Regimental History of the 1st of Foote,
the Royal Regiment
The Royal Scots, the 1st Regiment of Foote and holders of the coveted position at the right of the line, are the oldest surviving regiment in the British army and the senior regiment of infantry. It was formed in 1633 by John Hepburn, who was authorized to recruit in Scotland in order to add a body of men who were survivors from much earlier regiments. These earlier regiments are so old that their origins are obscure and so the Royal Scots lay claim to an ancestry of considerable antiquity. It is not for nothing that the regiment is nicknamed Pontius Pilates Bodyguard. (This nickname comes from a legend that prior to the Resurrection, Christ's tomb was guarded by Caledonian (Scottish) legionaires.) A dispute arose between the Royals and the French Regiment of Picardy, both arguing that they deserved the coveted place on the right of the line. The French Regiment asserted that they were the senior regiment, having been on guard at the Crucifixion. The Royals claimed that had they been there too, the body would not have gone missing! The Royals have proudly maintained the nickname ever since. Today, the regiment recruits in Edinburgh, the Lothians, and Tweedale with the regimental headquarters situated in Edinburgh Castle.
Detailed History
1st Royal Regiment,
2nd Battalion
During the Seven Years War, 1756-1763
1756:
The Regiment was stationed in Ireland. Its Colonel was Lt. General James St. Clair but under the command of Lt. Col. Forster. With the outbreak of the French and Indian (and Seven Year') War, the regiment began to raise additional men to bring the regiment up to full strength.
1757:
On 29 January, the Royals, along with the 17th, 27th, 28th, 43rd, 46th, 55th, and 58th Regiments, received orders to ship overseas to North America. The regiment marched to Cork, Ireland to wait for transport ships, and set sail on 8 May. In early July, the regiment arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where they came under the command of John Campbell, the Earl of Loudoun, and began preparations for the attack on Fortress Louisburg on Cape Breton Island. When the Royal Navy was not able to secure local sea superiority, the attack on Louisburg was cancelled and put off until the next year. Lord Loudoun was recalled home.
1758:
In May, the troops, now under the command of Major-General Jeffery Amherst, again sailed for Cape Breton. On 8 June, after six days of being confined onboard due to bad weather and French shore defenses, the British launched a general landing assault at Comorandiere (now known as Kennington Cove) in three divisions. The battalion companies of the regiment, under the command of Lt. Col. Forster formed part of the right (or White) division under command of Brigadier-General Edward Whitmore. Also included as part of this command were the 17th, 47th, 48th, 58th, and 2/60th regiments. This division was to proceed to White Point to make a diversion. The left (or Red) division was under the command of Brigadier-General Wolfe and consisted of all the Grenadiers (including the 1st Royals, the Light Infantry, the 78th Highlanders and one company of rangers. The Blue division was lead by Brigadier-General Lawrence and was made up of the 15th, 22nd, 35th, 40th, 45th, 3/60th regiments.
Leading the Red division to land at Anse-aux-Sables, Wolfe was in one of the lead boats and faced terrific French artillery and musket fire from the shore. He directed the boats to look for a less-defended place to land. Boats with British Light Infantry, under the command of Major Scott, managed to find a less exposed rocky beach and landed. Wolfe immediately rushed as many boats as possible to the spot and landed himself with the grenadiers and Highlanders. The beach was secured and the defending French were driven off with the bayonet. White and Blue Divisions rushed to land and a successful landing was attained with the total loss of killed, drowned and wounded only slightly exceeding one hundred. The British built a fortified camp and brought ashore siege guns and supplies, then quickly surrounded the town of Louisburg and began the siege. The work of digging the trenches and the approaches exposed the troops to great dangers and hardships; however, the town was forced to surrender on 25 July. On 27 July, the grenadier companies of the 1st Royals, Amhersts 15th, and Hopsons 40th formally took possession of the town. Thus Cape Breton and Prince Edwards Island became British dominions.
