Historical Record of the First Regiment of Foot

"I have formerly often heard you, sir, eloquently and impressively deliver the thanks of the house to officers present, and never without an anxious wish that I might one day receive this most enviable mark of my country's regard. This honest ambition is now fully gratified, and I am more than ever bound to try to merit the good opinion of the house."

Barrosa was to Lord Lynedoch what Almaraz was to Lord Hill, and Albuhera to Lord Beresford.

After this series of events, and having been appointed a Knight of the Bath in February, 1812, Lieut. – General Sir Thomas Graham joined the army under the Duke of Wellington; but from ill health he was obliged to revisit England for a short period. Early in 1813, however, he returned to the Peninsula, and commanded the left wing of the British army at Vittoria. Mr. Abbott, then Speaker of the House of Commons, (afterwards Lord Colchester,) in alluding to General Graham's distinguished career at this period, stated that his was "a name never to be mentioned in our military annals without the strongest expression of respect and admiration;" and Mr. Sheridan, speaking of the various excellences, personal and professional, which adorned his character, said: —

"I have known him in private life; and never was there seated a loftier spirit in a braver heart."

Alluding to his services in the retreat of the British army to Corunna, he continued: —

"In the hour of peril, Graham was their best adviser; in the hour of disaster, Graham was their surest consolation."

He was second in command at the siege and capture of Ciudad Rodrigo; and commanded the army employed in the siege of St. Sebastian, and also the left wing at the passage of the Bidassoa; but soon after, in consequence of ill health, he was obliged to resign his command to Sir John Hope. In 1814 he was appointed to the command of the forces employed in Holland, and on the 3rd of May in the same year he again received the thanks of Parliament, and was raised to the peerage by the title of Baron Lynedoch, of Balgowan, in the county of Perth.

As years advanced, and the infirmities of age began to accumulate, Lord Lynedoch found the climate of Italy better calculated to sustain his declining energies than the atmosphere and temperature of his own country; he, therefore, spent much time on the continent; but, on a recent occasion, so anxious was he to manifest his sense of loyalty and his personal attachment to the Queen, that when Her Majesty visited Scotland, he came home from Switzerland for the express purpose of paying his duty to Her Majesty in the metropolis of his native land.

Lord Lynedoch's first commission in the army, that of Lieut. – Colonel, was dated 10th February, 1794; and he was promoted Colonel, by brevet, on the 22nd July, 1795. His commissions in the grade of General Officer were, – Major-General, 25th September, 1803; Lieut. – General, 25th July, 1810; and General, 19th July, 1821. He was successively Colonel of the 90th Regiment, at the head of which he continued nearly twenty years; of the 58th; and of the 14th Regiment, from which he was removed to the Royal Regiment on 12th December, 1834, when the Duke of Gordon was appointed to the Colonelcy of the Scots Fusilier Guards. He was also Governor of Dumbarton Castle in North Britain. He wore a Cross for his services at Barrosa (as Commander of the Forces), at Ciudad Rodrigo, Vittoria, and St. Sebastian (where he commanded a division), and he was a Knight Grand Cross of the Bath, and of the foreign Order of St. Michael and St. George.

To advert at greater length to Lord Lynedoch's services as a soldier would be superfluous. Conspicuous, in action for his talents, in council for his sagacity, and in private life for unassuming worth and the most estimable qualities, his character displayed a rare union of skill, chivalry, and amiability, and his widely-spread fame, his long and intimate connexion with the army, which have been the admiration of the present generation, will continue to hold a prominent place in British history. Though his titles have become extinct, he has left behind him a name which will be held in honoured remembrance while loyalty is considered a virtue, and military renown a passport to fame.

