likewise presented to the above officers by Doctor M^cWhirter,
whose house adjoined the Dispensary, and which was saved by great
exertion.
[Sidenote: 1822.]
In April 1822, another alarming fire occurred in Calcutta, at the
cotton stores of Mr. Laprimaudage, in which a detachment of the
EIGHTY-SEVENTH exerted itself in a very laudable manner, and a
letter of thanks was received by Lieut.-Colonel Miller, from that
gentleman, for the service rendered by the officers and men on this
occasion.
In 1822 the arrival of regiments from Europe, caused the
EIGHTY-SEVENTH to embark (by wings) in boats for the Upper
Provinces, and on the 11th of July the right wing sailed for
Dinapore, the left following on the 22nd of that month.
The right wing experienced bad weather and lost a number of boats,
by which one serjeant, two drummers, five women, and four children
were drowned. On the 19th of August the right wing landed at
Dinapore, and the left on the 25th, having made a very prosperous
voyage, not meeting with a single accident in the passage: on the
1st of November, the regiment marched to Ghazeepore.
[Sidenote: 1823.]
On the 17th of May 1823, Lieut.-Colonel Francis M. Miller, C.B.,
died, after having served his Majesty upwards of thirty-four
years, during which he had commanded the EIGHTY-SEVENTH regiment
at different periods for sixteen years. He was deeply and most
deservedly regretted by every officer and soldier who had served
with him, and had invariably received the marked approbation of
every general officer under whom he had been placed. The command of
the regiment subsequently devolved on Lieut.-Colonel Matthew Shawe,
C.B.
[Sidenote: 1824.]
Serjeant Stephen Carr was appointed quartermaster on the 24th
of June 1824, as a reward for his distinguished gallantry and
honorable trustworthy conduct: he was present in every action in
which the second battalion was employed during the Peninsular war.
In consequence of the Forty-seventh regiment having embarked at
Calcutta for Ava, the EIGHTY-SEVENTH left Ghazeepore in boats oh
the 9th of June 1824, and reached Berhampore on the 29th of the
same month.
[Sidenote: 1825.]
On the 14th of January 1825, the regiment proceeded towards
Calcutta to replace the second battalion of the Royals on its
departure for Ava; the left wing moved by land, the right by water,
and were reunited on the 29th in Fort William, of which garrison
Lieut.-Colonel Shawe became commandant.
On the 6th of June, the regiment performed the melancholy duty of
attending to the grave the remains of its beloved and lamented
commanding officer, Lieut.-Colonel Henry Browne. He had entered the
regiment in 1800 as an ensign, when sixteen years of age, and had
never belonged to any other: his qualities as a man and a soldier
endeared him to all. In the meantime hostilities had commenced
between the British and the Burmese, and on the 5th of October the
regiment embarked for Ava, to reinforce the army in that country,
in four divisions, which landed at Rangoon between the 3rd and 10th
of November, and immediately proceeded in boats towards Prome,
the head-quarters of the army. During the passage, Major William
Slade Gully’s division was attacked from the bank of the river,
on the 25th of November, by a strong party of Burmese, which
was immediately repulsed on the troops being landed. Lieutenant
and Adjutant James Bowes, in command of the advanced guard, was
wounded, and two privates killed.
Six companies of the regiment, with Major Gully, Captains
Charles Lucas and George Rodney Bell, and John Day; Lieutenants
John Baylee, William Bateman, Robert Joseph Kerr, William Lenox
Stafford, with Assistant Surgeons William Brown, M.D., and William
Peter Birmingham, reached Prome in time to share in the operations
of the 1st and 2nd of December, which terminated in the entire
discomfiture of the enemy. On this occasion the regiment maintained
its unvarying reputation for cool and distinguished gallantry:
Lieutenant Baylee and two men were killed; Major Gully and
twenty-one men were wounded.
[Sidenote: 1826.]
On the 8th of January 1826, Lieut.-Colonel Hunter Blair joined the
regiment, and was appointed a Brigadier, the EIGHTY-SEVENTH being
in his brigade.
On the 19th of January Brigadier Thomas Hunter Blair,
Lieut.-Colonel of the regiment, commanded the right column of
attack at the capture of _Melloone_, consisting of the Eighty-ninth
regiment and the flank companies of the Forty-seventh and
EIGHTY-SEVENTH with Captain James Moore (major of brigade), Brevet
Captain James Kennelly, Lieutenants Henry Gough Baylee, Edmund Cox,
George Mainwaring, William Lenox Stafford, and Joseph Thomas, and
Assistant Surgeon Birmingham. No loss was sustained.
