8th (The King's) Regiment of Foot
The 8th Regiment of Foot, also referred to in short as the 8th Foot and the King's, was an infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1685 and retitled the King's on 1 July 1881.
As infantry of the line, the 8th peacetime responsibilities included service overseas in garrisons ranging from British North America, the Ionian Islands, India, and the British West Indies. The duration of these deployments varied considerably, sometimes exceeding a decade; its first tour of North America began in 1768 and ended in 1785.
The regiment served in numerous conflicts during its existence, notably in the wars with France that dominated the 18th and 19th centuries, the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Indian rebellion of 1857. As a consequence of Childers reforms, the 8th became the King's. A pre-existing affiliation with the city had derived from its depot being situated in Liverpool from 1873 because of the earlier Cardwell reforms.
History
The regiment formed as the Princess Anne of Denmark's Regiment of Foot during a rebellion in 1685 by the Duke of Monmouth against King James II. After James was deposed during the "Glorious Revolution" that installed William III and Mary II as co-monarchs, the regiment's commanding officer, the Duke of Berwick, decided to join his royal father in exile. His replacement as commanding officer was Colonel John Beaumont, who had earlier been dismissed with six officers for refusing to accept a draft of Catholics.It took part in the Siege of Carrickfergus in Ireland in 1689 and in the Battle of the Boyne the following year. Further actions, while under the command of John Churchill took place that year involving the regiment during the sieges of Limerick, Cork and Kinsale.
War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714)
For almost a decade, the regiment undertook garrison duties in England, Ireland, and the Dutch United Provinces, where it paraded for King William on Breda Heath in September 1701. On the accession of Princess Anne to the throne in 1702, the regiment became the Queen's Regiment of Foot, although it continued to be referred to as Webb's Regiment per an unofficial army convention that had a unit known by the name of its colonel. The War of the Spanish Succession, predicated on a dispute between a "Grand Alliance" and France over who would succeed Charles II of Spain, reached the Low Countries in April 1702. While Dutch marshal Prince Walrad took the initiative and besieged Kaiserswerth, the French Marshal duc de Boufflers forced Walrad's colleague, the Earl of Athlone, to withdraw deep into the Dutch Republic. Supporting Athlone's army, the Queen's Regiment fought near Nijmegen in a rearguard action during the Dutch Army's retreat between the Maas and Rhine rivers. John Churchill, Earl of Marlborough, ranked as Captain-General with limited authority over Dutch forces, arrived in the Low Countries soon afterwards to assume control of a multi-national army organised by the Grand Alliance. He invaded the French-controlled Spanish Netherlands and presided over a series of sieges at Venlo, Roermond, Stevensweert, and Liège, in which the regiment's grenadier company breached the citadel. After a lull during the winter, Marlborough struggled to retain the cohesion of his army against the inclination of Dutch generals to divide his resources, while the army itself experienced a reverse at Liège in 1703.Later in the year, the regiment assisted in the capture of Huy and Limbourg, but the campaigns in 1702 and 1703 nevertheless "were largely indecisive". To aid the beleaguered Austrian Habsburgs and preserve the alliance, Marlborough sought to engage the French in a definitive set-piece battle in 1704 by advancing into Bavaria, an ally of France, and combining his force with that of Prince Eugene. As an army of 40,000 men assembled, Marlborough's elaborate programme of deception concealed his intentions from the French. The army invaded Bavaria on 2 July and promptly captured the Schellenberg after a devastating assault that included a contingent from the Queen's. On 13 August, the Allies encountered a Franco-Bavarian army under the overall command of the duc de Tallard, beginning the Battle of Blenheim. The Queen's Regiment, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Sutton, supported General Lord Cutts' left wing, opposite to French-held Blenheim. According to a contemporary account by Francis Hare, Chaplain-General of Marlborough's army, the Queen's secured a French-constructed "barrier" to prevent it being used as a route of escape, taking hundreds prisoner in its vicinity. Blenheim had become congested with French soldiers and its streets filled with dead and wounded. About 13,000 French soldiers eventually surrendered, including Tallard, while the collective carnage caused more than 30,000 soldiers to become casualties.
