proceed from Portsmouth to Taunton in Somersetshire, to attend the
Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys, who was appointed by King James II. to
try the prisoners taken at the battle of Sedgemoor, and a number of
other persons who were charged either with being concerned in the
rebellion, or with countenancing or aiding the ill-fated duke and
his adherents. The narrative of the proceedings of the Lord Chief
Justice, and of the painful duties which the troops who attended
on him had to perform, forms one of the black pages of the history
of this country; and the remorseless and sanguinary character of
the judge has occasioned him to be held up to deserved execration.
Colonel Kirke and his regiment have also been charged with acts
of cruelty, although the accounts may have been exaggerated; but
the conduct of the ten companies of the QUEEN'S REGIMENT escaped
censure, as their services appear to have been limited to the
guarding of prisoners, and the preserving of order at executions,
which were so numerous that these were termed the BLOODY ASSIZES.
[Sidenote: 1686]
[Sidenote: 1687]
The QUEEN'S REGIMENT remained in extensive cantonments in the
western counties until the spring of 1686, when it was ordered to
march to Plymouth, where it passed the succeeding twelve months.
It was withdrawn from Devonshire in March, 1687, and was stationed
a short time at Salisbury and Wilton, from whence it marched to
Hounslow in June of the same year, and pitched its tents on the
heath. After having been twice reviewed by King James II., the
regiment struck its tents on the 5th of August, and marched to
Bristol, Bath, and Keynsham.
[Sidenote: 1688]
In the spring of 1688, the regiment proceeded to Portsmouth, and
passed the summer months in that garrison; but in September it was
ordered to march to London.
The short period during which King James II. had occupied the
throne, had been pregnant with events of a most alarming character
to the nation, and every evil which the people had feared would
follow the accession of a popish prince to sovereign power,
appeared on the eve of transpiring. The rebellion of the Duke of
Monmouth had furnished the King with a pretext for augmenting the
regular army, which he continued on a high establishment, and
increased, from time to time, without the consent of parliament.
The troops were embodied by the authority of the crown only, and
were paid, either from the civil list, or by diverting moneys,
intended for other objects, to that purpose; and the King
even appeared to have formed the design of governing without
parliaments, of rendering himself absolute, and of subverting
the reformed religion. His Majesty's principal dependence for
the success of his unconstitutional projects was placed in the
devotedness of his troops; but his conduct disgusted the military
as well as his other subjects; and the cheers of the soldiers on
Hounslow Heath at the acquittal of the bishops, whom the King had
imprisoned and brought to trial for opposing his measures, proved
that he had entirely lost their sympathy, and could no longer trust
to them for support.
The King's proceedings having filled the nation with alarm and
consternation, the Prince of Orange, who was the King's nephew and
son-in-law, and a zealous advocate for the Protestant interest,
was solicited to come to England with a body of troops to assist
the nobility and gentry in opposing the proceedings of the court.
At the same time, many of the superior officers of the English
army, who were most zealous for the welfare of the kingdom and the
preservation of the reformed religion, seeing the danger to which
the constitution in church and state was exposed, formed themselves
into a secret association, and engaged not to fight in the cause
of papacy and arbitrary power, but to further the objects of the
Prince of Orange; and Brigadier-General Charles Trelawny, Colonel
of the QUEEN'S regiment of foot, was one of the members of this
association.
When the Prince of Orange had landed at Torbay (5th of November)
the regiment proceeded by forced marches to Salisbury, and
afterwards to Warminster, which was the most advanced post of the
King's army, and was occupied by the third troop of life guards,
the Queen's, and Major-General Werden's regiments of horse, the
Queen's regiment of dragoons, with two battalions of the royals,
and the Queen Dowager's and QUEEN CONSORT'S regiments of foot,[11]
commanded by Major-General Kirke and Brigadier-Generals Trelawny
and Maine.
The King arrived at Salisbury on the 20th of November, and on
the 21st reviewed his forces stationed in and near that city;
and a number of officers and soldiers having already deserted to
the Prince of Orange, His Majesty addressed the troops on the
subject, and gave liberty to all who were unwilling to serve him,
to depart without molestation. This appeal to their loyalty was
followed with such shouts and assurances of attachment, that the
King's confidence, which had been much shaken, was in a great
measure restored. On the following day His Majesty designed to have
visited the advanced post at Warminster, but was prevented by a
bleeding at the nose, to which he was constitutionally subject.
