(Vol. ix., pp. 63. 159.)
Your correspondent H. B. C. is undoubtedly correct in his statement that
"Ten times a day whip the Barrels," is a regimental parody on the song "He
that has the best Wife," sung in Charles Coffey's musical farce of _The
Devil to Pay_, published in 1731. Popular songs have been made the subject
of political or personal parodies from time immemorial; and no more
fruitful locality for parodies can be found than a barrack, where the
individual traits of character are so fully developed, and afford so full a
scope to the talents of a satirist. Indeed, I knew an officer, who has
recently retired from the service, who seized on every popular ballad, and
parodied it, in connexion with regimental affairs, to the delight of his
brother officers; and in many instances his parodies were far more witty
than the original comic songs whence they were taken.
As regards the regiment known as Barrell's, at the period assigned as the
date of the song relative to that corps, _i. e._ circa 1747, there can be
no doubt as to what corps is alluded to. Barrell's regiment, now the 4th,
or King's Own, regiment of infantry, is the only corps that was ever known
in the British army as Barrell's; for although Colonel William Barrell was
colonel of the present 28th regiment from Sept. 27, 1715, to August 25,
1730, and of the present 22nd regiment from the latter date to August 8,
1734, yet neither of these regiments appears to have seen any war-service
during the periods that they were commanded by him, or to have been known
in military history as Barrell's regiments. He was appointed to the 4th
regiment of infantry August 8, 1734, and retained the command of that
distinguished corps exactly fifteen years, for he died August 9, 1749.
While he commanded the regiment it embarked for Flanders, and served the
campaign of 1744, under Field-Marshal Wade. It remained in Flanders until
the rebellion broke out in Scotland, when it returned to England, and
marched from Newcastle-on-Tyne to Scotland in January, 1746, arriving on
the 10th of that month at Edinburgh. The regiment was engaged at the battle
of Falkirk, Jan. 17, 1746, where its conduct is thus noticed in the
_General Advertiser_: "The regiments which distinguished themselves were
Barrell's (King's Own), and Ligonier's foot." Ligonier's regiment is now
the glorious 48th regiment, of Albuera fame.
At the battle of Culloden Barrell's regiment gained the greatest reputation
imaginable; the battle was so desperate that the soldiers' bayonets were
stained with blood to the muzzles of their muskets; there was scarce an
officer or soldier of the regiment, and of that part of Munro's (now 37th
regiment) which engaged the rebels, that did not kill one or two men each
with their bayonets. (_Particulars of the Battle_, published 1746.) Now it
will be remembered that your correspondent E. H., Vol. ix., p. 159.,
represents a drummer of the regiment interceding with the colonel for the
prisoner, by stating that "he behaved well at Culloden." And this leads me
to the question, Who was the colonel against whom this caricature was
directed? It is proved ("N. & Q.," Vol. vii., p. 242.) that regiments were
known by the names of their _colonels_, whether commanded personally by the
colonel or not, until July 1, 1751, and indeed for several subsequent
years.
Now the reference to Culloden renders it probable that the colonel appealed
to was present at that battle, and perhaps an eye-witness of the personal
bravery on that occasion of the soldier who was subsequently flogged. But
although Colonel Barrell _retained_ the colonelcy of the 4th Infantry until
August, 1749, yet he was promoted to major-general in 1735, after which
time he would have commanded a _division_, not a _regiment_. In 1739 he was
farther promoted to lieut.-general, and appointed the same year Governor of
Pendennis Castle, which office would necessarily remove him from the
personal command of his regiment. He was not present at the battle of
Culloden, April 16, 1746, where his regiment was commanded by
Lieut.-Colonel Robert {546} Rich, who was wounded on that occasion. As to
the epithet of "Colonel," used by the drummer, that term is always used in
conversation when addressing a lieutenant-colonel, or even a brevet
lieutenant-colonel, and its use only proves, therefore, that the officer in
command of the parade held a higher rank than major. After Culloden, the
4th regiment moved to the Highlands, and in 1747 returned to Stirling. In
1749 General Barrell died, and the colonelcy of the regiment was given to
Lieut.-Colonel Rich, whom I suspect to be the officer alluded to in the
caricature. I have searched the military records of the 4th regiment, but
can find no mention of the places at which it was stationed from 1747 to
1754, in the spring of which year it embarked from Great Britain for the
Mediterranean, just as it is now doing in the spring of 1854. I am inclined
to fix the date of the print as 1749 (not 1747), when "Old Scourge"
_returned_ to his regiment as colonel, at the decease of General Barrell.
Colonel Rich was not promoted to major-general until Jan. 17, 1758, and his
commission as colonel is dated Aug. 22, 1749, the day on which he became
colonel of the 4th regiment. He died in 1785, but retired from the service
between the years 1771 and 1776: he succeeded his father as a baronet in
1768.