In January, 1848, the service companies proceeded to Fort Grey,
where the head-quarters were stationed until July following, and in
October they were removed from Fort D’Urban to Cape Town.
[Sidenote: 1849]
Major-General Richard Goddard Hare Clarges, C.B., was appointed
colonel of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment on the 18th of May, 1849, in
succession to Major-General Sir John Grey, K.C.B., who was removed
to the fifth Fusiliers.
During the year 1849 the service companies were stationed at Cape
Town. The depôt companies also remained in Ireland.
[Sidenote: 1850]
In December, 1850, the head-quarters and four companies, under the
command of Lieut.-Colonel William Eyre, were removed from Cape
Town to the Buffalo mouth for the frontier, in consequence of an
outbreak of the Kaffirs.
[Sidenote: 1851]
At the date of the conclusion of the present record, namely, 1st
of May 1851, the service companies were in camp at King William’s
Town, under Lieut.-Colonel Eyre. The depôt companies, under Major
George Hankey Smith, continued to be stationed in Ireland.
1851.
FOOTNOTES:
[6] Upon the representation of Major-General Gerard Lake, who was
appointed Colonel of the _Seventy-third_ Regiment, in November
1796, the Royal Authority was granted for the word “MANGALORE”
being borne on the Regimental Colour and Appointments, in
consideration of the gallant conduct displayed in the defence of
that place.
[7] “A View of the Origin and Conduct of the War with Tippoo
Sultan, by Lieut.-Colonel Alexander Beatson, late Aide-de-camp to
the Marquis Wellesley, Governor-General of India.”
[8] Seringapatam derived its name from the god _Serung_, to whom
one of the pagodas was dedicated.
[9] The history of the second battalion is resumed at page 43.
[10] MEMORANDUM.
_Horse Guards, 7th April, 1809._
As the population of the Highlands of Scotland is found to be
insufficient to supply recruits for the whole of the Highland
corps on the establishment of His Majesty’s army, and as some
of these corps laying aside their distinguishing dress, which
is objectionable to the natives of South Britain, would, in
a great measure, tend to facilitate the completing of their
establishment, as it would be an inducement to the men of the
English militia to extend their services in greater numbers to
these regiments:--it is in consequence most humbly submitted,
for the approbation of His Majesty that His Majesty’s 72nd,
73rd, 74th, 75th, 91st, and 94th regiments should discontinue,
in future, to wear the dress by which His Majesty’s regiments of
Highlanders are distinguished, and that the above corps should no
longer be considered as on that establishment.
(Signed) HARRY CALVERT,
_Adjutant-General_.
[11] Major-General Macquarie formerly commanded the SEVENTY-THIRD
regiment.--_Vide_ Memoir in Appendix, page 69.
[12] A fourth division of the SEVENTY-THIRD sailed from Port
Jackson on the 26th of January 1815, and arrived at Ceylon in the
ship “General Brown,” on the 2nd of March. There still remained
some men of the battalion for whom room could not be provided
in the four ships already named, and those were embarked in the
colonial brig “Kangaroo,” which arrived at Colombo on the 19th of
August 1815.
[13] A memoir of the services of Lieut.-General Sir Maurice
O’Connell, K.C.H., is contained in the Appendix, page 70.
HISTORICAL RECORD
OF
THE SECOND BATTALION
OF
THE SEVENTY-THIRD REGIMENT.
[Sidenote: 1802]
Europe enjoyed but a short interval of tranquillity by the treaty
of Amiens, which was signed on the 27th of March, 1802. In May of
the following year, the war was renewed, and Napoleon Bonaparte,
the First Consul of the French Republic, threatened the invasion of
Great Britain. On the 18th of May, 1804, Napoleon was invested with
the dignity of Emperor of the French, and on the 26th of May of the
succeeding year, he was crowned at Milan as King of Italy.
[Sidenote: 1804]
In December, 1804, Spain issued a declaration of war against
England, and agreed to furnish a powerful aid to the French Emperor.
[Sidenote: 1805]
While the French pursued a victorious career in Germany, they
experienced dreadful reverses from the British navy, particularly
on the 21st of October, 1805, when the combined fleets of France
and Spain were completely defeated off _Cape Trafalgar_. The
victory was, however, clouded by the death of Admiral Viscount
Nelson, to whose memory a grateful and admiring nation paid the
highest honors.
