The regiments of the British Army, chronologically arranged

“The single Battalion Regiments, which are linked together to form the Line portion of a sub-district Brigade, will, so far as regards the Sub-Lieutenants thereto appointed, and the soldiers therein enlisted, after the date of this order, constitute one corps for all military purposes.

“All first appointments to the Line, and all enlistments for Line service, will be for the particular Brigade, instead of as heretofore, for particular Regiments.”

“The officers and soldiers who may be so appointed to any Brigade, will, for relief, for all duties at home and abroad, and for every military purpose whatsoever, and in whatever ranks they may thereafter respectively hold, be interchangeable between the Line Battalions of their Brigade, and will be liable to serve in either of those Battalions indifferently, without regard to the particular Battalion to which they may have been first appointed to serve.”

There rang the death-knell of the old Regiments of the British Army!

Can anything be more conclusive, or more depressing to a soldier?

Is it calculated to foster that pride in, and love for, his own particular Regiment that every true soldier who has worn its uniform has for it?

Look again at the “Army Circular” of the 8th April 1876, as to the clothing of the men of the “Brigade Depôts;” it is evident that a man belongs neither to one “linked” Battalion or to the other; he belongs to the “Brigade Depôt” only, and has nothing to do with the traditions or honour of the Regiment in which he may be serving.

Would-be Army reformers, of whom we have now far too many, say, “Oh, very few Regiments now have the Title of the county in which they were raised, so all this is of no importance;” but they are not soldiers, so their opinion is valueless. Moreover, the assertion is only partly true, for it is nearly a century since most of the Regiments received the County Titles which they now bear.

Would-be Army reformers are also responsible for the Appendix to “Army Circular” of the 1st of December 1877, giving the War Establishment of a Battalion of Infantry, in which it is actually proposed to send a Regiment of boys eleven hundred strong into the field with twenty-three Company officers, whilst four officers of the Regiment are part of, and nearly useless at, the “Brigade Depôt.”

We hear and we read everywhere that the Army is over-officered, but what is the opinion of an old soldier, as given in his lecture at the Royal United Service Institution on the 30th November 1877? He says:

“How can you expect fire-discipline, from year-old peasant-soldiers, whose non-commissioned officers have little, if any, greater training than themselves, and with a field average of three and a half officers per company of two hundred men? For better or for worse, we have now an army of boys. Take the word of a man who has seen much fighting, both by trained and untrained soldiers. It behoves us, if we would escape disaster in the hour of trial, to take such means as will induce our non-commissioned officers to remain under the colours, and not go forth into civil, or quasi-civil life. And yet more incumbent is it on us to listen to no arguments of theory that would reduce the number of our commissioned officers. Our Army is so small that, more than any other, for the sake of judicious daring, and of judicious economy of life, it must be well, brilliantly, and carefully led. And this cannot be when sparse officers are whelmed in a confused mass of men.”

What do the advocates of short service and “Brigade Depôts” say to this?

From the foregoing remarks it will readily be perceived that the desire of the Compiler of this book is not to destroy, but to revive, everything connected with every Regiment in the service, and, although omissions may be noted, it is hoped it contains no errors.

There are many conflicting statements as to when Regiments were first numbered. Their rank was first regulated by a board of General Officers assembled by King William the Third in the Netherlands, on the 10th June 1694.

Queen Anne assembled another board in 1713, to decide on the rank of Regiments raised subsequently to 1694, and King George the First assembled a third in 1715 for the same purpose.

Cannon, in his “History of the Marine Corps,” tells us, “These boards recommended that English Regiments raised in England should take rank from the date of their formation, and that English, Scots, and Irish Regiments raised for the service of a foreign power, should take rank from the date of their being placed on the English Establishment.”

“The numerical Titles of Regiments, as fixed on the principles laid down in the Reports of the boards of General Officers above alluded to, were confirmed by the Warrant issued by authority of King George the Second, dated the 17th July 1761; and also by the Warrant of King George the Third, dated 19th December 1768; previously to which, Regiments were generally designated by the names of their Colonels.”

The year 1751 has, therefore, been taken as the date on which the Regiments of the Army were first recognized officially by a number.

The date of the raising of the different Regiments is given as that of the commission of its first Colonel, taken from the official “Succession of Colonels.”

The greatest difficulty has been the compiling of the lists of Campaigns, &c. in which the various Regiments have borne a part.

All those that appear on the Colours have been given, although many are of inferior importance to many that do not; moreover many Regiments have received distinctions for actions in which others shared who do not possess any record of the fact upon their Colours.

The dates given are those in Haydn’s “Dictionary of Dates,” which is assumed to be correct, and, in the case of a capture of a place, the last day of the siege or capture is given.

The thanks of the Compiler are due to those Adjutants and other officers of Regiments who have given him information, and also to T. D. Sullivan, Esq., late 56th Foot, Librarian of the Royal United Service Institution, for his assistance and help on many occasions.

July 1878.