Devonshire Regiment

“ The infantry seize ridge facing hill.
The infantry were already over the railway, and moving forward—Gloucester regiment on the left, Liverpool regiment on the right—up the gentle but protected slope, swelling to the summit of the low ridge of Rietfontein. The 1st Devonshire regiment, in support, lay at the base, whilst the 2nd King's Royal Rifles remained in rear in charge of the baggage. On the appearance of the leading companies upon the crest, firing broke out from the whole length of the crest of Intintanyoni, to which the British infantry, lying prone, soon replied as vigorously. ”

“ The cavalry guarded the left flank passively, and I remember no particular incident except that our own artillery flung the fragments of two premature shells among us and wounded a soldier in the Devonshire Regiment. The following fact, however, is instructive. Captain Stewart's squadron of the South African Light Horse dismounted, held an advanced kopje all day long under a heavy fire, and never lost a man. Two hundred yards further back was another kopje held by two companies of regular infantry under equal fire. The infantry had more than twenty men hit. ”

“ This photograph was taken on the battlefield, and represents the Devonshire regiment in a position facing Pepworth Hill, firing from behind boulders, which form an effective cover. One of the men, having just fired, has risen to watch the effect of his shot. The photograph demonstrates the absence of smoke from modern rifle-fire.
Last of all, on the extreme British right, was General French with the whole of the cavalry. Only a skeleton force was left behind to defend Ladysmith. The main attack was to be delivered by Hamilton's brigade upon Pepworth Hill. ”

“ When you have been quartered here a bit longer you will be ready to admit the truth of the general opinion, that, in point of pretty women, Devonshire can hold its own against any county in England. No, there is no fear whatever of your coming in too great strength. Of course, in Plymouth here, one can overdo the thing, but when one gets beyond the beat of the garrison, men are at a premium. I saw my mother's list; if it had not been for the regiment the female element would have predominated terribly. ”

“ A numerous body of the enemy landed, and, on the 18th of December, stormed the post of La Vigie, which was occupied by the grenadiers and light infantry (of which the flank companies of the FORTY-SIXTH formed part) , and the fifth regiment, under Brigadier-General Medows. The enemy amounted to nine thousand men, commanded by Monsieur D'Estaing, the Marquis de Bouillé, and M. Lavendahl, and advanced in three columns; their first two attacks were made, to quote the words of Major-General Grant's despatch, "with the impetuosity of Frenchmen, and repulsed with the determined bravery of Britons." ”

“ Kingston would inevitably have been destroyed, if the enemy had kept possession of Dorsetshire Hill, and sixty rank and file of the FORTY-SIXTH, under Captain William Cooper Forster, of that regiment, were immediately detached with other troops to attack the foe at daybreak. ”

“ Two companies of them, towsy-headed and bare-legged, but loud in hymn and prayer, had come out from their fastnesses to help the Protestant cause. At their heels came the woodmen and lumberers of Bishop’s Lidiard, big, sturdy men in green jerkins, and the white-smocked villagers of Huish Champflower. The rear of the regiment was formed by four hundred men in scarlet coats, with white cross-belts and well-burnished muskets. These were deserters from the Devonshire Militia, who had marched with Albemarle from Exeter, and who had come over to Monmouth on the field at Axminster. ”

“ The whole camp was in a stir, bugles blowing and drums rattling, until in a very short time the army was drawn up in order, and the forlorn of cavalry had already started along the road which leads to Bath. Five hundred horse with the Devonshire militiamen were in the van. After them in order came the sailor regiment, the North Somerset men, the first Taunton regiment of burghers, the Mendip and Bagworthy miners, the lace and wool-workers of Honiton, Wellington, and Ottery St. Mary; the woodmen, the graziers, the marsh-men, and the men from the Quantock district. ”