The effective collapse of Bavaria as a French ally and the capture of its most significant fortresses followed Blenheim by year's end. After a period of recuperation and reinforcement in Nijmegen and Breda, the Queen's returned to active service during the Allies' attempted invasion of France, via the Moselle, in May 1705. In June, French Marshal Villeroi captured Huy and besieged Liège, forcing Marlborough to abort a campaign that lacked appreciable Allied support. The regiment became detached from Marlborough's army to assist in the retaking of Huy before rejoining for the subsequent attack on the Lines of Brabant Although the lines were overcome, French resistance, combined with opposition among some Dutch generals and adverse weather conditions, prevented much exploitation. The Queen's helped to seize Neerwinden, Neerhespen, and the bridge at Elixheim.
In May 1706, Villeroi, pressured by King Louis XIV to atone for France's earlier defeats, initiated an offensive in the Low Countries by crossing the Dyle river. Marlborough engaged Villeroi's army near Ramillies on 23 May. Along with 11 battalions and 39 squadrons of cavalry under Lord Orkney, the Queen's fought initially in what transpired to be a feint attack on the left flank of the French lines. The feint convinced Villeroi to divert troops from the centre, while Marlborough had to use representatives to repeatedly instruct Orkney not to continue the attack. Most of Orkney's battalions, including the Queen's, redeployed to support Marlborough on the left. By 19:00, the Franco-Bavarian army had completely disintegrated. For the remainder of 1706, the Allies systematically captured towns and fortresses, including Antwerp, Bruges, Brussels, and Ghent. The regiment fought its last siege of 1706 at Menin, one of the most formidably defended fortresses in Europe.
The threat of a French-supported Jacobite uprising in Scotland arose in 1708 and the Queen's was among those regiments recalled to Britain. Once the Royal Navy intercepted an invasion fleet off the English coast, the regiment returned to the Low Countries, disembarking at Ostend. The French later returned to the offensive, attacking Flanders and capturing territory that had been lost in 1706. Marlborough had positioned his forces near Brussels, anticipating that an offensive might be directed against the city, and had to march his army over a period of two days. On 11 July, Marlborough led an Allied army against Bourgogne, grandson of King Louis, and Marshal Vendôme's 100,000–man army at the Battle of Oudenarde. The Queen's joined an advanced contingent under Lord Cadogan which crossed the Scheldt, via pontoon bridges assembled near Oudenarde, as a prelude to the arrival of the main army. While elements of the main army began to arrive at the bridges, Cadogan advanced on the village of Eyne and swiftly overwhelmed an isolated group of four Swiss mercenary battalions; three surrendered and the fourth attempted to withdraw but was intercepted by Jørgen Rantzau's cavalry. To signify the surrender, the commanding officer of the Queen's received some of their colours. The regiment soon became engaged in battle near the village of Herlegem, fighting through the hedges until darkness. Cadogan's precarious situation only began to alleviate by the deployment of the Duke of Argyll's reinforcements.
The Queen's became occupied by a succession of sieges: at Ghent, Bruges, and Lillie. In 1709, the regiment assisted in the protracted Siege of Tournai, which capitulated in September. On the 11th, the regiment fought in the bloodiest battle of the war: Malplaquet. After being committed from reserve in the battle's closing stages, the regiment advanced under heavy fire and fought through dense wood, having Lieutenant-Colonel Louis de Ramsay killed. The memoirs of Private Matthew Bishop, of the Queen's Regiment, contained an account that recalled: "the French were well prepared to give us a warm salute. It soon broke us in a terrible manner, though our vacancies were quickly filled up...when we got clear of the dead and wounded, we ran upon them and returning their fire, even broke them out of the breast-work."
In 1710, the regiment was represented at the sieges of Douai, Béthune, Aire and St. Venant.
