Part 5
On the 25th of December 1830, the regiment commenced wearing the royal uniform and appointments, in compliance with the Adjutant-General’s letter of the 15th of October 1827: also Oxford-mixture pantaloons, which were introduced into the army by circular, dated 10th of February 1829.
By circular letter from the Adjutant-General, dated the 18th of March, a red fatigue jacket was substituted for the infantry of the army, in lieu of the white jacket formerly in wear.
By a circular letter from the Adjutant-General, dated the 22nd of April, regiments were directed not to recruit beyond six hundred and sixty rank and file, being eighty under the nominal establishment of seven hundred and forty.
The regiment was twice inspected at Manchester by Major-General Sir Henry Bouverie, on the 21st of November 1829, and the 28th of May 1830, on which last occasion the Major-General declared that it had gained, in all respects, his most unqualified approbation.
The regiment remained at Manchester until July 1830, when it was removed to Bolton-le-Moors: it embarked for Ireland in September following, and was stationed at Newry until November, when it returned to England, and was quartered at Plymouth.
[Sidenote: 1831.]
On the 1st of January 1831, an orderly-room clerk was authorised to be borne on the establishment.
In the early part of the year 1831, directions were given for the formation of the regiment into six service and four depôt companies, and on the 23rd of February the service companies embarked for the Mauritius, where they arrived in June following: the depôt companies were left at Devonport.
[Sidenote: 1833.]
[Sidenote: 1834.]
The depôt companies remained at Devonport until October 1833, when they proceeded to Fort Cumberland; from thence to Gosport in December following, and to Portsmouth in February 1834.
On the 15th of August 1834, Major-General Sir Thomas Reynell, Bart., K.C.B., was removed from the colonelcy of the Ninety-ninth to that of the EIGHTY-SEVENTH regiment, in succession to General Sir John Doyle, Bart., G.C.B., deceased.
[Sidenote: 1835.]
[Sidenote: 1839.]
The depôt companies remained at Portsmouth until August 1835, when they were moved to Chatham: they embarked for Ireland in August 1836, and were stationed at Nenagh; proceeded to Birr in September 1837, to Longford in December, and Castlebar in May following, where they remained until April 1839, when they were removed to Boyle: they proceeded to Virginia in July, to Drogheda in August, and to Dublin in September 1839.
On the 12th of August 1839, the establishment of the EIGHTY-SEVENTH Royal Irish Fusiliers was increased to forty-seven serjeants, fourteen drummers, forty corporals, and seven hundred and sixty privates.
[Sidenote: 1840.]
[Sidenote: 1841.]
[Sidenote: 1842.]
The depôt companies of the regiment returned to England in June 1840, and were stationed at Carlisle: they were removed to Tynemouth in May, and to Hull in June 1841: they remained at the latter station until August 1842, when they proceeded to Airdrie, and in the following month they marched to Paisley.
On the 15th of March 1841, Major-General Sir Hugh (now Viscount) Gough, K.C.B., was removed from the colonelcy of the Ninety-ninth to that of the EIGHTY-SEVENTH regiment, in succession to Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Reynell, Bart., K.C.B., appointed to the Seventy-first light infantry.
[Sidenote: 1843.]
The number of drummers on the establishment of the regiment was increased from fourteen to seventeen, on the 1st of April 1843.
The service companies had continued at the Mauritius from June 1831 to the 20th of June 1843, when they embarked for the United Kingdom on board Her Majesty’s ship “Thunderer,” and disembarked at Devonport on the 30th of September 1843.
On the 29th of September 1843, the depôt companies marched from Paisley _en route_ to Fort George.
The head-quarters of the regiment were embarked for Scotland on the 2nd, and arrived at Glasgow on the 4th of October 1843; and on the 29th the depôt companies were taken on the strength, and amalgamated with the regiment.
[Sidenote: 1844 to 1847.]
The regiment remained at Glasgow until August 1844, when it marched for Edinburgh, and in July 1845 it moved to Aberdeen: in September 1846 the regiment proceeded to Newport in Monmouthshire, and in September 1847 it marched for Weedon.
[Sidenote: 1848.]
On the 1st of April 1848, the regiment was augmented to fifty-seven serjeants, twenty-one drummers, fifty corporals, and nine hundred and fifty privates, and another serjeant was added in the following year, to raise it to the India establishment.
[Sidenote: 1849.]
The regiment proceeded to Gravesend in April 1849, and on the 20th of that month it embarked for the East Indies, and arrived at Calcutta on the 31st of July 1849, and is at present serving in the Bengal presidency.
