THE 49^th FOOT

Introduction

Prior to 1881 the infantry regiments of the British Army were identified by numbers and are referred to as either His Majesty’s xxth Regiment or the xxth of Foot. However many of them acquired their own names by which they were often known. They were numbered generally in the order in which they were formed and this order sets the precedence of their successor regiments to this day. Many of the Regiments were originally raised by private individuals who ‘loaned them’ to the Crown when necessary. Some of the Regiments had two battalions with one remaining at home to man their depot and the other serving abroad. When a Regiment with only one battalion went abroad it had to ‘borrow’ facilities from another regiment and base its home depot staff with them..

Jamaica 1714-1775

In 1702 Colonel Thomas Handayd’s Regiment was sent to Jamaica where it remained until May 1714 when it was recalled to Europe. The rump of the regiment (by then the 22^nd Foot and later the Cheshire Regiment) that returned had been reduced by outbreaks of diseases, usually yellow fever with as many fit men as they could muster, remaining behind formed into two independent companies to assist the governor and keep order. Over the next few years six more companies were added and although they had a nominal strength of 4 officers, 5 NCOs, a drummer and 100 men the totyal strength of the 8 companies was only 509 in October 1740 and 311 in February 1741. The new Governor in 1738 tried for years to get the 8 independent companies formed into a proper regiment and eventually on the 1^st June 1744 the orders for the new regiment were issued with Governor Trelawney appointed as its Colonel, the one thing he didn’t want as he kept on explaining that he had no military training or experience. The establishment was set at 10 companies, including a grenadier company, totalling 1157 men and costing £57.9s per day – far more than the other two regiments in the area which were costing £41.13s.10d and £39.11s. per day. It was not until March 1745 that the orders reached Trelawney in Jamaica. They were ordered to recruit in North America.

Over the next twenty years the regiment served in Jamaica with excursions to nearby islands to keep order, quell slave revolts and suppress smuggling. They were replaced in Jamaica by the 66^th and sailed for Cork in July 1764 before the 66^th had arrived.. There are virtually no records of its time in Ireland which lasted until 6^th April 1775 when it was ordered to North America.

The American War of Independence 1775 - 1780

They arrived at Boston 17^th June 1775 and set up camp on the Common where they were besieged by American forces and suffered badly from cold and hunger until March 1775 when they were evacuated to Halifax. Here they remained until June when they sailed for Staten Island and were placed in the 2^nd Brigade of General Howe’s army with their grenadier and light companies taken away to form specialised battalions. Over the next few months they were involved in skirmishing with Washinton’s army and in May 1777 were transferred to Vaughan’s 1^st Brigade for the invasion of Pennsylvania. In this campaign the 49^th distinguished themselves at Brandywine Creek on the 11^th September when they made a circuitous march to attack the American forces from behind at Chad’s Ford. By 1778 the French were getting involved in the war in North America and the 49^th were included in a force sent to the Werst Indies where they were involved in the capture of St Lucia and remained there with the 27^th and 35^th Regiments as the garrison. On the 5^th April 1779 their strength was reported as 508 but this dwindled rapidly owing to sickness to 430 in October and 398 in December of whom 204 were sick. On the 6^th July 1780 the officers, NCOs and one private per company were ordered to England with the remaining men drafted to other regiments.

Ireland 1780-1788

In fact they returned to Ireland and set about recruiting back to strength. Again few records remain and they were based over the next few years all over Ireland. In July 1782 they were assigned the designation The Hertfordshire Regiment but no one can provide any link whatsoever between the 49^th and the county of Hertfordshire.

West Indies 1788-1796

In February 1788 they set out in the Eliza for Barbados with a strength of 584 men.. In 1792 they moved to Jamaica until September 1793 when the two flank companies sailed for Santa Domingo with the other 8 battalion companies following later. They were involved in the disasters of the battles with the Spanish but lost more from disease than action, being reduced to 108. In July 1796 they were at sea on their way back to England with two companies, the 11^th and 12^th , to be involved in the Maroon war in Jamaica. These two companies had been formed in Watford and were sent to Santa Domingo as reinforcements but were sequestered by the Governor of Jamaica and not released until June 1796 although they managed to be back in Watford before the other 10 companies.

Napoleonic Wars 1796-1801

When they were all reunited at Watford in September 1796 they were down to 129 men despite strenuous recruiting efforts. They moved to Chelmsford in 1797 to be on hand in case need for the Nore mutiny but this did not materialise so they moved to Yarmouth in December 1797 and then to Sandwich in April 1798. with Lieut Col Isaac Brock in command. The French were threatening to invade England and it was decided to take a spoiling action by destroying the locks at Ostend which was one of the routes to the sea from Antwerp where the French were assembling boats. The two flank companies of the 49^th were transported to Ostend on the 16^th May 1798 and the grenadiers of the 49^th took control of the lower ferry. The locks on the Bruges canal were destroyed but the light company never got off their ship. The grenadiers were among those taken prisoner after a counter attack by the French losing five officers, and 84 other ranks. It was not until June 1799 that they were exchanged and returned to the 49^th.

