and was subsequently encamped near Denain, with the remainder
of the first division, the other divisions being encamped about
two miles distant. On the 22nd of October the British, Saxon,
and Danish contingents of the Army of Occupation were reviewed
by the Duke of Wellington, in presence of their Royal Highnesses
the Dukes of Kent and Cambridge, who expressed their admiration
of the appearance and discipline of the troops. After the review
the regiment returned to its village cantonments, and at the
half-yearly inspection in November, Major-General Sir James Kempt
expressed his satisfaction at its appearance and condition.
[Sidenote: 1817]
In the early part of 1817 the establishment was reduced to
eight hundred and sixty seven non-commissioned officers and
private soldiers; and in April the regiment marched to the
city of Valenciennes, and with the twenty-third, forty-third,
fifty-seventh, and ninety-first, formed the garrison of that
fortress.
On the 6th of September the ROYAL FUSILIERS were present at
the review of the British and Danish contingents by the King
of Prussia; on the 9th of that month they were reviewed by
Lieutenant-General Lord Hill; and on the 15th of October, by his
Grace the Duke of Wellington.
[Sidenote: 1818]
Having passed the winter at Valenciennes, the SEVENTH were
reviewed, in June, near that fortress with the British, Danish,
and Saxon contingents, by the Grand Duke Michael of Russia, for
whom the regiment furnished a guard of honour. The British troops
were subsequently reviewed by Lieutenant-General Lord Hill on the
3rd of September; by the Duke of Wellington in presence of their
Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Kent, on the 10th of that
month; and on the 23rd of October by the Emperor of Russia, King of
Prussia, Prince of Orange, &c. &c.
Soon after this review the establishment was reduced to seven
hundred and forty-six officers and soldiers; and the Army of
Occupation being withdrawn from France, the regiment marched to
Calais, where it embarked for England, and landed at Dover on the
2nd of November.
After occupying Dover Castle barracks a few days, the regiment
marched to Deal, where it embarked for Ireland, and landed on the
26th and 27th of November at the Cove of Cork, from whence it
proceeded to Fermoy, and, in December, to Dublin.
[Sidenote: 1819]
[Sidenote: 1820]
[Sidenote: 1821]
The regiment remained at Dublin until August, 1820, and its
appearance, discipline, and interior economy were commended at
the half-yearly inspections made by Major-Generals White, Buller,
and Sir Colquhoun Grant. It subsequently occupied extensive
cantonments, the head-quarters being at Londonderry, where it was
inspected by Lieutenant-General Sir David Baird, and Major-General
Sir Sidney Beckwith, and obtained the approbation of these
distinguished officers. In November it embarked at Belfast for
Scotland, and landing at Port Patrick, marched from thence to
Edinburgh and Glasgow: its appearance and discipline were commended
at the half-yearly inspection made by Major-General Sir Thomas
Bradford; and in June, 1821, when it was ordered to march to
England, this general-officer "expressed his warmest approbation of
the uniform good conduct and regularity in quarters, as well as of
the high state of discipline in the field and excellent interior
economy;" at the same time requesting "Colonel Sir Edward Blakeney
to convey these sentiments to the officers, non-commissioned
officers, and soldiers."
Leaving Scotland in July, the regiment proceeded to
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Carlisle, Tynemouth, and Sunderland; and in
August the establishment was reduced to six hundred and fifty
officers and men.
[Sidenote: 1822]
In the spring of 1822 the regiment marched to Chatham and
Sheerness; from whence it was removed in June and July to Brighton
and Windsor, and had the honour of performing the King's duty
during the residence of King George IV. at the Royal Pavilion,
Brighton.
[Sidenote: 1825]
[Sidenote: 1828]
In the summer of 1825 the regiment was divided into six service and
four depôt companies; the service companies embarked at Gosport on
the 14th and 15th of June for the Ionian Islands, where they were
stationed until September 1828, when they were removed to Malta.
[Sidenote: 1832]
On the decease of General Sir Alured Clarke, the colonelcy of the
ROYAL FUSILIERS was conferred on Major-General Sir Edward Blakeney,
K.C.B., G.C.H., by commission dated the 20th of September, 1832.
[Sidenote: 1833]
[Sidenote: 1834]
[Sidenote: 1835]
In December, 1833, the depôt companies embarked at Portsmouth for
Ireland, where they arrived in January, 1834; they returned to
England in October, 1835, and landed at Portsmouth.