[Sidenote: 1853.]
The depôt company was moved, in March 1849, from Weedon to Chatham, where it now continues a part of the provisional battalion.
1853.
[Illustration: QUEEN’S COLOR
REGIMENTAL COLOR
THE 87^{TH} REGIMENT OR THE ROYAL IRISH FUSILIERS
FOR CANNONS MILITARY RECORDS
_Madeley lith 3, Wellington S^t. Strand_]
FOOTNOTES:
[6] A list of the battalions formed from men raised under the “_Army of Reserve_” and “_Additional Force Acts_” is inserted in pages 97, &c. of the Appendix.
[7] In June 1806, _Buenos Ayres_ had been captured by the British under Brigadier-General William Carr Beresford, afterwards General Viscount Beresford; the place was, however, recovered by the Spaniards in August following, and the troops became prisoners.
In the autumn of 1806, an armament, consisting of the Ninth and Seventeenth light dragoons, detachment of the Twenty-first light dragoons, Royal artillery and engineers, Fortieth, first battalion of the EIGHTY-SEVENTH, and Ninety-fifth (rifle corps) regiments, proceeded to share in the contest in South America. In October the Thirty-eighth regiment commanded by Colonel Vassal, and the Forty-seventh, under Colonel Backhouse, proceeded from the Cape of Good Hope to the Rio de la Plata, and on finding that Buenos Ayres had been recaptured by the Spaniards, the troops under the command of Colonel Backhouse, in conjunction with the naval squadron under Commodore Sir Home Popham, took possession of the town of Maldonado, and the island of Gorreti, on the left bank of the river Plate. In the summer of 1807 an expedition for a second attempt on Buenos Ayres proceeded to that part of the world, under the command of Lieut.-General Whitelocke, who assumed the command of the troops in South America. Other corps had also proceeded to South America, of which a list is inserted in the Appendix, page 91.
[8] Lieutenant Fenton was promoted to the rank of Captain in the EIGHTY-SEVENTH regiment on the 22nd of April 1817.
[9] A Memoir of the services of Lieut.-Colonel Shawe, is inserted in the Appendix, page 95.
HISTORICAL RECORD
OF THE
SECOND BATTALION
OF
THE EIGHTY-SEVENTH REGIMENT,
OR THE
ROYAL IRISH FUSILIERS.
[Sidenote: 1804.]
The British Government continued to adopt the most vigorous measures for the defence of the kingdom, and for the prosecution of the war. In addition to the acts of Parliament passed in July 1803 for raising “_The Army of Reserve_,” further Acts were passed in June and July 1804 for levying a larger number of men in the several counties of Great Britain and Ireland, which were termed the “_Additional Force Acts_.”
The EIGHTY-SEVENTH regiment was augmented by a second battalion, which, with seven other regiments, was appointed to receive men raised in _Ireland_ under the act of the 14th of July 1804; the men raised in the counties of _Tipperary_, _Galway_, and _Clare_, were allotted to the EIGHTY-SEVENTH regiment; the assembling quarter of the second battalion was appointed at Frome in Somersetshire, and the battalion was placed on the establishment of the army, from the 25th of December 1804, at six hundred rank and file, which was augmented in the following year to eight hundred, and in the year 1807 to one thousand rank and file, and continued at that number to December 1814, when it was reduced to eight hundred, and from December 1815 to six hundred rank and file.
[Sidenote: 1805.]
The second battalion marched from Frome to Bristol in March 1805, and embarked for Ireland.
[Sidenote: 1806.]
On the 27th of October 1806 the battalion, consisting of twenty-nine serjeants, nine drummers, and five hundred and sixty-eight rank and file, embarked from Ireland for England.
[Sidenote: 1807.]
On the 27th of April 1807 the battalion embarked at Plymouth, and proceeded to Guernsey.
The following report was made to Lieut.-General Sir John Doyle, Bart., commanding the troops at Guernsey, by Brigadier-General John Fraser, after his inspection of the second battalion of the EIGHTY-SEVENTH regiment.
“_Guernsey, 30th June 1807._ “SIR,
“I have the honor to report, that when I minutely inspected the second battalion of the EIGHTY-SEVENTH regiment two months after their arrival in this island, I found every thing in a state of perfection that would have done credit to an old established regiment, and which could not have been expected in a battalion so lately formed. The flank companies are uncommonly fine. The battalion men are in general of good size, young and stout, and the whole appear healthy and well fed: they march well, are steady under arms, and perfect in their discipline. The interior regulations are excellent, barracks and hospital clean, books regular, women and children decent in their appearance, _and every thing to be commended_. The appointments are in good order, the clothing is very good and well fitted, gaiters, shoes, &c. good without exception. There have been very few courts martial, very few non-commissioned officers reduced, and _not one punished man in the battalion_.
