Historical Record of the Seventeenth or The Leicestershire Regiment of Foot: From Its Formation in 1688 to 1848

The two companies returned to Cawnpore, where the regiment remained until September, when it commenced its march for Muttra.

In October five companies took the field under Lieut. – Colonel Hardyman, for the purpose of attacking the fort of Comona, and on the 19th of November the breach was stormed with great gallantry; but it was found impracticable, and the troops were forced to retire. The enemy was, however, so fully impressed with a sense of British valour and perseverance, that he fled from the fort during the night. Captains Radcliff and Kirk, Lieutenants Harvey and Harrison, three serjeants, and forty-four rank and file of the SEVENTEENTH were killed in the act of making a gallant effort to ascend the breach; at the same time Lieutenants Wilson, Campbell, and Dadingstone, two serjeants, ninety-three rank and file were wounded. Pay-serjeant Suttle distinguished himself, and was killed at the top of the breach. The conduct of the troops on this occasion was highly commended in General Orders by the Governor-General in Council: Lieut. – Colonel Hardyman of the regiment was particularly noticed.

The other companies of the SEVENTEENTH were afterwards withdrawn from Muttra, and the regiment was employed some time in pursuit of the hostile tribes, which made a short resistance at the fort of Gonoivie, and afterwards fled. The regiment then returned to Muttra.

18081809

In November, 1808, the regiment joined the force under Major-General St. Leger advancing against the Sikhs, and proceeded as far as the river Sutlej without meeting with serious opposition. The dispute being settled by negotiation, no action of importance took place, and in the beginning of May, 1809, the regiment returned to Muttra, where its efficiency was increased by a large detachment from England. In November the regiment marched for Meerut, Muttra being discontinued as a station for European troops.

18101811

The regiment remained at Meerut during the years 1810 and 1811. On the 4th of June of this year Colonel R. Stovin was promoted to the rank of major-general, and was succeeded in the command by Colonel Frederick Hardyman, the second lieut. – colonel.

18121813

From Meerut the regiment marched in November, 1812, for Ghazeepore, where nine companies arrived in January, 1813. Two companies were stationed at Chumar fourteen months, and afterwards joined the regiment. In April, 1813, four companies marched under Captain Despard, to Secrole and Mirzapore, for the purpose of watching and intercepting the bands of marauders called Pindarees, who infested the British territory: these companies rejoined the regiment in June.

1814

The depredations of the Nepaulese having brought on a war with that kingdom, the regiment was called from its quarters at Ghazeepore, to join the army invading that mountainous country. It commenced its march on the 31st of October, and, joining the division under Major-General John Sulivan Wood, was engaged in the unsuccessful attack on Jutgurgh. The Major-General stated in his despatch – "His Majesty's SEVENTEENTH regiment of foot led the column, headed by its gallant commander, Colonel Hardyman, and supported by the grenadiers of the second battalion of the seventeenth and fourteenth regiments of Native infantry, and advanced upon the works; while the grenadiers and one battalion company of His Majesty's SEVENTEENTH succeeded in gaining the hill on the right of the redoubt. This party was led by a brave and cool officer, Captain William Croker, who drove the enemy up the hill, killing a chief, Sooraj Tappah: still the fire from the enemy, concealed by the trees, was kept up with great obstinacy, and the hill which rose immediately behind the works was filled with troops, rendering the post, if it had been carried, wholly untenable. I therefore determined to stop the fruitless waste of lives, by sounding the retreat." The regiment lost several men on this occasion, and had Lieutenants Matthew Pickering and Arthur Poyntz wounded.

Afterwards joining the army under Major-General George Wood, the regiment took part in several operations, and subsequently returned to its cantonments. The rulers of Nepaul were brought to submission.

1815

The regiment was stationed at Ghazeepore during the year 1815.

1816

In 1816 a combination of Native princes against the British authority called part of the regiment into the field; in July of that year the flank companies under Captain Croker proceeded to join a flank battalion forming at Allahabad, to unite with the army proceeding against Scindia, under the Marquis of Hastings.

