:--
“It remains, therefore, for me only to bring to the notice
of His Excellency the excellent conduct of that part of the
Eastern Column which has been acting under my orders. To Major
Poole of His Majesty’s THIRTY-NINTH regiment, whom I placed in
immediate command of the Infantry Brigade, I have been indebted
for the most zealous and able assistance; and I do but justice
in reporting that the officers and soldiers, of every rank and
degree, have under all circumstances, and in all respects,
merited my most perfect approbation.”
The following is an extract from the despatch of Lieut.-Colonel
Stewart, commanding the second division of the Eastern Column:--
“The detachment of His Majesty’s THIRTY-NINTH regiment surmounted
all difficulties with the characteristic behaviour of British
soldiers.”
On the 11th of April, the three companies with Captain Smyth, who
had been latterly employed in opening the communications, rejoined,
and the regiment remained in camp at Mercara until the 11th of May,
when, in consequence of an order for the reduction of the force, it
marched for Bangalore, and arrived there on the 28th of May.
The casualties by war have already been shown to be trifling; those
by sickness, notwithstanding the fatigue and exposure, were also
singularly few. The regiment returned to Bangalore but six men
weaker than it left that place.
Upon the Forty-eighth regiment being ordered to embark for England,
thirty men of that corps volunteered to the THIRTY-NINTH, and
joined the head-quarters on the 14th of November.
[Sidenote: 1835.]
Early in the year 1835, the following general order was received
at the regiment, marking His Majesty’s extreme approbation of the
conduct of Brigadier-General Lindesay, C.B., whilst commanding the
force employed in the expedition against the Rajah of Coorg.
“_Head-Quarters_,
_Madras, 17th April 1835_.
“GENERAL ORDER.
“His Excellency Lieut.-General The Honorable Sir Robert William
O’Callaghan, commanding His Majesty’s Forces in India, has much
satisfaction in publishing the following extract of a letter from
the Right Honorable the General Commanding-in-chief, expressive
of His Majesty’s approval of the conduct of Brigadier-General
Lindesay, and the troops employed under his orders, during
the late operations in Coorg, and of His Majesty having been
graciously pleased in consequence to nominate that officer to be
a Knight Commander of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order.”
Extract of a letter from General the Right Honorable Lord Hill,
Commanding-in-chief, dated Horse Guards, 22nd October, 1834, to the
Right Honorable Lord William Bentinck, G.C.B., Commander-in-chief
in India.[30]
“I have had the honor to receive your Lordship’s letter on the
22nd of May, transmitting a copy of your General Order, on the
termination of the war against the Rajah of Coorg; and I beg
leave to offer to your Lordship my best congratulations on the
success of that operation.
“Having felt it my duty to lay your communication before the
King, and to solicit His Majesty’s attention to the terms in
which you speak of the conduct of Colonel Lindesay, of His
Majesty’s THIRTY-NINTH Regiment, to whom you confided the command
of the Field Force, I have the honor to acquaint you, that the
King has remarked with much satisfaction, that the ability and
judgment of Colonel Lindesay in the performance of his important
service, have been eminently conspicuous; and in testimony of His
Royal approbation His Majesty has been pleased to nominate him a
Knight Commander of the Royal Guelphic Order, the decoration of
which will be duly transmitted to him by the Hanoverian minister
at this court.
“_By order of His Excellency Lieut.-General the Hon.
Sir_ ROBERT WILLIAM O’CALLAGHAN, _Commanding
His Majesty’s Forces in India_.
(Signed) “R. TORRENS,
“_Colonel, Adjutant-General H. M.’s Forces in India_.”
Colonel Lindesay had, previously to the receipt of this
communication, been removed from the command of the cantonment
of Bangalore, and appointed on the 3rd of January to that of the
southern division of the Madras army, with the temporary rank of
Brigadier-General. He accordingly proceeded to Trichinopoly, the
head-quarters of that division. From this place he made application
that the THIRTY-NINTH might be permitted to resume the following
distinctions, which had been borne on the regimental colour and
appointments for many years, but which had been discontinued about
the year 1807, namely the motto “_Primus in Indis_,” and the word
“PLASSEY;” also the device of the “_Castle and Key_,” in addition
to the word GIBRALTAR and the motto “_Montis Insignia Calpé_.” His
Majesty King William the Fourth was graciously pleased to approve
of these distinctions being resumed by the THIRTY-NINTH, and the
result was communicated by the Adjutant-General on the 24th of
November 1835, to Lieut.-Colonel Sir Robert William O’Callaghan,
Colonel of the regiment.
On the 14th of December 1835, the regiment was reviewed at
Bangalore by Major-General Hawker, commanding the Mysore division
of the army, who after a minute inspection expressed to Major
Poole his perfect approbation of its appearance, movements, and
discipline.
[Sidenote: 1836.]
In February 1836, Colonel Lindesay embarked for Europe, having been
relieved in the command of the southern division of the Madras
army by Major-General Sir John Forster Fitzgerald, K.C.B., in the
preceding October.
Colonel Lindesay, on his departure, was presented by the officers
with a gold snuff-box, value nine hundred rupees, bearing the
distinctions of the regiment, in which he had served for upwards of
forty years.
[Sidenote: 1837.]
A gold snuff-box, value five hundred rupees, was also presented, in
January 1837, to Arthur Hamilton, Esq., surgeon of the regiment, on
his return to Europe.
A detachment, consisting of two captains, seven subalterns, nine
serjeants, four drummers, and two hundred rank and file, marched
from Bangalore on the 10th of April 1837, under the command of
Captain Walpole, to assist in quelling an insurrection which had
taken place in Canara and Malabar.
Directions were given to Captain Walpole to proceed with all
expedition to the French Rocks, there to place himself under the
orders of Lieut.-Colonel William Williamson, commanding the force
moving towards Bisley Ghaut. On arriving at the former place,
Captain Walpole received instructions to continue his march in
the direction of Mercara; and came up with Colonel Williamson’s
force, consisting of a brigade of horse artillery, one squadron of
native cavalry, and the Twenty-seventh Native Infantry, five miles
to the west of Seringapatam, after a march of twenty-five miles.
This force then marched to Frazerpet, and from thence (its movement
to Mercara having been countermanded) along the Cavery river to
Bisley, where it arrived on the 23rd of April, after thirteen days
of very harassing marching from Bangalore, upon an average of
nineteen miles a day, and with only one halting-day.
The Pass of the Bisley Ghaut was cleared after some slight
resistance offered by the insurgents at the barriers which they
had erected, and the force descended upon the Canara country and
encamped at Cuddal, until tranquillity was restored.
Captain Walpole’s detachment was then ordered back to Bangalore,
where it arrived on the 20th of May without any casualties, and
only sixteen sick, although the men had been exposed in small
tents in the jungle to the heat of the sun, and had performed
a succession of forced marches, besides the laborious duty of
assisting in drawing the artillery guns up the difficult ascent of
the Ghaut. Lieut.-Colonel Williamson, of the East India Company’s
army, who commanded the force, was in the following year nominated
a Companion of the Order of the Bath.
[Sidenote: 1838.]
On the 6th of January 1838, the regiment received a very handsome
piece of plate from their late Lieut.-Colonel, Major-General Sir
Patrick Lindesay, C.B. and K.C.H.
The right wing marched to Bellary on the 20th of October 1838, to
replace the Forty-first regiment, and was followed by the left wing
and head-quarters on the 16th of January 1839.
[Sidenote: 1839.]
Upon the head-quarters leaving Bangalore, the following order was
issued by Major-General Sir Hugh Gough K.C.B. (now Viscount Gough),
then commanding the Mysore division of the army:--
“DIVISION ORDERS.
“_Bangalore, 15th January 1839._
“Major-General Sir Hugh Gough on parting with Her Majesty’s
THIRTY-NINTH Regiment feels great satisfaction in being able
to record his unqualified approbation of the soldier-like,
creditable, and uniformly correct conduct of the corps during
the sixteen months it has been under his immediate command
at the head-quarters of the Mysore division; and he requests
Lieut.-Colonel Poole will, himself, accept the Major-General’s
best thanks for his judicious arrangements and unceasing
attention to the various duties attendant on his situation as
commanding-officer, and that he will also convey to the officers,
non-commissioned officers, and privates of Her Majesty’s
THIRTY-NINTH regiment his best thanks and good wishes, with
the assurance that the Major-General will consider it a most
gratifying event again to have this distinguished corps under his
orders, the more particularly should his services be required in
the field.
“The Major-General cannot avoid at the present moment noticing
the circumstance so confirmatory of the good feeling and high
state of discipline of Her Majesty’s THIRTY-NINTH regiment;
namely, that for the six years it has been quartered at
Bangalore, not one solitary instance of complaint has been
preferred against an officer, or a soldier, by an inhabitant for
insult or injury of any kind.
“By Order,
(Signed) “G. C. WHITELOCK,
“_Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General,_
“_Mysore Division of the Army_.”
The head-quarters arrived at Bellary on the 5th of February, and
the regiment was stationed there at the end of March when the
cholera broke out in the regiment, and raged for some time with
considerable violence. One of the last victims to the disease
was the Senior Lieut.-Colonel Thomas Poole, who died on the 23rd
of April, and was succeeded in the command of the regiment by
Lieut.-Colonel Joseph Wakefield. Lieut.-Colonel Poole entered
the service on the 4th of September 1803, as Ensign in the
Twenty-second regiment, and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant
on the 20th of June 1805, and served for some time as Adjutant; he
was appointed Captain in the same regiment on the 26th of December
1811, and was advanced to the rank of Major on the 14th of February
1828; he exchanged from the Twenty-second to the THIRTY-NINTH
regiment on the 21st of February 1828, and was promoted
Lieut.-Colonel in the latter corps on the 10th of January 1837.
Major Thomas Wright was promoted to the vacant Lieut.-Colonelcy on
the 24th of April 1839.
On the 30th of August 1839, the regiment left Bellary for field
service under Major-General Wilson, C.B. The intended destination
of the force was at that time unknown to the Major-General himself.
The troops reached Adoni, which had formerly been a favourite
stronghold of one of the minor branches of the Mogul dynasty, and
the ruins of which attest its former strength and magnificence, on
the 3rd of September.
The regiment was halted there until the 21st, during the greater
part of which time it rained heavily, but the men were very
healthy. On the 27th it reached Coodamoor, where the whole force
was assembled, consisting, in addition to the THIRTY-NINTH, of two
squadrons of the Thirteenth light dragoons, the Seventh regiment of
Native cavalry, the Third, Sixteenth, Thirty-fourth, Thirty-ninth,
and Fifty-first regiments of Native infantry. The head-quarters
of the Sappers and Miners, a troop of horse and two companies of
foot artillery, with four eighteen-pounders, four twelve-pounders,
several mortars, howitzers, and a large and well equipped park. A
formidable resistance was, therefore, expected by the Government;
and subsequent inquiries proved that the intended antagonist was
supplied with most numerous and well constructed implements of
destruction, and that a part of his force consisted of brave and
determined soldiers.
At Coodamoor the regiment remained halted for many days; and on the
1st of October the cholera unfortunately broke out, and lasted with
considerable violence for about ten days, during which time Lieut.
Samuel Philips, Assistant Surgeon Robert Martin Davis, M.D., of
the THIRTY-NINTH regiment (a most valuable and excellent medical
officer), and six men died therefrom.
On the 3rd of October, an order was received from the Commissioners
for the affairs of _Kurnool_ to detach a portion of the force in
advance; two companies of the THIRTY-NINTH, under the command of
Captain Henry Clarence Scarman (who died of cholera in the Fort
of Kurnool on the 12th of the same month), with a detachment of
the artillery, and the Fifty-first Native infantry, marched on
the 4th of October. This force was led into the Fort of _Kurnool_
by the Nuwaub’s head minister, Numder Cawn, who subsequently was
proved to have been a traitor to both parties. The Nuwaub and
his party vacated the fort by an opposite gate. This apparent
surrender turned out to be a _ruse de guerre_, as the Nuwaub,
it is believed, fully expected to re-occupy the fort; for there
were no visible symptoms of preparations, all munitions of war
being buried or built up, and the whole wore a peaceful aspect;
subsequent discoveries proved that peace was not his object, but
that he contemplated lulling the Company into security, until he
was prepared for active operations. On the 9th of October, the
Commissioners applied for a reinforcement; and two companies of the
THIRTY-NINTH, the whole of the Thirty-fourth Native infantry, with
a detachment of cavalry and artillery, were despatched under the
orders of Lieut.-Colonel Thomas Edward Wright. These two companies
were encamped outside the Fort of _Kurnool_ for some days; but
on the morning of the 18th, Lieut.-Colonel Wright was privately
informed that his two companies would be required to assist in
endeavouring to force the Nuwaub to surrender, and to make his
followers, principally composed of Arabs, Rohillahs, and Patans,
lay down their arms. It is well known that Arabs particularly have
a great objection to do this, and will rather fight under very
adverse circumstances than comply; resistance was, therefore,
expected. Negotiations were soon seen to be unavailing, as some of
the Rohillah chiefs (a brave people, whose sole and only occupation
is mercenary fighting) accused their opponents of cowardice.