Jacobites and renewed European conflict (1715–1768)
Rebellion against the Hanoverian King George I began in 1715 by Jacobite supporters of James Stuart, "Old Pretender" to the throne of Great Britain. As unrest escalated in Britain, the Queen's Regiment arrived in Scotland and became absorbed by a Government army under the Duke of Argyll. Although numerically superior, the Jacobite army did not begin an advance south until November because of the caution of their leader, the Earl of Mar. The Duke of Argyll moved north from Stirling and positioned his forces in the vicinity of Dunblane on 12 November. On the morning of the 13th, in conditions that had frozen the ground during the night, the Battle of Sheriffmuir began.The Queen's Regiment formed part of General Thomas Whetham's left wing. Confused troop movements led to both it and the Jacobite left being weaker than the corresponding right wing. While Whetham's men attempted to readjust their dispositions, a mass of Jacobite troops began a rapid charge. Entwined in hand-to-hand combat within minutes, the sides fought until Whetham's men broke and retreated in disarray. The Queen's had 111 killed, including Lieutenant-Colonel Hanmer, 14 wounded, and 12 captured. The remnants withdrew from the battlefield until almost upon Stirling. Without cavalry support, the Jacobite left also broke, and the Earl of Mar abandoned the area at nightfall.
In 1716 at the behest of George I, to honour the regiment's service at Sheriffmuir, the Queen's became the King's Regiment of Foot, with the White Horse of Hanover as its badge.
The King's remained in Scotland until 1717, by which time the Jacobite uprising had been suppressed. The regiment served in Ireland between May 1717 and May 1721 and between winter 1722 and spring 1727. The regiment embarked to Flanders in winter 1742 for service in the War of the Austrian Succession. It fought at the Battle of Dettingen in June 1743 where, despite the French enjoying superiority in numbers, Britain and its Allies defeated an army under the duc de Noailles. The regiment also took part in the Battle of Fontenoy in May 1745: the King's Regiment was positioned in the frontline of the Duke of Cumberland's army but a retreat was eventually ordered.
In 1745, Prince Charles Edward landed in Scotland, seeking to restore the Stuarts to the British throne. The regiment did not become committed to battle until the Battle of Falkirk in January 1746. The regiment was part of the left wing of the front line of the army, under the command of Lieutenant-General Henry Hawley. After a failed attack by dragoons of Hawley's army, Jacobite Army troops charged the government army, compelling the left wing of the army to withdraw while the right wing held. The rebels and Government armies both withdrew from the battlefield by night-time. The regiment also fought in the Battle of Culloden in April 1746. Once the impetuous Jacobites charged and overcame the initial volley of fire, vicious hand-to-hand fighting ensued with Hawley's men. The King's provided cross-fire support, firing across the front-line and into the Jacobites. The regiment sustained a single, severely wounded casualty.
The King's fought in the Battle of Rocoux in October 1746 and the Battle of Lauffeld in July 1747. In the latter, the King's and three other regiments became embroiled in a protracted struggle through the avenues of Val. Control of the village fluctuated throughout the battle until the Allies retreated before overwhelming numbers.
The British Army implemented a numbering system in 1751 to reflect the seniority of a regiment by its date of creation, with the King's becoming the 8th Regiment of Foot in the order of precedence. The beginning of the Seven Years' War, which would encompass Europe and its colonial possessions, necessitated the 8th's expansion to two battalions, amounting to a total of 20 companies. Both battalions formed part of an expedition in 1757 that captured Île d'Aix, an island off the western coast of France, as a precursor to a planned seizure of the mainland garrison town of Rochefort. The 2nd Battalion became the 63rd Regiment of Foot in 1758.
When the regiment augmented the Hanoverian Army in 1760, the 8th King's had its grenadier company committed to the battles of Warburg and Kloster Kampen. As a complete regiment, the 8th served at Kirch-Denkern, Paderborn, Wilhelmsthal, and the capture of Cassel.