CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED.
COMPILED BY
RICHARD TRIMEN,
LATE CAPTAIN, 35TH ROYAL SUSSEX;
AUTHOR OF “AN HISTORICAL MEMOIR OF THE 35TH
ROYAL SUSSEX REGIMENT OF FOOT.”
LONDON:
WILLIAM H. ALLEN AND CO.,
18 WATERLOO PLACE, PALL MALL, S.W.
1878.
[iii]
The object of the following pages is to bring under one head theinformation that is scattered through Despatches, Army Lists, Gazettes,Books, Magazines, &c. concerning the History of the different Regimentsof the British Army; and to enable anyone at a glance to ascertainwhether a certain Regiment served during a certain campaign, or was ata certain action, or what its Title or Uniform was at a certain date.
The histories of many Regiments have been published separately, someby authority, and a few through, and by, the esprit de corps ofsome officer, but this is intended to show every existing Regiment’sservices, &c. in a small space, in a condensed form, and in one volume.
Since the year 1870, much has been seen, and more heard, aboutorganization and localization,[iv] but we have also seen the Regiments(which were the admiration of soldiers of every country in Europe),“meddled and muddled” with till they are only a wretched likeness ofwhat they were.
We have seen esprit de corps sapped to its foundations, andattempted to be destroyed by the abolition of every Regimentaltradition, badge, and even button, that our civilian Army reformerscould do away with.
Where are the old Regimental officers who were proud to serve the Crownfor nothing?
Where are the magnificent old non-commissioned officers and men thatwould follow their officers wherever they led?
What is the answer?
The officers, commissioned and non-commissioned, have all butdisappeared, and the ranks are filled by over-educated boys, whoconsequently think they are as competent to lead their comrades astheir officers.
Moreover, we now see all ranks looking forward to the time when theyshall be turned out of the Regiment, instead of, as formerly, lookingon it as their home for the best part of their lives.
Then, as another blow to the old constitution of[v] Regiments, and areduction of their fighting power, we have the new “Brigade Depôts,”and “Linked Battalions.”
Do not the pages of the Army List, with this last heading, betray thefact that the Regiments must have been “linked” together by some onewho was incompetent to do so?
Take the 27th Inniskilling, a Regiment essentially Irish in itscharacter and composition, “linked” to the 108th Madras Infantry. Whatconnection the person entrusted with a matter of such vital importancecould see in these two Regiments is quite beyond the imagination of asoldier, and gives rise to the id=ea that he must have drawn them out ofa hat. The 27th has a glorious history of two centuries; the 108th wasonly raised by the East India Company in 1854, and has no more to dowith Ireland than the Russian Guards.
Look at the 31st Huntingdonshire and the 70th Surrey “linked” togetherat Kingston. Is every Huntingdonshire man who wishes to join his countyRegiment to walk all the way to Kingston to enlist? and when he doesso, be uncertain whether he is to wear the Huntingdon buff or