Bulow engaged to support the British with his Prussian corps.
An advance was accordingly made, and on the 2nd of February the
English again approached the village of Merxem, where a numerous
body of French troops were stationed, and had fortified their post.
The light troops commenced skirmishing about nine o’clock in the
morning; and the FIFTY-SIXTH, having cleared the wood on the right
and left, formed line and advanced; when they were ordered by Sir
Thomas Graham, in person, to move to the right,--charge through
the village,--ford the dike on the other side,--take the enemy’s
battery,--and attack them on the left of their line. These orders
were gallantly executed, and two guns, which had annoyed the
advance, were captured. The FIFTY-SIXTH sustained some loss from
the enemy’s fire, and had several men drowned in crossing the dike;
but they succeeded in gaining the left flank of the enemy, and were
warmly engaged until the French retired under the guns of Antwerp,
when they pursued until recalled, and ordered to take post under
the embankment of St. Ferdinand’s dike, which was not accomplished
before several round shot had passed through the ranks. The
regiment had thirteen rank and file killed; Ensign Sparks, and
twenty-four rank and file wounded. Lieut.-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 Lieut.-Colonel Brown of the FIFTY-SIXTH was particularly noticed.
After this success the British troops were employed in constructing
a breastwork and battery, and the FIFTY-SIXTH took their share in
this labour, the men working all night. On the 3rd of February,
several pieces of heavy ordnance opened upon the city of Antwerp,
and on the French shipping in the Scheldt, and the cannonade was
continued until the 6th, the FIFTY-SIXTH taking their turn in the
trenches, and being under fire each day; but 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,--the FIFTY-SIXTH
halting a few days at Rysburg, ten miles from Breda.
In the beginning of March the battalion again moved towards
Antwerp, and was employed in services connected with preventing the
enemy throwing a relief into _Bergen-op-Zoom_, which fortress Sir
Thomas Graham had resolved to attack; and the battalion afterwards
made a forced march towards that place, where it arrived in time to
witness the failure of the attack. The services of the battalion
were afterwards connected with the operations against Antwerp, and
preventing supplies of provision and troops joining the garrison.
In the mean time Napoleon was pressed on every side by overwhelming
numbers, which he was not able to withstand, and he was forced
to abdicate the throne of France. Peace was restored, and the
battalion of the FIFTY-SIXTH marched into Antwerp; from whence it
proceeded to Ostend, where it embarked for England in September,
and landing at Deal, marched to Sheerness.
The army being reduced on the restoration of peace, the third
battalion was disbanded at Sheerness on the 24th of October; its
men fit for service being transferred to the first and second
battalions in India, for which country they embarked about three
months afterwards.
The second battalion continued to suffer severely from disease at
the camp at Domus; its loss from March 1813, to December 1814,
amounting to three hundred and twenty-nine non-commissioned
officers and soldiers. The conduct of the men, during this
distressing period, called forth the approbation of the commander
of the district, expressed in division orders, in the strongest
terms. During the year, it proceeded to Barachia, subsequently
embarked for Bombay, and after occupying the pendals at Colabah a
short period, marched into Fort George barracks.
[Sidenote: 1815]
Considerable improvement having taken place in the health of the
men, the second battalion embarked for Panwell in January, 1815,
and mustered upwards of nine hundred non-commissioned officers
and soldiers; it joined the Poonah subsidiary force under Colonel
Lionel Smith, encamped on the celebrated plain of Assaye, where
the troops remained until the 27th of February, when they marched
northward. In May they entered cantonments at Jaulna, where
they remained during the monsoon, and in August marched in three
divisions to Seroor, from whence the grenadier and rifle companies
proceeded to Poonah under Colonel Smith, who left Lieut.-Colonel
Kingscote in command at Seroor: these companies returned in October.
In the mean time occurrences in Europe had occasioned the
removal of the first battalion from Madras. The sudden return of
Bonaparte to France, and the astonishing facility with which he
regained temporary possession of the throne of that kingdom, was
followed by a manifested disposition to revolt on the part of the
French settlers at the Mauritius, and the first battalion of the
FIFTY-SIXTH, which had been joined by three hundred men from the
third, embarked on board the Salsette frigate, and the company’s
ships Rose and Streatham, to reinforce the garrison at that
station, on which occasion the following general order was issued:--
“His Majesty’s FIFTY-SIXTH Regiment being under orders to embark
on service at a considerable distance from the presidency, the
Right Honorable the Governor cannot refrain expressing his
warmest approbation of the uniform good conduct of the regiment,
while it remained in garrison at Fort St. George, under the able
command of Colonel Barclay, assisted by the zealous exertions of
a distinguished corps of officers; and the Right Honorable the
Governor begs leave to assure Colonel Barclay, and the officers
of the regiment, that he participates in the sentiments of
regret, felt by the settlement at large, for the loss sustained,
in the circles of social life, by their departure.”
