| 36th (Herefordshire) Regiment of Foot | |
|---|---|
 Colours of the 36th Foot in 1853 | |
| Active | 1701–1881 |
| Country |  Kingdom of England (1689–1707) Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) United Kingdom (1801–1881) |
| Branch |  British Army |
| Type | Infantry |
| Size | 1 battalion (2 battalions 1756–1758, 1804–1814) |
| Garrison/HQ | Norton Barracks,Worcestershire |
| Nicknames | "The Grasshoppers"[1] "The Saucy Greens"[2] |
| Colours | Green Facings |
| March | The Poacher[3] |
| Engagements | War of the Spanish Succession Jacobite rising War of Jenkins' Ear War of the Austrian Succession Seven Years' War Third Anglo-Mysore War Napoleonic Wars Peninsular War |
The36th (Herefordshire) Regiment of Foot was aninfantry regiment of theBritish Army, raised in 1701. Under theChilders Reforms it amalgamated with the29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot to form theWorcestershire Regiment in 1881.[2][3][4] Its lineage is continued today by theMercian Regiment.[5]
The unit was raised on the outbreak of theWar of the Spanish Succession: on 28 June 1701William III issued a warrant toWilliam Caulfeild, 2nd Viscount Charlemont to raise aregiment of foot inIreland.[6] It was the successor to a previous regiment raised by Charlemont in 1694 for Irish service.[7] William died in March 1702 and his successor,Queen Anne, issued a further warrant declaring thatCharlemont's Regiment of Foot was to be one of six newly formed regiments to be equipped for "sea service".[6]
The regiment was selected to form part of an Anglo-Dutch force under the command of theDuke of Ormonde that was to make an assault of the southern coast of Spain. They moved from Ireland to theIsle of Wight in June 1702, embarking forCádiz in the following month. They landed on 15 August, but the force failed to take theCity of Cadiz, and the regiment left Spain on 24 September, sailing for theWest Indies. They returned to Ireland in 1704.[8]
In April 1705 Charlemont's Regiment left Ireland once more, forming part of an expeditionary force led by theEarl of Peterborough. The force landed inCatalonia in August, and the regiment took part in theSiege of Barcelona, with the city falling in October. In April 1706 the regiment helped relieveBarcelona which was under siege by a Franco-Spanish force. On 10 May 1706 Viscount Charlemont was replaced as colonel by Thomas Allnutt, within the unit becomingAllnutt's Regiment of Foot.[9] Allnutt's Regiment was engaged in a number of minor engagements inValencia andMurcia throughout the rest of 1706. In April 1707 they became part of a force of English, Portuguese, Dutch and Spanish troops under the command of theMarquis of Minas andEarl of Galway, suffering defeat at theBattle of Almansa. The regiment was nearly destroyed, with Colonel Allnutt wounded and taken prisoner.[10]
In September 1707 Allnutt was permitted to return to England as part of a prisoner exchange.[7] He was instructed to obtain to travel toCheshire to enlist new recruits to rebuild his regiment, withChester andNantwich chosen as the places of enlistment. This was recognised as an effective re-raising of the regiment.[10] On the death of Thomas Alnutt on 7 May 1708,Archibald Campbell, Earl of Ilay, become colonel on 23 March 1709, with the unit becoming theEarl of Ilay's Regiment of Foot.[10][11][12] In 1710 Ilay resigned and the unit becameDisney's Regiment of Foot when Henry Disney became colonel on 23 October.[13][14]
In 1711 Disney's Regiment was part of a 5,000 strong force dispatched toNorth America as part of theQuebec Expedition. On 30 July they sailed fromBoston for theSt Lawrence River. The expedition ended in failure, and Disney's Regiment returned to England, arriving inPortsmouth on 9 October.[7][15]
In 1712Louis XIV of France signed a peace treaty with Queen Anne of Great Britain. As part of the provisions, Louis ceded the Port ofDunkirk, and Disney's Regiment landed there on 8 July, relieving the French garrison. They were stationed in Dunkirk when theTreaty of Utrecht ending the war, was signed in the following year.[7][15]
In the spring of 1714 Disney's Regiment returned to England, proceeding later in the year to Ireland where it was transferred onto the Irish Establishment, an arrangement that allowed for both lower rates of pay and a smaller number of troops. On 11 July 1715William Egerton was appointed colonel of the regiment, which thus becameEgerton's Regiment of Foot.[16] When theJacobite rising broke out in Scotland in August 1715, Egerton's Regiment moved toStirling under the command of theDuke of Argyll. They fought in the largely inconclusiveBattle of Sheriffmuir where they were overrun and forced to retreat.[4][16] The regiment remained in Scotland until 1718, based in Stirling andDumbarton.[16]
