SUCCESSION OF COLONELS
OF
THE FOURTH,
OR THE
KING'S OWN REGIMENT OF FOOT.
CHARLES EARL OF PLYMOUTH.
Appointed 13th July, 1680.
Charles Fitz-Charles, natural son of King Charles II., by Catherine, daughter of Thomas Pegg, Esq., of Yeldersley, in Derbyshire, was advanced to the peerage in July, 1675, by the titles of Baron Dartmouth, Viscount Totness, and Earl of Plymouth. Being a sprightly youth, and an aspirant to military fame, he obtained permission of the king, his father, to proceed in the character of a volunteer to the city of Tangier, in Africa, where he was initiated in the first rudiments of war. Having been educated abroad, he was familiarly styled Don Carlos, and in the printed narratives of several skirmishes with the Moors he is spoken of in terms of commendation. While he was engaged in the defence of this fortress the Second Tangier, now King's Own, regiment of foot was raised in England, of which his lordship was appointed colonel. During the siege he was attacked with a severe dysentery, of which he died in October, 1680, in the twenty-third year of his age. He was a very promising officer, of good natural abilities, affable, generous, and brave, and his death was much regretted by his companions in arms, also by the king, his father. His body was embalmed, sent to England, and interred in Westminster Abbey.
PIERCY KIRKE.
Appointed 27th November, 1680.
Piercy Kirke is represented by historians as an adventurous soldier of fortune, distinguished for personal bravery and gross immorality. He entered the army soon after the suppression of the insurrection of the Millenarians (or fifth-monarchy men) in 1661, and was many years an officer in the royal regiment of horse guards. During the Dutch war he obtained permission of King Charles II. to proceed to France to join the Duke of Monmouth's regiment of foot,—then in the service of Louis XIV. With this corps he served under the Duke of Monmouth at the siege of Maestricht in 1613; and in the two succeeding campaigns with the French army on the Rhine, commanded by the celebrated Marshal Turenne, under whose orders the English regiments of Monmouth and Churchill, and the Scots regiments of Douglas (now first royal) and of Hamilton, highly distinguished themselves. These corps also acquired additional laurels under Marshal Luxemburg, in 1676; and under Marshal De Crequi, in 1677; but the loose discipline which prevailed in the French army in Germany occasioned the troops to contract licentious habits, from which Kirke was never afterwards thoroughly reclaimed. On the formation of the Second Tangier, now King's Own, regiment, he was appointed to the lieut.-colonelcy, and in November he succeeded the Earl of Plymouth in the command of the corps; he was also appointed commander of the forces at Tangier, and he subsequently performed the duties of governor of that colony. While at Tangier, he was employed on an embassy to the Emperor of Morocco; he is said to have contracted a friendship with several Moorish chiefs, and an interchange of civilities took place between him and the emperor: his connexion with these barbarians, among whom internal feuds and the exercise of cruel propensities were frequent, was not calculated to soften the rugged traits of his character. In 1682 he was removed to the first Tangier (now second or queen's royal) regiment; which corps he commanded at the battle of Sedgemoor, where the rebel army under the Duke of Monmouth was overthrown. He was afterwards directed to attend with his regiment Lord Chief Justice Jeffries and four other judges, who were appointed to try the rebel prisoners; and while employed on this service he is said to have executed a number of wounded rebels in a barbarous manner, and he was also charged with the commission of numerous acts of wanton cruelty, for which he afterwards pleaded the express orders of the king and of Lieut.-General the Earl of Feversham. Brigadier-General Kirke certainly did not exhibit on this occasion the traits of a humane disposition, yet no doubt can exist but that the barbarities said to have been committed by him have been much exaggerated. The secretary-at-war summoned him to appear at court and explain his proceedings, which he did to the satisfaction of the king. He afterwards joined the association in favour of the Prince of Orange; this was, however, not suspected by James II., who promoted him to the rank of major-general on the 8th of November, 1688, and placed him at the head of the van-guard of the army appointed to oppose the Prince. Kirke is reported to have formed the design of seizing the king's person at Warminster, and of delivering him into the hands of the Prince of Orange; but this plot was frustrated by the king's being prevented visiting that quarter in consequence of an excessive bleeding at the nose, to which his Majesty was subject. Major-General Kirke was afterwards arrested and sent under a guard to London; but the flight of the king to France, and the elevation of the Prince of Orange to the throne, following in rapid succession, he was liberated and received into the favour of his new sovereign. In 1689 he was sent with two regiments of foot to the relief of Londonderry, in which service he succeeded; but he was accused of cruelty to the inhabitants, and of augmenting their miseries unnecessarily. He evinced ability and personal bravery in several skirmishes with King James's forces; he served under King William at the battle of the Boyne, and at the siege of Limerick, and on the 24th of December, 1690, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general. He was subsequently appointed to the staff of King William's army in the Netherlands, and he died at Breda on the 31st of October, 1691.