During the voyage the ships were separated by a violent hurricane,
and each supposed the other lost; but they arrived safe at Port
Louis, where they were stationed until November, when they marched
to Mahebourg. The overthrow of Bonaparte on the field of Waterloo,
and the restoration of peace, removed all cause of apprehension for
the tranquillity of the Mauritius at that period.
[Sidenote: 1816]
The second battalion again took the field with the Poonah
subsidiary force, in the early part of 1816; and in May it went
into cantonments at Jaulna; from whence Lieut.-Colonel Kingscote,
of the FIFTY-SIXTH, was detached in September, with a light
battalion, comprising part of the regiment, in pursuit of a native
chief, called Trimbuckjee Dainglia, who had murdered the minister
of state of Guzerat, escaped from prison, and was suspected of a
design to assemble a force on the frontiers of the dominions of
his late sovereign, the Peishwa. The pursuit of this chieftain
occasioned the soldiers many fatiguing marches, and on one occasion
the fortified village of Nimgaum, on the banks of the Peera, was
surrounded in the expectation that the chief was there; but when,
on the advance of the artillery, the inhabitants opened the gates,
he could not be found: the pursuit was afterwards discontinued, and
the detachment re-joined the Poonah subsidiary force at Seroor,
whither it had been removed from Jaulna in October. At the close of
active operations, Colonel Lionel Smith expressed the high opinion
he entertained of the battalion, in division orders, dated Seroor,
31st of October, in the following terms:--“There is no language of
praise, or thanks, Colonel Smith could feel to be too strong in
describing the merits of such a corps.”
In August the first battalion returned to Port St. Louis; and
about a month afterwards so serious a conflagration occurred at
that place, that the destruction of the town appeared inevitable;
but this calamity was averted by the efforts of the soldiers of
the FIFTY-SIXTH, who prevented the fire communicating to the
government buildings, and thus saved the town: two men of the
regiment lost their lives, in attempting to arrest the progress
of the flames. The daring conduct of Serjeant JAMES HASTY was
particularly conspicuous and successful in checking the progress
of the flames; and the governor expressed the following opinion
of his merits in a letter to Colonel Barclay:--“I conscientiously
believe, that it was in a great measure owing to Serjeant HASTY, of
your regiment, that the whole town of Port Louis was not swallowed
by the flames. His persevering fortitude and intrepid confidence
enabled him to save the government house, by remaining among the
flames when most others had despaired; and it is universally
allowed, that had the government house been burned, the remainder
of the town must immediately have followed, and the whole
population of Port Louis left houseless among the smoking ruins[6].”
The peace of Europe appearing to be established upon a sound
foundation, a considerable reduction was made in the strength of
the British army, and the second battalions of regiments were
directed to be disbanded: the second battalion of the FIFTY-SIXTH
was consequently ordered to march to Bombay in November.
[Sidenote: 1817]
On the 7th of January, 1817, the following general order was
issued:--“His Majesty’s second battalion of the FIFTY-SIXTH
Regiment, being under orders for embarkation for Europe, affords
an opportunity to the Right Honorable the Governor in Council, of
expressing his approbation of the conduct of that valuable corps,
whilst serving on the establishment of this presidency, and as a
testimonial of the sense entertained of its important services
in this country, is pleased to allow three months full batta to
be issued to the officers of the battalion, previous to their
departure from India.”
Four hundred men volunteered to remain in India, and transferred
their services to the Sixty-fifth Regiment: and on the 9th of
January, the battalion companies embarked for England. They landed
at Liverpool in May, marched to Rochester, and were disbanded at
that place on the 25th of June. The flank companies left Bombay
in July, landed at Portsmouth on the 10th of December, and were
disbanded at Chatham on the 29th of that month.
The regiment left Port Louis on the 1st of March, for Flacq, and in
July to Mahebourg, where it received the colours of the late second
battalion. It was employed in patrolling and other duties for the
suppression of the slave trade.