1817

The battalion companies of the regiment, under Lieut. – Colonel Nicoll, formed, in October, 1817, part of the brigade under Brigadier-General Hardyman, which was ordered to proceed by forced marches towards Nagpore, where a body of British troops was surrounded. On the march a considerable portion of the enemy's troops were discovered in order of battle in front of Jubblepore, with their right to the hills. The enemy's guns were captured by a charge of the eighth Native cavalry, and the Arab infantry were attacked, overpowered, and driven from their ground with severe loss, by the SEVENTEENTH regiment. The two corps were thanked in General Orders for their distinguished conduct on this occasion. The SEVENTEENTH lost a few men, and had Lieutenants Maw and Nicholson wounded.

The enemy evacuated the fortified town of Jubblepore, leaving a quantity of stores; and the regiment continued its march towards Nagpore. Being obliged to halt two or three days at Lucknadoon, for the elephants to come up with provision, information was received of the overthrow of the Nagpore Rajah's forces, and of the termination of his resistance: the regiment then returned to its cantonments at Ghazeepore: it received prize-money for the capture of Nagpore.

1818

The regiment remained at Ghazeepore until December, 1818, when it proceeded by water to Fort William, where it arrived on the 24th of January following.

1819

General Garth died, after commanding the regiment twenty-six years, and was succeeded by Lieut. – General Sir Josiah Champagné, G.C.H., from the forty-first regiment.

In August, Colonel Hardyman was promoted to the rank of Major-General; he was universally esteemed as an officer and a gentleman, and the officers of the regiment resolved to present him with a sword, value one hundred pounds, as a token of their respect; but proceeding to Meerut, to assume the command, he died suddenly of one of the diseases prevalent in that climate, before he received the sword. He was succeeded by Lieut. – Colonel Wilbraham Tollemache Edwards, who, on arriving, assumed the command; Colonel Sir Thomas McMahon, the senior lieut. – colonel, being adjutant-general of His Majesty's forces in India.

1820

On the 21st of December, 1820, the regiment marched for Burhampore; having lost, during the two years it was at Calcutta, eight officers and one hundred and thirty-one soldiers, the cholera being prevalent during that period.

18211822

Arriving at Burhampore on the 8th of January, 1821, the regiment remained at that station until August, 1822, when it proceeded by water to Calcutta, in order to its embarkation for Europe. In November, Colonel Edwards exchanged with Lieut. – Colonel Archibald Maclean of the fourteenth foot.

1823

Four hundred and twelve men volunteered to remain in India: and on the 20th of January, 1823, the regiment embarked at Fort William: on which occasion General Sir E. Paget, Commander-in-Chief in India, issued a General Order, in which he stated, – "The Commander-in-Chief feels it to be a just tribute to this old and distinguished corps to express the high character it has always preserved in Europe, and which his Excellency is happy to find has been maintained during a long service of eighteen years in India.

"A copy of this Order will be submitted to the gracious notice of his Royal Highness the Duke of York, and the Commander-in-Chief takes this opportunity of wishing the regiment a prosperous voyage, and that it may long enjoy its justly-earned reputation."

The regiment landed at Gravesend on the 27th of May, after an absence of nineteen years from Europe, and bringing back four officers and sixty-six non-commissioned officers and soldiers of those who embarked with it in 1804: it lost in India one thousand and twenty-one men by disease and killed in action; and four hundred and twelve were invalided.

The regiment marched to Chatham, and subsequently to Gosport, where it was joined by the depôt. On the 24th of October it was reviewed on Southsea Common with the other troops at Portsmouth, Gosport, &c., by his Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence, afterwards King William IV.; and in November marched to Hull, detaching one company to Carlisle and one to Tynemouth.

1824

In 1824 the regiment commenced practising the new system of drill and field movements, as established in the army at this period, agreeably to the improvements introduced by Major-General Sir Henry Torrens, K.C.B., Adjutant-General of the Forces.

1825

On the 25th of June, 1825, His Majesty King George IV. was graciously pleased to approve of the regiment "bearing on its colours and appointments the figure of the 'Royal Tiger,' with the word 'Hindoostan' superscribed, as a lasting testimony of the exemplary conduct of the corps during the period of its service in India, from 1804 to 1823."

From Hull the head-quarters were removed to Scotland in the summer of this year, and the regiment was stationed at Edinburgh during the winter, with detachments at out-stations. In the beginning of the following year it unanimously subscribed one day's pay of all ranks towards the relief of the distressed operatives of Paisley, where six companies were stationed a short time.