[Sidenote: 1836]
The service companies remained at Malta until the early part of
1836, when they returned to England, and landing at Portsmouth,
were stationed at that fortress until June, when they removed to
Winchester.
In July the regiment marched to Windsor, and had the honour of
performing the King's duty during the residence of His Majesty King
William IV. at Windsor Castle.
While on duty at Windsor, a superb piece of plate for the officers'
mess-table was directed by His Majesty King William IV. to be
presented to the regiment, with the following inscription:--
_"The Gracious Gift of King William the Fourth, July 1836."_
"His Majesty remembers with satisfaction, that he became a
member of the Mess of the ROYAL FUSILIERS at Plymouth in the
year 1786, and he has directed his son, _Colonel Lord Frederick
Fitz Clarence_, who had the advantage of commanding the Regiment
during some years,[26] to present this piece of plate as a mark of
His Majesty's approbation;--of his high sense of the gallant and
admirable services, and of the exemplary discipline and gentlemanly
conduct, which have uniformly distinguished the _Royal Fusiliers_."
[Sidenote: 1837]
[Sidenote: 1838]
[Sidenote: 1839]
Leaving Windsor in August, the regiment proceeded into Lancashire,
and the head-quarters were stationed at Bolton until the autumn of
1837, when the regiment proceeded to Ireland. During the year 1838
the ROYAL FUSILIERS were stationed at Dublin; in May, 1839, they
were removed to Kilkenny, and in August following to Cork.
In the autumn six companies of the regiment embarked for Gibraltar,
and arrived at that fortress in November, leaving four depôt
companies in Ireland.
[Sidenote: 1840 to 1844]
The service companies remained at Gibraltar until the 19th
December, 1844, when they embarked for the West Indies, under
the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Farquharson, on board of Her
Majesty's Troop Ship "Resistance," and arrived at Barbadoes on the
18th January, 1845.
[Sidenote: 1845]
The depôt companies remained in Ireland from the embarkation of the
service companies for Gibraltar until November, 1841, when they
proceeded from Cork to Dover, and remained in England until June,
1845, when they returned to Ireland, where they have remained to
the present year, 1846.
[Illustration: 7th Fusiliers, 1846.]
[Sidenote: 1846]
The service companies at the end of the year 1846, when this Record
concludes, were in the West Indies, the head-quarters at St.
Vincent.
* * * * *
The foregoing pages contain a faithful history of the ROYAL
FUSILIERS from the period of their formation in the year 1685, and
of the peculiar service for which this Regiment was originally
established. The introduction of artillery, and the expert and
proper management of field-guns, rendered it necessary that a
suitable description of officers and men should be selected
for such an important and scientific branch of the service,
in order to ensure its usefulness; hence it may be inferred,
that as qualifications of a superior kind were requisite, the
_Subaltern Officers in the Royal Fusiliers_ obtained, on their
first appointment, the rank of LIEUTENANT, a distinction which is
continued to the present time.
During a period exceeding one hundred and sixty years, the ROYAL
FUSILIERS have proved themselves to be a faithful and zealous
Regiment in the cause of Royalty, and in the interests of their
country. Their services in various parts of Europe and America,
when war has required their presence and exertions, have, on all
occasions, been conspicuous; and their conduct on home-service,
when relieved from their tour of duty abroad, has been marked by
a strict adherence to the rules of order and discipline: these
qualities have rendered them a valuable corps to the Government
of the country, and have obtained for them a continuance of the
approbation of their Sovereign.
1846.
FOOTNOTES:
[6] "Our Royal Regiment of Fusiliers to have snap-hance musquets,
strapt, with bright barrels of three feet eight inches long, with
good swords, cartouch-boxes, and bionetts."--_King James IInd's
orders for arming the Royal Fusiliers._
[7] "JAMES R.
"These are to authorise you, by beat of drum or otherwise, to
raise volunteers to serve for soldiers in your own company in Our
Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, which we have appointed to be raised,
and whereof you are colonel; which company is to consist of one
hundred private soldiers, three serjeants, three corporals, and two
drummers. And as the said soldiers shall be respectively raised in
the said company, they are to be produced to muster, to the intent
that they may be received into our pay and entertainment; and when
that number shall be fully or nearly completed, they are to march
to the general rendezvous of their regiment, where they are also
to be mustered. And you are to appoint such person or persons as
you shall think fit to receive arms for the said soldiers, and
halberts for the said serjeants, out of the stores of Our Ordnance.