The Duke of Berwick states in his memoirs,--"The King intended to
go from Salisbury in my coach to visit the quarter commanded by
Major-General Kirke; but was prevented by a prodigious bleeding
of the nose, which seized him on a sudden, and it is said, that
a scheme was laid and measures taken by Churchill and Kirke, to
deliver up the King to the Prince of Orange; but this accident
frustrated the design." Brigadier-General Trelawny is also charged
with participating in this design; but no direct proof on the
subject has been adduced by any historian.
The number of desertions increasing, the King ordered the army
to retire towards London, when the cavalry was withdrawn from
Warminster by Brigadier-General Maine of the third troop of life
guards; and orders were sent to Major-General Kirke to march with
the infantry to Devizes, but he refused, and was placed in arrest
and sent under a guard to London. Brigadier-General Trelawny,
expecting a similar fate, withdrew, with his lieut.-colonel,
Charles Churchill, and about thirty non-commissioned officers
and soldiers, and joined the Prince of Orange. The King sent
Lieut.-General the Earl of Dumbarton to Warminster with two
squadrons of horse, and he brought off the remaining officers and
men of the four battalions without interruption.
After Brigadier-General Trelawny had joined the Prince of Orange,
the King gave the colonelcy of the QUEEN'S regiment of foot to Sir
Charles Orby from the commission of lieut.-colonel in the third
troop of life guards. But His Majesty, finding the army, on which
he had depended, would not be subservient to his designs, fled from
London with the view of escaping to France; the Prince of Orange
assumed the reins of government, and ordered the regiment to march
to Hertford and Ware; and His Highness restored Brigadier-General
Trelawny to the colonelcy, and promoted Lieut.-Colonel Charles
Churchill to the command of the Holland regiment, now the third
foot.
[Sidenote: 1689]
The regiment continued to occupy quarters in the south of England
after the accession of William and Mary, and passed the winter of
1689 at Exeter.
[Sidenote: 1690]
In the mean time Ireland had become the scene of conflict between
the Roman Catholics and Protestants, and King James, having
proceeded thither with a body of French troops, had reduced the
greater part of that kingdom under his sway, and had maltreated
the Protestants in various ways. In 1689 King William sent Duke
Schomberg, with a body of troops, to aid the Protestants, and in
1690 His Majesty resolved to take the field in person. The QUEEN'S
regiment of foot was selected to form part of the army in Ireland,
and having embarked from Barnstaple in the middle of April, put
to sea, but was driven by severe weather to Pembroke. Here the
regiment remained about a week, and having again put to sea on the
30th of April, landed at Belfast on the 2d of May. King William
arrived in Ireland on the 14th of June, and placing himself at the
head of the army, advanced to the banks of the _Boyne_, on the
opposite side of which river King James's army was formed in order
of battle.
At day-break on the morning of the 1st of July, the regiment was
under arms, every man displaying a green branch in his hat, to
distinguish him from the enemy, who wore pieces of white paper
in their hats, and the cheerful countenances of the musketeers,
pikemen, and grenadiers seemed to give presage of victory. About
six o'clock the regiment, with the remainder of Brigadier-General
Trelawny's brigade, forming part of the force under Count Schomberg
and Lieut.-General Douglas, filed to the right, and having marched
about two miles up the river, forded the stream between the
King's camp and Slane bridge. Sir Neal O'Neal's regiment of Irish
dragoons, in the service of King James, offered some opposition;
but was speedily routed and its commanding officer was mortally
wounded. After passing the river, Trelawny's brigade halted a
short time until additional forces arrived; then advancing through
corn fields, over deep ditches, and across a difficult bog, drove
the enemy's left wing from its ground in a spirited manner, and
forced it to make a precipitate retreat towards Duleek. When the
enemy's left flank was thus turned, King William passed the river
with the other divisions of his army, and King James's forces were
overpowered and chased from the field. Thus a decisive victory was
gained, and the troops halted during the night near Duleek.
