FOOTNOTES:
[6] The regiments of infantry which were raised in 1702, and since retained on the establishment of the army, commenced with the Twenty-eighth, and ended with the Thirty-ninth regiment.
[7] The Thirty-ninth formed part of the garrison of Gibraltar when that fortress was besieged by the Spaniards in 1727, and it also shared in the memorable defence made by General Eliott, afterwards Lord Heathfield, from 1779 to 1782.
[8] A tradition has been preserved in the Thirty-ninth, that the regiment was present at the battle of Almanza on the 25th of April 1707, and that it was for some years known as “Sankey’s Horse,” in consequence of its being said to have been mounted on mules for the purpose of expediting its advance. The regiment, however, did not embark for Portugal until the 22nd of May 1707, and therefore was not present at the battle of Almanza.
[9] Minorca, an island in the Mediterranean, on the eastern coast of Spain, is about thirty miles in length and twelve in breadth, and is chiefly valuable for the excellent harbour of Port Mahon. In September 1708 Minorca was taken by Admiral Leake and a land force under Lieut.-General Stanhope, after a siege of about three weeks. The island was ceded to Great Britain by the Treaty of Utrecht, and remained in its possession until 1756, when, in April of that year, it was besieged by the French, under Marshal the Duke de Richelieu. After a brave defence by the Governor, General Blakeney, the garrison surrendered, and, in consideration of its gallantry, was permitted to march out with all the honours of war. At the Peace of Fontainebleau, in 1763, Minorca was restored to the English in exchange for Belle-Isle. In February 1782, the garrison, under the Governor, Lieut.-General the Honourable James Murray, after suffering severely from sickness, surrendered to the Duke de Crillon, the Commander-in-Chief of the combined French and Spanish forces, and Minorca was retained by Spain at the peace of 1783. Minorca again surrendered to a British force under General the Honourable Charles Stuart, on the 15th of November 1798; and at the Peace of Amiens, in 1802, Minorca was restored to the Spaniards, under whose sway it remains at the present period.
[10] The following return of killed and wounded during the siege of Gibraltar, from the 11th of February to the 12th of June 1727, is extracted from “The Political State of Great Britain,” vol. xxxiv. p. 413:—
| Regiments. | Officers. | Men. | ||
| Killed. | Killed. | Wounded. | Died of Wounds. | |
| Foot Guards | - | 2 | 19 | 2 |
| Royal Artillery | 1 | 11 | 16 | 2 |
| Pearce’s, 5th Foot | - | 4 | 9 | - |
| Lord Mark Kerr’s, 13th ditto | - | 7 | 26 | 3 |
| Clayton’s, 14th ditto | - | 7 | 13 | 5 |
| Egerton’s, 20th ditto | 1 | 8 | 12 | 8 |
| Middleton’s, 25th ditto | 1 | 3 | 14 | - |
| Anstruther’s, 26th ditto | - | 6 | 29 | 3 |
| Disney’s, 29th ditto | - | 2 | 12 | - |
| Bissett’s, 30th ditto | - | 8 | 15 | 4 |
| Hayes’s, 34th ditto | - | 2 | 16 | 2 |
| Newton’s, 39th ditto | - | 6 | 4 | 4 |
| Detachment from the regiments at Minorca, under Colonel Cosby, 18th Foot | - | 6 | 17 | 1 |
| Total | 3 | 72 | 202 | 34 |
[11] The numbers of the two armies are taken from the Life of Robert Lord Clive, by Major-General Sir John Malcolm, G.C.B., in which is published a letter from Lieut.-Colonel Clive to the Secret Committee of the Court of Directors of the East India Company, containing an account of the battle of Plassey, and of the loss sustained in killed and wounded.
[12] Topasses were black infantry, descended from Portuguese who had married natives, and were so named because they wore hats.
[13] These distinctions having, in after years, been discontinued, His Majesty King William IV., on the 17th of November 1835, was graciously pleased to authorise their being resumed. A handsome silver-mounted drum-major’s cane (now in possession of the regiment) was presented to the Thirty-ninth by the Nabob of Arcot, with the following device and inscription thereon:—Device: an Elephant, with motto “Primus in Indis,” Plassey, 1757:—Inscription: Nabob of Bengal overturned by the 39th Regiment and the Company’s troops, 5th February 1757.
It will be observed that the date 5th February 1757, is not that of the battle of Plassey, but of the action fought near Calcutta, which is narrated at [page 18]. The battle of Plassey took place on the 23rd of June 1757.
[14] The force under Captain Caillaud, of the Company’s service, consisted of one hundred and fifty Europeans, including artillery, five hundred Sepoys, and two field-pieces.
[15] These men belonged to “The Soldier Artificer Company,” and were commanded by the officers of Royal Engineers.