“The officers are well dressed and very attentive to their duty. Since their arrival here, the EIGHTY-SEVENTH have occupied the town district, where I have had daily opportunities of seeing them, and I have always found them attentive on duty, well dressed in the streets, quiet and regular, no complaints, no drunkenness, even at the monthly settlements.
“I am of opinion that the second battalion of the EIGHTY-SEVENTH is fit for any service, and very likely to be distinguished, especially while commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Doyle, who appears one of the best and most attentive officers I have ever seen, and who is to be particularly commended for keeping up very strict discipline without the least appearance of severity. “I have, &c., (Signed) “JOHN FRASER, “_Brigadier-General_.
“_To Lieut.-General Sir John Doyle, Bart., commanding His Majesty’s Forces in Guernsey and Alderney._”
The above report of Brigadier-General Fraser was highly gratifying to His Royal Highness the Duke of York, Commander-in-Chief, whose approbation thereof was signified to Lieut.-Colonel Doyle, and to the second battalion, through Lieut.-General Sir John Doyle, by the Adjutant-General on the 10th of July 1807.
[Sidenote: 1808.]
Important events had in the meantime occurred on the continent of Europe. Napoleon having reduced Germany to submission to his will, and forced Russia to accede to his decrees, next attempted the subjugation of Spain and Portugal. The Spaniards and Portuguese rose in arms to assert their national rights, the French emperor having conferred the crown of Spain on his brother Joseph, who relinquished the throne of Naples in favour of Marshal Murat. In the summer of 1808 Portugal was delivered by a British army under Lieut.-General Sir Arthur Wellesley, and in the autumn Lieut.-General Sir John Moore received orders to advance with a body of British troops from Portugal into the heart of Spain; several regiments were embarked from the United Kingdom to co-operate in the enterprise.
On the 4th of June 1808, the battalion embarked from Guernsey, proceeded to Harwich, and from thence to Ramsgate, having previously occupied Weely Barracks and Danbury Camp.
Lieut.-Colonel Charles W. Doyle[10] having been appointed a brigadier-general and employed on a special mission in Spain, the command of the second battalion devolved upon Major Hugh Gough, and on the 28th of December following, it embarked at Ramsgate to join the army under Lieut.-General Sir John Moore, with numerous supplies of men and stores; but being dispersed by a storm, it rendezvoused at Cork, from whence it was ordered to proceed to Portugal.
[Sidenote: 1809.]
The battalion arrived at Lisbon on the 12th of March 1809, and joined the army under the command of Lieut.-General Sir Arthur Wellesley. It was employed in the operations against the French at Oporto, and advanced in April following in pursuit of the French army, which had retreated from Portugal towards Madrid.
After suffering many privations in common with the rest of the troops, a junction was effected at Oropesa on the 20th of July with the Spanish army under General Cuesta. On the 27th of July, when General Cuesta had retreated from Alcabon under cover of Lieut.-General Sherbrooke’s divisions, Lieut.-General Sir Arthur Wellesley, K.B., withdrew to the position of _Talavera_, leaving Major-General John Randoll McKenzie on the Alberche to protect the movement. When the French on the 27th of July crossed this river, Major-General McKenzie’s division was posted near the Casa des Salinas, his infantry in the forest, and cavalry on the plain. The attack was somewhat sudden, and the second battalions of the Thirty-first and EIGHTY-SEVENTH regiments, which were in the wood on the right of the Alberche, sustained some loss. As the enemy increased his numbers on the British side of the river, Major-General McKenzie fell back gradually, and entering the position by the left of the combined army, took up his ground in a second line in rear of the foot guards. In the dusk of the evening the enemy commenced his attack on the British left, but failed. In the night the attack was repeated, and on the morning of the 28th of July the French renewed the attack on the height on the British left, and were again repulsed with considerable loss.
After a pause of some hours the attacks were renewed upon the whole British front, and the action became general. Brigadier-General Alexander Campbell’s division, on the British right, sustained the assault of the enemy’s fourth corps, assisted by Major-General McKenzie’s brigade. “The English regiments, putting the French skirmishers aside, met the advancing columns with loud shouts, and breaking in on their front, and lapping their flanks with fire, and giving no respite, pushed them back with a terrible carnage. Ten guns were taken; but as General Campbell prudently forbore pursuit, the French rallied on their supports, and made a show of attacking again. Vain attempt! The British artillery and musketry played too vehemently upon their masses, and a Spanish regiment of cavalry charging on their flank at the same time, the whole retired in disorder, and the victory was secured in that quarter.”[11]
In the action on the 28th of July, Major-General McKenzie, who commanded the division of which the EIGHTY-SEVENTH formed part, was killed.