The regiment advanced with the army upon Dublin, and at the review
at Finglass, on the 7th and 8th of July, it mustered (according
to the official rolls) five hundred and fifty-three private men,
besides officers and non-commissioned officers. The enemy having
fled from Dublin, the regiment was stationed several weeks in
garrison in that city, of which its colonel was appointed governor.
Meanwhile the combined English and Dutch fleets, commanded by Lord
Torrington and Admiral Evertsen, had engaged (30th of June) the
French fleet under the Count de Tourville, off the Beachy, and
the Dutch, being in the van, suffered so severely, that the enemy
not only claimed the victory, but actually gained the ascendancy
at sea, and menaced England with an invasion. A body of French
landed on the western coast, and destroyed a village, and this
event having produced considerable alarm, King William ordered this
regiment and several other corps to return to England.[12]
After its arrival in England the regiment was encamped on Southsea
common, near Portsmouth, and in the autumn, the danger of foreign
invasion having passed away, it was selected to form part of an
expedition to Ireland under the Earl of Marlborough, (afterwards
the great Duke of Marlborough.) The troops employed on this
service[13] embarked about the middle of September, and arrived
in Cork roads on the 21st of that month. The fleet entered the
harbour on the following day, and the co-operation of part of the
army on shore having been secured, the troops landed on the 23d
and besieged the city of _Cork_. A breach having been made, four
English regiments, under Brigadier-General Churchill and a body of
Danes, passed the river on the 28th of September, wading up to the
arm-pits to the east marsh, in order to storm the city wall on that
side. The grenadiers under Lord Colchester led the attack, and,
while advancing, the Duke of Grafton, who accompanied the storming
party in the character of a volunteer, received a mortal wound.
Before the storming party gained the breach, the enemy hung out a
white flag, and agreed to surrender.
_Kinsale_ was afterwards besieged, and the enemy immediately
vacated the town and retired into the Old and New Forts. The Old
Fort was taken by storm on the 2d of October; and a breach having
been made in the New Fort, the garrison surrendered on the 15th of
October.
After the capture of these fortresses the regiment was placed in
garrison in Cork, where it remained during the winter.
[Sidenote: 1691]
In the spring of 1691, when the army took the field under General
De Ginkell, (afterwards Earl of Athlone,) this regiment was left in
reserve in the county of Cork, to secure the garrisons, and to keep
in check the bands of armed Roman Catholic peasantry, who prowled
about the country committing every description of depredation; and,
while employed in this service, detachments of the regiment had
occasional encounters with the enemy's parties. After the overthrow
of the Irish and French forces at Aughrim, the regiment was ordered
to march from the county of Cork, and it joined the main army in
the wild and desolate part of the country called Shalley. Advancing
from thence to _Limerick_, it was engaged in the siege of this
place, which was terminated by the surrender of the garrison in
September, on condition of being permitted to proceed to France.
Indemnity was also granted to the Roman Catholics who had engaged
in this contest, and the power of King James was finally suppressed
in Ireland.
After so many of the Irish regiments as were willing had proceeded
to France, where they were taken into the service of Louis XIV.,
the other Irish corps which had fought in King James's cause were
disbanded, and the regiment which forms the subject of this memoir
returned to England, and immediately commenced recruiting its
numbers.
[Sidenote: 1692]
On the 1st of January, 1692, the colonelcy was conferred on
the lieut.-colonel, Henry Trelawny, vice Major-General Charles
Trelawny, who was appointed Governor of Plymouth.
The regiment was allowed but a short period for the purpose of
recruiting, before it was ordered to hold itself in readiness to
proceed to the Netherlands, and having embarked at Portsmouth,
sailed on the 31st of March, 1692; contrary winds, however, forced
the transports to anchor in the Downs until the middle of April,
when they sailed to Ostend. After landing, the regiment went into
cantonments among the Belgic peasantry, and subsequently took the
field with the army commanded by King William in person.
The regiment took part in the operations of the main army and in
the advance to relieve the siege of Namur, which was frustrated by
heavy rains. On the 29th of June, it was reviewed by King William
and the Elector of Bavaria at the camp on the undulating grounds
between Genappe and the forest of Soignies.