18261827

In the summer of 1826 the regiment marched to Greenock, where it embarked for Liverpool; it was stationed three months in Lancashire, the head-quarters being at Bolton, and in October embarked at Liverpool for Ireland; it landed at Dublin, from whence it marched to Mullingar; where the head-quarters were stationed until April, 1827, when they were removed to Galway.

1829

The regiment remained in Ireland until May, 1829, when it embarked at Dublin for Liverpool, and was quartered in South Britain twelve months.

1830

In 1830 the regiment commenced embarking by detachments for New South Wales.

18361837

After occupying various stations in New South Wales several years, the regiment received orders to transfer its services to India; and it embarked for Bombay in March, 1836; after landing it proceeded to Poona; near which place it was encamped during the year 1837.

1838

The regiment remained at the camp near Poona until November, 1838; during which period events had transpired on the frontiers of Affghanistan, which, connected with the political measures of the chiefs who had assumed the dominion of that country, induced the British government to undertake the restoration of the former sovereign, Shah Shooja-ool-Moolk, to the throne of that kingdom, as a precautionary measure to protect the frontiers of the British dominions in the East against aggression. To take part in this enterprise, the regiment quitted the camp near Poona, and embarked for the mouth of the Indus: it landed in December and proceeded to the ancient town of Tatta, situate in Lower Scinde, upon a rising ground four miles west of the river.

1839

To ensure the course of the Indus, the Bombay division of the army assembling for the invasion of Affghanistan commenced its march from the mouth of that river, through the country occupied by the confederation of the Ameers of Scinde, who refused permission for the British troops to pass in peace through their territory, and a passage had to be effected by forcible means. Hyderabad, the capital, was captured; Kurrachee, the richest city of Scinde, was taken possession of; and the Ameers were brought to submission in the early part of February, 1839. The army then continued its march; passed the great river Indus on a bridge of boats near the fortress of Bukkur; traversed an arid country to Usted, and afterwards marched through the desert plains of Beloochistan to Dadur, occasionally suffering inconvenience from the want of water, and sustaining loss from the hordes of predatory natives.

From Dadur the troops marched through the Bolan Pass, with gloomy crags rising perpendicularly in awful grandeur on each side, to Dusht-i-be-doulut, or the Unhappy Desert, having some camp-followers murdered and baggage plundered, in these wild regions, by the Beloochees. Afterwards continuing the march over difficult mountains and sterile plains, suffering from a deficiency of forage and provision, the army entered Affghanistan, when the Barukzye chiefs fled, and the British troops took possession of Candahar, the capital of Western Affghanistan.

The SEVENTEENTH regiment encamped in the grassy meadows of Candahar nearly two months, and afterwards marched along a valley of dismal sterility to the Turnuck River; then, advancing up the right bank, entered the country of the Ghilzees, and arrived before Ghuznee, a fortress of great strength, garrisoned by three thousand Affghans under Prince Mahomed Hyder Khan, well provided with stores, and every gate, excepting one, blocked up with masonry.

Before daylight on the morning of the 23rd of July, one of the principal gates was destroyed by an explosion of gunpowder; and the British troops rushed in at the opening and captured the strong fortress of Ghuznee by storm. The SEVENTEENTH regiment, commanded by Lieut. – Colonel Croker, had the honour to take a conspicuous share in the capture of this fortress: it led the assault of the citadel, which was captured with little loss, and at five o'clock in the morning its colours were waving triumphantly on the fortress. The loss of the regiment was limited to one private killed and six men wounded. A standard was captured by the SEVENTEENTH, but was afterwards lost by the wreck of a transport in which a part of the regiment was embarked.

From Ghuznee the British army advanced upon Cabool, the capital of Eastern Affghanistan; the army of Dost Mahomed Khan refused to fight in his cause, and the British, proceeding by triumphant marches to the capital, restored Shah Shooja-ool-Moolk to the capital of his dominions in the early part of August.

On the 18th of September the Bombay portion of the "Army of the Indus" left Cabool en route for India. The column reached Ghuznee by the same road it had advanced, and from thence proceeded to Quetta, where it arrived on the 31st of October.