A fire of artillery and musketry of twenty minutes’ duration was
opened upon, and returned by the Nuwaub’s party, when an order was
given to the THIRTY-NINTH to charge, which they did, and after
a well contested struggle obtained possession of the person of
the Nuwaub, and made prisoners a great number of his followers.
Several escaped, and were pursued by a party of the Thirteenth
light dragoons, which guarded the ford of the river; about three
hundred are supposed to have fallen on the side of the enemy. The
two companies of the THIRTY-NINTH were about eighty strong in
rank and file. Lieut. Thomas White, one colour-serjeant, and one
private were killed; and Lieut.-Colonel Wright was most dangerously
wounded. Four privates were dangerously wounded, two of whom died,
and one had his arm amputated; five privates were slightly wounded.
The conduct of Lieut.-Colonel Wright, and that of the officers and
men of his detachment, was highly commended in the public despatch
on the occasion. Captain William Wood, Lieut. Edward Croker, and
Ensign Owen Wynne Gray, were the officers present, together with
Lieut. Thomas White, who was killed.
In the despatch of Lieut.-Colonel Dyce, commanding the detachment
of the Kurnool field force, giving an account of the affair at
_Zorapore_, near Kurnool, on the 18th of October, it was stated
“that the conduct of the detachment of the THIRTY-NINTH was such
as always characterises British soldiers;” and he added,
“I beg particularly to bring to the notice of superior authority
the conspicuously gallant conduct of Lieut.-Colonel Wright, of
Her Majesty’s THIRTY-NINTH regiment, who has been dangerously
wounded.”
The loss of the enemy was severe; several chiefs were among the
slain, and a number of elephants, horses, and treasure were
captured.
The Governor of Madras in Council stated in general orders, dated
Fort George, 25th October 1839, in publishing Lieut.-Colonel Dyce’s
despatch, that “while he laments the humane efforts of that officer
to prevent bloodshed have been defeated by the infatuation of the
Nuwaub of Kurnool’s followers, he cannot refrain from expressing
the high sense he entertains of the gallantry and soldier-like
conduct displayed by Lieut.-Colonel Dyce, and the officers and men
of the detachment in the attack upon the durgah at Zorapore.”
The regiment returned to Bellary on the 8th of November 1839,
leaving two companies to garrison the Fort at Kurnool. Shortly
afterwards intimation was received that it was to march for
Kamptee, and accordingly on the 24th of December the regiment
quitted Bellary.
[Sidenote: 1840.]
The two companies which had been left at Kurnool, rejoined the
head-quarters at Nagumpilly, near Secunderabad, on the 12th of
January 1840, and the regiment arrived at Kamptee by the route of
Secunderabad and Hingolee, a distance of six hundred and forty
miles, without a single casualty. Previously to quitting Bellary
the regiment received from Major-General Francis W. Wilson,
C.B., in orders, the expression of his entire approbation of its
“excellent discipline, efficiency, and exemplary behaviour both in
garrison and the field.”
Lieut.-Colonel Wakefield died of fever on the 17th of May 1840, and
Lieut.-Colonel Wright assumed the command of the regiment. Major
Horatio Walpole was promoted to the vacant Lieut.-Colonelcy.
Lieut.-General Sir Frederick Philipse Robinson, G.C.B., was removed
from the colonelcy of the Fifty-ninth to that of the THIRTY-NINTH
regiment on the 15th of June 1840, in succession to Lieut.-General
the Honorable Sir Robert William O’Callaghan, G.C.B., deceased.
[Sidenote: 1841.]
From the unsettled state of India, rumours were constantly stirring
that the regiment would be ordered to march in the direction of
Bombay; it remained quiet, however, until November 1841, when two
companies were ordered at a few hours’ notice to join a small force
under Lieut.-Colonel Dowker, of the Madras army, for the purpose
of pursuing and chastising a pretender to the name and person of
Appa Sahib, who had been deposed from the Nagpore throne in 1818,
and had made his escape from the escort of British troops, and,
although frequently heard of, had never been seen by the British
authorities.
These two companies did not fall in with the rebels, and their
return to Kamptee was hastened by an order for the regiment to
march to Cawnpore, in the Bengal presidency, with the least
possible delay. On the 27th of December 1841, the regiment left
Kamptee, and on approaching Jubbulpore received orders to change
its route to Agra, which it accordingly did, and reached its
destination, _viâ_ Sangor, Jhansi, and Gwalior, a distance of five
hundred and twenty miles, on the 1st of March 1842, with only two
casualties.
[Sidenote: 1842.]
[Sidenote: 1843.]
On the 8th of October 1842, the regiment marched, _viâ_ Muttra,
Delhi, and Kurnaul, to join the army of reserve assembled at
Ferozepore, on the return of the troops from Affghanistan, where
it remained until the army was dissolved in January 1843, when it
marched to Delhi, and formed part of the Governor-General’s escort
there, returning to Agra by way of Allyghur, on the 4th of March
following.
On the morning of the 23rd of March 1843, at six o’clock, Lord
Ellenborough, the Governor-General of India, presented new colours
to the regiment.
The corps received his Lordship with a general salute, after which
the ranks were closed. It then formed three sides of a square,
and the new colours were deposited in front, where they were
consecrated with a prayer every way suited to the solemnity of the
occasion, by the Rev. Mr. Rice, Chaplain at Agra. His Lordship then
affably desired that sufficient space might be afforded for his
voice to be heard by all the regiment, and spoke as follows:--
“Lieut.-Colonel Wright, officers, non-commissioned officers, and
privates of Her Majesty’s THIRTY-NINTH regiment, I present to
you new colours, consecrated with all the solemn ceremonies of
religion, to be borne, as your colours always have been, with
honor before the enemy.
“These colours have already inscribed on them the names of
many victories, wherein those who have preceded you in the
THIRTY-NINTH, and some amongst yourselves, have borne part.
“There is yet space for more inscriptions to commemorate other
victories; and be assured that, if the necessity for action
should occur, I shall afford you the opportunity of acquiring
distinctions similar to those which have been obtained by your
predecessors, with the conviction that you will display courage
like that which distinguished them upon the field of battle, that
these colours will never retreat before the enemy, but that every
one of you would give his life to bear them on to victory.
“In England and in the colonies, and in other parts of the world,
Her Majesty’s THIRTY-NINTH regiment may stand in the same line
with other regiments which have gained glory in the field. In
India you are the first. Your predecessors laid, at _Plassey_,
the foundation of the glorious empire you now behold; an empire
won by arms, and by arms alone to be preserved.
“Other inscriptions on your colours commemorate victories
in which your predecessors participated in Spain, under the
immediate eye and direction of the greatest of generals, of him
who now again in the command of the army in England, watches
over the interest and honor of those he so often led to victory.
Loyalty to our Sovereign is the first duty of us all. It has at
all times been the virtue of the British soldier; but how much is
there to animate our loyalty, to give the character of enthusiasm
to our feelings for our Sovereign, when the Queen evinces, as
Her Majesty always has done, the deepest personal interest, the
warmest zeal and regard for the honor of the army!
“Eleven regiments of Her Majesty’s army have, in this last
year, obtained from Her Majesty’s gracious favour, for their
services in Affghanistan and China, medals commemorative of those
services, to be for ever worn upon their breasts.
“I know that whenever your services may be required in the field,
you will follow these colours, not with any thought of pecuniary
advantage to be gained by success, but with the one absorbing
thought, that, through the success you may obtain by your
courage, you may return to your families, to your friends, and
to your country, bearing upon your breasts the decorations which
evince your Queen’s approval of your devotion to Her Majesty, and
of your duty well performed before the enemy.
“My fortune has given to me, and I regret it, a career different
from yours. I have been, and must remain, employed in civil
duties; but I tell you, as I have already told some of your
comrades, the first of all professions is that of a soldier, and
the first of all rewards is military honor!!!
“I now deliver to you these colours, in the conviction that they
will ever be borne before you with honor, and that there is not a
man amongst you who would not give his life to preserve them.”
Lieut.-Colonel Wright replied to his Lordship to the following
effect:--
“That both himself and the officers and soldiers of the regiment
were deeply sensible of the honor his Lordship had conferred
upon them; that he was unable to enlarge on the topics usually
advanced on such occasions, as his Lordship’s speech had both
anticipated and exhausted his resources; but that his Lordship
might rely upon it, every member of the corps would endeavour
to maintain the honor of their colours, and the renown of Her
Majesty’s arms, unsullied.”
The regiment then reformed line and the audience retired. The
colours were trooped in the usual form; and on arriving at the
right of the line were brought up by the grenadiers (the band
playing their march) along the front of the line, opposite to the
old colours, where they were exchanged; the senior ensigns falling
in with the new colours in the centre of the line, whilst the
old colours fell in respectively on the flanks of the grenadier
company, which were faced outwards by sub-divisions, and conveyed
(music playing) round the flanks of the regiments to the rear of
the centre, when they were sent away. The grenadiers then resumed
their post in line, and the regiment then marched past in slow and
quick time, reformed line, and presented arms.
A ball and supper were given by the officers to commemorate the
event, to which every member of society in and around Agra was
invited. These festivities were attended by his Lordship, and were
subsequently followed by others on succeeding evenings, in which
the serjeants, corporals, and privates of the regiment participated.
In the month of August 1843, cholera appeared with great virulence.
Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Donald Urquhart, Surgeon Robert Stark, M.D.,
two serjeants, two corporals, forty-eight privates, women, and
children, died of this disease in the course of a month, after
a few hours’ seizure. The hospital was crowded with patients.
All the officers, Lieut.-Colonel Wright with about five others
excepted, were attacked with cholera symptoms. Captain Charles
T. Van Straubenzee of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment, was promoted to
the rank of Major on the 27th of August, in succession to Brevet
Lieut.-Colonel Urquhart.
The regiment was encamped at Rambaugh, near Agra, for ten days, in
consequence, until the disease disappeared.
The THIRTY-NINTH regiment formed part of the fifth brigade of the
“Army of Exercise,” assembled at Agra on the 25th of November 1843.
This force had been assembled in consequence of affairs in the
state of _Gwalior_, which had for some time required the attention
of the Indian Government, although it was not anticipated that
actual hostilities would take place. The events which led to the
collision between the Anglo-Indian troops and those of the once
powerful Mahratta kingdom, are as follow:--Upon the decease of
Maharajah Jhunkojee Rao Scindia, the British Government promptly
acknowledged as his successor the Maharajah Jyajee Rao Scindia, who
was nearest in blood to the late sovereign of Gwalior, and whose
adoption by the Maharanee, his Highness’s widow, was approved by
the chiefs. During the minority of the Maharajah, the office of
regent was to be held by Mama Sahib. In a short period the regent
was compelled by force to quit the Gwalior state, and the Dada
Khasgee Walla succeeded to the confidence of the Maharanee without
possessing generally that of the chiefs, and by his influence
various acts were committed insulting and injurious to the British
Government. The delivery of the Dada being peremptorily insisted
upon as a necessary preliminary to the re-establishment of the
customary relations with the Gwalior state, the Maharanee at
length complied with the request. The Governor-General, in order
to give friendly support to the youthful Maharajah, directed
the immediate advance of forces sufficient for the purpose. The
Anglo-Indian troops entered the dominions of Scindia, and a strong
government having been established at Gwalior, they received
orders to withdraw; but were not destined to return to their own
territory without a severe conflict. They had quitted Agra in the
early part of December, immediately after the arrival there of the
Governor-General of India, The Right Honorable Lord Ellenborough.
His Lordship accompanied the troops, and on the 23rd of December
they crossed the Chumbul river, and halted at Hingona, about twenty
miles from Gwalior, where the army rested for five days.