The news of the victory of _Talavera_ gained over the French army, commanded by Joseph Bonaparte in person, excited great joy in England, and Lieut.-General Sir Arthur Wellesley was raised to the peerage by the title of Viscount Wellington.
The loss of the British amounted to six thousand in killed, wounded, and missing; that of the French was much more considerable. The loss sustained by _the second battalion of the_ EIGHTY-SEVENTH _regiment_ consisted of one officer and one hundred and ten men killed, and thirteen officers and two hundred and thirty men wounded: total three hundred and fifty-four; strength in the field, eight hundred and twenty-six, leaving a remainder of four hundred and seventy-two.
_Killed._
Ensign—Nicholas la Serre.
_Wounded._
_Major_—Hugh Gough, _severely_ (on 28th July). _Captain_—Rawdon McCrea, _slightly_ (_since dead_). ” Anthony William Somersall, _slightly_. _Lieutenant_—W. G. Cavanagh, _severely_. ” Richard Thos. Hingston, _died of his wounds_. ” Ralph Johnson, _severely_. ” John D. Bagenal, _arm amputated_. ” James Carroll, _severely_. ” Adam Rogers, _severely_ (on 28th July). _Ensign_—Theobald Butler, _severely_. ” Theobald Pepper, _severely_ (on 28th July). ” Wright Knox, _severely_. ” James T. Moore, _slightly_.
## Acting Serjeant-Major Paterson was promoted to an ensigncy for
good conduct in this action, and Quartermaster-Serjeant Cowell was shortly afterwards promoted also to an ensigncy for length of service and gallant conduct.
The EIGHTY-SEVENTH subsequently received the royal authority to bear the word “TALAVERA,” on the regimental colour and appointments, in commemoration of the conduct of the second battalion on that occasion.
The junction of the divisions of Marshals Soult, Ney, and Mortier, in the rear of the British, compelled them to fall back on Badajoz. On the 10th of September, the second battalion of the EIGHTY-SEVENTH regiment received orders to repair to Lisbon, where it arrived on the 24th; and two strong detachments having arrived from England, and a number of wounded men joining from the hospitals, the battalion was again reported fit for service.
[Sidenote: 1810.]
On the 5th of February 1810, the battalion embarked at Lisbon for _Cadiz_, and disembarked there on the 12th, which city was at that time besieged by a powerful French army, under Marshal Soult. The whole of this year the battalion was employed in erecting batteries, and strengthening the defence of the place, during which the battalion lost several men.
Lieut.-General Thomas Graham (afterwards Lord Lynedoch) commanded the British forces in Cadiz, and an expedition was resolved upon for the purpose of making a combined attack on the rear of the blockading army under Marshal Victor, who now commanded at the siege of Cadiz, in consequence of Marshal Soult having proceeded with a body of troops into Estremadura.
[Sidenote: 1811.]
On the 18th of February 1811, the battalion embarked at Cadiz, and sailed for Gibraltar.
The army under the command of Lieut.-General Graham consisted of about three thousand men[12], and a body of seven thousand troops commanded by General La Pena. The force of which the EIGHTY-SEVENTH formed part, disembarked at Algesiras on the 23rd of February, and the troops being united at Tarifa, marched from thence on the 28th of February.
General Zayas pushed a strong body of Spanish troops across the river Santi Petri near the coast on the 1st of March, threw a bridge over, and formed a _tête-de-pont_. This post was attacked by the enemy on the nights of the 3rd and 4th of March, who was repulsed, though the Spaniards sustained considerable loss.
On the 5th of March 1811, Lieut.-General Graham, and the army under his command, arrived on the low ridge of _Barrosa_, and gained a decisive victory over the French army under Marshal Victor, composed of the two divisions of Generals Rufin and Laval.
