Richard Cannon

“ The fame of the deeds of the past and present generations in the various battle-fields where the robust sons of Albion have fought and conquered, surrounds the British arms with a halo of glory; these achievements will live in the page of history to the end of time. ”

“ An assembly of Candian chiefs declared the Malbar dynasty deposed, and the provinces of Candy united to the dominions of the British crown. Thus was an extensive tract of country, bountifully endowed with natural gifts, and producing the necessaries and luxuries of life, including spices, metals, and precious stones, added to the British dominions; a numerous race of human beings, of a peculiarly interesting character, was delivered from the power of despotism, and brought under the advantages of the just government and equitable laws of Great Britain. ”

“ The natives of Britain have, at all periods, been celebrated for innate courage and unshaken firmness, and the national superiority of the British troops over those of other countries has been evinced in the midst of the most imminent perils. History contains so many proofs of extraordinary acts of bravery, that no doubts can be raised upon the facts which are recorded. ”

“ The arms and equipment of the British Troops have seldom differed materially, since the Conquest, from those of other European states; and in some respects the arming has, at certain periods, been allowed to be inferior to that of the nations with whom they have had to contend; yet, under this disadvantage, the bravery and superiority of the British infantry have been evinced on very many and most trying occasions, and splendid victories have been gained over very superior numbers. ”

“ In Great Britain, where so large a number of persons are devoted to the active concerns of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, and where these pursuits have, for so [v] long a period, being undisturbed by the presence of war, which few other countries have escaped, comparatively little is known of the vicissitudes of active service and of the casualties of climate, to which, even during peace, the British Troops are exposed in every part of the globe, with little or no interval of repose. ”

“ The war with France was continued, a British army was fighting for the liberties of Europe in Portugal and Spain, and in 1810 the English government resolved to deprive Napoleon of the Isle of France, now called the Mauritius, the only remaining territory in the possession of France, in the East. To take part in this enterprise, four companies of the NINETEENTH regiment embarked from Ceylon on the 6th of September, 1810. The expedition rendezvoused at the island of Rodriguez, from whence it sailed to the Isle of France, and a landing was effected on the 29th of November. ”

“ In their tranquil enjoyment of the blessings which the country derives from the industry and the enterprise of the agriculturist and the trader, its happy inhabitants may be supposed not often to reflect on the perilous duties of the soldier and the sailor,—on their sufferings,—and on the sacrifice of valuable life, by which so many national benefits are obtained and preserved. ”

“ During a great part of the reign of Queen Elizabeth each company of infantry usually consisted of men armed five different ways; in every hundred men forty were "men-at-arms," and sixty "shot;" the "men-at-arms" were ten halberdiers, or battle-axe men, and thirty pikemen; and the "shot" were twenty archers, twenty musketeers, and twenty harquebusiers, and each man carried, besides his principal weapon, a sword and dagger. ”

“ The weapons carried by the infantry, during the several reigns succeeding the Conquest, were bows and arrows, half-pikes, lances, halberds, various kinds of battle-axes, swords, and daggers. Armour was worn on the head and body, and in course of time the practice became general for military men to be so completely cased in steel, that it was almost impossible to slay them. ”

“ Thomas Erle evinced attachment to the principles of the Revolution of 1688, and on the 8th of March, 1689, he was commissioned to raise a regiment of foot for the service of King William III., which was afterwards disbanded. He proceeded with his regiment to Ireland in 1689, and proved an officer of great merit and personal bravery. He served under King William at the battle of the Boyne, and at the siege of Limerick in 1690 ”

“ In 1664 King Charles II. raised a corps for sea-service, styled the Admiral's regiment. In 1678 each company of 100 men usually consisted of 30 pikemen, 60 musketeers, and 10 men armed with light firelocks. In this year the King added a company of men armed with hand-grenades to each of the old British regiments, which was designated the "grenadier company." ”