The SEVENTEENTH regiment was afterwards detached, under Major-General Sir Thomas Willshire, against the Khan of Khelat, to reduce this treacherous chief to submission. On the morning of the 13th of November, after a previous march, some fighting, and the assault of the heights commanding the approach to Khelat, on which the enemy had six guns in position, the gate of this strong fortress was blown open, and the second and SEVENTEENTH British and thirty-first Bengal regiments charged into the town in the face of two thousand Beloochees, the élite of the nation, who disputed every foot of ground to the walls of the inner citadel. British valour was, however, triumphant, and the capture of the last stronghold of Beloochistan was accomplished. In this desperate defence the Khan and many of his chiefs were slain. Here also, as at Ghuznee, a standard was taken by the regiment.

The regiment had six rank and file killed; Captain L. C. Bourchier, three serjeants, and twenty-nine rank and file wounded.

Lieut. – Colonel Croker caused the names of Colour-Serjeants J. Dunn and Mills to be entered in the records of the regiment, on account of their bravery at Khelat.

The Chiefs, who had joined in hostile designs against the British interest, having been removed, and a friendly monarch placed on the throne of Affghanistan, a medal was given by the Government of India to the officers and soldiers present at the storming of Ghuznee, which the Queen authorized them to accept and wear.

Her Majesty Queen Victoria was graciously pleased to approve of the regiment bearing on its colours the words "Affghanistan," "Ghuznee," and "Khelat," to commemorate its distinguished conduct in enduring the toils and privations of the campaign in Affghanistan with patient fortitude; its gallantry at the storming of Ghuznee on the 23rd of July; and its heroic conduct at the taking of Khelat on the 13th of November, 1839. Lieut. – Colonel Croker and Major Pennycuick were nominated Companions of the Order of the Bath; and the latter obtained the brevet rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.

Lieut. – Colonel Croker, Brevet Lieut. – Colonel Pennycuick, and Major Deshon were nominated members of the order of the "Dooranée Empire," newly instituted by Shah Shooja, on being restored to the throne of Affghanistan. Major Deshon received the brevet rank of Lieut. – Colonel, and Captain Darley that of Major.

Soon after the capture of Khelat, the regiment continued its journey back to the British territory in India, and arrived in Scinde in December.

1840

On the 6th of February, 1840, the regiment embarked in boats on the great river Indus, and sailed to Tatta, where it arrived on the 13th; eight days afterwards it marched for Kurrachee; and on the 16th of March four companies, and the head-quarters, embarked on board the Hannah transport, and were wrecked on a sand-bank off the mouth of the Indus on the following day. They re-embarked on board the Bernice steamer on the 26th of March, and arrived at Bombay on the 29th of that month.

General Sir Josiah Champagné, G.C.H., died in the beginning of this year; and was succeeded in the colonelcy of the regiment by General Sir Frederick Augustus Wetherall, G.C.H., from the sixty-second regiment.

The regiment embarked from Bombay in April, for Panwell, from whence it proceeded to Poona, leaving a detail on duty at Bombay.

1841

On the 2nd of June, 1841, the regiment left Poona, and arrived at Bombay in ten days. On the 22nd of September the head-quarters and four companies embarked from Bombay for Arabia Felix, and on the 2nd of October arrived at Aden, the capital of a pleasant and fertile district near the mouth of the Red Sea, where a detachment of the regiment arrived from Bombay in October, and another in November.

On the evening of the 5th of October, 1841, a detachment, amounting to about six hundred men, selected from the troops at Aden, proceeded, under the command of Lieut. – Colonel Pennycuick, to attack an Arab force, which had caused much inconvenience by preventing supplies being received from the country. After a severe skirmish of two hours' duration, in the hottest part of the following day, the troops destroyed the Arab post of Sheik Othman, and returned to Aden on the evening of the 6th, having traversed upwards of forty miles of ground in about twenty-two hours.

1842

The head-quarters of the regiment remained at Aden, in Arabia Felix, during the year 1842. In February a detachment proceeded from Bombay to Poona, and in November a detachment marched from Poona to Ahmednuggur: in December four officers and thirty-four rank and file arrived at Aden from Poona.

1843

On the 18th of December, 1842, the venerable General Sir Frederick Augustus Wetherall, G.C.H., after a service of sixty-seven years, and attaining the age of eighty-eight years, died, and Her Majesty Queen Victoria was pleased to confer the colonelcy of the regiment on Lieut. – General Sir Peregrine Maitland, K.C.B., from the seventy-sixth regiment, on the 2nd of January, 1843.

