The Campaigns and History of the Royal Irish Regiment, [v. 1,] from 1684 to 1902

by G. le M. Gretton

6. Lieutenant-General Richard Ingoldsby.

Richard Ingoldsby entered the army in the reign of King Charles II., his first commission being dated 13th of June, 1667. He joined the Prince of Orange at the Revolution, and after serving in the campaigns of King William III., he was appointed to the Colonelcy of the 23rd Regiment. He commanded that regiment at Namur, and was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General in 1696. On the outbreak of war in 1701, he was sent to Holland with a command in the Duke of Marlborough’s army, and highly distinguished himself during several campaigns. As a Lieutenant-General he was present at the battles of Schellenberg and Blenheim. On the 1st of April, 1705, General Ingoldsby was appointed Colonel of the 18th Royal Irish, and was afterwards nominated one of Her Majesty’s Lords Justices, and Master of the Horse for Ireland. He died on the 29th of January, 1712.

7. Brigadier-General Robert Stearne.

Robert Stearne belonged to one of the independent companies in Ireland that were incorporated into Lord Granard’s Regiment in 1684. His journal, which relates the stirring events in which he participated with the regiment from 1684 to 1717, is now one of the most valued possessions of The Royal Irish. He accompanied the regiment to England at the Revolution in 1688, and became Captain of his company in the following year. At the close of King William’s campaign in Ireland he was promoted to be Major. He served in the Flanders campaigns of 1695 and 1696. At the storming of Namur, where the regiment so greatly distinguished itself and acquired the title of The Royal Regiment of Ireland, Lieut.-Colonel Ormsby was killed, and Major Stearne was promoted by King William to the lieut.-colonelcy. He served in the Netherlands and Germany throughout the whole of the wars of Queen Anne’s reign, and commanded the regiment at the battles of Schellenberg, Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet; also in numerous sieges and engagements. Colonel Stearne became Brigadier-General in 1711, and in 1712 he was rewarded with the Colonelcy of his regiment, and was also appointed Governor of the Royal Hospital at Dublin. He concludes his journal in the following words: “In the month of May, 1717, the regiment received orders to march to Portsmouth, and there I take my leave of them, for, in the month of January following, His Majesty gave me leave to resign my regiment to Colonel William Cosby, after having served six crowned heads of England, and been forty years attached to one company without ever being removed from it; having made twenty-one campaigns; having been in seven field-battles—fifteen sieges—seven grand attacks on counterscarps and breaches—two remarkable retreats—at the passing of four of the enemy’s lines—besides several other petty actions; and, through God’s assistance, never had one drop of blood drawn from me in all those actions.” Brigadier-General Stearne died on the 1st of November, 1732.

8. Brigadier-General William Cosby.

William Cosby served for many years as an officer of the Life Guards, and rose to the rank of Lieut.-Colonel. He was promoted to the Colonelcy of the 18th Royal Irish in December, 1717, and accompanied the regiment to Minorca. He commanded a detachment of the troops sent from that island to Gibraltar, when the Spaniards besieged the fortress in 1727. Colonel Cosby was afterwards appointed Governor of the Leeward Islands, and, in 1732, he became Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of New York and New Jersey, when he relinquished the Colonelcy of his regiment.

9. Colonel Sir Charles Hotham, Bart.

Charles Hotham entered the army in the reign of Queen Anne, and served on the Continent in the campaigns of the Duke of Marlborough. He was a great friend of the Prince of Wales, afterwards George II., who, on his accession to the throne, appointed Sir Charles to be a Groom of the Bedchamber. He was subsequently Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to King Frederick the Great, of Prussia. Sir Charles Hotham was appointed Colonel of the 18th Royal Irish in January, 1732, and, in 1735, he was removed to the Colonelcy of the Horse Grenadier Guards.

10. Major-General John Armstrong.

This officer entered the army in 1704, and served with reputation throughout the Duke of Marlborough’s campaigns. He was promoted to the rank of Colonel in December, 1712. At various periods he held the appointments of Surveyor-General of H.M.’s Ordnance, Chief Engineer of England, and Quartermaster-General. In 1735, he was rewarded with the Colonelcy of the 18th Royal Irish, and was advanced to the rank of Major-General in 1739. He died on the 15th of April, 1742.