The day after the fall of _Melloone_, the Bengal division, under
Brigadier Shawe, made a flank movement from the river Irrawaddy,
and entered a well-cultivated country abounding in cattle, eight
hundred head of which were secured, and they proved a most
seasonable supply to the army.
On the 28th of January the EIGHTY-SEVENTH, with the flank companies
of the Twenty-eighth native infantry, and detachments of the
Governor-General’s body-guard and artillery, under Brigadier
Hunter Blair, were sent from Tongwyn, to attack the position of
_Moulmein_, eleven miles distant. The flank companies of the
EIGHTY-SEVENTH had one man killed and five wounded in forcing a
piquet half way to Moulmein, which had been in part evacuated
the preceding day. The position, being a great annoyance to the
surrounding country, was destroyed, and the troops returned to camp
the same evening.
On the 21st of February, the Bengal division rejoined head-quarters
at Yandaboo; and on the 24th of February a royal salute announced
the termination of the Burmese war.
The constancy and valour of the British troops had thus forced the
monarch of an Eastern empire, with its myriads of inhabitants, to
sue for peace; and their conduct is thus alluded to in the order
issued by the Governor-General of India.
“While the Governor-General in Council enumerates, with sentiments
of unfeigned admiration, the achievements of the First or
Royals, the Thirteenth, Thirty-eighth, Forty-first, Forty-fifth,
Forty-seventh, EIGHTY-SEVENTH, and Eighty-ninth regiments, the
Honorable Company’s Madras European regiment, and the Bengal and
Madras European artillery, as the European troops which have had
the honor of establishing the renown of the British arms in a new
and distant region, his Lordship in Council feels that higher and
more justly-merited praise cannot be bestowed on those brave troops
than that, amidst the barbarous hosts which they have fought and
conquered, they have eminently displayed the virtues and sustained
the character of the British soldier.”
In commemoration of the meritorious conduct of the EIGHTY-SEVENTH
and other corps, the royal authority was subsequently granted
for the word “AVA” to be borne on the regimental colour and
appointments.
Brigadier Shawe, on the 1st of March, was compelled to proceed to
Rangoon, in consequence of ill health.
On the 8th of March, the portion of the army that was ordered
to return by land, marched from Yandaboo, under the command of
Brigadier Hunter Blair. It consisted of the EIGHTY-SEVENTH,
the Governor-General’s body-guard, the Horse artillery, the
Twenty-eighth, Thirty-eighth, and Forty-third Madras native
infantry, and a battalion of the Madras pioneers. The column
reached Prome, a distance of two hundred and ninety miles, on
the 3rd of April, having had only one halting day, which was St.
Patrick’s.
The EIGHTY-SEVENTH remained at Prome, as the rear-guard of the
army, until the arrangements for the final evacuation of the
province was completed; on the 15th of April it embarked in the
flotilla, and reached Rangoon on the 21st of that month.
On the 27th of April was received the melancholy intelligence of
the death of Lieut.-Colonel Matthew Shawe, C.B., which lamented
event took place on board His Majesty’s sloop, “Slany,” Captain
Thornton, on the 10th of that month, within one day’s sail of
Penang, where he was buried with all military honors. He was much
regretted as an excellent man, and an officer of conspicuous
gallantry. His life was sacrificed to his zeal for active service,
for such was the state of his health, on leaving Calcutta, that
his medical advisers used every endeavour to dissuade him from
proceeding to Ava.[9]
Lieut.-Colonel Hunter Blair, became senior Lieut.-Colonel of the
regiment, of which he assumed the command on the 1st of June, on
the reduction of the staff in Ava.
On the 1st of September, Lieutenant Edmund Cox, with twenty-eight
flankers, proceeded to Ava, as escort to the envoy, they being the
first British soldiers who had visited that capital.
An order was received at Rangoon, on the 16th of October,
directing that in consequence of the intended return of the
EIGHTY-SEVENTH to England, the men should be permitted to volunteer
for the Forty-fifth regiment, also in garrison: one hundred and
twenty-three men availed themselves of this offer.
On the 22nd of October, the head-quarters embarked for Calcutta,
which they reached on the 16th of November, and were joined by the
rest of the regiment on the 24th of that month.
