The two Battalions were raised in 1740 and 1755, and were brought
together quite early in their careers, fighting side by side at
Louisburg, at Quebec, and again at Salamanca, Vittoria, and in the
Pyrenees. The regiment has seen active service in many parts of the
world, and it is stated was the first to realise the value of modern
musketry, through the bitter experience gained in the first Boer War.
So impressed was the commanding officer by the terrible casualties
suffered at the hands of the Boer marksmen, that he vowed he would make
his battalion the best shooting unit in the Army, and after the war
succeeded in so doing.
Nicknamed "The Steelbacks," so called from the unflinching manner in
which the men took their floggings; also called "The Black Cuffs."
[Illustration]
(_Depot_, Reading.)
(_Record Office_, Warwick.)