CHARLES TRELAWNY.
Appointed 23rd April, 1682.
Charles Trelawny was the fourth son of Sir Jonathan Trelawny, baronet, of an ancient family, which derived its name from the lordship of Trelawny, in Alternon, in the county of Cornwall; he obtained a commission in the Duke of Monmouth's regiment of foot, raised in England in 1672, for the service of the King of France against the Dutch. In his first campaign he was engaged in the invasion of Holland; in 1673 the famous city of Maestricht was besieged and captured; and during the four succeeding years he served on the Rhine under Marshals Turenne, Luxemburg, and De Crequi, and having acquired the character of a brave and meritorious officer, he was promoted to the majority of his corps. When Monmouth's regiment was disbanded in 1679, he was placed on half-pay; but in the summer of 1680 he was appointed major of the Second Tangier regiment, for which corps he raised a company of sixty-five men in Devonshire, &c. Soon after his arrival in Africa he was promoted to the lieut.-colonelcy, and in 1682 he succeeded Colonel Kirke in the colonelcy of the regiment. He took an important part in bringing about the Revolution in 1688; and having joined the association formed in favour of the Prince of Orange, he induced his brother, the Bishop of Bristol, to engage in the same cause. In November, 1688, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general; after he had joined the Prince of Orange, King James deprived him of his regiment; but it was restored by the Prince on the 31st of December. He distinguished himself at the head of a brigade of infantry at the battle of the Boyne; and he was subsequently appointed governor of Dublin. His conduct while in charge of the metropolis of Ireland, was marked by zeal for the public good, and by the ability with which he performed the duties of his government. On the 2nd of December, 1690, he was promoted to the rank of major-general; and in 1691 he retired from his regiment, and was appointed to the government of Plymouth. The following character is given of this distinguished officer in history:—
"General Charles Trelawny was a gentleman of an ancient and honourable family, which he also ennobled by his actions. He served under the famous Turenne, and his gallantry and experience spoke him worthy of so great a master. His public actions in several instances redounded to his honour, but his modesty was too delicate to admit of his reciting them. He served with the troops which Charles II. sent to the assistance of France, when they and their country gained the greatest reputation, by covering the retreat of the French and repulsing the Germans, an action of such signal importance that it procured the thanks of Louis XIV.; and this may be said to his and the nation's honour, that the armies of France have been protected as well as conquered by the English. Nor did he shine less in his private than his active life; the reputation he acquired in public services he adorned with affability, tenderness, and charity to all about him; the bravery of the soldier being tempered with the politeness of the accomplished gentleman. In short, so generous and noble a spirit attended his whole course of life, and so much patience and resignation in his last illness, that he appeared in both equally the hero, and died great as he had lived." His decease occurred on the 24th of September, 1731.
SIR CHARLES ORBY.
Appointed 11th December, 1688.
This officer was a stanch adherent to the Roman Catholic cause; he was lieut.-colonel of the third troop of life guards and deputy adjutant-general, and King James II. rewarded him with the colonelcy of the Queen's regiment of foot, from which he was removed by the Prince of Orange.
CHARLES TRELAWNY.
Re-appointed 31st December, 1688.
HENRY TRELAWNY.
Appointed 1st January, 1692.
Henry Trelawny, seventh son of Sir Jonathan Trelawny, and brother of General Charles Trelawny, raised a company of foot in the summer of 1680, for the Second Tangier regiment, in which corps he was appointed captain, and he served three years in Africa. In 1685, he was at the battle of Sedgemoor; and in December, 1688, he was promoted to the lieut.-colonelcy of the regiment. He served under King William in Ireland, and was appointed colonel of the regiment on the 1st of January, 1692. He was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general in 1696; and retired from the regiment in 1702.