In the same year, Major-General Abercrombie advanced against Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain with overwhelming numbers but criminally blundered his attack, taking horrific casualties, and retreated. Abercrombie was then replaced by Amherst, who left Louisburg and sailed for Boston on 30 August. He brought with him the Royals, the 17th, 47th, 48th, and 78th Regiments, and took over command of all British troops in North America.
1759
: A resolution to attack French possessions in North America at four different points at one time was agreed upon; and the 1st Royals was selected to form part of the force, commanded by now Lt.-General Amherst, to make a second attempt of Fort Ticonderoga (Fort Carillon as it was called then). In June, the force, under Amherst, set up camp on the Hudson River, and the 1st Royals were brigaded with the 27th and 55th Regiments to form Forster’s Brigade. On 21 July, Amherst’s army arrived at Lake George and set about building a fort and collecting or building boats to convey the troops up the lake. In July, the army moved up the lake and effected a landing. As they advanced overland, the armys vanguard encountered French regulars and Indians near the sawmills, two miles from Fort Carillon, and routed them. The French commander then quitted his lines and placed a small garrison in the fort and moved the bulk of his troops to Fort Saint Fredric at Crown Point. Amherst then lay siege to Fort Carillon. On 25 July, the small French garrison blew up the fort and retreated to Crown Point, which was blown up and also abandoned. Amherst, with the Royals and other troops, followed to Crown Point and began to build a new fort. From this fort, Amherst launched Roger’s Rangers on their famous Saint Francis Raid.
13 September, after weeks of maneuvering in and around the St. Lawrence River and the City of Quebec, an independent British army under the command of Major-General James Wolfe, fought the successful Battle of the Plains of Abraham. With this victory, which cost Wolfe his life, Quebec, the enemy capital in North America, was captured.
In October the 1st Royals left Crown Point and proceeded to New Jersey, where they took up winter quarters in newly constructed barracks. Four companies, under the command of Lt. Col. Forster, barracked in New Brunswick; four, under Major Fredrick Hamilton, barracked in Elizabethtown; and two, under Robert Mirrie, the senior captain, barracked in Trenton.
1760:
Cherokee Indians began attacking the settlers on the frontiers of the southern provinces. In April, a small force numbering 400 1st Royals, Montgomery’s Highlanders, and 200 provincials, under the command of Major Fredrick Hamilton, was ordered to proceed to South Carolina to punish the tribes. This force assembled at New York and took ship there, sailing to Charleston. On arrival at Charleston, the force marched into the backcountry to Fort Ninety-Six, on the borders of the Cherokee Territory.
Hamilton’s force marched into the Carolina frontier, intending to destroy the Cherokee villages and burn all their fields of crops and supplies. The 1st Royals were involved in several skirmishes. Twice, Hamilton’s force made major forays into enemy territory, but with no resolution to the conflict.
The two flank companies and the remaining four battalion companies marched from New Jersey to New York, sailed up the Hudson River and on to Crown Point. From there they advanced up Lake Champlain with the intent to meet up with General Amherst, who was attacking and destroying the French-Canadian settlements along the St. Lawrence River. When all the British armies converged on Montreal, the French Governor of Canada, Pierre de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil, was forced to surrender.
1761-1762:
The four companies in the Carolinas, under Major Hamiltons command, again advanced into Cherokee territory. Fifteen towns and villages were torched and laid to ruin, with all their surrounding crops destroyed. The results of these operations finally convinced the Cherokee of their inability to resist the King’s forces, and they sued for peace, which was granted.
In the meantime, the four battalion companies stationed in Montreal were ordered to march across the Province of New York to New York City, where they were to take ship and sail to the West Indies. In April, these companies left New York to take part in the capture of the island of Dominica. They also took part in the capture of the French island of Martinique. The four-battalion companies that were engaged against the Cherokees were embarked in Charlestown, and sailed to the West Indies to take part of the capture of Havana. The battalion distinguished itself in the storming of Fort Moro, the fort being a key position of the extensive earthworks that protected the city of Havana. The capture of Fort Moro facilitated the attack on the city, and the Governor surrendered the city.