During this interval the Mahratta vakeels, or agents for the
Gwalior durbar, had an interview with the Governor-General, and the
negotiations appeared proceeding to an amicable issue. The design
of the enemy was, however, merely to gain time to concentrate
his forces, and this at last became so evident that his Lordship
determined upon active measures of hostility. While the main body
of the army, of which the THIRTY-NINTH formed part, moved on from
Agra under General Sir Hugh (now Viscount) Gough, Bart., G.C.B.,
Commander-in-Chief in India, another division under Major-General
John Grey, C.B., advanced on Gwalior from Bundlekund.
The THIRTY-NINTH, with the main division, crossed the Koharee
river early in the morning of the 29th of December, and
found the Mahratta forces drawn up in front of the village
of _Maharajpore_, in a very strong position, which they had
occupied during the previous night, and which they had carefully
entrenched. The British were about fourteen thousand strong, with
forty pieces of artillery, while the enemy mustered eighteen
thousand men, including three thousand cavalry with a hundred
guns. Notwithstanding the extreme difficulty of the country,
intersected by deep and almost impassable ravines, the whole of
the Anglo-Indian troops were in their appointed positions by
eight o’clock in the morning of the 29th of December. The action
commenced by the advance of Major-General Littler’s column, which
was exactly in front of _Maharajpore_; and although the Mahratta
troops fought with desperate bravery, nothing could withstand the
rush of British soldiers. The part taken by the THIRTY-NINTH in
the victory which ensued, is shown in the accompanying extracts
from the despatch of General Sir Hugh Gough, Bart., G.C.B. “Her
Majesty’s THIRTY-NINTH foot, with their accustomed dash, ably
supported by the Fifty-sixth Native infantry, drove the enemy from
their guns into the village, bayonetting the gunners at their
posts. Here a most sanguinary conflict ensued; the Mahratta troops,
after discharging their matchlocks, fought sword in hand with the
most determined courage.
“Major-General Littler, with Brigadier Wright’s brigade, after
dispersing the right of the enemy’s position at _Maharajpore_,
steadily advanced to fulfil his instructions of attacking the
main position at Chonda in front, supported most ably by Captain
Grant’s troop of horse artillery, and the First regiment of light
cavalry. This column had to advance under a very severe fire over
very difficult ground; but when within a short distance, again
the rush of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment, us before, under Major
Bray, gallantly supported by the Fifty-sixth regiment of Native
infantry under Major Dick, carried every thing before them, and
thus gained the entrenched main position of Chonda. In this
charge the THIRTY-NINTH regiment lost the services of its brave
commanding-officer, Major Bray, who was desperately wounded by
the blowing up of one of the enemy’s tumbrils in the midst of the
corps, and were ably brought out of action by Major Straubenzee.
This gallant corps on this occasion captured two regimental
standards.
“A small work of four guns on the left of this position was long
and obstinately defended, but subsequently carried, and the guns
captured by the grenadiers of the THIRTY-NINTH, under Captain
Campbell, admirably supported by a wing of the Fifty-sixth Native
infantry under Major Phillips.”
Major-General Grey, who had been directed to push on with the
left wing as rapidly as practicable to _Punniar_, twelve miles
south-west of Gwalior, gained also a complete victory on the same
day as the battle of _Maharajpore_ was fought, namely, 29th of
December. The Mahratta army were thus placed between two corps
capable of supporting each other, should it remain in the vicinity
of its capital; or of subdividing that army to repel, or attack,
these two columns; the latter alternative was adopted by the enemy,
and the consequence was most decisive and honorable to the British
arms, and the mutinous troops which had overawed and controlled the
government of His Highness the Maharajah Jyajee Rao Scindia, were
signally defeated.
These victories were not gained without severe loss, owing to the
enemy’s force considerably outnumbering the British, particularly
in artillery, and to the commanding position of his guns, which
were well served and determinedly defended both by the gunners
and infantry; the peculiar difficulties of the country gave also
additional advantages to the gallantry of the Mahratta troops,
whose loss was exceedingly great;--in the battle of _Maharajpore_
fifty-six guns were captured, together with the whole of the
enemy’s ammunition waggons.
The THIRTY-NINTH had Ensign Theodore David Bray, two serjeants,
one drummer, and twenty-six rank and file killed. The following
officers were wounded:--Major Edward William Bray (severely),
Captains Robert Newport Tinley (severely), and Charles Campbell;
Lieutenant and Adjutant William Munro (severely); Lieutenants James
S. Atkinson (severely), Humphrey Gray (very severely), Robert
Hamilton Currie, and Hugh George Colvill (very severely); Ensigns
Simon George Newport, and Thomas Scarman (severely); seventeen
serjeants, and one hundred and fifty-seven rank and file were
wounded.
Lieut.-Colonel Thomas Wright, of the THIRTY-NINTH, who served
os a Brigadier-General, and commanded the brigade of which his
regiment formed part, was particularly noticed in the official
despatch. Major Bray, who commanded the regiment, Major Charles
T. Van Straubenzee, Captain Marmaduke George Nixon (Major of
Brigade), Captain Charles Campbell, and Lieutenant Edward Croker,
Assistant Quartermaster General, fifth brigade of infantry, were
all honorably mentioned.
Lieut.-Colonel Wright and Major Bray were subsequently nominated
Companions of the Order of the Bath: the latter officer with Major
Straubenzee, received the brevet rank of Lieut.-Colonel; Captains
Nixon and Campbell were promoted to the rank of Major in the army.
The THIRTY-NINTH also received the Royal authority to bear the
word MAHARAJPORE on the regimental colour and appointments, in
commemoration of this victory.
The Governor-General in his proclamation thus alluded to the
THIRTY-NINTH regiment:--
“The Governor-General’s especial thanks are due to Her Majesty’s
THIRTY-NINTH and Fortieth regiments, to the Second and Sixteenth
regiments of Native Grenadiers, and to the Fifty-sixth Native
Infantry, which took with the bayonet the batteries in front of
_Maharajpore_.
“Her Majesty’s THIRTY-NINTH regiment had the peculiar fortune of
adding to the honor of having won at _Plassey_ the first great
battle which laid the foundation of the British empire in India,
the further honor of thus nobly contributing to this, as it may
be hoped, the last and crowning victory by which that empire has
been secured.
“Her Majesty’s Fortieth regiment, and the Second and the
Sixteenth regiments of Native Grenadiers, again serving together,
again displayed their pre-eminent qualities as soldiers, and well
supported the character of the ever victorious army of Candahar.
* * * * *
“The Government of India will, as a mark of its grateful sense
of their distinguished merit, present to every general and
other officer, and to every soldier engaged in the battles of
MAHARAJPORE and PUNNIAR, an _Indian Star of bronze_, made out of
the guns taken in these battles; and all officers and soldiers in
the service of the Government of India will be permitted to wear
the Star with their uniforms.
* * * * *
“A triumphal monument commemorative of the campaign of _Gwalior_
will be erected at Calcutta, and inscribed with the names of all
who fell in the two battles.”
Major Thomas Ryan, of Her Majesty’s Fiftieth regiment, was attached
to the THIRTY-NINTH, and distinguished himself by his cool and
gallant conduct at the battle of Maharajpore. Major Ryan and
Lieut.-Colonel Wright had their horses shot under them.
[Sidenote: 1844.]
The “_Army of Gwalior_” was broken up on the 28th of January 1844.
The THIRTY-NINTH remained at Gwalior from the 29th of January
until the 4th of March, when the right brigade, with the regiment,
commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Wright, returned to Agra, where it
arrived on the 10th of that month.
In addition to the star manufactured from the ordnance captured
at Maharajpore, a donation of six months’ batta was granted by
the Governor-General in Council to the army employed during the
campaign in Gwalior.
The regiment remained at Agra until the 20th of October, when it
marched for Dinapore, and arrived at that station on the 13th of
December following.
[Sidenote: 1845.]
On the embarkation of the Thirteenth light infantry at Kurrachee
for England, two hundred of the men volunteered to the THIRTY-NINTH
regiment. These formed a portion of Major-General Sir Charles
Napier’s force in his expedition against the mountain desert
robbers of Beloochistan in the spring of 1845.
In storming the nearly inaccessible heights of Truckee a serjeant’s
party of fifteen men pre-eminently distinguished themselves by
their undaunted gallantry, in forcing their way, after a lengthened
and sanguinary struggle, to the summit of a hill, which was
defended by about a hundred and eighty of the enemy.
This exploit called forth the following letters from His Excellency
Sir Charles Napier, and His Grace the Duke of Wellington.
“_Sukkur, 30th March, 1845._
“SIR,
“It will gratify you, and be just to some brave men, who
volunteered from the Thirteenth for your regiment, to send to
you a copy of my letter to the Commander-in-Chief, relative to a
gallant action performed by them on the 8th instant.
“The whole of the volunteers for your regiment have behaved
admirably during the five months they have been serving under
my own immediate observation; they have shown themselves worthy
of the regiment they have left, and of that which is under your
command. I have, &c.,
(Signed) “C. J. NAPIER, _Major-General_,
“_Governor of Scinde_.
“_Officer commanding H. M. 39th regiment._”
“_Camp Sukkur, 25th March 1845._
“SIR,
“It is with regret I have to say that, misled by the report of
Captain Beatson, I stated that the six soldiers, who, on the
8th instant, fell on the heights of Truckee, were killed in
consequence of their own imprudence. This was incorrect and
unjust. They acted in obedience to their orders, and died in the
fulness of glory, worthy of the brightest names in our military
annals. The enclosed return, received from the orderly room, is
more eloquent than any thing I can say. I am convinced that one
who has so often witnessed the gallantry of soldiers, will not
read unmoved this proud but distressing record of heroism and
death.
“The survivors of those who reached the top, merit the honor to
have their names laid before His Grace the Duke of Wellington,
and it would be very grateful to their feelings if your
Excellency would do this. They are men of excellent character;
most of them had two, and some three medals. The bold Sepoy of
the camel corps is highly praised by them for his courageous
conduct.
“Hoping that some mark of approbation may be bestowed on these
admirable soldiers, I have, &c.
(Signed) “C. J. NAPIER, _Major-General_,
“_Governor of Scinde_.”
“_His Excellency_,
“_General Sir Hugh Gough, Bart., G.C.B._,
“_Commander-in-Chief in India_.
“&c. &c. &c.”
Nominal roll of the serjeant’s party of a detachment of Her
Majesty’s THIRTY-NINTH, volunteers, which stormed the hill at
Truckee on the 8th of March 1845:--
+-----------+------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Rank. | Names. | Remarks. |
+-----------+------------------+--------------------------------------+
|Serjeant | John Power | Reached the summit of the hill, |
| | | and was slightly wounded. |
| | | |
|Corporal | Thomas Waters | Did not quite reach the summit |
| | | of the hill.--Three medals. |
| | | |
| ” | John Kenny | Did not quite reach the summit |
| | | of the hill.--Three medals. |
| | | |
|Private | John Action | Reached the top, killed three of |
| | | the enemy, and was then killed |
| | | himself.--Two medals. |
| | | |
| | Robert Adair | Reached the top, killed two of |
| ” | | the enemy, and was then killed |
| | | himself.--Two medals. |
| | | |
| ” | Hugh Dunlap | Reached the top, killed two of |
| | | the enemy, and was then killed |
| | | himself. |
| | | |
| ” | Patrick Fullon | Reached the summit of the hill, |
| | | and was killed.--Two medals. |
| | | |
| ” | Samuel Lowrie | Reached the top, killed the Commander|
| | | of the enemy and another |
| | | man, and was then killed |
| | | himself.--Two medals. |
| | | |
| ” | William Lovelace | Reached the top, and was killed. |
| | | |
| ” | Anthony Burke | Reached the top, killed three of |
| | | the enemy (shot one, bayonetted |
| | | another), broke his musket on |
| | | the head of the third.--Two |
| | | medals. |
| | | |
| ” | John Malony | Reached the top, bayonetted two |
| | | of the enemy, saved Burke and |
| | | Rohan’s lives, and was severely |
| | | wounded.--Three medals. |
| | | |
| ” | Bartholomew Rohan| Reached the top, bayonetted one |
| | | of the enemy, and was very severely|
| | | wounded.--Two medals. |
| | | |
| ” | George Campbell | Reached the top, and killed two |
| | | of the enemy. |
| | | |
| ” | Phillip Fay | Did not quite reach the summit.--Two |
| | | medals. |
| | | |
| ” | Mark Davis | Did not quite reach the summit.--Two |
| | | medals. |
| | | |
| ” | Charles Hawthorn | Did not quite reach the summit.--Two |
| | | medals. |
| | | |
|Camel Corps| Ruinzan Aheer | Did not quite reach the summit. |
+-----------+------------------+--------------------------------------+
“_Horse Guards_,
“_12th June 1845_.