[Sidenote: 1818]
After commanding the regiment twenty-one years, General the
Honorable Chapple Norton died; and was succeeded in the colonelcy
by Lieut.-General Sir John Murray, Baronet, from the third West
India Regiment, by commission dated the 31st of March, 1818.
[Sidenote: 1819]
In July, 1819, the regiment returned to Port Louis, where it was
inspected by Major-General Darling, who stated in orders dated the
16th of August,--“The inspection has afforded the Major-General
much real satisfaction. A finer body of men than compose this
regiment is perhaps nowhere to be seen; they are clean and
soldier-like in appearance, well appointed, and in no respect
deficient: in short, the care and attention of Lieut.-Colonel
Barclay, and of the officers, and the good disposition of the men,
are evident, and could alone have led to the state in which the
FIFTY-SIXTH Regiment now is.”
[Sidenote: 1820]
[Sidenote: 1826]
The regiment was stationed successively at Port Louis and Mahebourg
until 1826, when, after upwards of twenty years’ service abroad, it
embarked at Port Louis for England, on which occasion the governor
stated in general orders, dated the 27th March,--“If circumstances
should again call for his Excellency’s services in the field, he
will feel happy in having the FIFTY-SIXTH Regiment placed under
his orders, as experience has fully proved to him, that a corps
distinguished for good conduct in quarters, is always to be the
most depended upon in the presence of the enemy.”
After landing at Portsmouth in June, the regiment marched to
Cumberland Fort; in September it embarked at Portsmouth for Hull,
where it joined the depôt companies.
[Sidenote: 1827]
In January, 1827, the regiment quitted Hull for Manchester, and in
October it marched to Liverpool, where it embarked for Dublin.
On the 29th of October Sir John Murray died, and King George the
Fourth was pleased to confer the colonelcy of the regiment on
Lieut.-General Matthew Lord Aylmer.
[Sidenote: 1828]
New colours bearing the words “MORO” and “GIBRALTAR;” with the
device of a CASTLE and KEY, and the motto _Montis Insignia Calpe_,
(which had been confirmed to the corps on the 27th of December,
1827, in consequence of an application from Colonel Barclay,) were
presented to the regiment, with the usual solemnities, on the 4th
of April, 1828.
[Sidenote: 1829]
In May the regiment marched to Londonderry; in the autumn the
head-quarters were removed to Newry; and in August, 1829, to Birr.
In the year 1829, His Majesty’s government deemed it necessary to
direct courts of inquiry to be instituted in the several regiments,
in consequence of numerous frauds having been committed by certain
soldiers, who, on being discharged, had given false statements of
their ages, dates of enlistment, and of the periods of their former
services, by which many had obtained undue rates of pension, and
had thus imposed on their commanding officers, and on the bounty of
their sovereign and country.
The court held to investigate the books of the FIFTY-SIXTH Regiment
reported, that the description-book had been well kept, and
afforded a practical example of a system which it was proposed to
adopt generally, namely, to give each man on joining a regiment _a
number_, to be marked on his attestation, and placed against his
name in the description, and other record-books of the regiment;
that the book of the FIFTY-SIXTH Regiment contained nearly two
thousand names, the plan and arrangement of which were highly
creditable to the zeal and industry of Colonel Barclay, and that
few instances of error, or of fraud, had been detected.
The court concluded their report with a well-merited compliment
to Colonel Barclay, whose long service in the regiment had been
characterized by zeal and attention to his duties. This report
was submitted to the Secretary at War, and Sir Henry Hardinge
signified to the General Commanding in Chief, Lord Hill, his
cordial concurrence in the observations made by the court, so
highly honourable to Colonel Barclay, and his lordship directed it
to be announced, that, in the midst of the irregularities which had
been made manifest by the investigations of these courts of inquiry
in the several corps, it was peculiarly gratifying to him to bear
testimony to the successful and unremitting exertions of Colonel
Barclay, which, while they reflected credit upon him, proved that,
with diligence and a due adherence to regulations, the disreputable
errors and frauds, which had been discovered in other regiments,
could not have been effected[7].
[Sidenote: 1830]
[Sidenote: 1831]
[Sidenote: 1832]
In March, 1830, the regiment proceeded to Limerick; in June, 1831,
to Fermoy; and in November to Cork, where arrangements were made
for transferring its services to Jamaica, for which island six
service companies embarked in the first week of December under
Lieut.-Colonel H. H. Prichard. They were detained some time by
contrary winds; but sailed on the 26th, and arriving at Port Royal
in February, 1832, landed and were stationed at Up Park Camp.