1844

During the years 1843 and 1844 the regiment remained at Aden. In July and August, 1844, the detached wing at Ahmednuggur was affected with cholera. In the course of fifteen days one hundred and eight cases occurred; the deaths during the period amounted to thirty-two. Amongst them was Brevet Lieut. – Colonel Deshon, an officer of the highest talents and character.

During the latter part of the year 1844, and beginning of 1845, a company of the regiment was employed on field service in the southern Mahratta country, where, at the assault of the fort of Munscentosh, four privates were killed; Lieutenant Gardiner, who commanded the company, and one serjeant and five rank and file, were wounded.

1845

The head-quarters of the regiment embarked at Aden on the 13th of March, 1845, and arrived at Bombay on the 7th of April. The left wing marched from Ahmednuggur on the 11th of December, and joined the head-quarters at Bombay on the 26th of the same month.

1846

In the beginning of January, 1846, the regiment, having been selected for field service, embarked at Bombay for Scinde, and on the 11th of January marched from Kurrachee, en route to Bhawulpore; it arrived at Sukkur on the 3rd of February, and on the 16th of that month proceeded on its march towards the Punjaub; but accounts being received of the termination of the war in that country, the troops advanced no further than Bhawulpore, on the Sutlej, where the regiment remained until the 12th of March, when it returned to Sukkur, from whence it embarked for Kurrachee on the 9th of August, 1846.

1847

The regiment embarked at Bombay on the 13th of March, 1847, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Pennycuick, K.H., in the freight-ships Ann and John Brewer, and arrived at Gravesend on the 6th of August, from whence it marched to Canterbury. In November the regiment was removed to Dover.

1848

Apprehensions were entertained that the public peace would be disturbed by the several meetings of Chartists in the vicinity of the Metropolis on Monday, the 10th of April, 1848; and as they appeared determined to unite on Kennington Common, in order to proceed from thence in procession to the House of Commons with their petition, the Government took the usual precautionary measures to prevent tumultuous assemblages of the people. Accordingly the regiment was ordered to proceed from Dover to London on the 8th of April, but happily the meetings dispersed more quietly than was anticipated, and the regiment marched to Portsmouth on the 13th of that month, in which garrison it remained until the 26th of July, when it proceeded to Chatham, where the regiment is doing duty at the period of the termination of this record, on the 1st of November, 1848.

1848

SUCCESSION OF COLONELS OF THE SEVENTEENTH OR THE LEICESTERSHIRE REGIMENT OF FOOT

Solomon RichardsAppointed 27th September, 1688

Solomon Richards served on the Continent in the reign of King Charles II., and in the autumn of 1688 he was nominated by King James II. to raise a corps of pikemen and musketeers, now the SEVENTEENTH regiment of foot, of which he was appointed Colonel on the 27th of September, 1688. At the Revolution he transferred his services to the Prince of Orange, afterwards King William III., who sent him, with his regiment, to the relief of Londonderry. He returned to England, at the suggestion of the governor of Londonderry, who stated the place could not be defended against the army advancing to attack it, and King William, disapproving of his conduct, deprived him of his commission. He was not afterwards employed in the army.

Sir George St. GeorgeAppointed 1st May, 1689

No record of the services of this officer, previous to his appointment to the colonelcy of the SEVENTEENTH regiment on the 1st of May, 1689, has been met with. He served the campaign of 1694 in Flanders; and in 1695 he exchanged to a newly-raised regiment, which was disbanded in 1798.

James CourthorpeAppointed 1st May, 1695

James Courthorpe entered the army in the time of King Charles II., and afterwards commanded a company of foot. He was appointed Colonel of one of the regiments raised for the reduction of Ireland in 1689; and in 1695 he exchanged to the SEVENTEENTH foot. He served in the Netherlands under King William III., and was killed at the head of his regiment when storming the breach of Terra Nova at the Castle of Namur, on the 30th of August, 1695.

Sir Matthew BridgesAppointed 1st September, 1695

After a progressive service in the subordinate commissions, this officer was appointed Lieut. – Colonel in the SEVENTEENTH regiment; he distinguished himself at the storming of the breach of Terra Nova at the Castle of Namur, on the 30th of August, 1695, when he was wounded. King William III. conferred the colonelcy of the regiment upon him, and he served under His Majesty until the treaty of Ryswick in 1697; and subsequently commanded his regiment in Ireland. The date of his decease has not been ascertained.