The main part of the regiment moved to Broadstairs and thence to St Helier in Jersey on the 1^st July 1798, returning to Hilsea Barracks at Portsmouth in January 1799. After a few more moves they gathered at Barham Down for the expedition to North Holland. They were part of 4^th Brigade 1^st Division with 37 officers and 492 OR s. They landed near the Helder on the 27^th February. It was not until October that they became seriously engaged at Egmopnt-op-Zee when they lost 2 officers killed, 5 wounded and 1 missing and 31 OR s killed, 51 missing and 23 missing. They returned to England on the 28^th October 1799 moving to Norwich. After several more moves they were back in Jersey by July 1800 returning to Portsmouth 12^th February 1801. They were now designated as Marines and 836 men were allocated to 14 of Nelson’s ships to take part in the Battle of Copenhagen in April 1801. Here they lost 16 killed and 47 wounded. They were back at Portsmouth by August and spent the next two months moving around before setting sail from Tilbury on the 1^st June for Canada.

Canada 1801-1815

They were stationed at Montreal until ealy 1803 when they moved to York (Toronto) Here there was a mutiny , partly induced by harsh treatment meted out by a Lt Col Sheaffe who was in charge of a detachment at Fort George. The conspirators together with some deserters were sent to Quebec for court martial and a number were executed there on the 2^nd March 1804. The United States was making threatening noises towards Canada and in 1806 the Canadian Militia had to be called out to boost the garrison on the Niagara frontier which was little more than the 6^th, 41^st and 49^th Regiments. By Junr 1812 when the 49^th had been due to return to England the whole of Canada was garrisoned only by the 8^th, 41^st, 49^th and 100^th regiments with some artillery. They were supplemented by a number of local units when the United States declared War having hoped that Britain’s attention was more focussed on Wellington’s campaign in the Peninsula. The 49^th first came under fire on the 9^th October 1812 at Fort Erie when they attempted to rescue two ships on the Niagara River which were being attacked. A few days later on the night of the 12^th/13^th the Americans landed troops on the Canadian side but the 49^th had been warned and captured many of them as they landed. Sir Isaac Brock arrived in the morning but was hit by a bullet and died almost immediately. In the end the Americans were defeated and the British captured 925 prisoners. The 49^th had lost 3 officers and 8 men. There were further engagements and in April 1813 the Americans captured and burnt York. The war ended with the Treaty of Ghent in September 1814 and the 49^th returned to England in May 1815. A statue to Sir Isaac Brock was erected near Niagara Falls on a high column with his finger pointing accusingly towards the American side.

England and Ireland 1815 – 1822

In June 1813 a second battalion was formed to provide a home depot and to recruit and despatch reinforcements to the 1^st but this was disbanded in October 1814. The 1^st battalion returned to Portsmouth on the 15^th July and moved to Weymouth in August.. The establishment was reduced in late December 1815 after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the 49^th having been awarded the title Princess Charlotte of Wales’s Regiment in recognition of duties performed at Weymouth.. In February 1816 they moved over to Ireland where they provided detachments in many areas before they were withdrawn to Bristol in November 1821 moving on to Chatham.

South Africa and India 1822-1839

In early December 1822 the 49^th departed for the Cape arriving in early March. They spent the next few years at Capetown with minor changes made to its establishment before setting off for Calcutta in January 1829. Here they suffered badly from Cholera. They served in several staions in India until 6^th April 1839.

The Opium War 1839-1843

The disputes with the Chinese owing to their officials placing considerable restrictions on foreign trade had been smouldering for many years and came to a head in 1839 when the Chinese seized and burnt a cargo of over 20,000 chests of opium. The Royal Navy set up a blockade of Canton and a force was requested to exact reprisals. This consisted of the18th, 26^th and 49^th Regiments with support from units of the Indian Army. They arrived at Macao on the 21^st June 1840. In July they landed at Tinghai where they remained until January 1841 when they took part in an attack at Canton. They had suffered greatly from Malaria and other diseases and were greatly under strength when they began ea renewed attack on the 25^th May 1841 whilst tortuous diplomatic negotiations were taking place. Eventually a ransom was paid and the 49^th retired to Hong Kong in early June. A new attack was mounted in August on Amoy following which the 49^th moved on to Chusan which was captured in September. The war continued into 1842 but just before the Regiment was due to sail up the Yangtse the peace of Nanking was signed and eventually the 49^th sailed from Hong Kong in December reaching Calcutta on New Year’s Day 1843. In March they sailed back to England arriving in July and having been awarded the adoption of the Dragon with the word China as its badge.