[Sidenote: 1806]
[Sidenote: 1808]
In the year 1806, the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment arrived in England
from the East Indies, and two years afterwards was ordered to
embark for New South Wales. On the promulgation of the orders
for this embarkation, it was directed that a _second battalion_
should be added to the regiment, which was to be placed on the
establishment of the army from the 24th of December, 1808.
The second battalion was, in the first instance, to consist of four
companies, at a hundred rank and file each; upon the effectives
exceeding four hundred, it was to be augmented to six hundred,
which number being completed, it was to be augmented to a thousand
rank and file.
[Sidenote: 1809]
The battalion was embodied at Nottingham, and was considerably
strengthened, within the year 1809, by volunteers from the English,
Irish, and Scotch Militia.
[Sidenote: 1810]
In March, 1810, the battalion proceeded to Ashborne, and
subsequently to Derby and Ashford.
[Sidenote: 1811]
On the 25th of October, 1811, the establishment of the battalion
was augmented to six companies, consisting of thirty-four
serjeants, twelve drummers, and six hundred rank and file.
[Sidenote: 1812]
In July, 1812, the battalion was removed from Ashford to Deal, and
afterwards proceeded to the Tower of London.
[Sidenote: 1813]
While quartered in the Tower of London, in 1813, the battalion was
augmented to ten companies, consisting of forty-five serjeants,
twenty-two drummers, and eight hundred rank and file. The battalion
proceeded to Colchester in April.
The dreadful disasters experienced by the French in their retreat
from Russia, combined with the successes obtained over the forces
of Napoleon in the Peninsula by the allies under the Marquis of
Wellington, caused the separation of Prussia and other states
from the interest of France, and a treaty of alliance and subsidy
was concluded between Great Britain and Sweden, in which it was
stipulated that a Swedish army, commanded by the Crown Prince,[14]
should join the Allies.
On the 25th of May, 1813, the battalion, under the command of
Lieut.-Colonel William George (afterwards Lord) Harris, embarked
on a particular service at Harwich, but subsequently joined the
expedition to Stralsund, in Swedish Pomerania, under the command of
Major-General Samuel Gibbs, and landed at that town on the 7th of
August.
From Stralsund the SEVENTY-THIRD proceeded to join the allied
forces under the command of Lieut.-General Count Wallmoden, who
engaged, and completely defeated, the enemy on the plains of
_Gorde_, on the 16th of September, 1813. The SEVENTY-THIRD was the
only _British_ battalion in the action.[15]
The battalion was afterwards ordered to join the British forces,
then in the north of Germany, under the command of Major-General
Samuel Gibbs, at Rostock, and subsequently embarked for England
at Warnemunde on the 2nd of November, but on arriving at Yarmouth
the battalion was ordered, without landing, to join the army in
Holland under General Sir Thomas Graham, afterwards Lord Lynedoch:
the battalion arrived at Williamstadt on the 18th of December.
[Sidenote: 1814]
The Prussian General, Bulow, having requested that the British
would make a forward movement upon _Antwerp_, to favour his
operations, the battalion accordingly marched to the attack of that
place, which was bombarded by the British forces on the 13th of
January, 1814; and again from the 2nd until the 6th of February,
for the purpose of destroying the French fleet lying there.
In the attack on the village of _Merxem_ on the 2nd of February,
1814, where the enemy was strongly posted, Lieutenant John
McConnell, and Lieutenant and Adjutant Thomas Frederick James were
wounded, the former severely. A volunteer, named J. Simpson, was
also dangerously wounded. This youth was about sixteen years of
age, and was attached to the light company. Soon after the action
commenced, and in the course of a few minutes, he was shot through
both his legs, before which a bullet had lodged in the butt of his
firelock. His military career was short, as he died of his wounds
in a few days.
On this occasion, the light company, under Captain Richard Drewe,
supported the ninety-fifth (rifle brigade) in driving the enemy
from the _abatis_ formed at the entrance to the village. The
troops suffered very severely during the foregoing operations from
the intense cold, the winter being unusually severe, and though
sleeping on the line of march was generally fatal, it was no easy
matter to prevent it.
General Sir Thomas Graham stated in his despatch, “All the
troops engaged behaved with the usual spirit and intrepidity of
British soldiers,” and the conduct of Major Dawson Kelly, of the
SEVENTY-THIRD, was particularly noticed.