Besides those already named, the regiment had to regret the death
(in Ava) of two old and much valued officers, Captain Peter Benson
Husband and Surgeon Alexander Leslie; and of Lieutenant Nicholas
Milley Doyle, and Ensign Richard Loveday, two most promising young
men, who were drowned in the Irrawaddy, and of above one hundred
and eighty non-commissioned officers and soldiers, chiefly from
dysentery.
After the return of the regiment from Ava, it had the honor of
being reviewed at Calcutta by General Lord Combermere, G.C.B.,
Commander-in-chief in India, and inspected by Major-General Robert
Alexander Dalzell, afterwards the Earl of Carnwath.
On the 13th of November, the volunteering re-commenced, and
continued, with intervals, to the 27th of December, during which
two hundred and fifty-nine men turned out, for the Sixteenth
lancers, Thirteenth, Thirty-first, Thirty-eighth, and Forty-fourth
regiments and East India Company’s service, reducing the regiment
in India to two hundred and eighty men.
[Sidenote: 1827.]
On the 1st of February the head-quarters, with nine companies,
sailed from Calcutta in the free trader “Lord Lynedoch,” leaving
the remainder of the regiment to follow in the “Cornwall.”
It may be remarked, as a singular circumstance, that the regiment
should return to England in a ship bearing the name of the hero
under whom it gained the decoration of the eagle at Barrosa,
and still more remarkable, that its actual commanding officer,
Lieut.-Colonel Hunter Blair, had proceeded to India in the
“Barrosa.”
The following general order, dated the 29th of January, was
published by his Excellency General Lord Combermere, on the
embarkation of the regiment.
“The Commander-in-Chief having directed the embarkation of the
EIGHTY-SEVENTH regiment, on its return home, his Lordship cannot
allow the corps to leave India, without expressing his high
approbation of its services. Of the conduct of this corps, during
its services in Ava, his Lordship has had the most favourable
reports; and he has every confidence that, wherever its future
destinies may lead it, the EIGHTY-SEVENTH regiment will always add
to its spirited and distinguished military reputation.”
On the 27th of April the head-quarters reached St. Helena, and
remained there four days.
On the 23rd of June 1827 the EIGHTY-SEVENTH landed in England, and
was placed on the British establishment from that day inclusive,
and marched into Chatham Barracks; from thence, after being
inspected, and the invalids discharged, the regiment was moved by
water on the 7th of July to Albany Barracks, Isle of Wight, the
effective strength at head-quarters being two hundred and eighty
rank and file.
In consequence of the continued career of brilliant services which
has distinguished the regiment from its first taking the field,
to its return to England, a period of thirty-three years, General
Sir John Doyle felt it an imperative duty, as its Colonel, to
bring those services under the notice of its revered and beloved
Sovereign, and humbly to solicit for the corps some mark of His
Majesty’s royal favour.
The gracious manner in which the King had condescended to view
the conduct of his EIGHTY-SEVENTH regiment, and the encouraging
expressions with which His Majesty has been pleased to convey his
approbation of its services, must be so cheering to the hearts of
every member of the corps, that the circumstance naturally claims a
place in the records of the regiment.
On the 20th of June 1827, the Colonel addressed the following
letter to the Adjutant-General of the Forces, Major-General Sir
Henry Torrens, K.C.B.:
“_4. Somerset Street, Portman Square,
“20th June 1827._
“SIR,
“I have the honor to represent to you that the EIGHTY-SEVENTH
regiment, under my command, has arrived in England, after a service
of twenty-one years in tropical climates.
“It has just returned from the Burmese campaign, where it has
obtained additional honors to those it had formerly won.
“To you, Sir, who so well know the character of every corps
in the army, it is unnecessary to detail the services of the
EIGHTY-SEVENTH. It is now thirty-three years since I had the honor
to raise it, thirty-one years of which period it has been upon
foreign service; on the continent of Europe, the Peninsula, South
America, and the East and West Indies. In all the well-fought
actions where it bore a part in both hemispheres, it has been
distinguished in general orders. My authority is the Government
Gazette.
“Under these circumstances, may I be permitted to hope that you
will do me the favour to lay at His Majesty’s feet my humble
petition that the EIGHTY-SEVENTH regiment may be appointed a
light infantry corps, which, as being a mark of His Majesty’s
approbation, would be most gratifying to those brave men, who
have so freely bled, and would lay down their lives, to manifest
their devoted attachment to their gracious and beloved Sovereign.