Ireland 1843-1851

When they returned to England in July 1843 they were based first at Deal and then Portsmouth. In April 1844 they moved to Winchester where they received new Colours and then Devonport. In September they moved back to Ireland being based first at Athlone and then in April 1846 at Castlebar. Further moves followed – August 1846 to Galway, October 1847 to Dublin, October 1848 to Templemore, April 1850 at Fermoy and in the beginning of 1851 the six service companies went to Cork while the Depot companies went to Birr. In all cases they had detachments elsewhere in the area.

The Crimea 1851-1856

With the tensions with Russia rising the Headquarters Division moved to Corfu arriving 15^th March 1851 with the Depot being left in Ireland. They were represented at the funeral of the Duke of Wellington in 1852. In March 1853 the service companies moved to Malta and a year later the establishment was raised to 16 companies with 1900 men. Eight of the companies were based in Malta and eight in Ireland. When war was declared on the 7^th April 1854 two companies from the depot were sent to Malta to join the rest of the 49^th and during April they moved first to Scutari and then to Veana. After the siege of Silistria had been lifted in July they marched to Yuckasova where they stayed until the 30^th August when they returned to Varna. Here they were formed into 2^nd Brigade, 2^nd Division of the Anglo-French Army along with the 41^st, 47^th, 62^nd and 82^nd Foot. In September they moved to the Crimea bivouacking at the village of Touzla. The battle of Alma commenced on the 20^th September with the 49^th together with the 41^st made a surprise appearance behind the Russians and caused a panic although the 49^th were not seriously engaged. On the 24^th the advance to Sebastapol continued and on the 28^th they moved into positions to the left of Sebastapol and then to Inkerman. They played no part in the battle of Balaclava on the 25^th October but on the next day the Russian defenders tried a sortie out and ran straight into a picquet of the 49^th whose members earned two of the first Victoria Crosses to be awarded. As the piquets fell back before the Russian onslaught they created delay which enabled the rest of the Division to position themselves to meet the threat. This action became known as the First Battle of Inkerman and the 49^th casualties were remarkably light considering the extent of their engagement. The Second Battle took place on the 5^th November and the 2^nd Division was almost caught napping as it was all so quiet before the Russian attack. The 49^th fired a volley which they followed by a bayonet charge and triggered the Russians into a premature attack. The British were facing overwhelming odds and yet managed to panic the Russians into retreat by volleys and bayonet charges. The 49^th lost 2 officers and 49 men killed and one officer and 107 men wounded. After that they dug in and held trenches until the 7^th June 1855 when 200 men of the 49^th joined a British force which stormed the quarries which they continued to hold. A similar pattern of engagement followed until June 1856 after peace had been declared and they were able to return home. Altogther, out of an initial strength of 907 which had been reinforced by 583 they lost 391 killed and 256 died from disease

West Indies 1856-1860

They arrived back in England in July 1856 and were reviewed by Queen Victoria at Aldershot.. The depot had remained in Ireland and the main part of the 49^th moved from Dover to Shorncliffe and then to Portsmouth. In February 1857 they set sail for Barbados for another short spell in the West Indies. From Barbados they had detachments at Demerera and Antigua but it was all relatively quiet and they returned to England on the 16^th May 1860

Home and Away Duties 1860-1881

Back in England they were based first at Aldershot and then Portsmouth in May 1861 with detachments at Weymouth and Portland. In 1862 they moved to Manchester and a brief interlude at Chester. In July 1854 they moved over to Dublin, then in 1865 to Mullingar. In August 1865 the service companies moved to Bombay and the depot to Colchester. The service in India was uneventful and they returned home on November 1854. They were based first at Parkhurst in January 1875 and then in July 1876 at Petersfield for a mobilisation exercise. Moves followed – to Aldershot 20^th July 1876, to Portsmouth 4^th August 1876, to Chobham for Summer exercises June 1877 and then Windsor for review by the Queen on the 10^th July 1877. and finally to Aldershot.

In 1878 in changes which presaged the Cardwell Reforms, the Depot moved to Reading to join that of the 66^th as part of 41^st Brigade. The Service Companies moving to Sheffield on the 5^th November 1878 and then back to Dover on the 25^th March 1879. Their final move was begun on the 8^th March 1881 when they moved to Gibraltar. On the 1^st July 1881 they became the 1^st Battalion of Princess Charlotte of Wales’s Berkshire Regiment.

H11 12/7/2008