“SIR,
“I have had the honor to receive your letter on the 15th
of April, with a letter and its accompanying return from
Major-General Sir Charles Napier, setting forth the conspicuous
gallantry of a party of Volunteers from the Thirteenth Light
Infantry to the THIRTY-NINTH regiment, in storming the almost
inaccessible hill position of Truckee, occupied by a strong
force of the Mountain Desert Robbers; and having laid these
papers before the Commander-in-Chief, I am instructed to request
that you will cause the expression of his highest approbation
to be conveyed to such of these brave men as have survived the
attack; and that you will further be pleased to recommend them
specially to the notice and protection of the commanding officer
of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment, and ascertain and report for His
Grace’s information whether the Serjeant is qualified to hold a
commission in Her Majesty’s service.
“The Duke of Wellington deeply laments the loss of those who fell
on this memorable occasion.
“I have, &c.
(Signed) “FITZROY SOMERSET.
“_General Sir Hugh Gough, Bart., G.C.B._,
“_Commander-in-Chief in India_.
“&_c._ &_c._ &_c._”
In the month of October 1845, four companies, under the command of
Captain Wood, were detached to garrison Fort William.
[Sidenote: 1846.]
In the beginning of 1846, in consequence of the great demand for
fighting men on the north-west frontier, the regiment was directed
to volunteer to the extent of five hundred men: the detached wing
rejoined the head-quarters at Dinapore in March. In October 1846,
the THIRTY-NINTH again volunteered, preparatory to embarkation for
England, when two hundred and seventeen men were transferred to
other corps.
On the 30th of December following the remainder of the corps,
consisting of about three hundred men, embarked in boats for
Calcutta.
[Sidenote: 1847.]
The regiment arrived at Calcutta on the 27th of January 1847;
and on the 7th of February, the head-quarters, under the command
of Lieut.-Colonel Wright, consisting of seven officers, seven
serjeants, five corporals, six drummers, and one hundred and eleven
privates, embarked in the “Tudor,” and landed at Gravesend on the
9th of June following, losing one serjeant, one corporal, and three
privates, during the passage.
The remainder of the regiment, consisting of ten serjeants, nine
corporals, eight drummers, and one hundred and forty-five privates,
with six officers, under the command of Captain Wilbraham, embarked
in the “Pekin” on the 23rd of February, and arrived in England on
the 13th of July 1847, losing only one man during the voyage.
On the departure of the THIRTY-NINTH, with other corps, from India,
the Right Honorable Lord Gough, Commander-in-Chief in that country,
issued the following complimentary orders:--
“_Head-Quarters_,
“_Camp Seharunpore_,
“_9th February 1847_.
“GENERAL ORDER.
“The Right Honorable the Commander-in-Chief in India avails
himself of the opportunity which the approaching departure from
India of those distinguished regiments, the Ninth, THIRTY-NINTH,
and Sixty-second foot affords, of recording the high sense he
entertains of their respective merits, and the admiration with
which he has witnessed their uniform good conduct in quarters,
and their gallantry in the field.
“Each regiment bears on its colours the names of many hard-fought
battles in the “Peninsula,” and each regiment will carry home
the record of victories achieved in the wars of this country,
nobly gained by their indomitable bravery under his Lordship’s
immediate command.
“The Ninth regiment has completed a service abroad of upwards
of fourteen years. In 1842 it formed part of the force under
Major-General Sir George Pollock in the second campaign of
‘Affghanistan,’ and subsequently had the good fortune to partake
in the memorable battles of the Sutlej. The despatches of the
former period have testified to its gallantry, its noble bearing,
and high spirit under extreme sickness and privation; and
upon the latter, Lord Gough has recently in orders and by his
despatches, expressed his sense of its valuable services.
“The THIRTY-NINTH regiment, ‘Primus in Indis,’ having obtained
imperishable renown in the earlier wars in India, bearing
upon its colours the record of its gallantry at ‘Plassey,’
quitted this country in 1758; and after a lapse of seventy-four
years, during which it reaped a rich harvest of glory in the
‘Peninsula,’ again returned to India, and has again profited
by the opportunities, which a long service in this country has
afforded, of adding fresh lustre to its fame. The victory of
‘Maharajpore’ is already recorded on its colours, and nobly did
it earn that badge. The distinguished conduct of the THIRTY-NINTH
regiment on the 29th of December 1843, could not be surpassed for
bravery and determination.
“The Sixty-second regiment gallantly aided in the defence of
Ferozepore, when that station was invested by an overwhelming
force; and when called into action in the late brilliant
campaign, it evinced that indomitable bravery and obedience to
orders, for which the British army is justly renowned.
“Lord Gough feels happy in having it in his power to state, that
the conduct of these regiments throughout their Indian service
has always been such as to merit his warmest commendation. He
feels a pride in recording all that he has said in praise of
these gallant corps; and in parting with them, begs to assure
them that he will always feel a lively interest in their welfare.
“By order of the Right Honorable the Commander-in-Chief.
(Signed) “C. R. CURETON, _Colonel_,
“_Adjutant-General H. M. Forces in India_.”
The THIRTY-NINTH regiment, on arrival in England, was stationed
at Canterbury, and on the 13th, 14th, and 15th of December 1847,
proceeded to Gosport by railway.
[Sidenote: 1848.]
On the 15th of March, 1848, the regiment moved over to Portsmouth,
and at the end of the same month proceeded to the northern and
midland districts, the head-quarters and three companies occupying
the citadel at Hull, with detachments at Leeds, Bradford,
Sheffield, and Halifax.
The regiment proceeded by railway on the 22nd and 23rd of June to
Preston, in Lancashire.
[Sidenote: 1849.]
During the year 1849 the regiment remained at Preston.
[Sidenote: 1850.]
On the 25th, 26th, and 27th of April, 1850, the regiment proceeded
from Preston, in three divisions, by railway to Fleetwood, and
embarked for Belfast. Previous to the departure of the THIRTY-NINTH
from Preston for Ireland, the mayor of that borough forwarded
a complimentary resolution to Lieut.-Colonel Wright from the
magistrates, relative to the excellent conduct of the regiment
while stationed in the neighbourhood of Preston.
The regiment was stationed at Belfast from the 28th of April to the
16th of November 1850, when it proceeded to Newry.
[Sidenote: 1851.]
On the 17th of July 1851 the regiment proceeded from Newry to
Dublin, and was quartered in the Linen Hall barracks.
[Sidenote: 1852.]
Lieut.-General George Burrell, C.B., was appointed Colonel of the
THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 11th of February 1852, in succession
to General Sir Frederick Philipse Robinson, G.C.B., deceased.
In February and March nine companies were removed to Richmond
barracks, Dublin; in consequence of the want of accommodation at
the head-quarters, a portion of the regiment proceeded to Island
Bridge barracks.
On the 15th of July five companies of the regiment, under the
command of Major William Munro, proceeded from Dublin to Cork,
there to be stationed during the elections. A company of the
regiment, under Major Robert Newport Tinley, detached at Drogheda,
proceeded on the 21st of July to Balbriggan, in aid of the civil
authorities during the elections in that town, and subsequently
joined the head-quarters at Dublin.
Towards the end of July the head-quarters received orders to move
from Dublin to Clonmel, and proceeded to that station by railway on
the 5th of August, where they arrived on the same day.
The five companies on election duty at Cork were detached, on
the removal of the head-quarters from Dublin to Clonmel, to the
following stations: two companies to Carrick-on-Suir, one to
Clogheen, one to Dungarvon, and one to Cappoquin; the latter
returned to head-quarters on the 23rd of September.
[Sidenote: 1853.]
Major-General Richard Lluellyn, C.B., was appointed Colonel of the
THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 17th of January 1853, in succession to
Lieut.-General George Burrell, C.B., deceased.
The regiment proceeded from Clonmel to Cork in February 1853, where
it was stationed on the 30th of June, the date to which this Record
has been brought.
_Note._--The compiler of the Regimental Records feels it his
duty to acknowledge the assistance which he has received in the
compilation of the History of the THIRTY-NINTH and certain other
regiments, from Mr. Thomas Carter, of the Adjutant-General’s
Office, who, by much labour and research, has endeavoured to
supply the deficiencies in the manuscript narratives transmitted
by regiments, particularly in the details of their earlier
services.
1853.
[Illustration: THIRTY-NINTH REGIMENT.
_For Cannon’s Military Records_]
FOOTNOTES:
[6] The regiments of infantry which were raised in 1702, and since
retained on the establishment of the army, commenced with the
_Twenty-eighth_, and ended with the THIRTY-NINTH regiment.
[7] The THIRTY-NINTH formed part of the garrison of Gibraltar when
that fortress was besieged by the Spaniards in 1727, and it also
shared in the memorable defence made by General Eliott, afterwards
Lord Heathfield, from 1779 to 1782.
[8] A tradition has been preserved in the THIRTY-NINTH, that the
regiment was present at the battle of _Almanza_ on the 25th of
April 1707, and that it was for some years known as “_Sankey’s
Horse_,” in consequence of its being said to have been mounted on
mules for the purpose of expediting its advance. The regiment,
however, did not embark for Portugal until the 22nd of May 1707,
and therefore was not present at the battle of Almanza.
[9] Minorca, an island in the Mediterranean, on the eastern coast
of Spain, is about thirty miles in length and twelve in breadth,
and is chiefly valuable for the excellent harbour of Port Mahon.
In September 1708 Minorca was taken by Admiral Leake and a land
force under Lieut.-General Stanhope, after a siege of about three
weeks. The island was ceded to Great Britain by the Treaty of
Utrecht, and remained in its possession until 1756, when, in April
of that year, it was besieged by the French, under Marshal the
Duke de Richelieu. After a brave defence by the Governor, General
Blakeney, the garrison surrendered, and, in consideration of its
gallantry, was permitted to march out with all the honours of war.
At the Peace of Fontainebleau, in 1763, Minorca was restored to the
English in exchange for Belle-Isle. In February 1782, the garrison,
under the Governor, Lieut.-General the Honourable James Murray,
after suffering severely from sickness, surrendered to the Duke de
Crillon, the Commander-in-Chief of the combined French and Spanish
forces, and Minorca was retained by Spain at the peace of 1783.
Minorca again surrendered to a British force under General the
Honourable Charles Stuart, on the 15th of November 1798; and at the
Peace of Amiens, in 1802, Minorca was restored to the Spaniards,
under whose sway it remains at the present period.
[10] The following return of killed and wounded during the siege
of Gibraltar, from the 11th of February to the 12th of June 1727,
is extracted from “_The Political State of Great Britain_,” vol.
xxxiv. p. 413:--
+-------------------------------+---------+--------------------------+
| |Officers.| Men. |
| Regiments. |---------+-------+---------+--------+
| | Killed. |Killed.| Wounded.| Died of|
| | | | | Wounds.|
+-------------------------------+---------+-------+---------+--------+
|Foot Guards | - | 2 | 19 | 2 |
|Royal Artillery | 1 | 11 | 16 | 2 |
|Pearce’s, 5th Foot | - | 4 | 9 | - |
|Lord Mark Kerr’s, 13th ditto | - | 7 | 26 | 3 |
|Clayton’s, 14th ditto | - | 7 | 13 | 5 |
|Egerton’s, 20th ditto | 1 | 8 | 12 | 8 |
|Middleton’s, 25th ditto | 1 | 3 | 14 | - |
|Anstruther’s, 26th ditto | - | 6 | 29 | 3 |
|Disney’s, 29th ditto | - | 2 | 12 | - |
|Bissett’s, 30th ditto | - | 8 | 15 | 4 |
|Hayes’s, 34th ditto | - | 2 | 16 | 2 |
|Newton’s, 39th ditto | - | 6 | 4 | 4 |
|Detachment from the regiments }| | | | |
| at Minorca, under }| - | 6 | 17 | 1 |
| Colonel Cosby, 18th Foot }| | | | |
+-------------------------------+---------+-------+---------+--------+
| Total | 3 | 72 | 202 | 34 |
+-------------------------------+---------+-------+---------+--------+
[11] The numbers of the two armies are taken from the _Life of
Robert Lord Clive_, by Major-General Sir John Malcolm, G.C.B., in
which is published a letter from Lieut.-Colonel Clive to the Secret
Committee of the Court of Directors of the East India Company,
containing an account of the battle of Plassey, and of the loss
sustained in killed and wounded.
[12] Topasses were black infantry, descended from Portuguese who
had married natives, and were so named because they wore hats.