WILLIAM SEYMOUR.
Appointed 12th February, 1702.
William Seymour obtained a commission in the royal regiment of fusiliers (now seventh foot) when that corps was raised in the summer of 1685; and two years afterwards he commanded a company. In 1691 he was appointed major, and in 1692 lieut.-colonel of the second regiment of foot guards. He served under King William in the Netherlands, and was wounded at the battle of Landen in 1693. In the following year he succeeded Lord Cutts in the colonelcy of one of the regiments of foot raised in 1689. After the peace of Ryswick his regiment was disbanded; and on the 1st of March, 1701, he succeeded Louis Marquis of Puizar in the colonelcy of a regiment, now the twenty-fourth foot, from which he was removed in 1702 to the Queen's, now King's Own, regiment, and promoted to the rank of brigadier-general. He commanded a brigade before Cadiz in 1702, and was wounded at Vigo. He was subsequently appointed to the command of the six regiments of marines; was promoted to the rank of major-general in 1704, to that of lieut.-general in 1707, retired from the regiment in 1717, and died in 1727.
THE HONOURABLE HENRY BERKELEY.
Appointed 25th December, 1717.
Henry Berkeley, third son of Charles second Earl of Berkeley, was page of honour to the Duke of Gloucester, son of Queen Anne; and after his Royal Highness's decease, he was page of honour to her Majesty Queen Anne. He obtained a commission in the army in December, 1709; in June, 1717, he was appointed first commissioner for executing the office of master of the horse to King George I.; and in December following he was promoted to the colonelcy of the King's Own, from which he was removed in 1719, to the Scots troop of horse grenadier guards. He was one of the King's equerries, and a member of parliament for the county of Gloucester; and died at Bath in May, 1736.
CHARLES CADOGAN.
Appointed 21st April, 1719.
Charles Cadogan entered the army in 1706, and served in Flanders under the celebrated John Duke of Marlborough. He was a member of parliament for the borough of Reading, also for Newport in Southamptonshire. In 1715 he was appointed captain and lieut.-colonel in the second foot guards; and in 1719 he purchased the colonelcy of the King's Own regiment. He succeeded, on the decease of his brother, the celebrated William Earl Cadogan, in 1726, to the dignity of Lord Cadogan, Baron of Oakley; and in 1734 he was removed to the Inniskilling dragoons. In 1739 he was promoted to the rank of major-general; in 1742 he was appointed colonel of the second troop (now second regiment) of life guards, which gave him the privilege of taking the court duty of gold stick; and in 1745 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general. The government of Sheerness was conferred upon his lordship in 1749, that of Gravesend and Tilbury in 1752, and in 1761 he was promoted to the rank of general. His lordship was a fellow of the Royal Society, and one of the trustees of the British Museum; he died in 1776.
WILLIAM BARRELL.
Appointed 8th August, 1734.
This officer entered the army in the reign of William III.; he obtained the rank of captain in 1698, and his distinguished conduct in the wars of Queen Anne was rewarded with the brevet rank of colonel on the 1st of January, 1707. In 1715 he was promoted to the colonelcy of the twenty-eighth foot; in 1727 he was appointed brigadier-general; in 1730 he was removed to the twenty-second regiment, and in 1734 to the King's Own. In the following year he was promoted to the rank of major-general; in 1739 to that of lieut.-general; and he was also appointed governor of Pendennis castle. He died on the 9th of August, 1749.
ROBERT RICH.
Appointed 22nd August, 1749.
Robert Rich, second son of Sir Robert Rich, baronet, a distinguished officer in the wars of Queen Anne, was promoted by King George II. to the lieut.-colonelcy of the King's Own, at the head of which corps he distinguished himself at the battle of Culloden and was wounded; and in 1749 he succeeded Lieut.-General Barrell in the colonelcy of the regiment, which he held seven years. In 1758 he was promoted to the rank of major-general, and in 1760 to that of lieut.-general; he also held the appointments of governor of Londonderry and Culmore-fort in Ireland; and in 1768 he succeeded, on the decease of his father, to the dignity of a BARONET. He died in 1785.
ALEXANDER DUROURE.
Appointed 12th May, 1756.
