in September following to Mullingar.
[Sidenote: 1838]
The depôt companies were removed from Mullingar to Nenagh in May, and
in September proceeded to Limerick.
On the 12th of July, 1838, His Royal Highness the Prince Maximilian
of Bavaria landed at Malta, and attended a parade of the garrison:
on the day following he examined the barracks occupied by the
NINETY-SECOND, and expressed himself much pleased with every part of
the interior economy of the regiment.
On the 30th of November, 1838, the regiment lined the ramparts at
St. Elmo, while the “Hastings” (seventy-four guns,) entered the
harbour with Her Majesty the Queen Dowager on board. On the following
day the regiment was formed as a Guard of Honor in the square in
front of the palace to receive Her Majesty, who landed to examine
the accommodation prepared for her, and returned again on board the
“Hastings.”
On the 4th of December, the Queen Dowager landed amidst the
rejoicings of the inhabitants, and occupied the palace. The field
officers, and the heads of departments, were presented to Her Majesty
by the Governor in the evening, and the town and public buildings
were splendidly illuminated.
The Queen Dowager held a levée at the palace on the 12th of
December, when all the officers were presented. The Earl Howe,
Lord Chamberlain, having previously intimated Her Majesty’s desire
to see the NINETY-SECOND HIGHLAND REGIMENT, whenever it might be
convenient, the officers, immediately after the levée, repaired to
their companies, and the regiment was formed in review-order on the
Floriana Parade. After the regiment had marched past in slow and
quick time, and performed several movements, Her Majesty expressed
herself highly pleased with the appearance of the corps.
[Sidenote: 1839]
In January, 1839, the depôt companies proceeded from Limerick to
Birr, where they were stationed during the year.
[Sidenote: 1840]
The depôt companies were removed from Birr to Mullingar in January,
1840; and in May proceeded to Glasgow, from whence in July they
marched to Stirling.
[Sidenote: 1841]
The first division of the regiment, consisting of two companies,
under the command of Brevet-Major Stephen Noel, embarked on board the
“Somersetshire” transport, at Malta, on the morning of the 9th of
January 1841, for _Barbadoes_, and arrived there on the 4th of April.
The head-quarters, with four companies under the command of Brevet
Lieut.-Colonel Robert Winchester, embarked on board the “Cornwall”
transport, at Malta, on the morning of the 21st of January, for
_Barbadoes_, and arrived there on the 4th of April with the first
division.
The head-quarters and two companies were afterwards stationed at
St. Vincent, two companies at St. Lucia and Pigeon Island, and two
companies detached to Dominica. On the 24th of May, a requisition
was received for military aid to suppress a serious disturbance at
Kingstown, St. Vincent; the conduct of the NINETY-SECOND on this
occasion received the thanks of the President of the Council and the
House of Assembly of St. Vincent.
In May, 1841, the depôt companies were removed from Stirling to Fort
George, near Inverness.
[Sidenote: 1842]
The service companies of the NINETY-SECOND regiment were concentrated
at Barbadoes on the 6th of February, 1842, where they continued
during the remainder of that year.
In June, 1842, the depôt companies proceeded from Fort George to
Dundee.
[Sidenote: 1843]
On the 22nd of May, 1843, the head-quarters and one company of the
regiment, under the command of Colonel McDonald, C.B., embarked
in the “Crocodile” troop-ship for Trinidad; detachments were also
stationed at Grenada and Tobago.
Her Majesty was pleased to appoint Lieut.-General Sir William
Macbean, K.C.B., to be colonel of the NINETY-SECOND regiment on the
31st of May, in succession to General the Earl of Stair, who was
removed to the forty-sixth regiment.
The company at Tobago embarked on board the “Java” transport on the
5th of December; the head-quarters and three companies at Trinidad
embarked in the same ship on the 8th of December; the two companies
at Grenada embarked also in the “Java” on the 15th of December, and
the ship sailed for Portsmouth on the 25th of December.
[Sidenote: 1844]
The service companies disembarked at Aberdeen on the 16th, 17th, and
18th of February, 1844, and were joined by the depôt companies from
Dundee.
The regiment proceeded from Aberdeen to Glasgow in September. On the
8th of October, the regiment formed part of the procession for the
inauguration of an equestrian statue of Field Marshal the Duke of
Wellington, erected in front of the Exchange at Glasgow.