Perhaps, Sir, you will have the less difficulty in complying with
my request, when I mention that, immediately after the action of
Barrosa, I received the following note from Lord Lynedoch, written
from the field of battle:
“MY DEAR DOYLE,
“Your regiment has covered itself with glory. Recommend it and
its commander to the notice of its illustrious patron, the Prince
Regent. Too much cannot be done for the corps.”
“I presented it to his Royal Highness, who graciously said, ‘It is
very true, and I will do any thing you wish for the regiment; will
you have it made _Royal_?’ I respectfully declined the honor, for
reasons his Royal Highness did not disapprove.
“For the correctness of this statement I humbly appeal to His
Majesty, who never forgets any circumstance relating to those who
have faithfully and zealously served him.
“I have, &c.,
(Signed) “I. DOYLE,
“_Colonel of the_ EIGHTY-SEVENTH,
_or Prince of Wales’s Own Irish
Regiment, and General_.
“_Major-General Sir Henry Torrens, K.C.B., Adjutant-General
of the Forces, Horse Guards._”
To which letter the following answer was returned:
“_Horse Guards,
“6th July 1827._
“SIR,
“I have had the honor to lay before the King your letter of the
20th instant, requesting that the EIGHTY-SEVENTH, or Prince of
Wales’s Own Irish regiment, of which you are colonel, may be made a
corps of Light Infantry.
“On this occasion His Majesty has commanded me to express to
you the perfect sense he entertains of the high and meritorious
character of the EIGHTY-SEVENTH regiment, and of the long course of
brilliant services which have distinguished its career,—services
which, the King has condescended to observe, have been impressed
upon his memory by the recollection of more than one trophy
captured from the enemy, and by the interest His Majesty must
always take in a regiment which possesses, from its title, an early
and peculiar claim to his protection.
“But with every disposition to accede to your wishes, the King
laments that it is out of his power to grant your request without
inconvenience to the public service, as well as a deviation from
the principle that has guided His Majesty’s refusal on similar
occasions. I am at the same time instructed to accompany this
expression of the King’s regret, with the assurance of the
gracious sense which His Majesty entertains of the services of the
Prince of Wales’s Own Irish regiment, and of the personal interest
he must always take in its welfare and honor.
“I have, &c.,
(Signed) “H. TORRENS,
“_Adjutant-General_.
“_General Sir John Doyle, Bart., G.C.B., Colonel
of the_ EIGHTY-SEVENTH _Regiment_.”
In his reply to the above communication, in a letter dated the 11th
of July 1827, General Sir John Doyle preferred a request, that the
EIGHTY-SEVENTH might be styled the “_Prince of Wales’s Own Irish
Regiment of Fusiliers_,” in the following terms:—
“England, Scotland, and Wales, have each their national fusilier
regiments; Ireland alone is without one. The prayer of my petition
is, that the blank may be filled up by the Prince of Wales’s Own
Irish regiment, to be honored by the title of the _Prince of
Wales’s Own Irish Fusiliers_. Thus _shall we preserve the endearing
title we so highly prize_; _retain the national colours under which
we have so long fought_; and avoid collision with any regiment that
might have been honored with the name of Royal.”
This request was complied with, and the result was communicated
to General Sir John Doyle in the following letter from the
Adjutant-General:
“_Horse Guards,
“16th July, 1827._
“SIR,
“In reply to your letter of the 11th instant, I have the honor to
acquaint you, that the King has been graciously pleased to approve
of the EIGHTY-SEVENTH regiment, of which you are Colonel, receiving
the title of the Prince of Wales’s Own Irish Fusiliers, as a mark
of His Majesty’s most gracious favour, and in consideration of the
_extraordinary distinction_ that has marked the career of the corps
on all occasions.
“I have, &c.
(Signed) “H. TORRENS,
“_Adjutant-General_.
“_General Sir John Doyle, Bart. G.C.B.,
Colonel of the Eighty-seventh Regiment, &c. &c._”
It was directed that the EIGHTY-SEVENTH should wear _blue_ facings,
instead of green, in order to render it uniform with the other
fusilier regiments.
A further communication was made by the Adjutant-General to General
Sir John Doyle, of which the following is an extract:—
“_Horse Guards,
“17th November 1827._
“SIR,
“I have the honor to acquaint you, that the King has been pleased
to approve of the EIGHTY-SEVENTH regiment assuming the title
“Royal,” and its being in future styled the EIGHTY-SEVENTH or
Royal Irish Fusiliers, instead of the Prince of Wales’s Own Irish
Fusiliers.