“ Previously to the FORTY-SIXTH quitting Vellore an Order was issued by Colonel Hall, commanding the troops at that garrison, in which he stated "that during the period the regiment had been in the garrison, he had not had occasion to confine or pass a censure on any rank," and then added, "that a stronger [53] proof cannot be offered of the excellent interior arrangement and discipline of the corps." ”

“ On the 31st of October, 1824, a detachment of the regiment, consisting of one captain, four lieutenants, eight serjeants, nine corporals, two drummers, and a hundred and forty-four privates, under the command of Captain Charles Dawe, proceeded from Bellary towards the southern Mahratta country, and was joined on the 10th of November by a second detachment of the FORTY-SIXTH from Belgaum, under the command of Captain William Nairn, consisting of one captain, one lieutenant, one ensign, five serjeants and one hundred rank and file. ”

“ On this occasion the FORTY-SIXTH regiment was formed in brigade with the fifteenth, twenty-eighth, and fifty-fifth regiments, under Major-General Prescott.
The expedition sailed from Carlisle Bay on the 12th of December, a landing was effected at St. Lucia on the following day, and on the 14th the French troops were driven from several important posts. In the meantime a French armament of very superior numbers approached the island, and the British took up positions to repel the enemy. The French fleet made a desperate attack on the British naval force, but was repulsed. ”

“ The FORTY-SIXTH regiment occupied an old transport ship as a barrack, and being actively employed during the winter in constant escorts of ammunition, was continually attacked between that place and New Brunswick, on the way to Trenton, Princetown, and Burlington, where the advance of the British army had taken up winter quarters. ”

“ At first they marched to the station, but, shortly before the Battalion left Devonshire Camp, the system of conveying them by motor bus was started. The train took them as far as Hellfire Corner, from which point they marched up to their work. Only haversack rations were taken, but tea was made on the spot. Hot dinners were ready on their return to camp, which was not until fairly late in the afternoon. The working parties were occasionally troubled by enemy shelling and on one occasion C Company suffered casualties. Most men were ready for bed very early in those days. ”

“ Where all deserve so much praise, it is difficult to discriminate, but the good fortune of the grenadiers of the FORTY-SIXTH regiment, under Captain Alexander Ogilvie, and of the First Light Infantry Battalion, under Lieut.-Colonel David Stewart, brought their merits conspicuously forward. ”

“ The regiment remained in North America until October 1761, when it embarked for Barbadoes, where an armament was being assembled for the attack of the French West India Islands, and the land forces were placed under the orders of Major-General the Honorable Robert Monckton. ”

“ They lost 16 officers, 325 men; only 4 officers and 67 men came out unwounded. The 11th captured a battery of guns and a green standard without an eagle. The 122nd French Regiment, which was opposed to the 11th with two battalions, numbering 2,200 strong, the next day only mustered 200 men; they were mostly taken prisoners. Captain Lord Clinton, uncle of our late Lord Lieutenant, was despatched with the news direct from the field, and carried with him the green standard. He landed at Plymouth, and in a chaise and four rattled up the road to London. ”

“ An Ordnance regiment was raised in 1685, by order of King James II., to guard the artillery, and was designated the Royal Fusiliers (now 7th Foot) . This corps, and the companies of grenadiers, did not carry pikes.
King William III. incorporated the Admiral's regiment in the second Foot Guards, and raised two Marine regiments for sea-service. During the war in this reign, each company of infantry (excepting the fusiliers and grenadiers) consisted of 14 pikemen and 46 musketeers; the captains carried pikes; lieutenants, partisans; ensigns, half-pikes; and serjeants, halberds. ”

“ McCarthy and his party, in July, came up with the main body, consisting of eleven desperate characters, and headed by a deserter from the seventy-third regiment, named Geary. They were all armed, each with a musket and a brace of pistols, and well supplied with ammunition. The corporal and his men, now reduced to five, engaged them for an hour and a half, when the leader of the bushrangers being mortally wounded, his followers endeavoured to escape ”