This officer was promoted on the 27th of February, 1751, from the lieut.-colonelcy of the twenty-fourth, to the colonelcy of the thirty-eighth regiment; and was removed in 1756 to the King's Own. In 1758 he was promoted to the rank of major-general, and in 1760 to that of lieut.-general. He died in 1765.
THE HONORABLE ROBERT BRUDENELL.
Appointed 23rd January, 1765.
Robert Brudenell, third son of George Earl of Cardigan, was many years a member of parliament for Marlborough, also groom of the bedchamber to his Royal Highness the Duke of York, whose train he bore at the coronation of George III. He was appointed captain and lieut.-colonel in the third foot guards in 1758; was promoted to the colonelcy of the sixteenth foot in 1763; and removed to the King's Own in 1765. He died at Windsor in October, 1768.
STUDHOLME HODGSON.
Appointed 7th November, 1768.
Studholme Hodgson, after serving several years in the army, was appointed, in 1745, aide-de-camp to the Duke of Cumberland, whom he attended at the battles of Fontenoy and Culloden. He obtained the command of a company, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the first foot guards, on the 22d of February, 1747; and on the 30th of May, 1756, he was promoted to the colonelcy of the fiftieth foot. He obtained the rank of major-general on the 25th of June, 1759; and was removed to the colonelcy of the fifth foot in October of the same year. In 1761 he was advanced to the rank of lieutenant-general, and he commanded the land forces of a successful expedition against Belle Isle in the same year, for which he obtained the approbation of the king, and received the expression of the "warm sense of the great service he had done his king and country;" also the congratulation, "on the completion of so important and critical an operation which must ever be remembered to his honour," from the secretary of state, the celebrated William Pitt, afterwards Earl of Chatham. He was appointed in 1765, governor of Forts George and Augustus. In 1768 he was removed to the King's Own; in 1778 he was promoted to the rank of general; and in 1782 he was removed to the colonelcy of the fourth Irish horse, now seventh dragoon guards. He was again removed, in 1789, to the eleventh light dragoons, and on the 30th of July, 1796, he was promoted to the rank of field-marshal. He enjoyed this elevated rank two years, and died in the autumn of 1798, at the advanced age of ninety years.
JOHN BURGOYNE.
Appointed 7th June, 1782.
John Burgoyne was a distinguished cavalry officer in the reign of George II. On the 10th of May, 1758, he was promoted from captain in the eleventh dragoons to captain-lieutenant and lieut.-colonel in the second foot guards; and his talents and experience occasioned him to be selected, in the following year, to form and discipline a corps of light cavalry, (now the sixteenth, or the Queen's lancers,) of which he was appointed lieut.-colonel commandant. Previous to this period light cavalry was little known in the British army, the value of that arme had, however, become appreciated; and the discipline, dexterity, and efficiency of Burgoyne's horsemen soon attracted admiration, and he received from his sovereign repeated and conspicuous testimonies of his royal approbation. In 1762 he was sent with his regiment to Portugal, where he served as brigadier-general, and he acquired distinction under the Count La Lippe and the Earl of Loudoun, whose despatches bore testimony of his gallantry and zeal for the service, in the warmest terms. He was appointed in 1763 colonel of his regiment, which was honoured with the title of the Queen's light dragoons; and in 1772 he was promoted to the rank of major-general; he was also appointed governor of Fort William. When the British colonies in North America revolted against the mother country, he was placed on the staff of the army in America, and he joined the troops at Boston a short time before the battle of Bunker's Hill. In 1776 he served under Lieut.-General Carlton in Canada, and in the autumn of that year he was promoted to the local rank of lieut.-general in America.
