| 57th (West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot | |
|---|---|
_Regiment_of_Foot_badge.jpeg){kind=icon} Badge of the 57th (West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot | |
| Active | 1755 to 1881 |
| Country |  Kingdom of Great Britain (1755–1800) United Kingdom (1801–1881) |
| Branch |  British Army |
| Type | Line Infantry |
| Role | Light Infantry |
| Size | Onebattalion (two battalions 1803–1815) |
| Garrison/HQ | Hounslow Barracks |
| Nicknames | "The Steelbacks"[1] "The Die Hards" |
| Mottos | Honi soit qui mal y pense (Evil be to Him, who Evil Thinks) |
| Colors | Yellow facings, gold braided lace |
| March | Quick:SirManley Power Slow:Caledonian |
| Engagements | American Revolutionary War French Revolutionary Wars Napoleonic Wars Crimean War Indian Rebellion New Zealand Wars Anglo-Zulu War |
The57th (West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot was aregiment ofline infantry in theBritish Army, raised in 1755. Under theChilders Reforms it amalgamated with the77th (East Middlesex) Regiment of Foot to form theMiddlesex Regiment in 1881.
The regiment was raised inSomerset andGloucester byColonel JohnArabin as the 59th Regiment of Foot in 1755 for service in theSeven Years' War.[2] It was re-ranked as the57th Regiment of Foot, following the disbandment of the existing50th and51st regiments, in 1756.[2] The regiment, which originally operated asmarines, was deployed toGibraltar in 1757, toMenorca in 1763 and toIreland in 1767.[3]
It was dispatched toCharleston, South Carolina in February 1776 for service in theAmerican Revolutionary War.[3] The regiment saw action at theBattle of Long Island in August 1776[3] and stormed Fort Montgomery at theBattle of Forts Clinton and Montgomery in October 1777.[4] The regiment's light company then served under GeneralLord Cornwallis and was taken prisoner at theSiege of Yorktown in October 1781.[5]
It adopted a county designation as the57th (the West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot in August 1782.[2][6] After this it moved toNova Scotia in October 1783 and returned to England in November 1790.[7]
In 1793 the regiment embarked for theLow Countries for service in theFlanders Campaign and re-enforced the garrison atNieuwpoort for some months before returning home later in the year.[8] The regiment returned to Flanders in 1794 before returning home again in 1795.[9] It embarked for theWest Indies in spring 1796 and took part in the capture ofSaint Lucia in May 1796 before embarking forTrinidad in 1797 and returning home in 1803.[10] A second battalion was raised in 1803 to increase the strength of the regiment but spent most of the war inJersey.[2] The 1st battalion embarked for the Mediterranean Sea in November 1805 and, after four years atGibraltar, landed inPortugal for service in thePeninsular War in July 1809.[11] The battalion fell back to theLines of Torres Vedras in October 1810.[12]
The battalion earned the regiment its nickname of "the Die Hards" after their participation in theBattle of Albuera,(order of battle) one of the bloodiest battles of the war, in May 1811.[13] The commanding officer of the battalion, ColonelWilliam Inglis, was struck down by a charge ofcanister shot which hit him in the neck and left breast. He refused to be carried to the rear for treatment, but lay in front of his men calling on them to hold their position and when the fight reached its fiercest cried, "Die hard the 57th, die hard!".[14] The casualties of the battalion were 422 out of the 570 men in the ranks and 20 out of the 30 officers.[6] The Allied commander of the Anglo-Portuguese force GeneralWilliam Beresford wrote in his dispatch, "our dead, particularly the 57th Regiment, were lying as they fought in the ranks, every wound in front".[15]
The battalion also fought at theBattle of Vitoria in June 1813.[16] It then pursued the French Army into France and saw further action at theBattle of the Pyrenees in July 1813,[17] theBattle of Nivelle in November 1813[18] and theBattle of the Nive in December 1813.[19] The battalion embarked forNorth America in May 1814 for service in theWar of 1812[20] but, without seeing any action, it embarked for home in spring 1815.[21]
The regiment traveled toNew South Wales in detachments as escorts to prisoners in 1824.[22] It moved on toIndia in 1830[23] and, while there, helped to suppress a rebellion inMangalore in 1837.[24][25] The regiment did not embark for home until April 1846.[26] In September 1854 the regiment embarked for service in theCrimean War:[27] it fought at theBattle of Inkerman in November 1854[28] and theSiege of Sevastapol in winter 1854.[29] It moved toMalta in June 1856[30] and then sailed for India to help suppress theIndian Rebellion in May 1858.[31] It then sailed forAuckland inNew Zealand in November 1860 for service in theNew Zealand Wars.[32]EnsignJohn Thornton Down andDrummerDudley Stagpoole were both awarded theVictoria Cross for their actions during a skirmish at Allen's Hill nearOmata in October 1863 during theSecond Taranaki War.[33] The regiment returned to England in 1867[34] and then moved toCeylon in 1873.[35] From Ceylon it sailed toSouth Africa in 1879 for service in theAnglo-Zulu War.[2]
As part of theCardwell Reforms of the 1870s, where single-battalion regiments were linked together to share a single depot and recruiting district in the United Kingdom, the 57th was linked with the77th (East Middlesex) Regiment of Foot, and assigned to district no. 50 atHounslow Barracks.[36] On 1 July 1881 theChilders Reforms came into effect and the regiment amalgamated with the 77th (East Middlesex) Regiment of Foot to form theMiddlesex Regiment.[6]
The regiment's regimental marches were 'SirManley Power' (quick) and 'Caledonian' (slow).[6]
The regiment's battle honours were as follows:[2]
Colonels of the Regiment were:[2]