[Sidenote: 1845]
In July, 1845, the regiment marched to Edinburgh Castle, where it was
stationed during that year.
[Sidenote: 1846]
On the 6th of April, 1846, a letter of thanks was received from
the Magistrates and Commissioners of Police of Edinburgh, for the
promptness and efficiency with which a piquet of the regiment, under
Captain Sutherland, attended, and assisted in saving property, and
preserving order, during a calamitous fire at night in the New Town
of Edinburgh.
The NINETY-SECOND regiment embarked for Belfast in April, 1846, and
in August following was removed to Enniskillen.
Major John Alexander Forbes was promoted to the rank of
lieut.-colonel in the NINETY-SECOND regiment on the 9th of November,
1846, in succession to Colonel John McDonald, C.B., who was promoted
major-general on the same date.
[Sidenote: 1847]
In May, 1847, the regiment was removed from Enniskillen to Dublin,
and in December it proceeded to Limerick.
[Sidenote: 1848]
The regiment proceeded in December, 1848, from Limerick to
Clonmel, in the Kilkenny district, which was under the command of
Major-General John McDonald; his former regiment thus became again
under his orders.
[Sidenote: 1849]
The regiment remained at Clonmel during the year 1849.
[Sidenote: 1850]
On the 2nd of April, 1850, the NINETY-SECOND regiment marched from
Clonmel to Kilkenny.
On the 9th of December, orders were given for the regiment to be
formed into six service and four depôt companies, preparatory to the
embarkation of the former for the Ionian Islands.
[Sidenote: 1851]
In February, 1851, the service companies proceeded from Kilkenny
to Fermoy, and the depôt companies to Carlow: a complimentary
address was received from the mayor and citizens of Kilkenny, on
the NINETY-SECOND quitting that city, expressive of the regret they
experienced in parting with the regiment, the conduct of which had
gained the esteem of all classes.
The service companies embarked at Cork on the 14th of April, on
board of Her Majesty’s troop-ship “Apollo” and the freight ship
“Edmonstone” for Corfu, the head-quarters being under the command of
Lieut.-Colonel Mark Kerr Atherley.
CONCLUSION.
The foregoing pages contain a detail of the services of the
NINETY-SECOND HIGHLAND REGIMENT for fifty-eight years from the period
of its formation in 1793, during which it has shared in the honors
acquired in many of the arduous and distinguished actions, which have
largely increased the fame of the British army.
The distinctions, which it has gained on active foreign service, are
duly attested by the inscriptions on the regimental colour, and the
national credit of the regiment has been maintained by its correct
and orderly conduct, and its attention to the rules of discipline,
in every station at which it has been employed, whether at home or
abroad.
1851.
FOOTNOTES:
[6] The ninety-first, ninety-second, ninety-third, ninety-fourth,
ninety-fifth, ninety-sixth, ninety-seventh, and ninety-ninth
regiments, which were directed to be raised at the commencement of
the war with France in 1793, were afterwards disbanded, so that the
_ninety-eighth_ was numbered the _ninety-first_, and the _Hundredth_
became the NINETY-SECOND regiment.
[7] Lieut.-General Sir Ralph Abercromby, K.B., was promoted to the
local rank of General on the Continent of Europe, on the 13th of
August 1799.
[8] Colonel the Marquis of Huntly commanded the regiment in
this memorable charge, which began and decided the action at
Egmont-op-Zee: all the rest was a pursuit. The Marquis of Huntly,
and Major-General (afterwards Sir John) Moore, were wounded, and the
command of the regiment devolved upon Lieut.-Colonel Erskine.
Major-General Moore was carried to the surgeon by two soldiers of the
regiment; and a few years afterwards, when writing for a drawing of
the uniform, for the purpose of having a soldier of the NINETY-SECOND
as one of the supporters to his coat of arms, on being made a
Knight of the Bath, he mentioned the circumstance of their having
remarked—“There is the General, we must take him to the doctor:” and
then added, “We can do no more; we must join the lads, for every
man is wanted!!” Major-General Moore, on his recovery, inquired for
those men in order to reward them, and offered twenty pounds, but
no one claimed it; and he remarked, that “it was a noble trait of
the regiment, that no men in its ranks came forward to personate the
parties, or to claim the reward.”—It was, therefore, supposed they
were killed.
