Historical Record of the Thirty-ninth, or the Dorsetshire Regiment of Foot, by Richard Cannon

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.

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 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[iv] 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[v] 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[vi] 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,[vii] 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.

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[x] 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;[xi] 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,[xiii] 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,[xiv] 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[xv] 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,[xvi] 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[xvii] 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[xviii] 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[xix] 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	20	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.”

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).”

HISTORICAL RECORD.

PLATES.

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[2] of France and Spain would be inimical to the “balance of power” in Europe.

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.

Colonel Nicholas Sankey was appointed to the colonelcy of the regiment on the 17th of March 1703, in succession to Colonel Richard Coote, deceased.

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.

While the army under the Duke of Marlborough was[3] 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.

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[4] 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.

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.

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[5] 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[6] 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.

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[7] the army of Portugal to advance upon the Spanish capital; but the Portuguese generals were unwilling to engage in so great an undertaking.

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.

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.

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]

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.

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.

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.

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[10] 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.

Peace having been concluded between Great Britain, France, and Spain, in November 1729, the regiment was ordered to proceed from Gibraltar to Jamaica,[11] and it embarked for that island in the course of the year following.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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[13] 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.

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.

During the years 1747 and 1748, the regiment again served as Marines on board the fleet.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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[15] 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[16] 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.

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[17] 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 15,000l. 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[18] 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[19] 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[20] 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[21] 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,[22] 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[23] 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[24] 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[25] 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.

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.

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[26] research made to supply the deficiency has not been attended with success.

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.

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.

During the years 1766, 1767, and 1768, the regiment continued to be stationed in Ireland.

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.

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[27] shows the strength of the garrison at the commencement of the blockade on the 21st of June 1779:—

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[28] 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[29] 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.”

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.

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:—

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,[31] 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[32] 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.

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[33] 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[34] 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[35] 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.[36] 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.

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[37] 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]

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.

During the years 1790, 1791, and 1792, the regiment continued to be stationed in Ireland.

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.

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[39] 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[40] 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,[41] 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.

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.

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[42] 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.

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.

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[43] 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.

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[44] 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.

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.

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.

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[45] 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.

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[46] 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 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.

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.

The flank companies of the first battalion proceeded from Malta to Sicily in May 1808.

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[47] 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.

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.

The assumption of the sovereignty of Spain by Joseph Bonaparte, although the strongest places and most commanding positions in the Peninsula were occupied by[48] 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.

In the summer of 1810, Joachim Murat, King of[49] 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.

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.

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,[51] 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[52] 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.

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.

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[53] embarked for England on the 27th of January following.

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.

The portion of the second battalion, which had proceeded to England, disembarked at Weymouth on the 2nd of March 1812.

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[54] 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.

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.

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,[55] 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[56] 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[57] 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[58] 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[59] 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.

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.

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,[60] 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[61] 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[62] 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:—

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[64] 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.

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.

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[65] Valenciennes until the breaking up of the Army of Occupation in 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.

The regiment proceeded on its route for Castlebar in the county of Mayo, where it arrived on the 7th of January 1819.

The Thirty-ninth marched from Castlebar to Dublin in August 1820, and arrived at its destination on the 17th of that month.

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.

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.

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.

On the 12th of August 1824, Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Patrick Lindesay, C.B., was appointed Lieut.-Colonel of[66] 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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[69] 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.

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[70] 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:—

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[72] 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.

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.

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[73] 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.

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[74] 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:—

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:—

The following is an extract from the despatch of Lieut.-Colonel Stewart, commanding the second division of the Eastern Column:—

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.

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.

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]

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[79] after a minute inspection expressed to Major Poole his perfect approbation of its appearance, movements, and discipline.

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.

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[80] 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.

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.

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:—

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[82] 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[84] 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[85] detachment of the Thirty-ninth was such as always characterises British soldiers;” and he added,

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.

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.

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.

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[87] 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[88] 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[89] 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.”

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[90] 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[91] 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[92] 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 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;[94] 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:—

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.

The “Army of Gwalior” was broken up on the 28th[96] 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.

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.

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:—

In the month of October 1845, four companies, under the command of Captain Wood, were detached to garrison Fort William.

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[100] 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.

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[101] 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[102] 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.

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.

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[103] 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.

On the 17th of July 1851 the regiment proceeded from Newry to Dublin, and was quartered in the Linen Hall barracks.

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[104] 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.

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.

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:—

Regiments.	Officers.	Men.

	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 Colonel Cosby, 18th Foot	-	6	17	1

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:

Corps.	Rank and File.

	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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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[107] 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.

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, of Mamore, was an officer in the army in the reign of Queen Anne, and attained the rank of Lieut.-Colonel.[108] 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.

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.

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[109] 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 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.

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.

Colonel John Adlercron was appointed by His Majesty King George II. to the Colonelcy of the Thirty-ninth[110] 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.

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.

This officer entered the army on the 27th of January 1761, as an ensign in the Fourth Foot, was promoted Lieutenant[111] 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.

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,[112] 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[113] 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 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[115] 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.

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[116] 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[117] 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.

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[118] 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.

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[120] 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[121] 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[122] 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[124] 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.

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 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 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.:

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.

*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 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 ***

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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

Field Offr.	Captns.	Subs.	Staff.	Serjts.	Drms.	Rk. & File
1	6	12	1	25	6	400

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.


In England. Under the Act passed on the 6th of July 1803.		In Scotland. Under the Act passed on the 6th of July 1803.		In Ireland. Under the Act passed on the 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 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.

The Project Gutenberg eBook of 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

HISTORICAL RECORD
OF
THE THIRTY-NINTH,
OR THE
DORSETSHIRE REGIMENT OF FOOT:

GENERAL ORDERS

PREFACE.

INTRODUCTION
TO
THE INFANTRY.

FOOTNOTES:

ERRATA.

CONTENTS