In 1718 the regiment returned to Ireland, and in the following year moved to England where they becameHotham's Regiment of Foot whenSir Charles Hotham, 4th Baronet became colonel. They returned to Ireland in 1720. The regiment remained on garrison duties in Ireland and England until 1739, changing its name as new colonels were appointed:Pocock's Regiment of Foot (John Pocock) in December 1720,Lenoe's Regiment of Foot (Charles Lenoe) in 1721,Moyle's Regiment of Foot (Brigadier GeneralJohn Moyle) in 1732 andBland's Regiment of Foot (Humphrey Bland).[17]
During 1739 tensions rose between Great Britain and theSpanish Empire. Bland's Regiment was recalled from Ireland to England in September 1739 and war broke out on 23 October 1739. In 1740 they sailed to theWest Indies, arriving inDominica where there were large losses due todysentery. On 9 January 1741 James Fleming became colonel, and the renamedFleming's Regiment of Foot arrived inJamaica later in the month.[3][7] The regiment took part in the unsuccessful two-month-long assault onCartagena. They returned to Great Britain in 1743.[3][4][18]
By 1744 Britain found itself involved in a wider conflict, theWar of the Austrian Succession. Fleming's Regiment was dispatched toFlanders where the formed part of the garrison ofGhent. In the following year there was a secondJacobite rising in Scotland, reachingEdinburgh by January 1746. They fought at theBattle of Falkirk and played a small part in theBattle of Culloden that ended the uprising.[3][5] In the following year the regiment returned to Flanders where they were part of the force under theDuke of Cumberland defeated by the French at theBattle of Lauffeld. The unit took part in a number of minor operations until the war was ended by theTreaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in October 1748.[19]
The regiment returned to England in 1749 where its establishment was reduced before it was sent toGibraltar to form part of the garrison there. Following the death of James Fleming,Lord Robert Manners became colonel in March 1751.[19]
On 1 July 1751 a royal warrant was issued which provided that in future regiments would no longer be known by their colonel's name, but would bear a regimental number based on their precedence.[19]Lord Manners' Regiment duly became the36th Regiment of Foot.[19] In 1754 the 36th Foot returned to Great Britain, stationed in Scotland until late 1755 when they moved to southern England.[20]
On 18 May 1756 Britain declared war on France, beginning a conflict that became known as theSeven Years' War. On 25 August, the 36 Foot was authorised to raise a secondbattalion. The two battalions were encamped as part of a defensive force atBarham Downs,Kent. In 1758 the second battalion was reconstituted as the74th Regiment of Foot. The 74th saw service in Senegal and Jamaica until its disbandment in 1763.[21] In 1758 the 36th moved to theIsle of Wight as part of a force under the command of Major-GeneralJohn Mostyn formed to make raids on the north French coast.[3][5][7] They took part in a number of assaults inBrittany andNormandy during 1758 and 1759 and again in theCapture of Belle Île in 1761.[22] TheTreaty of Paris of 1763 brought the war in Europe to an end.[23]
The 36th Foot left England in March 1764 forJamaica where they remained until 1773.[3] The regiment was not involved in theAmerican War of Independence that broke out in 1775, being stationed in Ireland from September 1775 until 1782.[3][24]
On 21 August 1782, theCommander-in-Chief of the Forces,Henry Seymour Conway, issued a regulation giving an English county designation to each regiment of foot other than those with a royal title orhighland regiments. The intention was to improve recruitment during the unpopular American War, and theHome Secretary,Thomas Townshend issued a circular letter to thelieutenants ofeach county in England in the following terms:
My Lord,
The very great deficiency of men in the regiments of infantry being so very detrimental to the public service, the king has thought proper to give the names of the different counties to the old corps, in hopes that, by the zeal and activity of the principal nobility and gentry in the several counties, some considerable assistance may be given towards recruiting these regiments".[25]
The 36th Foot took a county title as the36th (Herefordshire) Regiment of Foot.[24]
In March 1783 the 36th Foot embarked on ships inPortsmouth, arriving inMadras in July.[26] TheSecond Anglo-Mysore War was entering its closing stages and the regiment took part in the relief ofCannonore in December 1783.[27] The war was ended by theTreaty of Mangalore in March 1784.[27]