After this success the British troops were employed in constructing
a breastwork and battery; on the 3rd of February several pieces of
heavy ordnance opened upon the city of Antwerp, and on the French
shipping in the Scheldt; the cannonade was continued until the 6th,
when General Bulow, having received orders to march southward,
to act with the grand army of the Allies, it became necessary to
relinquish the attack on Antwerp, when the British retired towards
Breda.
On the 16th of March, 1814, a detachment of the SEVENTY-THIRD,
consisting of two hundred men, under the command of Major Dawson
Kelly, was bombarded by a French seventy-four gun-ship and eight
gun brigs, in Fort Frederick on the river Scheldt.
Peace was shortly afterwards concluded. On the 4th of April,
Napoleon Bonaparte signed his abdication in favour of his son; but
this proposal being rejected, he signed in a few days a second
abdication, renouncing the thrones of France and Italy entirely for
himself and heirs. He afterwards selected Elba for his residence,
which island was ceded to him in full sovereignty for life, and a
pension payable from the revenues of France, and by the treaty
which was signed at Paris on the 11th of April between the Allies
and Napoleon, it was agreed that he should enjoy the imperial title
for life. Ample pensions were also assigned to his relatives.
On the 3rd of May, 1814, Louis XVIII. entered Paris, and ascended
the throne of his ancestors, and on the 30th of that month the
general peace between France and the allied powers of Austria,
Russia, Great Britain, and Prussia, was signed at Paris.
In the beginning of May, the battalion was ordered into quarters at
Antwerp, and in September following it marched to Tournay, where it
arrived in October.
[Sidenote: 1815]
The commencement of the year 1815 saw Louis XVIII. apparently
firmly seated on the throne of France; but various causes of
discontent existed in that country. The army, long accustomed to
war, still retained a chivalrous veneration for Napoleon Bonaparte,
who was kept acquainted with the state of the public mind, and
this feeling of his former troops. In the evening of the 26th of
February he embarked at Porto Ferrajo, in the island of Elba,
with about a thousand troops, of whom a few were French, and the
remainder Poles, Corsicans, Neapolitans, and Elbese. With this
motley band he landed at Cannes, in Provence, on the 1st of March,
1815, and the result proved that his calculations were correct.
After being joined by the garrison of Grenoble, he proceeded to
Lyons, and entered that city amidst the acclamations of “_Vive
l’Empereur!_” from the soldiers and the people. The possession of
the second city in France being thus obtained, Napoleon assumed
his former dignity of Emperor, and continued his advance to Paris,
which he reached on the 20th of March, his progress having been a
continued triumph.
In the meantime, Louis XVIII. had withdrawn from Paris to Ghent,
and Napoleon took possession of the throne of France as Emperor,
but the allied powers refused to acknowledge his sovereignty, and
determined to effect his dethronement.
The battalion had remained stationed between Tournay and Courtray
until March, 1815, when, in consequence of the foregoing events,
it was ordered to join the division of the army under the command
of Lieut.-General Baron Alten, and formed part of the brigade of
Major-General Sir Colin Halkett, K.C.B.
On the 11th of April, 1815, it was announced to the army in
Flanders that His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, in the name
and behalf of His Majesty, had appointed Field Marshal the Duke of
Wellington, K.G., to be commander of His Majesty’s forces on the
continent of Europe, and it was directed that the _Fifth_ British
brigade of infantry should be composed of the second battalion of
the thirtieth, the thirty-third, and the second battalions of the
sixty-ninth and seventy-third regiments.[16]
Napoleon left Paris on the 12th of June, and endeavoured, by
one of those rapid and decisive movements for which he had been
celebrated, to interpose his forces between the British and
Prussian armies, and then attack them in detail. Information of
this movement arrived at Brussels during the evening of the 15th of
June, and the troops were immediately ordered to prepare to march.
On the 16th of June, the division of which the second battalion of
the SEVENTY-THIRD formed part, pursued its course, with the other
portions of the army, through the forest of Soignies, Genappe, and
along the road towards Charleroi. After a march of twenty-two
miles the troops arrived at the post of _Les Quatre Bras_, where
the second French corps, under Marshal Ney, was developing a
serious attack against that position, with very superior numbers.
As the British regiments arrived at the scene of conflict, they
were instantly formed for action. The repeated charges of the
French were repulsed, but a considerable loss was incurred,
including his Serene Highness the Duke of Brunswick, who fell at
the head of his troops.