And we do hereby require all magistrates, justices of the peace,
constables and others, Our officers, whom it may concern, at
the places where you shall raise, march, or rendezvous our said
company, to be assisting therein as there shall be occasion.
"Given at our Court at Whitehall the 20th day of June, 1685.
"By His Majesty's Command."
"WILLIAM BLATHWAYTE.
"_To our trusty and well-beloved Councillor, George Lord Dartmouth,
Colonel of our Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, and Captain of a
Company in the said Regiment._"
[8] "_Windsor, 7th September, 1685._
"SIR,
"The King having ordered three companies of the Royal Regiment of
Fusiliers to remain in garrison at Sheerness, instead of the three
companies that were usually there, and the quarters being too
strait, unless some of the officers be lodged in the Navy Dock, His
Majesty thinks fit that you signify his pleasure to the officers of
the dock that they afford quarters to such of the officers of those
companies as need them. Being all I have in command.
"I remain, &c.
"WILLIAM BLATHWAYTE.
"To _Mr. Pepys_."
[9] Coxe's Life of Marlborough.
[10] Story's History of the Wars in Ireland.
[11] 12th September. "This day the ordinary detachments of the
Earl of Bath's regiment and of the FUSILIERS being at work at
the bastion, part, in enlarging the ditch, found an old hidden
treasure, which quickly stopped the soldiers' working, who fell
all a scrambling in a heap, one upon another, some bringing off a
very good booty, some gold, and some silver, several Jacobuses and
Sovereigns being found by the soldiers, and a great many old pieces
of silver of Henry II., Charles IX., Henry III., and Henry IVth's
coin, which are now hardly to be found in France. The people of
the town supposed this money belonged to one Elfort, a gentleman
who died many years ago, and who buried his treasure (when the
Mareschal de Rantzau took the town) in the Bernardine Nuns' garden
(the ground where the money was found having formerly been part
of the garden), which Count de Monteroy caused to be demolished,
and they think there might have been about 900 pound groat, which
makes the value of 450 guineas English. This Elfort left it by will
to his children with the marks where to find it; but his children
could never discover it."--_D'Auvergne._
[12] Major-General Tyron's despatch.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Earl Cornwallis's despatch.
[15] The following non-commissioned officers were rewarded with
commissions at the recommendation of PRINCE EDWARD during the
period His Royal Highness commanded the regiment in North America:--
1795 Serjeant Walter Beavan, Ensign in the Nova Scotia Fencibles.
1796 Serjeant-Major Joseph Parkes, Quarter-Master in the Royal
Fusiliers.
---- Serjeant Christopher Taylor, Lieutenant in ditto.
---- Quarter-Master Serjeant John Opinslaw, Ensign in the Invalids.
---- Serjeant James Colledge, Ensign in St. John's Island Provincials.
1797 Serjeant James Turner, Ensign 31st Regiment.
---- Serjeant-Major Frederick Plansker, Ensign in the Fencibles.
1802 Serjeant-Major John Robertson, Ensign in the first, or the royal
regiment.
[16] The following non-commissioned officers were rewarded with
commissions:--
1804 Serjeant Francis Gilliman, Quarter-Master, Nova Scotia Fencibles.
1805 Serjeant-Major George Galbraith, Ensign and Adjutant, First Royal
Foot.
---- Quarter-Master-Serjeant John Hogan, Quarter-Master, Seventh Royal
Fusiliers.
[17] A General Order was issued to the army on the 18th January,
1810 (No. 182), by direction of the Commander-in-Chief, containing
the substance of the following General Order, issued in North
America, on this subject:--
"GENERAL ORDER. QUEBEC, _4th October, 1809_.
"The Commander of the Forces has lately had occasion to see in a
Halifax newspaper a copy of an address presented by the serjeants
of the 1st battalion ROYAL FUSILIERS to Captain ORR, on that
officer relinquishing the Adjutancy in consequence of being
promoted to a company. So novel a circumstance could not fail to
draw the attention of His Excellency, it being the first of the
kind that has come to his knowledge during the forty-six years that
he has been in the service; and as the first instance has thus (so
far as he is aware, at least) occurred on the part of the army with
the charge of which the King has been pleased to intrust him, he
feels himself called on by every obligation of duty to His Majesty
and the service to bear his testimony against it by a public
expression of disapprobation.