[13] These distinctions having, in after years, been discontinued,
His Majesty King William IV., on the 17th of November 1835, was
graciously pleased to authorise their being resumed. A handsome
silver-mounted drum-major’s cane (now in possession of the
regiment) was presented to the THIRTY-NINTH by the Nabob of Arcot,
with the following device and inscription thereon:--DEVICE:
_an Elephant_, with motto “_Primus in Indis_,” PLASSEY,
1757:--INSCRIPTION: Nabob of Bengal overturned by the 39th Regiment
and the Company’s troops, _5th February 1757_.
It will be observed that the date 5th February 1757, is not that of
the battle of _Plassey_, but of the action fought near Calcutta,
which is narrated at page 18. The battle of _Plassey_ took place on
the 23rd of June 1757.
[14] The force under Captain Caillaud, of the Company’s service,
consisted of one hundred and fifty Europeans, including artillery,
five hundred Sepoys, and two field-pieces.
[15] These men belonged to “_The Soldier Artificer Company_,” and
were commanded by the officers of _Royal Engineers_.
[16] The proceedings of the Spanish Government were somewhat
sudden; and it is stated by Colonel John Drinkwater, of the late
Seventy-second regiment, or Royal Manchester Volunteers, in his
popular _History of the Siege of Gibraltar_, that “those officers
whose curiosity had led them into the interior parts of the country
were positively refused liberty to return to the garrison; they
were therefore conducted to Cadiz, and had passports granted them
to leave the kingdom by other routes. Brevet-Colonel Charles Ross
and Captain John Vignoles, of the THIRTY-NINTH, with Captain Henry
Lefanue, of the Fifty-sixth regiment, nevertheless contrived to
join their corps, by assuming disguises, and risking the passage in
a row-boat from Faro (a port in Portugal) to Gibraltar: others also
attempted, but unfortunately were intercepted in their voyage.”
[17] The flank companies of the THIRTY-NINTH formed part of the
centre column under Lieut.-Colonel Dachenhausen; the grenadier
company consisted of three officers, three serjeants, and
fifty-seven rank and file; the light infantry company was composed
of a like number.
[18] In Colonel Drinkwater’s _History of the Siege of Gibraltar_,
it is stated, “that in the forenoon of the 6th of September 1782,
Lieut.-General Boyd, the colonel of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment,
and Lieut.-Governor of Gibraltar, recommended, by letter, to
the Governor, the immediate use of _red-hot shot_ against the
land-batteries of the besiegers. General Eliott acquiesced in the
proposal, and immediately ordered Major Lewis, the commandant of
the artillery, to wait on Lieut.-General Boyd for his instructions
and commands, submitting entirely to him the execution of the
attack which he had projected. In consequence of the Governor’s
assent, preparations were instantly made; and in a short time
everything was properly arranged for the service.”
[19] CALPÉ, in the south of Spain, and ABYLA, on the opposite coast
of Africa (about eighteen miles distant), were celebrated as the
_Pillars of Hercules_; and, according to heathen mythology, these
two mountains were united, until that hero separated them, and made
a communication between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic
Ocean. CALPÉ received the present designation of Gibraltar from the
Arabic “_Gib-el-Tarif_,” or “_Mountain of Tarif_,” being the spot
where that Moorish chieftain landed on his invasion of Spain in the
year 711. The device of the “_Castle and Key_,” the present arms
of Gibraltar, was given by Henry IV., King of Castile, upon his
capturing the place from the King of Granada in 1462, in allusion
to its being considered as the key to the Mediterranean.
[20] Major Henry Magan was promoted to the rank of Lieut.-Colonel
of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 17th of August 1794, in
succession to Lieut.-Colonel Fremantle, deceased.
[21] Return of the troops at _Guadeloupe_ on the 1st of September
1794:
+------------------------------+-----------------------+
| | Rank and File. |
| Corps. +-------+-------+-------+
| |Fit for| | |
| | Duty. | Sick. | Total.|
+------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+
|Grenadier battalion | 152 | 208 | 360 |
|Light Infantry battalion | 33 | 382 | 415 |
|35th regiment | 47 | 116 | 163 |
|39th ditto | 24 | 284 | 308 |
|43rd ditto | 23 | 176 | 199 |
|56th ditto, three companies | 67 | -- | 67 |
|65th ditto | 43 | 209 | 252 |
| +-------+-------+-------+
| General total | 389 | 1,375 | 1,764 |
+------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+
The _Grenadier_ and _Light Infantry_ battalions were composed of
the flank companies of the 8th, 12th, 17th, 31st, 33rd, 34th, 38th,
40th, 44th, and 55th regiments.
[22] In 1781 the colonies on the rivers Essequibo and Demerara were
placed under the protection of Great Britain, but the French took
temporary possession of the Dutch settlements in 1783, which in
April 1796 surrendered to the British, as above narrated. By the
Treaty of Amiens, in 1802, these settlements were restored to the
Dutch, but, upon the renewal of the war in the following year, were
again taken by the British, since which period they have continued
under the sway of Great Britain.
[23] A List of the Regiments which received men raised under the
_Army of Reserve_, and _Additional Force Acts_, in the years 1803
and 1804, is inserted in the Appendix, pp. 125 to 128.
[24] See Appendix, pp. 125 to 128.
[25] Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable Robert William O’Callaghan, of
the THIRTY-NINTH regiment, remained in Sicily, and was present, in
command of a grenadier battalion, at the battle of Maida on the 4th
of July 1806, for which victory he received a gold medal.
[26] A Memoir of Major-General Sir Patrick Lindesay, C.B. and
K.C.H., is inserted in the Appendix, page 121.
[27] Lieut.-General Rowland Hill was nominated a Knight of the Bath
on the 22nd of February 1812.
[28] A memoir of the services of Colonel George Wilson is inserted
in the Appendix, page 119.
[29] It will be perceived, on reference to page 3 of the Historical
Record, that the tradition of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment having been
engaged at Almanza in 1707, is not borne out by facts.
[30] General the Right Honorable Lord William Bentinck, G.C.B.
relinquished the appointment of Commander-in-Chief in India on the
20th of March 1835, prior to the receipt of this letter in Bengal.
SUCCESSION OF COLONELS
OF
THE THIRTY-NINTH,
OR
THE DORSETSHIRE REGIMENT OF FOOT.
RICHARD COOTE.
_Appointed 13th February 1702._
Several regiments were raised in the beginning of the year 1702, in
consequence of the anticipated renewal of the war with France, and
Colonel Richard Coote was appointed to raise the regiment which is
now numbered the THIRTY-NINTH, of which he was appointed Colonel on
the 13th of February 1702. This honor he did not long enjoy, for he
was killed in a duel in the beginning of 1703.
NICHOLAS SANKEY.
_Appointed 17th March 1703._
This officer attained the rank of Colonel on the 28th of September
1689, and was appointed by Her Majesty Queen Anne to be Colonel of
the THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 17th of March 1703. On the 1st of
January 1704 he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General. He
afterwards embarked with the THIRTY-NINTH regiment for Portugal in
May 1707, on the 1st of January of which year he had been promoted
to the rank of Major-General. In the action at the Caya on the 7th
of May 1709, he was taken prisoner. On the 1st of January 1710, he
was advanced to the rank of Lieut.-General. He died on the 6th of
March 1719.
THOMAS FERRERS.
_Appointed 11th March 1719._
This officer served under the celebrated John Duke of Marlborough,
and was promoted to the rank of Captain and Lieut.-Colonel in the
Foot Guards. In May 1705 he was advanced to the rank of Colonel,
and in 1710 to that of Brigadier-General. Being conspicuous for
loyalty at a period when Jacobite principles were prevalent in the
kingdom, he was commissioned to raise a regiment of Dragoons, which
was disbanded in 1718. On the 11th of March 1719 he was appointed
Colonel of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment, from which he was removed in
September 1722 to the Seventeenth regiment. His decease occurred
about three weeks afterwards.
WILLIAM NEWTON.
_Appointed 28th September 1722._
This officer served during the wars of King William III. and Queen
Anne, and on the 1st of January 1707 received the brevet rank of
Colonel in the army. Colonel Newton was appointed by King George
I. to the Colonelcy of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 28th of
September 1722, and on the 4th of March 1727, was advanced to the
rank of Brigadier-General, while serving with his regiment at the
siege of Gibraltar. He died in November 1730.
SIR JOHN COPE, K.B.
_Appointed 10th November 1730._
This officer entered the army in the reign of Queen Anne, and was
for several years Lieut.-Colonel of the second troop of Horse
Grenadier Guards. He obtained the rank of Colonel in the army
on the 15th of November 1711; and was appointed Colonel of the
THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 10th of November 1730, from which he
was removed to the Fifth Foot on the 15th of December 1732. In 1735
he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General; in 1737 he was
removed to the Ninth Dragoons; and on the 2nd of July 1739 he was
advanced to the rank of Major-General.
Major-General Cope served for several years on the staff of the
army in Ireland, and after having been appointed Colonel of the
Seventh Dragoons in 1741, he proceeded in the summer of 1742 to
Flanders with the army commanded by Field-Marshal the Earl of
Stair. In the beginning of the following year he was promoted to
the rank of Lieut.-General; and having signalised himself at the
battle of Dettingen, on the 27th of June 1743, under the eye of his
Sovereign, he was constituted a Knight of the Bath.
In 1745 Lieut.-General Sir John Cope was Commander-in-Chief in
Scotland, and a small body of troops under his immediate command
sustained a defeat from the Highlanders under the Young Pretender
at Preston Pans, on the 21st of September, which unfortunate
circumstance enabled the rebels to penetrate into England, and
advance as far as Derby. The rebellion was suppressed in 1746, the
victory obtained at Culloden on the 16th of April of that year
having completely destroyed the hopes of the Pretender.
Lieut.-General Sir John Cope retained the Colonelcy of the Seventh
Dragoons until his decease in 1760.
THOMAS WENTWORTH.
_Appointed 15th December 1732._
This officer was appointed to a commission in the army on the 10th
of March 1704, and served several campaigns in the wars of Queen
Anne. In December 1722 he was promoted to the rank of Colonel in
the army, and on the 15th of December 1732 was appointed Colonel
of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment, from which he was removed, in June
1737, to the Twenty-fourth regiment. Two years afterwards he was
appointed Brigadier-General; in 1741 he was promoted to the rank
of Major-General; and in June 1745 he was removed to the Colonelcy
of the Sixth Horse, which corps became the Second Irish Horse in
the following year, and in 1788 was constituted the Fifth Dragoon
Guards. Major-General Wentworth served the Crown in a diplomatic
as well as military capacity, and died at the court of Turin in
November 1747.
JOHN CAMPBELL (afterwards Duke of Argyle).
_Appointed 27th June 1737._
John Campbell, of Mamore, was an officer in the army in the reign
of Queen Anne, and attained the rank of Lieut.-Colonel. During the
rebellion in 1715 and 1716, he served as Aide-de-camp to the Duke
of Argyle; he was appointed Colonel of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment
on the 27th of June 1737; and in the following year was removed to
the Twenty-first or Royal North British Fusiliers. He commanded
a brigade at the battle of Dettingen on the 27th of June 1743;
was promoted to the rank of Major-General in the following year;
and during the rebellion in 1745 and 1746, he held a command in
Scotland. He was advanced to the rank of Lieut.-General in 1747,
and was removed to the Second Dragoons or Scots Greys in 1752.
In April 1761 Lieut.-General Campbell was appointed Governor of
Limerick, and also succeeded in that year to the title of Duke of
Argyle, upon the decease of his cousin Archibald, third Duke of
Argyle. The Order of the Thistle was conferred upon His Grace in
1765. His decease occurred in 1770.
RICHARD ONSLOW.
_Appointed 1st November 1738._
This officer entered the army in 1716; and in 1733 he was promoted
to the rank of Colonel. On the 1st of November 1738 King George
II. appointed Colonel Onslow to the Colonelcy of the THIRTY-NINTH
regiment; and in June 1739 he was removed to the Eighth regiment of
Foot. He was promoted to the rank of Major-General in 1743, and was
removed to the first troop of Horse Grenadier Guards in 1745. He
was advanced to the rank of Lieut.-General in 1747. Lieut.-General
Onslow continued at the head of the first troop of Horse Grenadier
Guards until his decease in the year 1760.
ROBERT DALWAY.