It was also present at the battle of _Steenkirk_, fought on the
24th of July, when the army of King William was repulsed in an
attempt to force the position occupied by the French under Marshal
Luxemburg. This regiment formed part of the main body, and, owing
to the narrow and difficult defiles which lay between the two
armies, it was not brought into action, and consequently had no
opportunity of distinguishing itself. A detachment of the regiment,
sent forward on the preceding evening, joined the advance-guard,
and was sharply engaged. The loss on both sides was nearly equal.
THE QUEEN'S regiment of foot formed part of a detachment of ten
battalions sent from the main army on the 22d of August, under
Lieut.-General Talmash, to join a body of troops which had
arrived at Ostend from England, under the orders of the Duke
of Leinster. These forces were afterwards joined by a body of
cavalry, and, having summoned between two and three thousand of
the country people with spades and shovels, took and repaired the
fortifications of Furnes, a small town situated upon the canal, two
leagues from Nieuport and five from Dunkirk. After placing this
town in a condition to resist an assault, the troops proceeded
to Dixmude, and fortified and garrisoned the town. The regiment
subsequently marched to Bruges, and went into cantonments in the
villages near the banks of the canal between that place and Ghent;
but the French having advanced to Charleroi, the regiment quitted
its village cantonments and joined the main army at Drongen. The
French Marshal, Boufflers, bombarded the lower town of Charleroi,
and afterwards retreated, when this regiment returned to its former
quarters.
[Sidenote: 1693]
During the winter a detachment was ordered to advance to the
relief of _Furnes_, which was besieged by a French force under
Marshal Boufflers; but the roads were so bad from heavy rains
that, according to D'Auvergne, "several soldiers sunk almost to
the middle in mud, and several horses remained stuck in it." This
occasioned some delay, and the garrison surrendered on the 4th of
January, 1693. The Dutch garrison at Dixmude, being alarmed at
having the enemy so near them, withdrew from the place.
The detachment afterwards returned to its quarters, and in May
the QUEEN'S regiment took the field with the army, and was posted
in the second line at the celebrated position of Parck camp, the
possession of which enabled King William to defeat the enemy's
designs on Brabant.
In the movements which preceded the battle of _Landen_, which was
fought on the 19th of July, 1693, the regiment also took part;
and on the night before the battle it was posted in the village
of Neer-Landen, on the left of the position; but on the following
morning, when the French columns were seen advancing to the attack,
the QUEEN'S and Prince George of Denmark's (now third) regiments
were withdrawn from Neer-Landen, and ordered to take post in the
village of Laér, to reinforce Brigadier-General Ramsay's brigade.
Scarcely had the regiment gained its post, when the glistening of
bayonets and pikes, perceived at intervals above the undulations,
gave indication of the approaching enemy; a cloud of light
musketeers and grenadiers soon cleared the intervening space and
attacked the village with great fury; and the defenders opened a
most galling and destructive fire on their assailants. The enemy,
by continually reinforcing the corps engaged, succeeded, after a
severe struggle, in gaining some advantage; but the British troops
renewed the conflict and regained their lost ground. Again the
enemy brought forward his rallied forces, and a brigade of dragoons
dismounting and joining in the attack, the village of Laér was
carried. Brigadier-General Ramsay rallied his brigade, and after
a short address, led the regiments to the attack. The French were
exulting in their success, when suddenly a loud British huzza burst
like a clap of thunder on their astonished ears, and the next
moment the charging Britons broke through all opposition, forced
the village, and in a short time cleared it of opponents.
The enemy, by his great superiority of numbers, was enabled to
bring forward fresh troops, and he eventually succeeded in forcing
the position at the village of Neer-Winden. The village of Laér was
then no longer tenable, and the regiments were forced to retire,
fighting, across the river Gheet. The King ordered the army to make
a retrograde movement, which was not effected without considerable
confusion and loss. The QUEEN'S regiment had Captain Crofts and
Lieutenant Woodstock killed; Captain Wharton wounded; and Captain
Carroll and Lieutenant Cole wounded and taken prisoners: of its
loss in non-commissioned officers and private men, no account
appears to have been preserved.
The enemy's loss in killed and wounded was so great that he derived
little advantage from the victory.