It may be observed, that this is one of the few instances on record
of _crossing bayonets_ by large bodies. Even the supernumerary rank
of the NINETY-SECOND on this occasion was bayoneted; among the number
Lieutenant McCardy was killed, and Lieutenant Donald McDonald (who
afterwards succeeded to the command of the regiment at Waterloo)
received three bayonet wounds.
[9] List of regiments which served in Egypt in 1801, is inserted in
the Appendix, page 139.
[10] _Vide_ General Order, dated Horse Guards, 16th of May, 1801, and
List of regiments employed in Egypt, inserted in pages 137, &c. of
the Appendix.
[11] Lieut.-General Burrard was created a Baronet in November 1807.
[12] A list of the regiments employed in the expedition to
_Copenhagen_ it inserted in the Appendix, page 141.
[13] Vide General Orders of the 18th of January and 1st of February,
1809; also a list of regiments employed under Lieut.-General Sir John
Moore at Corunna, inserted in pages 142, &c., of the Appendix.
[14] At Almaraz on the 19th of May, 1812, the individual merit and
gallantry of Privates James Gall and John Somerville of the Grenadier
Company of the NINETY-SECOND regiment, were brought under the notice
of the Commander-in-Chief as having tended to forward, in a very
considerable degree, the object of Lord Hill upon Fort Ragusa: his
Lordship ordered two doubloons to be given to these soldiers on the
field, being the first men who leaped into the river.
[15] “The hill this carried was called the Englishmen’s Hill, not,
as some recent writers have supposed, in commemoration of a victory
gained by the Black Prince, but because of a disaster which there
befel a part of his army. His battle was fought between Navarrette
and Najera, many leagues from Vittoria, and beyond the Ebro; but
on this hill the two gallant knights, Sir Thomas and Sir William
Felton, took post with two hundred companions, and being surrounded
by Don Tello with six thousand, all died or were taken after a long,
desperate, and heroic resistance.”—(History of the Peninsular War, by
Major-General Sir William Napier, K.C.B.)
[16] On the 30th of September, 1815, His Royal Highness the Prince
Regent, in the name and on the behalf of His Majesty, was pleased to
grant the dignity of a baronet of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, to Ewen Cameron, Esq., of Fassifern and Callart, in
the county of Argyll, and of Arthurstone, in the county of Angus,
to commemorate the services of his son, Colonel Cameron, of the
NINETY-SECOND regiment.
[17] Now Major-General McDonald, commanding the Kilkenny district in
Ireland.
[18] Referring to an expression of thanks and approbation from the
Lord Lieutenant to Lieut.-General the Right Honorable Sir John
Byng, K.C.B., and from him to the regiment, for the spontaneous
interference of some soldiers of the grenadier company in saving the
life of a police constable, and retaking a prisoner, who had been
rescued from him by a mob at Maryborough, on the 20th of May, 1830.
[19] Lieut.-General Sir John Byng, the present General the Earl of
Strafford, and Colonel of the Coldstream Guards, in consideration of
his gallantry in the action of the 13th of December, 1813,—wherein he
led his troops, under a most galling fire, to the assault of a strong
height occupied in great force by the enemy, and having himself
ascended the hill first with the colour of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment
of foot in his hand, he planted the colour upon the summit, and drove
the enemy (far superior in numbers) down the ridge to the suburbs
of _St. Pierre_,—received the Royal Authority, on the 7th of July,
1815, to bear the following honorable augmentation, namely, “Over the
arms of the family of Byng, in bend sinister, a representation of
the colour of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment,” and the following crest,
namely, “Out of a mural crown an arm embowed, grasping the colour of
the aforesaid THIRTY-FIRST regiment, and pendent from the wrist by a
riband, the Gold Cross presented to him by His Majesty’s command, as
a mark of his royal approbation of his distinguished services,” and
in an escrol above the word “_Mouguerre_,” being the name of a height
near the hamlet of _St. Pierre_.
[Illustration: 92^{ND} REGIMENT (GORDON HIGHLANDERS.)