Lord Aylmer was removed to the Eighteenth (Royal Irish) Foot on the
23rd of July, and King William the Fourth was pleased to nominate
Lieut.-General Sir Hudson Lowe, K.C.B., from the Ninety-third
Highlanders to the colonelcy of the FIFTY-SIXTH Regiment.
[Sidenote: 1833]
[Sidenote: 1834]
[Sidenote: 1835]
[Sidenote: 1836]
[Sidenote: 1837]
In April, 1833, the regiment proceeded to Spanish Town, with two
companies to Fort Augusta; in May, 1834, it embarked for Falmouth,
at the north side of the island; and was stationed at that place,
with detachments at Phenix Park, Sans Souci, and Montego Bay,
during the years 1835 and 1836; and in January, 1837, it quitted
the north side of the island, and was stationed at Up Park Camp,
where it sustained the loss of three officers and sixty men from
yellow fever.
[Sidenote: 1838]
[Sidenote: 1839]
The head-quarters were removed to Fort Augusta in March, 1838,
and the health of the men was much improved; in January, 1839,
they were removed to Spanish Town; but returned to Fort Augusta in
August, and furnished detachments at Port Antonio, Up Park Camp,
Port Royal, &c.
[Sidenote: 1840]
Leaving Jamaica in March, 1840, the regiment sailed on board Her
Majesty’s ship Apollo, for North America, passing within sight
of the Havannah,--the scene of its former gallant exploits,--and
arriving at Halifax, where it was detained ten days in consequence
of the navigation of the river St. Lawrence being closed by
the ice. On the 24th of April it again put to sea, and arrived
at Quebec, on the 7th of May. At this period the Maine and New
Brunswick boundary question affected the amicable relations between
Great Britain and the United States; and the extensive system of
aggression pursued by the people of the State of Maine, rendered
certain defensive arrangements necessary for the protection of
the interests of the British subjects. The ship conveying the
FIFTY-SIXTH to Quebec had not been at anchor two hours when
Lieutenant Turner and thirty men landed at Point Levi, and were
sent forward in caleshes, with orders to proceed by forced marches
to the disputed territory, and relieve a detachment of the Eleventh
Regiment at Lake Temiscouata. This party was followed by three
companies under Major Palmer, on the 9th of May, to occupy Rivière
du Loup, Fort Ingall on Lake Temiscouata, and Degelé. The march
of the detachment from Rivière du Loup to the two latter places
by the Grand Portage, a dreary pass of thirty-six miles through a
dense forest, across an uninhabited country, by a road in the worst
possible order, consequent on the breaking up of a Canadian winter,
with mud and water frequently up to the knees, proved very trying
to soldiers just arrived from a tropical climate, and having been
fifty-six days on board of ship. The remainder of the regiment
proceeded up the river Saint Lawrence to Sorel, leaving the light
company at Three Rivers. On the third of June Lieut.-Colonel
William H. Eden arrived with a strong detachment from the depôt
companies, and assumed the command of the regiment.
[Illustration: FIFTY-SIXTH REGIMENT OF FOOT.]
On the 27th of November, the light company, mustering one hundred
men, marched for the Madawaska settlement, under Lieut.-Colonel Wm.
H. Eden, in consequence of the Americans having offered insults to
the warden and magistrates there, and intimated a design to take
forcible possession of that part of the country. After traversing
two hundred miles of bleak country, covered with snow, in cars,
sleighs, &c., the thermometer varying from zero to twenty below,
the company arrived at its destination without a casualty.
[Sidenote: 1841]
The head-quarters were removed to Chambly, in June, 1841, and
in August, the detachments from the disputed territory, having
been relieved by the Sixty-eighth light infantry, arrived at
head-quarters[8].
[Sidenote: 1842]
The period having arrived for the return of the regiment to the
United Kingdom, its strength was reduced to three hundred and
thirty-three men, by volunteers to remain in the country and to
join other corps. In the beginning of July 1842 it proceeded to
Quebec, where it embarked in Her Majesty’s troop-ship Resistance,
and after an extraordinarily quick passage of seventeen days,
arrived at Cork on the 22nd of July. It was joined by the depôt
companies on the 3rd of August. In the autumn the regiment
proceeded to Birr, with detachments to Kilkenny, Banagher, Carlow,
and Shannon-bridge.