THE QUEEN'S regiment continued with the main army until the autumn,
when it marched into garrison at Malines.
[Sidenote: 1694]
The regiment marched out of Malines in May 1694, and pitched
its tents near the cloister of Terbank, where three English and
thirty-six Dutch battalions were encamped. During the campaign
of this year two magnificent armies manœuvred on the plains
of Flanders and Brabant, but no general engagement occurred.
In September the QUEEN'S regiment of foot formed part of the
covering army during the siege of _Huy_, which place was taken by
capitulation, and the regiment subsequently marched to its former
station at Malines.
[Sidenote: 1695]
In 1695 the regiment again took the field, and was employed in
the movements which preceded the siege of the important fortress
of _Namur_. The attack of this city excited universal attention
throughout Europe. The strength of the place both by nature and
art,--the extent of the castle, situated on a rock, with the works
by which it was surrounded,--the number of veteran troops in the
town,--the character of their commander (Marshal Boufflers),--the
fact that this was one of the most important of the French king's
conquests, and consequently strenuous exertions would be used for
its preservation,--with the immense armies employed in covering and
carrying on the siege, or in attempting to relieve the garrison,
gave an important character to this undertaking, which produced a
lively feeling of interest throughout Christendom; and the QUEEN'S
was one of the regiments which had the honor of taking part in the
enterprise.
When NAMUR was first invested, this regiment remained with the
covering army under the veteran Prince of Vaudemont; but it formed
part of the force detached on the 24th of June under Lord Cutts,
and joined the besieging troops on the 1st of July. During the
night of the 8th of that month a detachment from the grenadier
company was engaged in storming the covered way which the enemy had
constructed on the hill of Bouge, in which service Captain Selby
was wounded, and several private men were killed and wounded.
The regiment was on duty in the trenches on the 9th, and also
on the 13th of July; on the 17th the grenadiers were engaged in
storming the counterscarp. The assaulting party of 500 grenadiers
was commanded by Colonel Collingwood, with Major Carryle of the
Queen's regiment second in command. The attack was made about five
o'clock in the evening; the enemy defended their post with great
bravery; every inch of ground was disputed; but the counterscarp
was eventually carried. The regiment lost many men on this
occasion; Captain Carter (son of Rear-Admiral Carter who was killed
at Barfleur) was killed in the covered-way, and Major Carryle was
wounded.
On the night of the 23rd of July a detachment of the regiment was
engaged in extending the lodgement on the right of the bastion of
St. Roche, and had Ensign Nuby killed; also Captain Mitchell and
Lieutenant Cole wounded. On the succeeding day the batteries kept
up an incessant fire, and preparations were made for a general
assault; but this was prevented by the enemy agreeing to surrender
the town, which they vacated on the 25th, and retired into the
castle.
This regiment having sustained considerable loss during the siege
of the town, marched from the lines of circumvallation on the
27th of July towards Brussels, forming part of the division under
Lieut.-General Count Nassau, sent to reinforce the covering army
under the Prince of Vaudemont, to enable him to oppose the immense
French army commanded by Marshal Villeroy. The enemy advanced to
Brussels and bombarded the city, and subsequently marched towards
Namur; when this regiment was withdrawn from its camp between
Genappe and Waterloo, and advanced to oppose the enemy's design of
relieving the castle of Namur. The position which the army took up
before Namur frustrated the purposes of the French marshal; and
on the 20th of August, a detachment of the regiment was engaged
under Lord Cutts in storming the counterscarp and breach of Terra
Nova, in which service it had Lieutenant D'Arneau and several men
killed. Preparations were subsequently made for a second assault
on the castle; when Marshal Boufflers agreed to surrender on
honourable terms, and thus this stupendous fortress was captured;
the achievement reflected glory on the British arms and those of
the several nations composing the army commanded by King William.
The most brilliant feature in this enterprise, however, derived its
lustre from the fact, that other monarchs had made conquests for
themselves, to oppress their neighbours, or to raise a powerful
monarchy out of the ruins of other states; but the King of England
waged war for the good of Europe, and to establish liberty and
peace upon a lasting foundation. After the damage done to the works
of Namur had been repaired, the regiment returned to its former
quarters at Malines.
[Sidenote: 1696]