_The Advanced Post at Sunrise.—The Sentry sees something suspicious
and calls the Corporal._
_For Cannon’s Military Records._
_Madeley Lith. 3, Wellington St. Strand._]
SUCCESSION OF COLONELS
OF
THE NINETY-SECOND REGIMENT
(HIGHLANDERS).
GEORGE, MARQUIS OF HUNTLY.
_Appointed 3rd May, 1796._
George, Marquis of Huntly, son of Alexander, fourth Duke of Gordon,
choosing the profession of arms, was appointed to a commission in
the thirty-fifth regiment in 1790. In the same year he raised an
independent company of Highlanders; and exchanging, in January,
1791, to the forty-second regiment, he brought with him a fine band
of young Highlanders. On the 11th of July, 1792, he was promoted to
captain-lieutenant and lieutenant-colonel in the third Foot Guards.
He accompanied the detachment of Foot Guards to Flanders in the
spring of 1793, was at the action of St. Amand on the 8th of May, and
was engaged in driving the French from the position at the village
of Famars on the 23rd of May. He was subsequently employed at the
siege of Valenciennes, which fortress surrendered to the Duke of
York in July. On the 18th of August he was engaged at Lincelles; and
he afterwards served at the siege of Dunkirk. When the army went
into winter quarters, the MARQUIS OF HUNTLY returned to England, and
in the following year was raised a corps of Highlanders, which was
numbered the _hundredth_ regiment, now the NINETY-SECOND, of which he
was appointed lieutenant-colonel commandant on the 10th of February,
1794. He accompanied his regiment to Gibraltar; and on his return
to England, he was captured by a French privateer. He afterwards
rejoined his regiment at the island of Corsica, where he served
upwards of a year; and on the 3rd of May, 1796, he was promoted to
the rank of colonel. On the breaking out of the rebellion in Ireland,
in 1798, he joined his regiment in that country, where he served as
brigadier-general, and was actively employed against the rebels,
particularly in Wexford. He accompanied the expedition to Holland
in 1799, was at the landing at the Helder, and continued actively
employed until the 2nd of October, when he was wounded at the battle
of Egmont-op-Zee. On the 1st of January, 1801, he was promoted to
the rank of major-general; and in 1803 he was appointed to the staff
of North Britain, where he served three years. In January, 1806, he
was appointed to the colonelcy of the forty-second, or the Royal
Highlanders; and in April, 1808, he was promoted to the rank of
lieutenant-general. He commanded a division in the expedition to
Holland in 1809; and in August, 1819, he was advanced to the rank
of general. In 1820 he was removed to the first,—the Royal Regiment
of Foot,—and in a few months afterwards he was nominated a Knight
Grand Cross of the Most Honorable Military Order of the Bath. In 1827
he succeeded, on the decease of his father, to the dignity of DUKE
OF GORDON: he was also appointed Governor of Edinburgh Castle, and
Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland. In 1834 he was removed to the
Scots Fusilier Guards. He was distinguished as a kind-hearted and
gallant nobleman and soldier,—contributing largely to many charitable
institutions. His social, private, and public virtues, endeared him
to his family and friends; and a succession of uninterrupted acts
of philanthropy procured him universal esteem. He died on the 28th
of May, 1836; and his remains, by especial command of his Majesty
King William IV., were escorted by the first battalion of the Scots
Fusilier Guards from London to Greenwich, where they were placed on
board a steam-vessel, for the purpose of being conveyed to Scotland
for interment in a mausoleum erected on the paternal estate. By his
Grace’s decease the dukedom became extinct.
JOHN, EARL OF HOPETOUN, G.C.B.