[16] The proceedings of the Spanish Government were somewhat sudden; and it is stated by Colonel John Drinkwater, of the late Seventy-second regiment, or Royal Manchester Volunteers, in his popular History of the Siege of Gibraltar, that “those officers whose curiosity had led them into the interior parts of the country were positively refused liberty to return to the garrison; they were therefore conducted to Cadiz, and had passports granted them to leave the kingdom by other routes. Brevet-Colonel Charles Ross and Captain John Vignoles, of the Thirty-ninth, with Captain Henry Lefanue, of the Fifty-sixth regiment, nevertheless contrived to join their corps, by assuming disguises, and risking the passage in a row-boat from Faro (a port in Portugal) to Gibraltar: others also attempted, but unfortunately were intercepted in their voyage.”
[17] The flank companies of the Thirty-ninth formed part of the centre column under Lieut.-Colonel Dachenhausen; the grenadier company consisted of three officers, three serjeants, and fifty-seven rank and file; the light infantry company was composed of a like number.
[18] In Colonel Drinkwater’s History of the Siege of Gibraltar, it is stated, “that in the forenoon of the 6th of September 1782, Lieut.-General Boyd, the colonel of the Thirty-ninth regiment, and Lieut.-Governor of Gibraltar, recommended, by letter, to the Governor, the immediate use of red-hot shot against the land-batteries of the besiegers. General Eliott acquiesced in the proposal, and immediately ordered Major Lewis, the commandant of the artillery, to wait on Lieut.-General Boyd for his instructions and commands, submitting entirely to him the execution of the attack which he had projected. In consequence of the Governor’s assent, preparations were instantly made; and in a short time everything was properly arranged for the service.”
[19] Calpé, in the south of Spain, and Abyla, on the opposite coast of Africa (about eighteen miles distant), were celebrated as the Pillars of Hercules; and, according to heathen mythology, these two mountains were united, until that hero separated them, and made a communication between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Calpé received the present designation of Gibraltar from the Arabic “Gib-el-Tarif,” or “Mountain of Tarif,” being the spot where that Moorish chieftain landed on his invasion of Spain in the year 711. The device of the “Castle and Key,” the present arms of Gibraltar, was given by Henry IV., King of Castile, upon his capturing the place from the King of Granada in 1462, in allusion to its being considered as the key to the Mediterranean.
[20] Major Henry Magan was promoted to the rank of Lieut.-Colonel of the Thirty-ninth regiment on the 17th of August 1794, in succession to Lieut.-Colonel Fremantle, deceased.
[21] Return of the troops at Guadeloupe on the 1st of September 1794:
| Corps. | Rank and File. | ||
| Fit for Duty. | Sick. | Total. | |
| Grenadier battalion | 152 | 208 | 360 |
| Light Infantry battalion | 33 | 382 | 415 |
| 35th regiment | 47 | 116 | 163 |
| 39th ditto | 24 | 284 | 308 |
| 43rd ditto | 23 | 176 | 199 |
| 56th ditto, three companies | 67 | — | 67 |
| 65th ditto | 43 | 209 | 252 |
| General total | 389 | 1,375 | 1,764 |
The Grenadier and Light Infantry battalions were composed of the flank companies of the 8th, 12th, 17th, 31st, 33rd, 34th, 38th, 40th, 44th, and 55th regiments.
[22] In 1781 the colonies on the rivers Essequibo and Demerara were placed under the protection of Great Britain, but the French took temporary possession of the Dutch settlements in 1783, which in April 1796 surrendered to the British, as above narrated. By the Treaty of Amiens, in 1802, these settlements were restored to the Dutch, but, upon the renewal of the war in the following year, were again taken by the British, since which period they have continued under the sway of Great Britain.
[23] A List of the Regiments which received men raised under the Army of Reserve, and Additional Force Acts, in the years 1803 and 1804, is inserted in the Appendix, [pp. 125 to 128].
[24] See Appendix, [pp. 125 to 128].
[25] Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable Robert William O’Callaghan, of the Thirty-ninth regiment, remained in Sicily, and was present, in command of a grenadier battalion, at the battle of Maida on the 4th of July 1806, for which victory he received a gold medal.
[26] A Memoir of Major-General Sir Patrick Lindesay, C.B. and K.C.H., is inserted in the Appendix, [page 121].
[27] Lieut.-General Rowland Hill was nominated a Knight of the Bath on the 22nd of February 1812.
[28] A memoir of the services of Colonel George Wilson is inserted in the Appendix, [page 119].
[29] It will be perceived, on reference to [page 3] of the Historical Record, that the tradition of the Thirty-ninth regiment having been engaged at Almanza in 1707, is not borne out by facts.
[30] General the Right Honorable Lord William Bentinck, G.C.B. relinquished the appointment of Commander-in-Chief in India on the 20th of March 1835, prior to the receipt of this letter in Bengal.