“ On the 8th of September, 1817, the regiment embarked in three divisions at Sydney Cove on board the "Matilda," "Lloyd," and "Dick" transports, and arrived at Madras on the 16th of December following. On the 29th of that month the regiment marched for Vellore. ”

“ On the 1st of August Lord Churchill was appointed colonel of the third troop of life guards, and the colonelcy of the Royal Dragoons was conferred on Lieutenant-Colonel Viscount Cornbury. The two troops of the regiment having returned from Carlisle, the whole were stationed in London in October, and subsequently marched into quarters in Devonshire. ”

“ The present times are so critical, that the idea of a soldier's life is full of terror in the breast of a tender female. Nancy Johnson was in a state of distraction, which the consciousness of her being rather too severe in a late dispute with her lover served to heighten, as she fancied herself the cause of his resolution. Being a fine young man of six feet, he was too eligible an object for the Colonel to wish to part from. Great intercession, however, was made, but to no effect, for he was ordered to join the regiment. You must conceive the distress of the whole family ”

“ The British landed, completed the destruction of the magazines, barracks, &c., and subsequently returned to their former quarters at New York.
Afterwards taking the field with the army in the Jerseys, the FORTY-SIXTH regiment was engaged in the operations designed to bring the enemy to a general engagement; but the Americans kept close in their fortified lines in the mountains; an expedition against the populous and wealthy city of Philadelphia was next undertaken. ”

“ Also I carried a letter from his lordship to the Earl of Nottingham, Secretary of State, praying him to send a regiment or two into Devonshire; for with the exception of the Tangier Horse there were no regular troops nearer to Exeter than Bristol or Plymouth. And even [78] now, in consequence of a riot arising out of a drunken brawl, my lord had been compelled, at the urgent demands of the most influential citizens, to send the regiment out of the city; whence they had marched the day before as far as Exmouth, so great was the fear inspired by their licentiousness. ”

“ The first was Lord Forbes's regiment, one of the many Irish corps brought over to England by King James in 1688, and the only one which, being made up entirely of Protestants, was not disbanded by William at his accession. It is still with us as the Eighteenth Royal Irish. The next three were corps which had been raised for the support of the Protestant cause at [337] the Revolution. The first of them was a regiment of horse raised by the Earl of Devonshire among his tenantry in Derbyshire, which, long known by the name of the Black Horse, now bears the title of the Seventh Dragoon Guards. ”

“ It was a cold, frosty night, and the stars twinkl’d exceedingly; besides, the Ground was very wet after so much Rain and ill Weather; the Souldiers were to stand to their Arms the whole Night, at least to be all in a readiness if anything should happen, or the enemy make an Assault; and therefore sundry Souldiers were to fetch some old Hedges and cut down green Wood to burn therewith, to make some Fire. Now 164one Regiment beginning all the rest soon followed their Example. ”

“ In February, 1762, the regiment shared in the capture of Martinique, which was followed by the reduction of Grenada, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent; and in August following was present at the conquest of the Havannah, which last acquisition was restored to Spain at the Peace of 1763.
The regiment embarked in 1776, for North America, and shared in several actions of the war with the United States until November, 1778, when it proceeded to the West Indies, and participated in the capture of St. ”

“ The 1st Devon battalion, which, as one of the best here, and trusted for its steadiness in all circumstances, was given the most vulnerable point to hold, has busied itself in the formation of works that promise to make Helpmakaar Hill impregnable, thoughPg 48 its long, low spur is exposed to artillery fire from Bulwaan and Lombard's Kop and the scrub-screened nek between them. The works there show what can be done under difficulties by a good regiment toiling cheerfully to carry out the orders of good officers. ”

“ In the Civil War between Charles I and the Parliament, few counties saw more fighting than Devonshire. The fighting consisted, however, not of pitched battles, but of sieges and attacks on fortified positions; which, indeed, was characteristic of the whole war, in whatever part of the country it was waged. Every Devonshire town of importance, a great number of villages, many castles, manor-houses, and even churches played a part in the struggle. ”