Sir George Murray, G.C.B., Appointed 29th December, 1843

Sir George Murray was a native of Scotland, and entered the army at the age of 17, as an Ensign in the 71st Regiment, on the 12th of March, 1789. He was shortly afterwards removed to the 34th Regiment, and to the 3rd Foot Guards in July, 1790, from which time, to the close of the war in 1815, he was almost constantly employed in the active military service of his country, in the Netherlands, in the West Indies, in Egypt, in the north of Europe, and in the peninsula of Spain and Portugal.

He was first under fire with the 3rd Guards in Flanders, and participated in the campaigns of 1793 and the two following years, being present at the affair at St. Amand, sieges of Tamars and Valenciennes, attack of Lincelles, investment of Dunkirk, &c.; and he accompanied the army on its retreat through Holland and Germany.

In 1795 he served as aide-de-camp to Major-General A. Campbell on the expedition to Quiberon Bay; and in the autumn he proceeded to the West Indies with the force under Sir Ralph Abercromby. Having returned home in ill health, he continued on the Staff of Major-General Campbell, first in North Britain, and then in Ireland.

In the year 1799 Lieut. – Colonel Murray was employed in the Quarter-Master General's department of the army under the Duke of York in Holland; and he was wounded in the action on the Helder. He subsequently embarked from Cork for Gibraltar with part of the force destined to be employed under Sir Ralph Abercromby in the Mediterranean; and, being again placed in the Quarter-Master General's department, he was ordered to precede the army to Egypt, for the purpose of making arrangements for the debarkation of the troops. He was present in the action on the landing of the force, in the affairs of the 13th and 21st March, 1801, at the siege of Rosetta, and the investments of Cairo and Alexandria.

From Egypt Lieut. – Colonel Murray proceeded to the West Indies, where he served for twelve months in the situation of Adjutant General.

Returning home, he was, in the early part of 1803, appointed one of the Assistant Quarter-Masters General at head-quarters; in November, 1804, he was appointed Deputy Quarter-Master General to the army in Ireland.

While holding that commission he was detached, as Quarter-Master General, with the expedition to Stralsund, and likewise with the force employed under Lieut. – General the Earl Cathcart at Copenhagen. He resumed his duties in Ireland; and in 1808 was again detached, as Quarter-Master General, with the force sent to the Baltic under Lieut. – General Sir John Moore; and when these troops proceeded to Portugal, Lieut. – Colonel Murray accompanied that force, and was engaged at the battle of Vimiera, at Lugo, and Villa Franca, as well as at Corunna, and his services as a staff officer were particularly alluded to and commended in Lieut. – General Hope's despatch containing the account of that victory.

In the year 1809 Colonel Murray was appointed Quarter-Master General to the army under Lieut. – General Sir Arthur Wellesley, but returned home in 1811, and in May of the following year was appointed Quarter-Master General in Ireland, where he remained until September, 1813, when he again proceeded to the Peninsula, and served there at the head of the Quarter-Master General's department until the close of the war, participating in all the important operations of that eventful period, and evincing all the talents which are indispensable in a staff officer with an army employed in such arduous and trying circumstances: he received a Cross and five Clasps for his services in the field.

In June, 1814, Major-General Sir George Murray was appointed Adjutant-General to the army in Ireland, a situation which he vacated in December following for the purpose of undertaking the governorship of the Canadas; but on the resumption of hostilities in the spring of 1815, he quitted America for the purpose of joining his former companions in arms. He did not, however, succeed in reaching the army until the allies had entered Paris; but he continued to serve on the Continent, with the local rank of Lieut. – General, until the return of the Army of Occupation to England, in 1818.

In August, 1819, Lieut. – General Sir George Murray was appointed Governor of the Royal Military College; in March, 1824, he was nominated Lieut. – General of the Ordnance, and in March, 1825, he proceeded to Dublin as Lieut. – General, commanding the forces in Ireland, where he remained till the year 1828, and in September, 1829, he received the appointment of Governor of Fort George in North Britain.