_Appointed 6th June 1739._
This officer commenced his military career as a Cornet in a
regiment of cavalry on the 8th of March 1704. He served several
campaigns under the celebrated John Duke of Marlborough, and was
distinguished for gallantry in action, and a strict attention
to duty. On the 1st of February 1713 he was promoted to the
Lieut.-Colonelcy of Harwich’s Horse, now Seventh Dragoon Guards,
and on the 6th of June 1739 King George II. promoted him to the
Colonelcy of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment, from which he was removed
to the Thirteenth Dragoons on the 12th of May 1740. His decease
occurred in November following.
SAMUEL WALTER WHITSHED.
_Appointed 28th December 1740._
SAMUEL WALTER WHITSHED entered the army in August 1704, and served
in Spain and Portugal during the war of the Spanish Succession,
under the Earl of Galway and Archduke Charles of Austria. On the
28th of December 1740 King George II. promoted Lieut.-Colonel
Whitshed from the Eighth Dragoons to the Colonelcy of the
THIRTY-NINTH regiment of Foot; and on the 14th of June 1743 he was
removed to the Twelfth Dragoons. Colonel Whitshed was promoted to
the rank of Brigadier-General on the 28th of May 1745, and retained
the command of the Twelfth Dragoons until his decease in 1746.
EDWARD RICHBELL.
_Appointed 14th June 1743._
This officer entered the army in the reign of Queen Anne,
and served with reputation under the celebrated John Duke of
Marlborough. He evinced a constant attention to the duties of his
profession, and was promoted, on the 18th of May 1722, to the
Lieut.-Colonelcy of the Thirty-seventh regiment, and was advanced
to the rank of Colonel in the army on the 27th of March 1742. He
was appointed Colonel of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 14th
of June 1743, and distinguished himself during the war of the
Austrian Succession. On the 19th of April 1746 he was appointed
Brigadier-General, in which year he commanded a brigade, under
Lieut.-General St. Clair, in the expedition against Port l’Orient.
In 1752, Brigadier-General Richbell was removed to the Seventeenth
regiment, and on the 25th of March 1754 was promoted to the rank of
Major-General. His decease occurred in 1757.
JOHN ADLERCRON.
_Appointed 14th March 1752._
Colonel John Adlercron was appointed by His Majesty King George
II. to the Colonelcy of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 14th of
March 1752, upon Brigadier-General Edward Richbell being removed to
the Seventeenth Foot. In the beginning of 1754, Colonel Adlercron
embarked with his regiment for Madras; in October 1756, a portion
of the THIRTY-NINTH proceeded to Bengal with other troops under
Lieut.-Colonel Clive. Of this force Colonel Adlercron claimed
the command, but it was determined that he should remain at
Madras with the remainder of the regiment. In May 1757 Colonel
Adlercron marched from Madras in command of the force destined
for the relief of _Trichinopoly_, then threatened by the French,
and was afterwards engaged in operations against Wandewash, and
in the vicinity of that place. On the 16th of May 1758 Colonel
Adlercron was advanced to the rank of Major-General, and to that of
Lieut.-General on the 18th of December 1760. His decease occurred
on the 31st of July 1766.
SIR ROBERT BOYD, K.B.
_Appointed 6th August 1766._
Colonel Robert Boyd was appointed from the First Foot Guards to the
Colonelcy of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 6th of August 1766.
In 1768 he was appointed Lieut.-Governor of Gibraltar, where his
regiment was at that period stationed. On the 25th of May 1772,
Colonel Boyd was promoted to the rank of Major-General, and on
the 29th of August 1777, was advanced to that of Lieut.-General.
He was constituted a Knight of the Order of the Bath in 1784,
in consideration of his services during the celebrated siege of
Gibraltar. It was, according to his suggestion, that red-hot shot
were used, as stated at page 32 of the Historical Record of the
THIRTY-NINTH regiment. In 1790 Lieut.-General Sir Robert Boyd,
K.B., was appointed Governor of that fortress, in succession to
General Lord Heathfield, deceased. Sir Robert Boyd was appointed to
the rank of General on the 12th of October 1793, and died in May of
the following year, while holding the Governorship of Gibraltar.
NISBETT BALFOUR.
_Appointed 2nd July 1794._
This officer entered the army on the 27th of January 1761, as an
ensign in the Fourth Foot, was promoted Lieutenant on the 15th of
November 1765, and advanced to the rank of Captain in the regiment
on the 26th of January 1770. He was at the battle of Bunker’s Hill
on the 17th of June 1775, where he was wounded. Captain Balfour
was present in the action on landing at Long Island and taking of
Brooklyn, in August 1776. The capture of New York occurred shortly
afterwards, on which occasion he was sent home by the Commander
of the Forces in North America, Major-General the Honorable Sir
William Howe, with the public despatches, and in consequence
received the brevet rank of Major.
In the spring of 1777 Major Balfour was in the action near
Elizabeth Town, in the Jerseys. He was promoted Major in the Fourth
Foot on the 4th of June 1777; and was present in the actions of
Brandywine and Germantown on the 11th of September and 4th of
October of that year. On the 31st of January 1778 he was promoted
Lieut.-Colonel of the Twenty-third Royal Welsh Fusiliers, and
was present at the siege of Charlestown; and after the surrender
of that place in May 1780 he served under Lieut.-General Earl
Cornwallis, part of the campaign in South Carolina. On the 20th of
November 1782 he was appointed Aide-de-camp to His Majesty King
George III., with the rank of Colonel in the army. Colonel Balfour
served part of the campaign of 1794 in Flanders and Holland under
His Royal Highness the Duke of York. On the 12th of October 1793
Colonel Balfour was advanced to the rank of Major-General, and was
appointed Colonel of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 2nd of July
1794. He was promoted to the rank of Lieut.-General on the 1st of
January 1798, and to that of General on the 25th of September 1803.
He died on the 16th of October 1823.
SIR GEORGE AIREY, K.C.H.
_Appointed 28th October 1823._
This officer commenced his military career as Ensign in the late
Ninety-first regiment, to which he was appointed on the 6th of
December 1779, and in January following proceeded with it to the
West Indies. After serving for a year at St. Lucia, Ensign Airey
returned home, on account of ill-health, a short time previously to
the regiment being drafted, in which, however, he was promoted to
the rank of Lieutenant on the 6th of July 1781. Lieutenant Airey
exchanged from the Ninety-first to the Forty-eighth regiment on
the 2nd of January 1782, and in January 1788 proceeded with the
latter corps to the West Indies. On the 19th of November following
he was promoted to a company in the Forty-eighth, and returned to
England on leave of absence, but rejoined the regiment in 1792.
Prior to the expedition against the French West India Islands under
General Sir Charles (afterwards Earl) Grey in the beginning of
1794, the Forty-eighth regiment was drafted, when Captain Airey
volunteered his services, and was employed in the succeeding
campaign, during which he commanded the light company of the
Sixty-fifth regiment, in the third battalion of Light Infantry.
On the conclusion of the campaign he rejoined his regiment at
Plymouth in October 1794. In December Captain Airey re-embarked
with the regiment for the West Indies, but, from sickness, it
was with several others re-landed. He was subsequently appointed
Aide-de-camp to Lieut.-General Patrick Tonyn, with whom he remained
until the Forty-eighth regiment was ordered on foreign service, and
with which, in the winter of 1795, he sailed to the West Indies,
serving there as Assistant Adjutant-General. He was promoted to
a majority in the Sixty-eighth regiment on the 1st of May 1796,
and returned to England, and on the 4th of May 1798 was advanced
to the rank of Lieut.-Colonel of the Eighth Foot. In May 1799,
Lieut.-Colonel Airey proceeded with the Eighth regiment to Minorca,
which had been captured in the previous year from the Spaniards,
and in August 1800 he embarked with his corps, which composed part
of the expedition under General Sir Ralph Abercromby, against
Cadiz. Upon arrival at that place the enterprise was abandoned,
in consequence of a contagious disease carrying off great numbers
of the inhabitants, and the fleet, to avoid infection, sailed
to Gibraltar, and subsequently to Malta, when Lieut.-Colonel
Airey returned to Minorca as Deputy Quartermaster-General, under
Lieut.-General the Honorable Henry Edward Fox, and afterwards
proceeded to Elba, as Commandant of the British troops serving in
Porto Ferrajo, while that place was besieged by the French, and
retained possession of that island until the Peace of Amiens in
1802. For his services in Porto Ferrajo he was created a Knight
of the Tuscan Order of St. Joseph. Lieut.-Colonel Airey then
rejoined Lieut.-General Fox as Deputy Quartermaster-General, and
remained with that officer until his return to England, Minorca
being restored to Spain by the treaty of peace. Lieut.-Colonel
Airey served as Assistant Quartermaster-General in Ireland from
the 1st of August 1803 to the 24th of September 1804, when he
accompanied General the Honorable Henry Edward Fox to Gibraltar
as Military Secretary. He proceeded with the General to Sicily
in 1806, where (with the exception of going to Egypt with the
expedition under Major-General Alexander Fraser in 1807) he served
until the year 1813 as Deputy Adjutant-General. On the 25th of
April 1808, he was promoted to the brevet rank of Colonel. In
the year 1810 he commanded a brigade in Sicily, in addition to
his duties as Deputy Adjutant-General, and was employed with the
troops, of which the first battalion of the THIRTY-NINTH formed
part, in the defence of the coast during the threatened invasion
of General Joachim Murat, King of Naples. On the 12th of February
1811, Colonel Airey was appointed Brigadier-General in Sicily, when
he vacated the duties of Deputy Adjutant-General. On the 4th of
June 1811, he was promoted to the rank of Major-General, and was
from that date appointed Major-General on the staff of Sicily, and
in December following was ordered to proceed to Zante to take the
command of the Ionian Islands, where he remained until succeeded by
Lieut.-General James Campbell in 1813, who was appointed Commander
and Civil Commissioner.
Major-General Airey was appointed Quartermaster-General to the
forces in Ireland on the 2nd of September 1813, which he held
until the 24th of June 1822. On the 19th of July 1821, he had been
advanced to the rank of Lieut.-General. He had also received the
honor of knighthood, and had been constituted a Knight Commander
of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order. On the 28th of October
1823, Lieut.-General Sir George Airey, K.C.H., was appointed by
His Majesty King George IV. to be Colonel of the THIRTY-NINTH
regiment, which he retained until his decease at Paris on the 18th
of February 1833.
THE HONORABLE SIR ROBERT WILLIAM O’CALLAGHAN, G.C.B.
_Appointed 4th March 1833._
The above-named officer was appointed Ensign in the One hundred and
twenty-eighth regiment (since disbanded), on the 29th of November
1794; and on the 6th of December following, was promoted Lieutenant
in the Thirtieth light dragoons, in which regiment he rose to the
rank of Captain on the 31st of January 1795, and was removed to
the Twenty-second light dragoons on the 19th of April 1796: these
corps were afterwards disbanded. On the 17th of February 1803, he
was promoted to the rank of Major in the Fortieth regiment, and
to that of Lieut.-Colonel in the THIRTY-NINTH on the 16th of July
1803. Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable Robert William O’Callaghan
embarked, in March 1805, in command of the first battalion of the
THIRTY-NINTH regiment, which was selected to form part of the
expedition destined for the Mediterranean under Lieut.-General
Sir James Craig, and subsequently proceeded from Malta to Naples
with the flank companies. When those companies returned to Malta
in February 1806, Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable Robert William
O’Callaghan remained in Sicily, and at the battle of Maida, on the
4th of July following, commanded a grenadier battalion; he received
a gold medal for this victory.
On the 20th of August 1811, Lieut.-Colonel O’Callaghan proceeded
with the first battalion of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment from Sicily
to join the army in the Peninsula, and on the 1st of January
1812, was advanced to the brevet rank of Colonel. At the battle
of Vittoria, on the 21st of June 1813, he was placed in temporary
command of the brigade, and his conduct was specially noticed
in the Marquis of Wellington’s despatch. Colonel O’Callaghan
also commanded the brigade during the actions in the Pyrenees in
July following, and was present at the passage of the Nivelle
and Nive. His conduct while in command of the first battalion of
the THIRTY-NINTH at Garris, on the 15th of February 1814, was
particularly adverted to by the Marquis of Wellington, in his
Lordship’s despatch. Colonel O’Callaghan also shared in the
victory gained at Orthes on the 27th of the same month. He received
a cross and two clasps for Maida, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle,
Nive, and Orthes. Colonel O’Callaghan was promoted to the rank of
Major-General on the 4th of June 1814, and was nominated a Knight
Commander of the Bath on the 2nd of January 1815.