“ The authority of King William being resisted in Ireland, an army was sent to that country under Marshal Duke Schomberg, and in March, 1690, the NINETEENTH received orders to send five hundred and twenty men to Ireland, to replace the losses sustained by many regiments at the unhealthy camp of Dundalk. The regiment afterwards sent a detachment to the West Indies, where nearly all the men died. ”

“ In 1761 the regiment was placed under the orders of Major-General Hodgson, for the attack of one of the French islands off the coast of Brittany, called Belle-Isle. The expedition appeared before this place on the 7th of April; but the whole island was found like one vast fortress, the little which nature had left undone by rocks and crags having been supplied by art ”

“ Companies of infantry varied at this period in numbers from 150 to 300 men; each company had a colour or ensign, and the mode of formation recommended by an English military writer (Sir John Smithe) in 1590 was:—the colour in the centre of the company guarded by the halberdiers; the pikemen in equal proportions, on each flank of the halberdiers: half the musketeers on each flank of the pikes; half the archers on each flank of the musketeers, and the harquebusiers (whose arms were much lighter than the muskets then in use) in equal proportions on each flank of the company for skirmishing. ”

“ To hold forth these bright examples to the imitation of the youthful soldier, and thus to incite him to emulate the meritorious conduct of those who have preceded him in their honorable career, are among the motives that have given rise to the present publication. ”

“ Major-General Sutton was promoted to the rank of lieut.-general in 1735, and died in 1738, when the colonelcy of the regiment was conferred on Colonel the Honorable Charles Howard, from captain and lieut.-colonel in the foot guards. ”

“ The British troops advanced into the kingdom of Candy, in seven divisions, in the beginning of February, 1815, and the NINETEENTH regiment marched from Trincomalee to take part in this service. The soldiers underwent great fatigue in crossing mountains, passing morasses and rivers, and traversing regions inhabited only by the wild beasts of the forest ”

“ The indefatigable activity, zeal, and ability, which that officer has displayed, since his assumption of the command in that district, has fully justified the high opinion which his Excellency had formed of him from his former services, and which induced the Governor to appoint him to that arduous station, in a time of such extreme difficulty and discouragement." The governor also expressed his approbation of the conduct of the officers and soldiers serving under Captain Beaver. ”

“ The allies did not bring into the field a force sufficiently numerous to contend with the immense armies [18] of France, and the consequence was a disastrous campaign, and a retreat through Holland to Germany during the frosts and snow-storms of an unusually severe winter; and the NINETEENTH shared, with other regiments, in the sufferings occasioned by these operations. The regiment was engaged under Major-General Lord Cathcart in the attack of the enemy's post at Tuyl on the 30th of December, when it had five men killed and wounded ”

“ Having lost a number of men from the effects of the climate, the regiment was withdrawn from the West Indies, and was stationed in Ireland in 1704; in 1705 it embarked for England, and landed near Chester in October. ”

“ In the official Reports made by the respective Commanders, ample justice has generally been done to the gallant exertions of the Corps employed; but the details of their services and of acts of individual [vi] bravery can only be fully given in the Annals of the various Regiments. ”

“ The NINETEENTH, mustering eight hundred men, under Lieut.-Colonel Robert Douglas, evinced great gallantry on this occasion in the assault of the enemy's entrenchments on the shore; the officers and soldiers rushed to the attack with heroic bravery, but were unable to ascend the steep acclivity; they attempted to help one another up, under a heavy fire, but failed, and were ordered to re-embark.
The regiment lost Lieutenant Dougal Stuart, three serjeants, one drummer, and forty-seven rank and file killed; Major Lumisden, one serjeant, one drummer, and thirty-eight rank and file wounded ”

“ The service companies proceeded in the Resistance troop-ship from Malta to the Ionian Islands on the 9th of January, 1843, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Hay, and arrived at Corfu on the 20th of the same month; five days afterwards the head-quarters and three companies embarked in the Boyne transport for Cephalonia.
In October, 1843, the depôt companies marched from Dover to Winchester, and from thence to Portsmouth, where they embarked for Jersey. ”