The SEVENTY-THIRD had the following officers wounded:--Lieutenants
John Acres and John Lloyd, and Ensigns Robert Greville Heselrige
and Thomas Deacon. Lieutenant Acres died of his wounds. One
drummer, and three rank and file were killed, and one serjeant and
forty-three rank and file wounded.
Marshal Blucher had been attacked on the 16th of June by Napoleon
at Ligny, and the Prussians, after a desperate conflict, were
compelled to retreat to Wavre. This caused the Duke of Wellington
to make a corresponding movement, to keep up his communication with
them.
In the course of the morning of the 17th of June, the troops were
withdrawn from _Quatre Bras_, and proceeded towards _Waterloo_. On
this day, the SEVENTY-THIRD had Lieutenant Joseph William Henry
Streaphan and three rank and file killed.
The position which the Duke of Wellington occupied in front of
_Waterloo_, crossed the high roads leading from Charleroi and
Nivelle to Brussels, and which roads united at the village of Mont
St. Jean, in the rear of the British. The right wing extended to a
ravine near Merke Braine, which was occupied. The left extended
to a height above the hamlet of Ter la Haye, which was likewise
occupied. In front of the right centre, and near the Nivelle road,
the house and garden of Hougomont were taken possession of, and in
front of the left centre, the farm of La Haye Sainte was occupied.
By the left the British communicated with Marshal Prince Blucher at
Wavre, through Ohaim.
Napoleon collected his army on a range of heights in front of the
British, with the exception of his third corps, which he had sent
to observe the Prussians. About ten o’clock the French commenced a
furious attack upon the post at Hougomont. Then ensued a conflict
which will ever be memorable in the history of Europe. The attacks
of the French troops were frequently calculated to spread confusion
through any army. They were supported by the thunder of a numerous
artillery, and followed up by such a succession of column after
column, rolling onwards like the waves of the sea, that it required
a degree of unexampled fortitude and courage to oppose effectual
resistance to so fierce and continued a storm of war.
That degree of courage was not wanting in the British ranks, and
paralysed by the fierce determination of his opponents, the attacks
of Napoleon’s legions relaxed; the Prussians arrived on the left
to co-operate; the Anglo-Belgian army formed line, and with one
impetuous charge decided the fortune of the day. The French were
driven from the field with the loss of their cannon and equipage,
and the hopes of Bonaparte were annihilated.
During the greater part of the battle, the SEVENTY-THIRD, with
the second battalion of the thirtieth, were very much exposed
to the enemy’s artillery, and constantly engaged in repelling
numerous charges of cavalry that appeared determined to break
their square, which ultimately was reduced to a very small size,
from the casualties occasioned by round and grape shot. Lieutenant
Robert Stewart, one of the junior officers of the SEVENTY-THIRD,
commanded the battalion at the termination of the battle, and in
consequence was some years afterwards promoted to a company without
purchase.[17]
The casualties amongst the officers were unusually great. Of
_twenty-three_ who marched into action on the 16th of June at
Quatre Bras, _twenty-two_ were killed and wounded on that and the
two following days.
In the battle on the 18th of June the SEVENTY-THIRD had Captains
Alexander Robertson and John Kennedy; Lieutenant Matthew Hollis;
and Ensigns William Law Lowe and Charles Page _killed_.
The officers wounded were Lieut.-Colonel William George Harris
(Colonel) commanding the battalion, severely; Major Archibald
John Maclean, who died of his wounds; Captains Henry Coane,
William Wharton, and John Garland, all severely. Lieutenants
John McConnell, Thomas Reynolds, and Donald Browne all severely;
Lieutenant Browne afterwards died of his wounds. Ensigns William
McBean, Charles Bedford Eastwood, and George Dondridge Bridge
(severely), and Ensign and Adjutant Patrick Hay severely.
Three serjeants, one drummer, and forty-three rank and file were
killed, and thirteen serjeants, two drummers, and one hundred and
sixty rank and file were wounded; twenty-four of the above number
died of their wounds; forty-one rank and file were missing.
In acknowledgment of the services which the army performed in the
battle of Waterloo, and the actions immediately preceding it, each
subaltern officer and soldier present were permitted to count two
years additional service, and silver medals were conferred on all
ranks, bearing on the one side an impression of His Royal Highness
the Prince Regent, and on the reverse the figure of Victory,
holding the palm in the right hand, and the olive branch in the
left, with the word “_Wellington_” over its head, and “WATERLOO,”
18th June, 1815, at its feet.