The 36th Foot remained in India, and in December 1789 theThird Anglo-Mysore War commenced.[27] They saw service at theSiege of Bangalore in 1791.[28] The war ended in March 1792 with the signing of theTreaty of Seringapatam.[3][4]
In February 1793Revolutionary France declared war on Great Britain, and in May 1793 the 36th Foot was ordered to move intoFrench India.[29] It took part in the capture ofPondicherry in August 1793,[29] and remained in India until 1798.[30] They left India in October 1798, but did not reach England until July 1799, spending three months inSaint Helena due to shortage of convoy ships.[3][30]
The 36th Foot was brought up to strength inWinchester by recruits from themilitia before moving to Ireland in January 1800. They formed part of an expeditionary force under the command of Brigadier-GeneralThomas Maitland which sailed fromCork in June 1800, carried our a number of raids on the French coast. In July 1800 the 36th Foot moved to the island ofMenorca in theMediterranean Sea, which had surrendered to the British in 1798. TheTreaty of Amiens, signed in March 1802, brought a temporary cessation of hostilities. As part of the treaty's terms Menorca became a Spanish possession, and in August 1802 the regiment returned to Ireland.[3][7] On 29 June 1804 the 36th Foot was authorised to raise a second battalion, recruiting inCounty Durham. The battalion was formally placed on the army establishment on Christmas Day 1804, but saw no foreign service and was disbanded in 1814.[3][4] In early 1806 the 1st Battalion 36th Foot was briefly part of theHanover Expedition. In autumn 1806 the battalion was selected to form part of a special force under the command of Major-GeneralRobert Craufurd. The brigade leftFalmouth in November 1806 in great secrecy, eventually reaching South America in the following year where they took part in the attack onBuenos Aires. The 1st Battalion returned to Ireland in December 1807.[3][7]
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In August 1808, the 1st Battalion landed inPortugal, and was quickly engaged in action against the French at theBattle of Roliça on 17 August, theBattle of Vimeiro on 21 August. Following these early victories, the 36th served in Sir John Moore's army operating in Spain and but by the end of 1808 his army was in full retreat and, after taking part in the Retreat to Corunna, the battalion fought with the rearguard at theBattle of Corunna on 16 January 1809. The battle held back the French under Soult and allowed the successful embarkation of the British force, though Moore was killed during the action. The 1st/36th embarked for England on the following day.[3][4][7]
The 1st Battalion took part in theWalcheren Campaign, an unsuccessful attempt to open another front in the war in Flanders. They landed on 1 August 1809 and were initially successful in capturingFlushing. However an epidemic ofmalaria soon swept through the troops stationed on the swampy islands, and the battalion lost more than 200 to the disease.[31] They returned to England in December 1809.[32]
The 1st/36th were stationed atBattle,Sussex where they were brought up to strength before sailing fromPortsmouth, arriving inLisbon on 5 March 1811.[32] They formed part of an army of reinforcements as the British began a new offensive aimed at breaking the military stalemate in the Iberian peninsula. The battalion fought at theBattle of Salamanca on 22 July 1812 and took part in theSiege of Burgos from September to October 1812.[33] They then pursued the French Army into France fighting at theBattle of the Pyrenees in July and August 1813, theBattle of Nivelle on 10 November 1813 and theBattle of the Nive in December 1813 as well as theBattle of Orthez in February 1814 and theBattle of Toulouse in April 1814.[3][4][5][7][34]
The 1st Battalion arrived back in Ireland in July 1814. On 24 October 1814 the 2nd Battalion was disbanded, with men fit for duty transferred to the 1st Battalion which became once more simply the 36th (Herefordshire) Regiment of Foot.[3][34]
For the last sixty-five years of its existence as a separate regiment, the 36th Foot was not involved in active conflict, for the most part performing garrison duties in the United Kingdom and the British Empire.[3][35][36] It formed part of the army occupying France from July to December 1815 and then moved toPortsmouth on 22 December 1815.[37] The regiment was sent toMalta in September 1817[38] and then on to theUnited States of the Ionian Islands in 1821,[39] where they suffered from much sickness, before returning to England in 1826.[40] The regiment was posted toIreland in 1827 and then embarked forBarbados in 1831 although eleven men were killed in ahurricane on the way.[41]