Major-General the Honorable Sir Robert William O’Callaghan, K.C.B.,
was placed upon the staff of the army in Flanders on the 25th of
June 1815, and was appointed to the staff in France on the 22nd of
April 1818. He was nominated to the command of the troops in North
Britain on the 15th of June 1825; and on the 7th of September 1829
he received the colonelcy of the Ninety-seventh regiment. He was
advanced to the rank of Lieut.-General on the 22nd of July 1830,
which removed him from the command of the troops in North Britain.
Lieut.-General the Honorable Sir Robert William O’Callaghan was
appointed to the command of the army at Madras on the 4th of
October 1830; and on the 4th of March 1833, was removed from the
colonelcy of the Ninety-seventh to the THIRTY-NINTH regiment. He
continued in command at Madras until October 1836, and on the
departure for England of General the Right Honorable Lord William
Bentinck, G.C.B., in the spring of 1835, he held for some months
the command of the troops in India. On the 19th of July 1838,
he was nominated a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath.
Lieut.-General the Honorable Sir Robert William O’Callaghan,
G.C.B., who was brother to Lord Viscount Lismore, died in London on
the 9th of June 1840.
SIR FREDERICK PHILIPSE ROBINSON, G.C.B.
_Appointed 15th of June 1840._
In February 1777, this officer was appointed Ensign in the Loyal
American regiment, with which he served in North America; on the
11th of September 1778, he was removed to the Seventeenth regiment
of infantry; and on the 1st of September 1779, Ensign Robinson
was promoted Lieutenant in the fourth battalion of the Sixtieth
regiment, and was removed to the Thirty-eighth regiment on the
4th of November 1780. He was a prisoner of war in America several
months during the period of his belonging to the Sixtieth, and
afterwards was in several engagements in that country. Lieutenant
Robinson was promoted to the rank of Captain in the Thirty-eighth
regiment on the 24th of March 1794, and served at the capture of
the West India Islands, under General Sir Charles (afterwards
Earl) Grey, in that year, including the siege of Fort Bourbon
in the island of Martinique. On the 1st of September 1794,
Captain Robinson was promoted to a Majority in the One hundred
and twenty-seventh regiment (since disbanded), and was removed
to the Thirty-second regiment on the 1st of September 1795, when
he returned home from the West Indies. He was removed to the One
hundred and thirty-fourth regiment (since disbanded) on the 29th
of July 1796. In May of this year he had been appointed Inspecting
Field Officer of the Recruiting service at Bedford, and some years
after filled the same situation in the London district. While thus
employed he suggested several improvements in regard to carrying
on the Recruiting service. On the 1st of January 1800, he received
the brevet rank of Lieut.-Colonel, and was placed on half-pay of
the Ninety-first regiment on the 30th of April 1807. Lieut.-Colonel
Robinson was promoted to the brevet rank of Colonel on the 25th
of July 1810. He served as Brigadier-General on the staff in the
Peninsula, from the 8th of August 1812 to the 3rd of June 1813.
He was promoted to the rank of Major-General on the 4th of June
1813, and continued, from that date, on the staff in Spain in that
capacity until the 24th of May 1814. He commanded a brigade at the
battle of Vittoria on the 21st of June 1813, siege of Sebastian
in August and September following, where he was wounded, and at
the actions connected with the passage of the Nive, for which he
received a medal and two clasps. After the termination of the war
in the Peninsula, he proceeded to North America, and was employed
on the staff in Canada from the 25th of May 1814 to the 24th of
March 1816, when he was removed to the staff in the West Indies.
On the 2nd of January 1815, Major-General Robinson was nominated
a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. Major-General Sir
Frederick Robinson continued in command of the troops in the
Windward and Leeward Islands until the 24th of July 1821. He was
advanced to the rank of Lieut.-General on the 27th of May 1825;
was appointed Colonel of the Fifty-ninth regiment on the 1st of
December 1827; and was nominated a Knight Grand Cross of the Order
of the Bath on the 20th of April 1838.
Lieut.-General Sir Frederick Philipse Robinson, G.C.B., was removed
from the colonelcy of the Fifty-ninth to that of the THIRTY-NINTH
regiment on the 15th of June 1840, and was promoted to the rank
of General on the 23rd of November 1841. His decease occurred at
Brighton, on the 1st of January 1852.
GEORGE BURRELL, C.B.
_Appointed 11th February 1852._
This officer was appointed Ensign in the Fifteenth regiment of
infantry, on the 4th of February 1797; was promoted Lieutenant
on the 3rd of May following; and rose to the rank of Captain, in
the same corps, on the 15th of August 1805. Captain Burrell was
promoted to a Majority in the Ninetieth regiment on the 30th of
April 1807, and served at the capture of Guadeloupe, in February
1810, with the expedition under Lieut.-General Sir George Beckwith,
K.B., which island had been restored to the French at the Peace of
Amiens. He received the brevet rank of Lieut.-Colonel on the 4th of
June 1813, and served during the campaign of 1814 in Upper Canada.
He was appointed from the Ninetieth to be Lieut.-Colonel of the
Eighteenth Royal Irish regiment, on the 22nd of July 1830, from
which date he was promoted to the brevet rank of Colonel.
Colonel George Burrell embarked, in command of the service
companies of the Eighteenth regiment, destined for Ceylon, on the
10th of January 1837; in 1840 they proceeded to China, hostilities
having arisen between that country and Great Britain. At the first
capture of Chusan in July 1840, he commanded the troops with the
rank of Brigadier-General, and also a brigade at the attack upon
Canton in May 1841. He was nominated a Companion of the Order of
the Bath on the 14th of October 1841, and on the 23rd of November
following was advanced to the rank of Major-General, and to that of
Lieut.-General on the 11th of November 1851. Lieut.-General Burrell
was appointed Colonel of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 11th of
February 1852, which he held only a short period, as he died at
Alnwick on the 4th of January 1853.
RICHARD LLUELLYN, C.B.
_Appointed 17th January 1853._
APPENDIX.
_Memoir of the Services of Colonel George Wilson, formerly
Lieut.-Colonel of the_ THIRTY-NINTH _regiment_.
The services of Colonel George Wilson are particularly connected
with the THIRTY-NINTH, as all his regimental appointments occurred
in that corps. His commission as Ensign in the THIRTY-NINTH
regiment was dated 18th of February 1784, and he rose to the rank
of Lieutenant on the 1st of February 1786, and to that of Captain
on the 31st of October 1792. In September 1793 the THIRTY-NINTH
regiment was embarked from Ireland for the West Indies, in order
to share in the attack on the French possessions in that part
of the globe. The details of these operations are contained in
the Historical Record of the Regiment (pages 38. to 40.); and
on the 6th of October 1794, the garrison at Berville Camp, in
Guadeloupe, of which the THIRTY-NINTH formed part, was, after a
gallant resistance, compelled to surrender, in consequence of the
havoc made amongst the troops by the unhealthy climate of that
island. Captain Wilson was promoted to the rank of Major of the
THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 1st of September 1795, and in April
of the following year the regiment formed part of an expedition
against the Dutch colonies of Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice.
These colonies surrendered upon being summoned, and were occupied
by the British troops. By official documents it appears that during
the greater part of the year 1799, Major Wilson was in command at
Fort William Frederick in Demerara. On the 1st of January 1801,
he received the brevet rank of Lieut.-Colonel. The THIRTY-NINTH
returned to England from the West Indies in the spring of 1803, and
on the 9th of July of that year Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Wilson was
appointed Lieut.-Colonel of the Ninth Battalion of Reserve, and on
the 15th of October following was removed to the THIRTY-NINTH,
to which a second battalion had been added. In November 1804
Lieut.-Colonel Wilson embarked at Plymouth in command of the second
battalion, which proceeded to Guernsey.
The second battalion of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment proceeded to
the Peninsula in June 1809, to join the army under Lieut.-General
the Honorable Sir Arthur Wellesley. On the 25th of July 1810,
Lieut.-Colonel Wilson was appointed Aide-de-camp to His Majesty
King George III., with the rank of Colonel in the army; and
he commanded a brigade at the battle of Busaco on the 27th of
September following. Colonel Wilson subsequently commanded the
brigade to which the first battalion of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment
was attached, and added to the deserved reputation he had already
acquired. His career was now drawing to a close, for shortly after
the arrival of the THIRTY-NINTH at Coria, the corps sustained a
severe loss in the decease of Colonel Wilson, which occurred on
the 6th of January 1813, after a service of upwards of twenty-nine
years in the regiment.
_Memoir of the Services of Major-General Sir Charles Bruce,
K.C.B., formerly Lieut.-Colonel of the_ THIRTY-NINTH _regiment_.
This officer was appointed Ensign in the Fifty-second regiment
on the 4th of February 1793, was promoted to a lieutenancy in
the Ninety-ninth regiment on the 6th of August following, and
was advanced to the rank of Captain in the One hundred and fifth
regiment on the 23rd of April 1794, which two latter corps have
been since disbanded. Captain Bruce was removed to the THIRTY-NINTH
regiment on the 1st of October 1795, and was present at the capture
of Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice in 1796. He served seven years
with his regiment in the West Indies, and on the staff as Assistant
Quartermaster-General and Barrack-Master at Surinam and Antigua.
On the 25th of September 1803 he received the brevet rank of
Major, and was promoted to that rank in the THIRTY-NINTH regiment
on the 21st of March 1805. He next served in Spain and Portugal;
and on the 25th of July 1810 was advanced to the brevet rank of
Lieut.-Colonel. Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Bruce commanded the first
battalion of the THIRTY-NINTH at the battle of Vittoria on the
21st of June 1813, in consequence of Colonel the Honorable Robert
William O’Callaghan being in temporary command of a brigade, and
also during the actions in the Pyrenees from the 25th to the 31st
of July following. At the passage of the Nive in December of the
same year Lieut.-Colonel Bruce commanded the light companies of the
brigade, and distinguished himself at the affair of _Garris_ on the
15th of February 1814, where he was severely wounded. He was also
present at the battle of Orthes on the 27th of that month. For the
battles of Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nive, and Orthes, he had the honor
of wearing a cross, and on the 4th of June 1815 was nominated a
Companion of the Order of the Bath. On the 29th of June 1815 he
was appointed Lieut.-Colonel of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment, and was
placed on the half-pay of that corps on the 25th of February 1816.
Lieut.-Colonel Bruce was promoted to the brevet rank of Colonel on
the 12th of August 1819, was appointed to the Sixty-ninth regiment
on the 29th of March 1821, and was placed on the half-pay of that
corps on the 25th of April 1826, from which he exchanged to the
Sixth foot on the 10th of January 1828, and to the Sixty-fourth
regiment on the 1st of May following. Colonel Bruce was advanced
to the rank of Major-General on the 22nd of July 1830, and was
nominated a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on the 13th
of September 1831. His decease occurred in London on the 7th of
August 1832.
_Memoir of the Services of Major-General Sir Patrick Lindesay,
K.C.B. and K.C.H., formerly Lieut.-Colonel of the_ THIRTY-NINTH
_regiment_.
Major-General Sir Patrick Lindesay was the only son of
Lieut.-Colonel John Lindesay of the Fifty-third regiment, and
was born at Musselburgh, in the county of Edinburgh, on the 24th
of February 1778. He received his education at the university
of St. Andrew’s, and was appointed Ensign in the Thirty-second
regiment on the 7th of November 1793, and was gazetted Lieutenant
in the Seventy-eighth regiment on the day following. Lieutenant
Lindesay was wounded while serving with his regiment in Holland in
1794, in the expedition under the command of His Royal Highness
the Duke of York, and was promoted to the rank of Captain on
the 1st of September 1795. Captain Lindesay was removed from
the Seventy-eighth to the THIRTY-NINTH regiment on the 20th of
October 1796, and served with the latter corps in the colonies of
Demerara, Berbice, and Surinam, from 1797 until December 1802,
when the regiment embarked for Barbadoes, proceeding thence to
Antigua, and, in March 1803, returned to England, where it arrived
in April following. After serving for a short period on the staff
as Aide-de-camp to Brigadier-General Brent Spencer in the Sussex
district, he accompanied the first battalion of the THIRTY-NINTH
regiment to the Mediterranean in March 1805. On the 1st of October
1807 he was advanced to the rank of Major in the THIRTY-NINTH; and
this promotion removed him to the second battalion of the regiment,
which he subsequently joined at Guernsey, and proceeded with it in
June 1809 to Portugal, the battalion having been selected to form
part of the force employed in that country under the command of
Lieut.-General the Honorable Sir Arthur Wellesley. Major Lindesay
was present at the battle of Busaco on the 27th of September 1810,
in command of the second battalion of the THIRTY-NINTH regiment,
Lieut.-Colonel Wilson having been appointed to the charge of
a brigade. At the battle of Albuhera on the 16th of May 1811,
Major Lindesay also commanded the second battalion, and received
a medal for that action, and on the 20th of June following was
promoted to the brevet rank of Lieut.-Colonel. Shortly afterwards
he again distinguished himself at Arroyo dos Molinos, on the 28th
of October 1811, in an expedition, under the immediate orders of
Lieut.-General Rowland Hill, against a division of the French army
commanded by General Girard. On this occasion Brevet Lieut.-Colonel
Lindesay was detached with the second battalion of the THIRTY-NINTH
in pursuit of the discomfited enemy; and at considerable hazard,
although without success, personally summoned the French commander
to surrender. In 1812 Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Lindesay was employed
in England recruiting the second battalion under his command, which
had returned from the Peninsula for that purpose.