Sir George Murray's career was not, however, limited to his military employments. Having sat in two successive Parliaments as member for his native county of Perth, he was offered the seals of office as Secretary of State for the Colonial Department, which he accepted, and held from 1828 to 1830. His merits and talents, whether in a military or political point of view, were thus kept in view by the Duke of Wellington, then Prime Minister. In 1834 and 1835 he filled the situation of Master-General of the Ordnance, and in 1841 that appointment was again conferred upon him, and he continued to hold it till within a short period of his decease, which occurred on the 28th July, 1846.

Sir George Murray was successively Colonel commandant of a battalion of the 60th Regiment, Colonel of the 72nd Regiment, and of the 42nd Royal Highlanders, which he held upwards of twenty years, when he was removed to the Colonelcy of the First, or Royal Regiment, in December, 1843.

He was a Knight of the Crescent; and, in addition to the Orders of Leopold of Belgium, St. Alexander Newski of Russia, the Red Eagle of Prussia, the Tower and Sword of Prussia, Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria, and St. Henry of Saxony, Sir George Murray was decorated with the Crosses of the First Class of the Order of the Bath, and of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order.

Sir James Kempt, G.C.B. and G.C.H., Appointed 7th August, 1846

1

A company of 200 men would appear thus: —

The musket carried a ball which weighed 1/10 of a pound; and the harquebus a ball which weighed 1/23 of a pound.

2

The 30th, 31st, and 32nd Regiments were formed as Marine corps in 1702, and were employed as such during the wars in the reign of Queen Anne. The Marine corps were embarked in the Fleet under Admiral Sir George Rooke, and were at the taking of Gibraltar, and in its subsequent defence in 1704; they were afterwards employed at the siege of Barcelona in 1705.

3

The brave Sir Roger Williams, in his Discourse on War, printed in 1590, observes: – "I persuade myself ten thousand of our nation would beat thirty thousand of theirs (the Spaniards) out of the field, let them be chosen where they list." Yet at this time the Spanish infantry was allowed to be the best disciplined in Europe. For instances of valour displayed by the British Infantry during the Seventy Years' War, see the Historical Record of the Third Foot, or Buffs.

4

Vide the Historical Record of the First, or Royal Regiment of Foot.

5

"Under the blessing of Divine Providence, His Majesty ascribes the successes which have attended the exertions of his troops in Egypt, to that determined bravery which is inherent in Britons; but His Majesty desires it may be most solemnly and forcibly impressed on the consideration of every part of the army, that it has been a strict observance of order, discipline, and military system, which has given the full energy to the native valour of the troops, and has enabled them proudly to assert the superiority of the national military character, in situations uncommonly arduous, and under circumstances of peculiar difficulty."General Orders in 1801.

In the General Orders issued by Lieut. – General Sir John Hope (afterwards Lord Hopetoun), congratulating the army upon the successful result of the Battle of Corunna, on the 16th of January, 1809, it is stated: – "On no occasion has the undaunted valour of British troops ever been more manifest. At the termination of a severe and harassing march, rendered necessary by the superiority which the enemy had acquired, and which had materially impaired the efficiency of the troops, many disadvantages were to be encountered. These have all been surmounted by the conduct of the troops themselves; and the enemy has been taught, that whatever advantages of position or of numbers he may possess, there is inherent in the British officers and soldiers a bravery that knows not how to yield, – that no circumstances can appal, – and that will ensure victory when it is to be obtained by the exertion of any human means.

6

Bishop Lesley; and Abercromby's Martial Achievements of the Scots Nation.

7

L'Escosse Françoise, par A. Houston; and the Translator's Preface to Beauge's History of the Campaigns in 1548 and 1549.

8

Bishop Lesley; and Philip de Commines.

9

List of the French army printed at the time.

10

L'Ecosse Françoise, par A. Houston.

11

Histoire de la Milice Françoise, par Le Père Daniel. 2 tom. 4to. Paris, 1721.