The regiment was at Barbados until 1833 when it moved toAntigua;[41] it transferredSt Lucia in 1835 and back to Barbados in 1837.[42] It then moved on to North America arriving inNova Scotia in 1838 andNew Brunswick in 1839[43] before returning to Ireland in 1842.[44] The regiment moved to Northern England in 1845; a second or reserve battalion was formed atWeedon Bec on 28 November 1846.[45] It was posted back to the United States of the Ionian Islands in 1847: both battalions were stationed there during aninsurgency. The reserve battalion was absorbed by the 1st Battalion in April 1850.[46]
In 1851 the regiment returned to Barbados before moving on toTrinidad in 1852.[47] In 1853 it returned to Barbados and then, in 1854, it moved to Jamaica where the regiment lost a large number of men from an epidemic ofyellow fever.[7] It returned home to England in 1857 and then spent a tour in Ireland from 1860 to 1863 when it was posted toIndia. It returned to England in 1875 before being posted to Ireland again in 1880.[3]
Under theCardwell Reforms, a "localisation scheme" for infantry regiments was introduced. This divided the United Kingdom into "brigade districts". Within each district a single depot was to be established to accommodate two regular battalions and also the localmilitia regiments. In April 1873 it was announced that the 22nd Brigade District was to consist of the counties ofHerefordshire andWorcestershire, with a single depot for the29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot, the 36th Foot and theHerefordshire andWorcestershire Militia.[48] The 29th and 36th Foot were to be paired, with one regiment on active service while the other was on home duties, with the two swapping roles every few years.[49] A depot was established atNorton Barracks, nearWorcester.[48]
On 1 July 1881 theChilders Reforms came into effect and the 29th and 36th Regiments of Foot became the 1st and 2nd Battalions of theWorcestershire Regiment, with the militia regiments becoming the 3rd and 4th Battalions.[50] The amalgamated regiment inherited the traditions and battle honours of the 29th and 36th Foot.[51]
In 1970 the Worcestershire Regiment was itself amalgamated with theSherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) to form theWorcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment. In another amalgamation in 2007, the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment became part of a newlarge regiment, theMercian Regiment.[4][5][7]
Thefacings worn on the red coats of the regiment were green by 1742, when they were illustrated inA Representation of the Clothing of His Majesty's Household and all the Forces upon the Establishments of Great Britain and Ireland, commissioned by theDuke of Cumberland. Nine years later a royal warrant was issued on 1 July 1751 regulating the"Colours, Cloathing &c. of the Marching Regiments of Foot" where the facings were confirmed as green.[19][52] The 1751 warrant and subsequent regulations also set out the design of thecolours of the regiment: the first or King's (or Queen's) colour being thegrand union with the regimental number in the centre inRoman numerals and the second or regimental colour being of the facing colour with the regimental number and title in the centre.[53]
Battle honours came to be borne on scrolls on the regimental colour, and by 1881 the 36th Foot had received the following:[3][53]
Following amalgamation theWorcestershire Regiment was belatedly awarded two battle honours for the service of the 36th Foot:
The regimental motto was the word "Firm". The origins of this are not certainly known, although regimental tradition stated that it had been granted in 1747 for their performance at theBattle of Lauffeld[62] It was uncertain if the regiment was authorised to use the motto until new colours were ordered at the end of 1816. The regiment corresponded withGeorge Nayler, theInspector of Regimental Colours as to whether the motto could be emblazoned. On 6 January 1817 Nayler issued a letter stating he was satisfied that the motto had been in use at least since 1773 and it that it could be borne.[62][38] The motto was subsequently used by the Worcestershire Regiment from 1881 to 1970 and the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment from 1970 to 2007. The motto of the Mercian Regiment since 2007 has been "Stand Firm and Strike Hard", and the word "Firm" forms part of the collar badge design.[63]
Colonels of the Regiment were:[64]
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