The circumstances under which Lieut.-General Graham found himself placed were such as compelled him to attack the very superior force, in point of numbers, of his opponents. The allied army, after a night-march of sixteen hours from the camp near Veger, arrived on the morning of the 5th at the low ridge of _Barrosa_, about four miles to the southward of the mouth of the Santi Petri river. This height extends inland about a mile and a half, continuing on the north the extensive heathy plain of Chiclana. A great pine forest skirts the plain, and circles round the height at some distance, terminating down to Santi Petri, the intermediate space between the north side of the height and the forest being uneven and broken. A well-conducted and successful attack on the rear of the enemy’s lines near Santi Petri by the vanguard of the Spaniards under Brigadier-General Ladrizabel, opened the communication with the Isla de Leon, and Lieut.-General Graham received General La Pena’s directions to move down from the position of Barrosa to that of the Torre de Bermeja, about half way to the Santi Petri river, in order to secure the communication across the river, over which a bridge had been recently constructed. This latter position occupied a narrow woody ridge, the right on the sea cliff, the left falling down to the Almanza creek on the edge of the marsh. An easy communication between the western points of these two positions was kept up by a hard sandy beach. Lieut.-General Graham, while on the march through the wood towards the Bermeja, received intelligence that the enemy had appeared in force on the plain of Chiclana, about fifty miles from Tarifa, and was advancing towards the heights of _Barrosa_.
The British general, considering that position as the key to that of Santi Petri, immediately countermarched in order to support the troops left for its defence, and the alacrity with which this manœuvre was executed served as a favourable omen. It was, however, impossible in such intricate and difficult ground to preserve order in the columns, and time was never afforded to restore it entirely.
Before the British could get quite disentangled from the wood, the troops on the _Barrosa_ hill were seen returning from it, while the enemy’s left wing was rapidly ascending. His right wing at the same time stood on the plain, on the edge of the wood, within cannon-shot. A retreat in the face of such an enemy, already within reach of the easy communication by the sea-beach, must have involved the whole allied army in all the danger of being attacked during the unavoidable confusion of the different corps arriving nearly at the same time on the narrow ridge of the Bermeja.
Lieut.-General Graham relying on the heroism of British troops, and regardless of the number and position of the enemy, determined on an immediate attack. Major Duncan soon opened a powerful battery of ten guns in the centre. The right wing proceeded to the attack of General Rufin’s division on the hill, while that under General Laval, notwithstanding the havoc made by Major Duncan’s battery, continued to advance in very imposing masses, opening his fire of musketry, and was only checked by that of the left wing.
The left wing now advanced firing; and a most determined charge by the three companies of Guards and the second battalion of the EIGHTY-SEVENTH regiment, supported by the remainder of the wing, soon decided the defeat of General Laval’s division. In this charge the Eagle of the eighth French regiment of light infantry (which suffered immensely) and a howitzer were captured, and remained in possession of Major Gough, now Lieut.-General Viscount Gough, G.C.B., and colonel of the EIGHTY-SEVENTH regiment.[13] These attacks were zealously supported by Colonel Belson with the Twenty-eighth, and Lieut.-Colonel Prevost with a portion of the Sixty-seventh regiment.
[Illustration: _Lieu^t Pym 87^{th} Reg^t del._
_Madeley lith 3 Wellington S^t. Strand_
_The French Imperial Eagle_
_Of the 8^{th} Regiment_
_Taken by His MAJESTY’S 2^{nd} Battalion 87^{th} (or Prince of Wales Irish) Regiment under the command of Major Hugh Gough._
For Cannon’s Military Records.]
A reserve formed beyond the narrow valley, across which the enemy was closely pursued, next shared the same fate, and was routed by the same means.
The right wing meanwhile was not less successful, and, after a sanguinary contest, General Rufin’s division was driven from the heights in confusion, leaving two pieces of cannon. In less than an hour and a half from the commencement of the action, the French were in full retreat. The retiring division met, halted, and seemed inclined to form; but a new and more advanced position of the British artillery quickly dispersed the enemy. The exhausted state of the troops rendered pursuit impossible, and a position was occupied on the eastern side of the hill. When the conflict had ceased, Lieut.-General Graham remained on the field of battle; but the Spanish general, La Pena, who had looked on while this terrible battle was fought, did not seize the favourable opportunity which the valour of the British troops had put into his hands, of striking a severe blow at the remains of the French army retreating in disorder. The inactivity of the Spaniards continuing, the British proceeded to Cadiz on the following day.
In this battle the EIGHTY-SEVENTH had one officer and forty-four men killed; four officers and one hundred and twenty-four men wounded: the strength of the battalion in the field was seven hundred and twenty-two.
_Killed._
_Ensign_—Edward E. Kough.
_Wounded._
_Major_—Archibald Maclaine. _Captain_—Anthony William Somersall. _Lieutenant_—James Gubbins Fennell. ” James Campbell Barton.