"His Excellency does not mean in this instance to ascribe any
improper motive to the serjeants. He has no doubt that their sole
view was to express their regard and gratitude towards an officer
who, in the intimate connexion that had officially subsisted
between them, had very commendably conducted himself with kindness
to them without departing from that strictness of discipline which
was indispensable to the discharge of his duty.
"But while His Excellency thus does justice to the intention of the
serjeants of the ROYAL FUSILIERS, he desires at the same time very
seriously to observe to them, that in presuming to meet, in order
to deliberate on the conduct of their superior officer, they have
in fact, however unintentionally, been guilty of an act of great
insubordination.
"It matters not that the design of the meeting, or in whatever
manner the address was unanimously assented to, was solely to
express their respect and esteem; the very circumstance implies
discussion, and by that discussion they rendered themselves
obnoxious to the imputation alluded to.--Who, indeed, shall say
where such a practice, if once introduced, shall end? If the
non-commissioned officers of a regiment are permitted to express
their approbation of the conduct of the Adjutant, why may they not
exercise the same right with respect to their commanding officer?
Or what reason can be given why they should not be equally entitled
to express their disapprobation? Indeed, should the practice become
general, the merely withholding the former would imply the latter.
"General Sir JAMES CRAIG is more desirous that his sentiments on
this subject should be distinctly understood in the FUSILIERS,
because it appears on the face of the address of the serjeants in
question that it has been countenanced by the officer who then
commanded the regiment. The Commander of the Forces does no more
than justice to the character and services of that officer when
he admits that, feeling as he does the dangerous tendency of the
practice which he is censuring, he also feels himself the more
bound to oppose it, in the first instance, from the strength which
it might otherwise derive from the sanction which he appears
to have given to it.--Lieutenant-Colonel PAKENHAM will however
believe that, though it was impossible the General should avoid
this observation upon his error, yet his doing so can by no means
detract from the esteem with which he has been taught to view his
character as an officer, or the confidence which he should be
disposed to place in his service.
(Signed) "EDWARD BAYNES,
"Adjutant-General to the
"British army serving in North America."
[18] _British Troops engaged at the Battle of Albuhera on the 16th
May, 1811._
Cavalry under Major-General the Honourable Sir William Lumley; 3rd
Dragoon Guards, 4th Dragoons, and 13th Light Dragoons.
{ Lieut.-Col. Colborne, { 3rd Foot, 1st Battalion,
{ { 31st ditto, 2nd ditto,
{ { 48th ditto, 2nd ditto,
SECOND { { 66th ditto, 2nd ditto,
DIVISION. { { 60th, one Company 5th ditto.
HON. {
MAJOR-GEN. { Major-Gen. Hoghton. { 29th Foot,
W. STEWART. { { 48th ditto, 1st Battalion,
{ { 57th ditto, 1st ditto,
{ { 60th, one Company 5th ditto.
{
{ Hon. Lt.-Col. { 28th Foot, 2nd Battalion,
{ Abercromby. { 34th ditto, 2nd ditto,
{ { 39th ditto, 2nd ditto,
{ { 60th, one Company 5th ditto.
{ Brigadier { 27th Foot, 3rd Battalion,
{ General { 40th ditto, 1st ditto,
FOURTH { Kemmis.[19] { 97th ditto, (or Queen's Own.)
DIVISION. { { 60th, one Company 5th ditto.
HON. M.-GEN. {
L. COLE. { { 7th Foot, 1st Battalion,
{ Fusilier { 7th ditto, 2nd Battalion,
{ Brigade. { 23rd ditto, 1st ditto,
{ { Brunswick Oels, 1 Company.
Major-Gen. Baron Chas. { 1st Light Battalion German
Alten. { Legion,
{ 2nd ditto, ditto.
The following description of the charge of the FUSILIER BRIGADE at
Albuhera is extracted from Colonel Napier's admirable history of
the Peninsular War.
"The fourth division was composed of two brigades; the one of
Portuguese, under General Harvey; the other, commanded by Sir
William Myers, consisted of the seventh and twenty-third regiments,
and was called the Fusilier Brigade. Harvey's Portuguese being
immediately pushed in between Lumley's dragoons and the hill, were
charged by some French cavalry, whom they beat off, and meanwhile
General Cole led the Fusiliers up the contested height. At this
time six guns were in the enemy's possession, the whole of Werle's
reserves were coming forward to reinforce the front column of
the French, the remnant of Hoghton's brigade could no longer
maintain its ground, and the field was heaped with carcases, the
lancers were riding furiously about the captured artillery on the
upper parts of the hill, and behind all, Hamilton's Portuguese
and Alten's Germans withdrawing from the bridge, seemed to be in
full retreat. Cole's Fusiliers, flanked by a battalion of the
Lusitanian legion under Colonel Hawkshawe, soon mounted the hill,
drove off the lancers, recovered five of the captured guns and one
colour, and appeared on the right of Hoghton's brigade exactly as
Abercrombie passed it on the left.
