| 96th Regiment of Foot (Queen's Own Germans) | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1798–1818 1824–1881 |
| Country |  Kingdom of Great Britain (1798–1800) United Kingdom (1801–1881) |
| Branch |  British Army |
| Type | Infantry |
| Nicknames | The Ups and Downs[1] |
| Engagements | French Revolutionary Wars Napoleonic Wars New Zealand Wars |
The96th Regiment of Foot was aBritish Armyregiment, raised in 1798. Under theChilders reforms it amalgamated with the63rd (West Suffolk) Regiment of Foot to form theManchester Regiment.
The regiment was raised inMenorca (then called Minorca) asStuart's Regiment by Lieutenant-GeneralSir Charles Stuart from German-speakingprisoners of war of Swiss regiments in Spanish service on 12 December 1798.[2]
The regiment embarked forGibraltar in October 1800 and then sailed on toAbu Qir inEgypt in January 1801 to take part in theEgyptian Campaign.[2] At theBattle of Alexandria in March 1801, Private Antoine Lutz of the regiment distinguished himself by seizing the colour of the 21stDemi Brigade Legère. The colour had initially been captured by Sergeant Sinclair of the42nd Regiment of Foot but after Sinclair fell in battle, a French officer recovered the colour for his country. Private Lutz shot the French officer holding the colour and took possession of the colour before being ridden over by French cavalry. As twodragoons charged towards him, Lutz claimed to have shot the horse from under one, whose life he spared. He returned to the British lines with both the colour and the captured dragoon.[3] The regiment sailed for home in autumn 1801.[2] It was renamedThe Queen's Own German Regiment in 1802[2] and97th (Queen's Own Germans) Regiment of Foot in January 1805.[2]
In 1807 members of the regiment were lost in the sinking of the"Prince of Wales".[4] The regiment embarked forPortugal in spring 1808 for service in thePeninsular War.[2] It saw action at theBattle of Vimeiro in August 1808, theBattle of Talavera in July 1809 and theBattle of Bussaco in September 1810.[2] It also fought at theFirst Siege of Badajoz In February 1811 and theBattle of Albuera in May 1811 before sailing for home in October 1811.[2] The regiment was dispatched toUpper Canada in May 1814 and took part in theSiege of Fort Erie in August 1814 during theWar of 1812 before arriving back home in July 1815.[2] It was renumbered as the96th (Queen's Own Germans) Regiment of Foot in February 1816 and was disbanded atLimerick in Ireland in December 1818.[2]
The regiment was reformed (and subsequently confirmed as the successor of the predecessor formation with full continuity of battle honours),[a] in response to the threat posed by theFrench intervention in Spain, in January 1824.[5] The regiment embarked forHalifax, Nova Scotia in summer 1824, transferred toBermuda in 1825 and then returned to Halifax in 1828 before embarking for home in 1835.[5] Between December 1839 and August 1841, it provided detachments for convict ships sailing toNew South Wales,Van Diemen's Land, South Australia andWestern Australia.[6]
In 1843, amid tensions inNew Zealand between Britishsettlers andMāoris related to breaches of theTreaty of Waitangi, a detachment from the regiment was dispatched to theNorth Island of New Zealand.[7] Four members of the regiment were killed in action at the flagstaff blockhouse when captured by a large Māori force during theBattle of Kororāreka in theBay of Islands on 11 March 1845; the blockhouse crew were forced to withdraw to the lower blockhouse.[7]
The regiment embarked forIndia in 1849 and, after returning to England in 1855, sailed for Gibraltar in 1856.[5] It embarked for Canada in February 1862 to help suppress attacks byFenians. One of the transport ships had to seek refuge in theAzores for a week in the face of extremely poor weather.[6] The regiment spent only a brief time in Canada, the crisis having subsided, and returned to England in April 1862.[6] The regiment deployed to theCape of Good Hope in 1863 and then travelled on to India in 1865 before returning home in 1875.[5]
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 96th was linked with the63rd (West Suffolk) Regiment of Foot, and assigned to district no. 16 atWellington Barracks inAshton-under-Lyne.[8] On 1 July 1881 theChilders Reforms came into effect and the regiment amalgamated with the 63rd (West Suffolk) Regiment of Foot to form theManchester Regiment.[5]
Battle honours won by the regiment (or its predecessors) were:[2][5]
Colonels of the regiments were:[2][5]