The Grenadiers and light Company of the 1st Royals had remained in Montreal. They were dispatched with others under the command of Lt. Col. Amherst (younger brother of Jeffery) to counter the French expedition that had sailed from France to capture St. Johns, Newfoundland. The flank companies, with the other troops successfully routed the French forces and won back the French possessions.
1763:
With peace being declared, the Regiment was ordered home.
Origins of the Regiment
In 1633, Sir John Hepburn of Athelstaneford was commissioned by Charles I and the Scottish Privy Council to raise recruits in Scotland, based on a nucleus of men who had served in various other ancient and historic regiments. It was agreed between Louis XIII of France and Charles I that this regiment was to enter French service. This arrangment was not unique: it was common during this period for regiments to be raised in Scotland for service in continental service. Ancestors of Hepburn’s regiment are believed to include the Scots Archer Guard in France; the Green, or Scots Brigade, which fought heroically for King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden; and Grey’s Regiment in the service of the King of Bohemia, in which regiment Hepburn himself was a captain.It was by virtue of the Royal Warrant that the entire Regiment was considered as British; a regular force in a standing Army which could be recalled to Britain at will.
Hepburn was killed in 1636, and was succeeded briefly by his brother George, and then by Lord James Douglas. In 1661, the Regiment was summoned to Britain to bridge the gap between the disbandment of the New Model Army and the creation of a Regular Army, organised along the same lines as the British units in foreign service. The Regiment was thus the original model for all others
But it was not until 1668 that it was finally recalled and was put onto the Irish establishment.
As Dumbartons Regiment (Lord George Douglas, Earl of Dumbarton was Colonel from 1653 to 1688), it fought with distinction in the defence of Tangier in North Africa, from 1680 to 1684 and won its first battle honour. On its return to England in 1684 the title "The Royal Regiment of Foot" was conferred by Charles II. At the Battle of Sedgemoor which ended the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685, the regiment established its precedence and fought the battle in the coveted position on the right of the line. At this time, five companies formed part of the force concentrated against the rebels who they met at Sedgemoor. The following year, the Regiment was divided into two battalions and was not to have less until 1949.
During the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the regiment remained loyal to King James II. It was only after the departure of Catholic Earl of Dumbarton and the purging of many of the officers and men that the regiment finally gave its allegiance to the Protestant successors, William and Mary of Orange. For the remainder of the 17th century, the Royal Scots served in Holland during the War of the League of Augsburg and were present at the siege of Mons, Steenkirk (1692), and Landen (1693), and at the siege and capture of Namur (1695).
Under the Duke of Marlborough, the Royal Scots fought against the French in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14), where they gained for themselves an enviable reputation in the actions at Schellenburg, Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenard, Malplaquet and Venloo, among others. In 1713, they returned to serve on detached duties in Ireland, essentially policing and keeping order. After a disastrous expedition to Jamaica, where hundreds of men died of disease, the regiment again fought the French during the War of Austrian Succession (1740-48) and were present at the Battle of Fontenoy (1745). The 2nd Battalion The Royal Scots (at the time known only as the Royals) fought in Scotland in 1746 against Prince Charles Edward Stuarts army both at Falkirk and Culloden.
In 1751, numbers were assigned to the colors of regiments, thereafter the Regiment was officially designated the First or Royal Regiment of Foot.
The war of Austrian Succession had not settled the chief issue between Britain and France - colonial supremacy. Both in India and America the fighting continued and most of the Regiment's active service in the 35 years which followed was to be in the New World. From Canada to the West Indies, during the Seven Years War the 2nd Battalion found itself involved in many actions including the capture of Montreal in 1760 and Havana in 1762. Then, after a period of home service and in the Mediterranean, it was the turn of the 1st Battalion for service in the West Indies. Disease rather than the enemy accounted for most deaths; between 1793 and 1796 the British lost 40,000 men in the West Indies of which The Royals lost 5 officers and 400 men, well over half the battalion strength.
GOD SAVE THE KING !!