"Such a gallant line issuing from the midst of the smoke, and
rapidly separating itself from the broken multitude, startled the
enemy's heavy masses, which were increasing and pressing onwards as
to an assured victory: they wavered, hesitated, and then vomiting
forth a storm of fire, hastily endeavoured to enlarge their front,
while a fearful discharge of grape from all their artillery
whistled through the British ranks. Myers was killed; Cole, the
three colonels--Ellis, Blakeney, and Hawkshawe--fell wounded; and
the Fusilier battalions, struck by the iron tempest, reeled and
staggered like sinking ships. But suddenly and sternly recovering,
they closed on their terrible enemies, and then was seen with what
a strength and majesty the British soldier fights! In vain did
Soult, by voice and gesture, animate his Frenchmen; in vain did the
hardiest veterans, extricating themselves from the crowded columns,
sacrifice their lives to gain time for the mass to open out on such
a fair field; in vain did the mass itself bear up, and, fiercely
striving, fire indiscriminately upon friends and foes, while the
horsemen hovering on the flanks threatened to charge the advancing
line. Nothing could stop that astonishing infantry! No sudden
burst of undisciplined valour, no nervous enthusiasm, weakened the
stability of their order; their flashing eyes were bent on the dark
columns in their front; their measured tread shook the ground;
their dreadful volleys swept away the head of every formation;
their deafening shouts overpowered the dissonant cries that broke
from all parts of the tumultuous crowd, as foot by foot, and with
a horrid carnage, it was driven by the incessant vigour of the
attack to the farthest edge of the hill. There the French reserve,
mixing with the struggling multitude, endeavoured to sustain the
fight; but the effort only increased the irremediable confusion,
the mighty mass gave way, and like a loosened cliff, went headlong
down the ascent. The rain flowed after in streams discoloured
with blood, and fifteen hundred unwounded men, the remnant of six
thousand unconquerable British soldiers, stood triumphant on the
fatal hill!"
"The Fusiliers exceeded anything that the usual word 'Gallantry'
can convey."--_Colonel Sir Henry Hardinge._
"In this attack, and carrying the enemy's position, the Fusilier
brigade lost 1000 out of 1500 men and 45 officers; among whom
three were commanding officers;--and exhibited an example of
steadiness and heroic gallantry which history, I believe, cannot
surpass."--_Major-General Sir G. Lowry Cole._
[19] Brigadier-General Kemmis's brigade, being on the north side of
the Guadiana, was left in that position in order to secure the safe
removal of the stores to the town of Elvas on the siege of Badajoz
being raised, and was prevented, on that account, from joining the
fourth division until the morning of the 17th of May.
[20] During the year 1811 the following non-commissioned officers
were rewarded with commissions.
Serjeant-Major Timothy Meagher, Lieutenant Seventh Fusiliers.
Serjeant-Major William Johnson, Ensign Fifty-seventh Regiment.
Quarter-Master Serjeant Arthur Byrne, Ensign and Adjutant
Twenty-seventh Regiment.
Serjeant William Gough, appointed Ensign, Second West India
Regiment, on 14th November, 1811; promoted
to a Lieutenantcy on 12th August, 1813; and
died in September, 1817.
[21] This officer was aide-de-camp to Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas
Picton, and was mortally wounded on the 19th March.
[22] In July, 1812, Serjeant William Harris of the Royal Fusiliers
was rewarded with the commission of Ensign and Adjutant in the
twenty-seventh regiment.
[23] Serjeant Joseph Wood was this year rewarded with a commission
in the thirteenth veteran battalion formed at Lisbon.
[24] The following non-commissioned officers were this year
rewarded with commissions:--
Serjeant John Henry, Ensign and Adjutant Ninety-first Regiment.
Quarter-Master Serjeant William Greenwood, Quarter-Master
Seventh Regiment.
Serjeant John Day, Ensign Sixtieth Regiment.