“His Majesty has further been pleased to approve the patterns
of facings and lace proposed by you for the uniform of the
officers, non-commissioned officers, drummers, and privates of the
EIGHTY-SEVENTH or Royal Irish Fusiliers, and to command that the
same be adopted from the 25th of December 1829, when the clothing
now in possession of the regiment shall be worn out.
“I have, &c.
(Signed) “H. TORRENS,
“_Adjutant-General_.
“_General Sir John Doyle, Bart., G.C.B., Colonel
of the Eighty-seventh, or Royal Irish Fusiliers._”
The regiment was inspected on the 2nd of November by Major-General
Sir James Lyon, K.C.B. and G.C.H., who was pleased to express his
unqualified approbation of the progress made during four months in
the formation of a corps nearly composed of recruits, and which he
declared to have surpassed his most sanguine expectation.
[Sidenote: 1828.]
On the 19th of May 1828 the regiment was reviewed by General Lord
Hill, commanding in chief, who expressed himself highly pleased
with its evolutions and general appearance; and his Lordship also
alluded to the favorable opinion entertained of the corps by the
inhabitants of the Isle of Wight, in consequence of its quiet and
orderly conduct in quarters.
The regiment was inspected on the 5th of June by Major-General Sir
Colin Campbell, K.C.B., and had the gratification of obtaining his
approbation.
The regiment, which, upon its arrival at Albany Barracks eleven
months previously, had only two hundred and eighty rank and file
present, was now within thirty-four of its establishment (seven
hundred and forty), the recruits having been chiefly enlisted in
Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Carrick-on-Shannon, and Galway.
The regiment quitted Albany Barracks on the 7th of July, where
it had been stationed one year, and marched by Portsmouth and
Maidstone to Chatham, which it reached on the 15th of that month.
On the 24th July, a route was received directing the regiment to
march immediately for London, thence to proceed by the Paddington
Canal to such destination as might be ordered. It was mustered, and
marched in three hours after the receipt of the route, and arrived
in Lambeth on the third day.
The regiment was reviewed on the 28th of July by General Sir John
Doyle, Bart., attended by Major-General Sir Henry Torrens, K.C.B.,
Adjutant-General of the forces, and numerous other officers, when
its appearance elicited unqualified approbation.
On the 29th of July the regiment embarked in seventeen boats on the
Paddington Canal, landed at Northwich and Middlewich on the 2nd,
and marched into Chester Castle on the 4th of August.
Towards the end of September two alarming fires broke out in the
city of Chester: the very serious consequences that threatened were
chiefly counteracted by the bold and active intrepidity displayed
by the soldiers of the regiment in extinguishing the conflagration,
and by the exertions of the officers to secure the property of the
inhabitants.
These services were acknowledged in a vote of thanks from the
Commissioners of Police to Lieut.-Colonel Blair, the officers, and
soldiers of the regiment.
Various letters of thanks to the regiment also appeared in the
Chester newspapers, from those inhabitants whose property was
chiefly endangered.
On the 11th of October the regiment was inspected by Major-General
Sir Henry Bouverie, K.C.B., who was pleased to express himself much
pleased with its appearance, movements, and interior economy.
A circular from the Horse Guards, dated the 5th of December, was
received, which directed regiments not to recruit beyond six
hundred and ninety rank and file, being fifty short of the nominal
establishment of seven hundred and forty rank and file.
[Sidenote: 1829.]
On the 19th of April 1829, under instruction from the Secretary of
State, three companies, commanded by Major Gully, marched towards
Abergelly, in Denbighshire, forty miles distant, in order to
prevent a riot, expected on the ejection by the high sheriff, at
the suit of the Bishop of St. Asaph, of a body of miners, from an
extensive lime quarry, of which they refused to give up possession,
in consequence of having enjoyed the privilege of working it
for many years. The miners having submitted, the detachment
rejoined head-quarters in four days, and fortunately without its
interference being required.
On the 14th of May the regiment was again inspected by
Major-General Sir Henry Bouverie, and received his entire
approbation.
The regiment moved from Chester on the 19th of May, where it had
been quartered between nine and ten months. Previously to its
departure, the following letter was received from the mayor of
Chester.
“_Town Clerk’s Office,
“Chester, 16th May 1829._
“SIR,