On the 17th of November, Lieut.-General Sir Hudson Lowe was removed
to the Fiftieth Regiment, and the colonelcy of the FIFTY-SIXTH was
conferred on Lieut.-General the Earl of Westmorland.
[Sidenote: 1843]
In March, 1843, the several detachments were ordered to head
quarters at Birr; but the regiment had been collected little more
than a week, when it was again found necessary to detach four
companies to Cashel, Tipperary, Bansha, and Dungarvon. In April,
the head-quarters marched to Fermoy, and from thence to Cork, where
the regiment was concentrated, in expectation of being removed
to England. The public service, however, required that it should
remain in Ireland, and it has since furnished detachments to
Ballincollig, Bandon, Buttevant, Mallow, Dummanway, Skibbereen,
Millstreet, &c., in order to be in readiness to aid the civil
power, if its services should be required, in consequence of
meetings of large masses of the people, to agitate the repeal of
the union between Great Britain and Ireland.
At the close of 1843, to which this Record is brought, the
head-quarters were at Cork, with four companies, under the command
of Major Norman, detached to Clonmel, and one company at Millstreet.
[Sidenote: 1844]
The FIFTY-SIXTH Regiment is distinguished for its career of
valuable service to the crown and kingdom; and it was conspicuous
for its pre-eminent efficiency in point of numbers and discipline
during the war from 1803 to 1815, during which period it was
augmented to three battalions, which were all employed on foreign
service. It was a favourite corps in England, particularly in the
county of Surrey; and although many men were lost by casualties
abroad, yet its effectives generally amounted to two thousand rank
and file. Its gallantry in the field, and its conduct on colonial
service, and in the United Kingdom, have enhanced the value of this
corps in the estimation of the government and country.
1844.
NOTE. _In producing the foregoing details of the services of the
FIFTY-SIXTH Regiment, the compiler of the Records of Regiments
deems it incumbent to acknowledge the very able assistance he has
received from Lieut.-Colonel Eden, and from Captain T. Johnes
Smith, who have been most anxious to collect and arrange whatever
circumstances they have considered would do justice, and reflect
honor on the Regiment to which they belong_.
SUCCESSION OF COLONELS
OF
THE FIFTY-SIXTH REGIMENT
OF
FOOT.
LORD CHARLES MANNERS.
_Appointed 26th December, 1755._
LORD CHARLES MANNERS, ninth son of John, second Duke of Rutland,
was many years an officer in the Third Regiment of Foot Guards,
in which corps he was promoted to the rank of captain and
lieutenant-colonel, on the 27th of May, 1745. On the breaking out
of the seven years’ war, he was commissioned to raise, form, and
discipline a regiment of foot, now the FIFTY-SIXTH, of which he was
appointed colonel in December, 1755. In 1759 he was promoted to the
rank of major-general. He died on the 5th of December, 1761.
THE HONORABLE WILLIAM KEPPEL.
_Appointed 17th December, 1761._
THE HONORABLE WILLIAM KEPPEL, fourth son of William-Anne, second
Earl of Albemarle, was gentleman of the horse to His Majesty King
George II.; and was nominated captain and lieutenant-colonel in
the First Regiment of Foot Guards, on the 28th of April, 1751;
in July, 1760, he was promoted to second major, with the rank of
colonel. On the 17th of December, 1761, His Majesty appointed him
to the colonelcy of the FIFTY-SIXTH Regiment, with which corps he
embarked with the expedition against the Havannah, in the island of
Cuba, with the local rank of major-general. He commanded the troops
which besieged the fort of Moro, which was captured by storm on
the 30th of July, 1762; and his own regiment having evinced signal
gallantry on this service, he afterwards obtained the King’s
permission for it to bear the word “Moro” on its colours. On the
day after the capitulation of the Havannah, he took possession
of the fort La Punta; and he was subsequently left in command of
the garrison of that city, which he restored to the Spaniards in
July, 1763, according to the articles of peace concluded a few
months before. In 1765 he was removed to the Fourteenth Foot; in
1772 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general; and in
December, 1773, he was nominated commander-in-chief in Ireland; in
October, 1775, he was appointed colonel of the Twelfth Dragoons. He
was representative in parliament for the borough of Windsor. His
decease occurred in March, 1782.
JAMES DURAND.
_Appointed 13th June, 1765._