_Appointed 3rd January, 1806._
The Honorable John Hope, son of John, second Earl of Hopetoun,
evinced a predilection for the profession of arms from his youth,
and served as a volunteer in his fifteenth year. On the 28th of May,
1784, he was appointed cornet in the tenth Light Dragoons; two years
afterwards, he was nominated lieutenant in the twenty-seventh foot,
and in 1789, captain in the seventeenth Light Dragoons; in 1792, he
was promoted major in the first foot, and in the following year,
lieutenant-colonel in the twenty-fifth regiment, with which corps he
served in the West Indies, where he was appointed adjutant-general,
and served the campaigns of 1794, 1795, 1796, and 1797, with great
distinction, being particularly noticed in the orders and public
despatches of Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Abercromby, and other
commanders. In 1796, he was elected a member of parliament for the
county of Linlithgow. He was nominated deputy adjutant-general to
the expedition to Holland in 1799, and was severely wounded at
the landing in North Holland on the 27th of August. In 1800, he
was appointed adjutant-general to the army in the Mediterranean,
under Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Abercromby, and served in the
expedition to Egypt: he was at the actions of the 8th and 13th of
March, 1801, and was wounded before Alexandria on the 21st of March,
when Sir Ralph Abercromby received a wound, of which he died on the
28th of March. Brigadier-General Hope recovered, and requesting
to have a brigade, was succeeded as adjutant-general by Colonel
Abercromby. On the 16th of June, he joined the army before Cairo,
with the twenty-eighth and forty-second regiments, and he afterwards
evinced ability in conducting the negotiations for the surrender of
the capital of Egypt by the French troops, under General Belliard.
He continued in the command of a brigade until the deliverance
of Egypt was accomplished, and received the second class of the
Order of the Crescent established by the Grand Seignior. In 1802,
his services were rewarded by the colonelcy of the North Lowland
Fencible Infantry, and the rank of major-general; to which was added,
in June, 1805, the appointment of deputy-governor of Portsmouth;
but he resigned this appointment soon afterwards, to accompany the
troops sent to Hanover under Lieutenant-General Lord Cathcart. In
October, 1805, he was appointed colonel commandant of a battalion
of the sixtieth regiment; and in 1806, he succeeded the Marquis of
Huntly in the colonelcy of the NINETY-SECOND regiment. On the 25th
of April, 1808, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general.
He was nominated second in command of the expedition to the
Baltic, under Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore, and afterwards
accompanied the troops to Portugal. He commanded a division of the
army which advanced into Spain, under Sir John Moore, and shared
in that campaign; and in the battle of Corunna, when he succeeded
to the command of the army,—Sir John Moore being killed, and Sir
David Baird wounded—he was successful in repulsing the attack of
the French under Marshal Soult. On the embarkation of the army,
he took particular care to prevent any soldier being left behind,
and was the last man who went on board the fleet. His despatch
contains an interesting account of the battle.[20] He was thanked
for his distinguished services by parliament, was honored with the
approbation of his Sovereign, and the admiration and applause of his
country; and was nominated a Knight of the Most Honorable Military
Order of the Bath. After his return from Spain, he served with the
Walcheren expedition, under General the Earl of Chatham, and was
subsequently appointed commander-in-chief in Ireland, from which he
was removed, in 1813, to the appointment of second in command in the
peninsula. Lieutenant-General SIR JOHN HOPE, commanded the left wing
of the army at the battle of the Nivelle on the 10th of November,
and signalized himself at the battle of the Nive, in December; on
which occasion the British commander stated in his public despatch—“I
cannot sufficiently applaud the ability, coolness, and judgment,
of Lieutenant-General Sir John Hope.” He passed the Adour with the
left wing of the army in February, 1814, and blockaded the important
fortress of Bayonne,—in which service he evinced great ability and
perseverance: and he remained in the command of the blockading force
until the termination of the war. After Napoleon had abdicated,
the French commandant at Bayonne not believing the news, made a
sortie on the night of the 14th of April, and gained some advantage.
Lieutenant-General SIR JOHN HOPE coming up with some troops in the
dark, encountered the enemy, when his horse being shot, fell upon
him, and he was wounded and taken prisoner. The French were, however,
repulsed. At the restoration of peace, he returned to England with
a high reputation. He received the thanks of parliament; a medal
and a clasp for the battles of Corunna and the Nive; was elevated
to the peerage of the United Kingdom by the title of BARON NIDDRY,
of Niddry, in the county of Linlithgow, and was nominated a Knight
Grand Cross of the Most Honorable Military Order of the Bath. He
afterwards succeeded to the dignity of EARL OF HOPETOUN. In 1819, he
was promoted to the rank of General, and was appointed colonel of the
forty-second, or the Royal Highlanders, in 1820. He died at Paris on
the 27th of August, 1823.
SIR JOHN HOPE, G.C.H.
_Appointed 29th January, 1820._