12

The companies obtained from the Netherlands were part of a distinguished body of Scots, who had been many years in the service of the States-General of the United Provinces; and were, in consequence of a truce having been concluded for 12 years, at liberty to engage in the service of Sweden. Vide Historical Record of the Third Foot.

13

Introduction de Puffendorf, tome iv. p. 84.

14

Harte's Life of Guslavus Adolphus.

15

The regiment alluded to was raised by Donald Mackay, Lord Reay, in 1626, for the service of the King of Denmark; it was afterwards in the service of the King of Sweden, and was reduced in 1634 to one company. In 1637, Colonel Robert Monro, who had served in the regiment from the time it was raised, published an historical account of its services, under the title of Monro's Expedition; from which history much valuable information has been obtained relating to the Royal Regiment, and its first Colonel, Sir John Hepburn, who had lived in terms of intimacy and strict friendship with Colonel Monro from the time they were schoolfellows.

16

Monro's expedition; and Harte's Life of Gustavus Adolphus.

17

Swedish Intelligencer.

18

Monro's Expedition.

19

The Imperialists had previously enacted a cruel tragedy on a party of Scots at Old Brandenburg.

20

Harte's Life of Gustavus Adolphus; Monro's Expedition; and the Swedish Intelligencer.

21

In a list of Gustavus's army published at the time, in the Mercure François, the regiment is stated to have displayed four colours at the battle of Leipsic.

22

"The King having noticed that the Duke of Saxony was leaving the field, and that Count Tilly was ready to charge his main body, selected 2,000 musketeers of the brave Scots nation, and placed 2,000 horse on their flanks. The Scots formed themselves in several bodies of six or seven hundred each, with their ranks three deep (the King of Sweden's discipline being never to march above six deep;) the foremost rank falling on their knees, the second stooping forward, and the third standing upright, and all giving fire together, they poured, at one instant, so much lead amongst the enemy's horse, that their ranks were broken, and the Swedish horse charging, the enemy were routed." —Account of the battle of Leipsic published at the time.

23

"We were as in a dark cloud, not seeing the half of our actions, much less discerning either the way of our enemies, or the rest of our brigades; whereupon, having a drummer by me, I caused him to beat the Scots March, till it cleared up, which re-collected our friends unto us." —Monro's Expedition.

24

Monro's Expedition.

25

"His Majesty, accompanied by a great and honourable train of cavaliers, alighted from his horse at the head of our brigade; the officers coming together about his Majesty in a ring, his Majesty made a speech of commendation of the brigade, thanking them for their good service, and exhorting them to the continuation thereof, promised he would not forget to reward them; and turning towards the superior officers, they did kiss his Majesty's hand; the inferior officers and soldiers crying aloud, they hoped to do his Majesty better service than ever they had done." —Monro's Expedition.

26

Harte.

27

"The foot brigades were commanded to their several posts. Colonel Hepburn's brigade (according to custom) was directed to the most dangerous post, next the enemy; and the rest to theirs. The night coming on, we began our approaches, and prepared for making ready our attacks, when certain men were ordered to make cannon baskets, some to provide materials, some to watch, some to dig, some to guard the artillery, some to guard the workmen, and some to guard the colours before the brigade. The day approaching, we having made ready the batteries in the night, the service on both sides beginneth with cannon and musket." —Monro's Expedition.

28

Monro gives the name of every British officer above the rank of Captain in the Swedish army. Many Scots officers had been promoted to the command of Swedish, Finland, and Dutch regiments.

29

"Here also we see the valour of Hepburn and his brigade praiseworthy, being, first and last, the instruments of the enemy's overthrow." —Monro's Expedition.

"The King returned Hepburn public thanks for suggesting the idea of crossing the Wernitz, and for executing his plan with such judgement and valour." —Harte's Life of Gustavus Adolphus.

30

In some accounts of the battle of Lützen the Green Brigade, of which Hepburn's regiment formed a part, is mentioned by mistake amongst the troops engaged, instead of the White Brigade. As Colonel Monro commanded the brigade at the time the battle was fought, his narrative is considered sufficient authority for stating that it was not present.