In October 1813 Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Lindesay joined the first
battalion in the Peninsula, and was present at the conflicts
with the enemy on the Nivelle, Nive, and at Bayonne, on the
invasion of the French territory, as well as in all the subsequent
engagements, until June 1814, when he embarked at Bourdeaux with
the first battalion for North America, upon the termination of the
campaign in the Peninsula, in consequence of Great Britain being
engaged in hostilities with the United States. In May 1815 the
battalion proceeded to embark at Quebec under the command of Brevet
Lieut.-Colonel Lindesay, who was appointed a Companion of the Order
of the Bath on the 4th of June following. The services of the corps
were necessary in Europe, in consequence of the return of Napoleon
Bonaparte to France; but before in arrival at Ostend the victory
of Waterloo had been gained by the allied troops under the Duke
of Wellington. The battalion subsequently proceeded to Paris, and
Lieut.-Colonel Lindesay continued in France until the breaking up
of the Army of Occupation in 1818, when he returned to England with
the THIRTY-NINTH regiment, which embarked at Calais on the 30th
of October of that year, and shortly after its arrival at Dover
proceeded to Ireland.
Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Lindesay was appointed Lieut.-Colonel of the
THIRTY-NINTH on the 12th of August 1824; and having been employed
with the regiment in Ireland until the following year, he proceeded
to England in command of the corps preparatory to its embarking, by
detachments, for New South Wales, for which colony Brevet-Colonel
Lindesay, to which rank he had been promoted on the 27th of May
1825, embarked with the head-quarters of the regiment on the 26th
of April 1827.
While commanding the THIRTY-NINTH in New South Wales, the
government of the colony for a short time devolved upon Colonel
Lindesay, namely, from the 22nd of October to the 2nd of December
1831. In July 1832 six companies of the regiment proceeded from
Sydney to Madras, and were followed in December by the remaining
four companies. Upon joining the Madras army he was appointed a
Colonel on the staff, and Commandant of Bangalore on the 15th of
February 1833. In April 1834 he commanded the expedition against
the Rajah of Coorg, with the rank of Brigadier-General in India,
which was conducted with a skill, ability, and success, that
added greatly to his military reputation. Appointed on the 3rd of
January 1835 to the southern division of the Madras army, with
the temporary rank of Brigadier-General, he commanded the troops
stationed at Trichinopoly, when he was made a Knight Commander of
the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order. His health, for the first
time during his long and active service, began to fail, and in the
beginning of 1836 Colonel Lindesay returned to England; on the 10th
of January 1837 he was advanced to the rank of Major-General, and
on the 19th of July 1838 was nominated a Knight Commander of the
Order of the Bath.
Major-General Sir Patrick Lindesay for a time appeared to derive
benefit from his native air, and the society of friends and
relatives, but the seeds of disease had taken too deep a hold of
his constitution to enable it to rally. After a lingering illness,
he died at Portobello, near Edinburgh, on the 14th of March 1839,
in the sixty-second year of his age, having completed a course of
more than forty-four years’ active service.
_List of Fifty-six Battalions formed from Men raised under the_
ARMY OF RESERVE _and_ ADDITIONAL FORCE ACTS, _in the Years 1803
and 1804_.
_Under the Army of Reserve Acts in 1803._
The following _Nineteen Regiments_ were appointed to receive men
raised for limited service in Great Britain and Ireland, under the
_Army of Reserve Acts_, passed in the year 1803, and were augmented
by second battalions, viz.:
+----------------------+--------------------+---------------------+
| IN ENGLAND. | IN SCOTLAND. | IN IRELAND. |
| Under the Act | Under the Act | Under the Act |
| passed on the | passed on the | passed on the |
| 6th of July 1803. | 6th of July 1803. | 11th of July 1803. |
+----------------------+--------------------+---------------------+
| 3rd Reg. 53rd Reg. | 26th Regiment | 18th Regiment |
| 28th ” 57th ” | 42nd ” | 44th ” |
| 30th ” 61st ” | 92nd ” | 58th ” |
| 39th ” 66th ” | | 67th ” |
| 47th ” 69th ” | | |
| 48th ” 81st ” | | |
+----------------------+--------------------+---------------------+
In addition to the above corps, _Sixteen Reserve Battalions_ were
also formed from the men raised in the several counties of Great
Britain and Ireland, under the _Army of Reserve Acts_, as under
specified, viz.:
+-----------------------+------------------------+
| IN ENGLAND. | IN SCOTLAND. |
+-----------------------+------------------------+
| 1st Reserve Battalion.| 5th Reserve Battalion.|
| 3rd ” | 14th ” |
| 4th ” +------------------------+
| 6th ” | IN IRELAND. |
| 7th ” +------------------------+
| 8th ” | 2nd Reserve Battalion.|
| 9th ” | 13th ” |
| 10th ” | 16th ” |
| 11th ” | |
| 12th ” | |
| 15th ” | |
+-----------------------+------------------------+
_Under the Additional Force Acts in 1804._
In the year 1804, _Thirty-seven_ other Regiments (as shown in the
following list) were augmented by second battalions, in consequence
of having been appointed to receive men raised for limited service
in Great Britain and Ireland, under the _Additional Force Acts_
passed on the 29th of June, and 10th and 14th of July 1804, viz.:
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| IN ENGLAND. |
| Under the Act passed on the 29th of June 1804. |
+---------------------+----------------------+-------------------+
| 5th Foot | 25th Foot | 56th Foot |
| 6th ” | 31st ” | 59th ” |
| 7th ” | 32nd ” | 62nd ” |
| 8th ” | 36th ” | 63rd ” |
| 9th ” | 38th ” | 82nd ” |
| 10th ” | 40th ” | 83rd ” |
| 14th ” | 43rd ” | 90th ” |
| 15th ” | 45th ” | 96th ” late 2nd |
| 23rd ” | 50th ” | Battalion of |
| 24th ” | 52nd ” | 52nd Regiment. |
+---------------------+-----------+----------+-------------------+
| IN SCOTLAND. | IN IRELAND. |
| Under the Act passed on | Under the Act passed on |
| the 10th of July 1804. | 14th of July 1804. |
+---------------------------------+------------------------------+
| 1st Royal Regiment | 27th Regiment |
| 21st ” | 87th ” |
| 71st ” | 88th ” |
| 72nd ” | 89th ” |
| 91st ” | |
+---------------------------------+------------------------------+
List of the _Fifty-six_ regiments which were appointed to receive
men, raised for limited service in England, Scotland, and Ireland,
under the _Additional Force Acts_, passed in the year 1804,
including the _Nineteen_ regiments (marked thus *) which had been
augmented by _Second Battalions_ from the men raised under the
_Army of Reserve Acts_ passed in the previous year (1803), and
specifying the counties allotted to the several regiments.
_Adjutant-General’s Office,
Horse-Guards, 1804._
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| IN ENGLAND. |
| Under the Act passed on the 29th of June 1804. |
+-----------+------------------------------------------------------+
| Regiments.| Counties. |
+-----------+------------------------------------------------------+
| *3rd | London City. |
| 5th | Sussex. |
| 6th | Lancaster. |
| 7th | York (West Riding). |
| 8th | York (North Riding). |
| 9th | Dorset and Somerset. |
| 10th | Essex. |
| 14th | Bedford, Buckingham, Northampton. |
| 15th | York (East Riding). |
| 23rd | Anglesey, Carnarvon, Denbigh, Flint, & Merioneth. |
| 24th | Warwick. |
| 25th | Cumberland, Westmoreland. |
| *28th | Devon. |
| *30th | Huntingdon, Leicester, Cambridge. |
| 31st | Chester. |
| 32nd | Cornwall. |
| 36th | Durham. |
| 38th | Stafford. |
| *39th | Salop. |
| 40th | Dorset & Somerset, late Second Battalion of 52nd |
| | Regiment. |
| 43rd | Worcester. |
| 45th | Nottingham & Rutland. |
| *47th | Norfolk. |
| *48th | Lancaster. |
| 50th | Gloucester. |
| 52nd | Hertford, Oxford, & Bucks. |
| *53rd | York (West Riding). |
| 56th | Surrey. |
| *57th | Kent, & the Cinque Ports. |
| 59th | Derby. |
| *61st | Northumberland. |
| 62nd | Wilts. |
| 63rd | Suffolk. |
| *66th | Hants, & the Isle of Wight. |
| *69th | Lincoln. |
| *81st | Hereford, Montgomery, & Radnor. |
| 82nd | Tower Hamlets. |
| 83rd | Middlesex. |
| 90th | Monmouth, Glamorgan, & Brecknock. |
| 96th | Cardigan, Carmarthen, & Pembroke. |
| |
| FORTY REGIMENTS. |
| |
+==================================================================+
| IN SCOTLAND. |
| Under the Act passed on the 10th of July 1804. |
+-----------+------------------------------------------------------+
| Regiments.| Counties. |
+-----------+------------------------------------------------------+
| 1st | Lanark, Wigton, Dumfries, Kirkcudbright, Selkirk, |
| Royal | & Roxburgh. |
| 21st | Renfrew & Ayr. |
| *26th | Edinburgh City & County, Linlithgow, Peebles, |
| | Berwick, & Haddington. |
| *42nd | Ross, Cromarty, Sutherland, & Caithness. |
| 71st | Stirling, Dumbarton, Fife, Kinross, Clackmannan, |
| | Kincardine, & Forfar. |
| 72nd | Aberdeen. |
| 91st | Bute, Argyle, & Perth. |
| *92nd | Nairn, Elgin, Inverness, & Banff. |
| |
| EIGHT REGIMENTS. |
| |
+==================================================================+
| IN IRELAND. |
| Under the Act passed on the 14th of July 1804. |
+-----------+------------------------------------------------------+
| Regiments.| Counties. |
+-----------+------------------------------------------------------+
| *18th | Donegal, Londonderry, Tyrone, & Antrim. |
| 27th | Fermanagh, Monaghan, Armagh, & Down. |
| *44th | Kildare, Wicklow, Carlow, Westmeath, King’s County, |
| | & Queen’s County. |
| *58th | Cork City & County, & Kerry. |
| *67th | Dublin City & County, Roscommon, |
| | Longford, & Meath. |
| 87th | Tipperary, Galway, & Clare. |
| 88th | Cavan, Louth, Leitrim, Sligo, & Mayo. |
| 89th | Wexford, Kilkenny, Waterford, & Limerick City |
| | & County. |
| *18th | Donegal, Londonderry, Tyrone, & Antrim. |
| 27th | Fermanagh, Monaghan, Armagh, & Down. |
| *44th | Kildare, Wicklow, Carlow, Westmeath, King’s County, |
| | & Queen’s County. |
| |
| EIGHT REGIMENTS. |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
The ERRATA section was printed on a page with extraneous text at the
top and bottom (printer’s error). This has been removed.
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.
Eight occurrences of ‘Guadaloupe’ have been changed to ‘Guadeloupe’.
Pg ix: ‘Passage of the _Niver_’ replaced by ‘Passage of the _Nive_’.
Pg 24: ‘but in conquence’ replaced by ‘but in consequence’.
Pg 48: Sidenote ‘1810. 2nd Batt.’ replaced by ‘1810. 1st Batt.’.
Pg 79: Missing Sidenote ‘1836.’ inserted before ‘In February 1836’.
Pg 121: ‘THIRTH-NINTH’ replaced by ‘THIRTY-NINTH’.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Historical Record of the Thirty-ninth, or the Dorsetshire Regiment of Foot: containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1702, and of its subsequent services to 1853." ***
Copyright 2023 LibraryBlog. All rights reserved.