The thanks of both Houses of Parliament were voted to the army
with the greatest enthusiasm, “for its distinguished valour at
Waterloo;” and the SEVENTY-THIRD and other regiments engaged,
were permitted to bear the word “WATERLOO” on their colours and
appointments, in commemoration of their distinguished services on
the 18th of June, 1815.
After the battle of Waterloo, the battalion, which was reduced to
a complete skeleton, advanced with the army to Paris, where it
arrived in the first week in July, and encamped in the Bois de
Boulogne until November, when it was placed in cantonments in the
vicinity of that metropolis.
Meanwhile Louis XVIII. had entered Paris, and was again reinstated
on the throne of his ancestors. Napoleon Bonaparte had surrendered
himself to Captain Maitland, commanding the “Bellerophon” British
ship of war, and the island of St. Helena having been fixed for
his residence, he was conveyed thither, with a few of his zealous
adherents.
When the allied forces retired from Paris in December, 1815, with
the exception of the “_Army of Occupation_” left in France, the
second battalion of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment was ordered to
return to England; it embarked at Calais on the 23rd of December,
and landed on the same day at Ramsgate; from Ramsgate it marched to
Colchester to join the depôt, which continued in that town during
the absence of the battalion on foreign service.
[Sidenote: 1816]
The battalion afterwards marched to Nottingham, where it arrived on
the 12th of February, 1816.
[Sidenote: 1817]
The battalion was stationed between Nottingham, Weedon, and
Colchester, until May, 1817, when it was ordered to proceed to
Chelmsford to be disbanded, which measure took place on the 4th of
May, 1817, the most effective men, consisting of three hundred and
ten non-commissioned officers and privates being embarked to join
the first battalion of the regiment at Ceylon.
1817.
CONCLUSION.
The earlier services of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment, originally
formed as a second battalion to the forty-second Highlanders,
are connected with the wars against Hyder Ali and his son,
Tippoo Saib, the powerful sultans of the Mysore territory: the
word “_Mangalore_,” granted by royal authority for the gallant
defence of that fortress in 1783, and the word “_Seringapatam_”
for the share taken by the regiment in the capture of the capital
of Tippoo’s country in 1799, when that sovereign terminated his
career by a soldier’s death, are borne on the regimental colour and
appointments, in commemoration of these arduous campaigns in India.
Other services were, however, performed by the regiment in the
East, among which may be named the capture of the French settlement
of _Pondicherry_ in 1793, and that of the Dutch island of _Ceylon_
in 1796, when the French Directory had caused Holland to become
involved in hostilities with Great Britain.
After a service of _twenty-four_ years in India, the regiment
returned to England, and arrived at Greenwich in July, 1806.
In 1809 the regiment proceeded to New South Wales, when a second
battalion was added to its establishment.
Brief as was the career of the second battalion, namely from
1809 to 1817, it added the imperishable word “WATERLOO” to the
regimental colour and appointments, that distinction being
conferred by the Sovereign to commemorate its services in that
battle, which gave a lengthened peace to the powers of Europe.
In 1814 the first battalion embarked from New South Wales for
Ceylon, in the capture of which island the regiment had formerly
participated.
The regiment returned to England in 1821, and continued on home
service until 1827, when it embarked for Gibraltar, from which
fortress it proceeded to Malta in 1829, and in 1834 to the Ionian
Islands, whence it returned to Gibraltar in 1838, and embarked for
North America.
In 1841 the regiment returned to England, and, in 1845, proceeded
to the Cape of Good Hope, where it is now employed in active
operations against the Kaffirs.
The orderly behaviour of the regiment in quarters, whether employed
at home, or on foreign stations, combined with its soldier-like
conduct in the field, have secured the confidence of the nation,
and the approbation of the Sovereign.
1851.
[Illustration: SEVENTY-THIRD REGIMENT.
_Madeley lith. 3 Wellington S^t Strand_
_For Cannon’s Military Records._]
FOOTNOTES:
[14] On the 21st of August, 1810, the French Marshal Bernadotte,
one of Napoleon’s generals, was elected Crown Prince of Sweden.
The appointment of a successor to the throne of that country was
considered necessary in consequence of the Duke of Sudermania, who
had been elected king in the room of the deposed Gustavus IV.,
being advanced in years, and without children.