31

Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden was born on the 9th of December, 1594. He learnt the duty of a musketeer as soon as he could carry a musket; and when seventeen years of age he was Colonel of a Cavalry corps, and served a campaign against the Danes. In the same year (1611) his father died, and the young Gustavus succeeded to the throne of Sweden; and he soon afterwards evinced, to the surprise of all Europe, the most distinguished abilities as a commander, a hero, and a politician. The discipline which he introduced into his army was strict beyond all precedent, and to this many of his victories may be attributed. His improvements in arms, equipment, and in military tactics, were particularly important; and he was brave even to rashness. He was wounded in action on six different occasions, had three horses killed under him, and was several times in the power of the enemy, but was rescued by his own men. On the fatal 6th of November, 1632, he fought sword in hand at the head of the Smoland cavalry, and was shot through the left arm, but continued fighting until his voice and strength failed from loss of blood, when he attempted to retire. At that instant an Imperial cavalier came galloping forward, and, crying "Long have I sought thee," shot the King through the body; and the next moment one of his Majesty's attendants shot the cavalier dead on the spot. As the King and his attendants were retiring, they were charged by a troop of cuirassiers; his Majesty was held for a few moments on the saddle, but his horse, being shot in the shoulder, made a desperate plunge, and threw the rider to the ground. After his fall the King received five wounds in different parts of his body, and was shot through the head. Thus fell the brave Gustavus, the most distinguished warrior of his age; with whose life the early services of Hepburn's regiment, now represented by the First, or Royal Regiment of Foot, are intimately connected.

32

Monro's Expedition.

33

"The most deplorable accident was the death of the Scottish "Colonel Hepburn, who, with his usual coolness, surveying the breach, received a ball in his neck, and died, extremely regretted in the army, and by the Court of France." —Anderson's History of France, vol. v. p. 90.

"Le combat fut fort opiniâtre en ceste prise, et de telle façon; que le Colonel Hebron Escossois, y fut tué d'une mousquetade dans le col, qui luy passoit dans les reins, ayant laissé une reputation digne de sa valeur, fidelité, et experience au fait de la guerre." —Mercure François, tom. xxi. p. 277.

34

The following return of the establishment of the regiment in 1637 was procured by its Colonel, General Lord Adam Gordon, who died in 1801: —

35

In a plan of the siege of Hesdin, published at Paris in 1639, Douglas' Scots Regiment appears formed in brigade with the Regiment of Champaigne.

36

The three Scots regiments in the service of France at this period, are designated by the French historians, the regiments of Douglas, Chambers, and Praslin.

37

Père Daniel.

38

Mercure François; and Le Histoire Militaire de Louis le Grand, par M. Le Marquis de Quincy.

39

This division consisted of the following corps; viz.: The French Guards, the Swiss Guards, the regiments of Picardy, Douglas, La Meilleraie, Grancy, and Molondin. —Mercure François.

40

Account of the battle of Lens, published at the time; Life of the Prince of Condé; and Histoire Militaire de Louis le Grand.

41

A detailed account of this action is given in the Life of King James II., from the memoirs written with his own hand, and published by the Rev. J. S. Clarke in 1818. His Majesty was then (1652) Duke of York, and was serving with the French Army, of which Douglas' Regiment formed part.

42

Life of King James II., from the Memoirs written with his own hand.

43

The forces were designated by the following titles: —

44

"Ce Régiment de Douglas, étant en garnison à Avesnes en 1661, eut ordre de passer en Angleterre, où il rendit des services très considerables au Roy Charles II.

"Il n'était que de huit compagnies en partant de France, et se trouva en y revenant, un an aprés, de trente-trois compagnies, qui étoient composées pour le moins de cent hommes chacune. Mylord George Douglas l'a toujours commandé en France." —Père Daniel.

45