In 1777 he was appointed to the command of an army destined to proceed by Lakes Champlain and George to Hudson's River, with the view of forcing its way to Albany. An erroneous idea of the loyalty of the majority of the inhabitants of this part of North America appears to have been prevalent; and the difficulties to be encountered in this enterprise from the wooded and but partially inhabited country, through which the army had to march, with the state of the roads, and other causes, appear to have been overlooked. After a series of hard toil, incessant effort, and severe privation, the Indian warriors who formed part of the army, and whose predatory habits and disposition to use the tomahawk and scalping-knife had been restrained, all deserted; many of the Canadians and provincials followed this example, while others were deterred from performing their duties by fear; and after several stubborn engagements, in which the British regiments fought gallantly against an immense superiority of numbers, the lieut.-general found himself on the banks of the Hudson's River, with an army of three thousand five hundred men, reduced in physical power by incessant toil and want of provision, invested by an army of sixteen thousand Americans, disappointed of the hope of timely co-operation from other armies, without provisions; and under these dismal circumstances he concluded a convention with the American General Gates at Saratoga, in which he agreed that the troops should lay down their arms on condition of being sent to England, and not serving in America during the remainder of the war. These articles were, however, violated by the American government, on frivolous pretences, and the gallant men who had fought so bravely, and who did not submit until surrounded by five times their own number, were detained in America. Lieut.-General Burgoyne was exposed to the fate which usually attends unsuccessful commanders, and his conduct was censured; he defended himself in parliament with great warmth, and courted investigation; this was followed by altercation with the members of the government, which ended in his resigning, in 1779, the colonelcy of the Queen's light dragoons, also his appointment on the staff of the army in America, and the government of Fort William; but he retained his rank of lieut.-general in order to be amenable to a court martial. He was afterwards restored to royal favour; appointed commander-in-chief in Ireland; and in 1782 he was appointed colonel of the King's Own regiment of foot; he was also a member of the privy council, and represented the town of Preston in parliament. He was an accomplished gentleman; also an able scholar, and author of a much celebrated comedy called "The Heiress;" and his character was further adorned with benevolence. He died on the 4th of August, 1792, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
GEORGE MORRISON.
Appointed 8th August, 1792.
This officer was appointed lieut.-colonel in the army, in 1761, he also held the appointment of deputy quarter-master-general, and in 1763 he was placed at the head of that department, where he remained many years. He was promoted to the rank of colonel in 1772, to that of major-general in 1777, lieut.-general in 1782, and general in 1796. He obtained the colonelcy of the seventy-fifth foot in 1779; was removed to the seventeenth foot in 1782; and to the King's Own, in 1792. He died in 1799.
JOHN EARL OF CHATHAM.
Appointed 5th December, 1799.
John Pitt succeeded, in 1778, to the dignity of Earl of Chatham. He served as a subaltern with the thirty-ninth foot at Gibraltar and in 1779 he was appointed captain in the eighty-sixth, or Rutland regiment, which was disbanded at the termination of the American war. In 1782 he was promoted to the rank of lieut.-colonel, and in 1788 he was appointed first lord of the admiralty, which he held six years. He was promoted to the rank of colonel in 1793, and to that of major-general in 1795, and in 1796 he was appointed president of the council. When the King's Own regiment was augmented, in 1799, to three battalions, he was appointed commandant of the second battalion; he proceeded in the same year to Holland, and commanded a brigade under the Duke of York in the actions of the 2nd and 6th of October, when he was wounded. In December he succeeded General Morrison in the colonelcy of the King's Own. In 1801 he was appointed master-general of the ordnance, which he held five years; in 1802 he was promoted to the rank of lieut.-general, and, in 1827, he was re-appointed master-general of the ordnance, which he held three years. His lordship was nominated in 1809 to the command of an expedition against Walcheren and Antwerp, which failed from the numerous delays which occurred in conducting the enterprise. In 1812 he was promoted to the rank of general. He was subsequently honoured with the dignity of knight of the garter; and, in 1820, he was appointed governor of Gibraltar. He died in 1835.
JOHN HODGSON.
Appointed 30th September, 1835.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation of external sources.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text, and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained. For example, daybreak, day-break; sea-service, sea service; vice-roy, vice roy; bandalier; devotedness; musquetry.
[Pg viii], '1806 Returns to England' replaced by '—— Returns to England'.
[Pg x], In List of Plates, added 'Fourth (or King's Own) Regiment of Foot, to face page 141'.
[Pg 55], 'well-pallisadoed' replaced by 'well-pallisaded'.
[Pg 55], 'forward aud chased' replaced by 'forward and chased'.
[Pg 126], 'with the but-ends' replaced by 'with the butt-ends'.
[Footnote [26], 'Welsh Fusileers' replaced by 'Welsh Fusiliers'.
[Footnote [27], 'bowitzer' replaced by 'howitzer'.