Historical record of the Eighty-seventh Regiment, or the Royal Irish Fusiliers

by Richard Cannon

In 1803 Captain Doyle returned from the Mediterranean, was appointed Major of Brigade under Lieut.-General Sir James Henry Craig, K.B., by whom he was employed, with other staff officers, to make separate reports of the best mode of defence of Hosely Bay; his plan was highly approved by Sir James Craig, who recommended him to the Commander-in-Chief, and he was promoted to the rank of Major of the second battalion of the Sixty-first regiment, on the 9th of July 1803. In the following year Major Doyle commanded a corps composed of light infantry companies, and of regiments of volunteers, formed for the defence of the northern coasts of England by Lieut.-General Sir Hew Dalrymple, whose warm thanks he received. At the close of 1804 he was appointed by General Sir David Dundas, K.B., to command a corps of light infantry at Barham Downs, where he received the thanks of the Adjutant-General for his system of light infantry practice, and about the same time his Military Catechism was published. He was appointed Assistant Quartermaster-General at Guernsey, and on the 22nd of August 1805 was promoted to the rank of Lieut.-Colonel of the Eighty-seventh regiment. He received the thanks of the Governor of Plymouth, of the Royal Court of Guernsey, and of the Commander-in-Chief, for the exemplary conduct of both battalions of the Eighty-seventh, each having been under his command. In 1808 he was sent into Spain by His Majesty’s Government as a Military Commissioner.

The rank of Major-General in the Spanish armies was Conferred upon him, and a regiment was raised and named “Regiment of Doyle” for his conduct in an affair at Olite. A badge of honor (to be worn on the left arm) was conferred upon him in 1809 for assuming the command of, and saving the city of Tortosa, threatened with insurrection by the inhabitants, whilst the French were at the gates of the town. The motto, “The Reward of Enthusiasm, Efficiency, and Valour.” The arms of this city were engrafted upon his family arms, by order of the Government of Spain at that period, and ratified by King Ferdinand. He was appointed a Knight of the Order of Charles III., for his services in the years 1808-9, and his conduct reported by the Spanish to the British Government. In 1809 he was wounded at the attack of the Col de Balaguer. A medal was struck by the Spanish Government, specially to mark its approbation of the conduct of the General, when he took by assault the tower and battery of Bagur upon the 10th of September 1810, and assisted in the operations against, and the taking the Castle of Palamos upon the 14th of September. The motto, “Spanish Gratitude to British Intrepidity.” A medal was presented to him at the close of the campaign. The motto, “For distinguished Valour,” and he was recommended by the Duke of Wellington to be appointed Colonel of a regiment to be raised in Catalonia, and in 1811 obtained the Cross of Distinction for the defence of Tarragona in 1811, where he was wounded; likewise received the Cross of Distinction for the three principal battles in Catalonia, and also the rank of Lieut.-General in the Spanish armies, for his services in Catalonia, Arragon, and Valencia, conferred by the Government at that period, and ratified by King Ferdinand: he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Reserve, raised and disciplined at Cadiz during the siege, and was nominated Director of the Establishment for Military Instruction.

The honor of knighthood was conferred upon him by the Prince Regent in 1812, and he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath for the important services rendered by him in Spain. On the 30th, Lieut.-Colonel Sir Charles Doyle was removed to the Eighty-fourth regiment, and was placed on the half-pay of that corps on the 25th of February 1819, and on the 12th of August following was advanced to the rank of Major-General. On the 1st of November 1819 he was appointed Colonel of the Tenth Royal Veteran Battalion (since disbanded). Sir Charles Doyle, in addition to the honors enumerated, had received the medal of the Order of the Crescent conferred by the Grand Seignior for services in Egypt, the Legion of Honor, and had been appointed a Knight Commander of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order, of which order he was subsequently nominated a Knight Grand Cross. In 1825 Major-General Sir Charles Doyle was appointed to the command of the South-western District of Ireland, and in 1829 was appointed President of the Board assembled at the War Office to investigate the services and pensions of soldiers. On Jan. 10. 1837 he was promoted to the rank of Lieut.-General.

Lieut.-General Sir Charles William Doyle died at Paris on the 25th of October 1842, after a service of nearly sixty years in various parts of the world.

Memoir of the Services of Lieut.-Colonel Matthew Shawe, C.B., of the Eighty-seventh regiment.

Mr. Shawe was appointed an Ensign in the Twelfth foot on the 7th of May 1799, and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in the Seventy-fourth Highlanders on the 15th of November 1801, with which regiment he served at the storming and capture of the important fortress and town of Ahmednuggur on the 8th and 12th of August 1803; was wounded severely at the battle of Assaye on the 23rd of September following, when the troops under Major-General the Honorable Arthur Wellesley gained a victory over the combined army of Scindiah and the Rajah of Berar. His next service was at the battle of Argaum, on the 29th of November; afterwards at the siege and storming of Gawilghur, on the 15th of December 1803: this was a very strong fort, situated on a range of mountains between the sources of the rivers Poorna and Taptee. Lieutenant Shawe served with the Seventy-fourth at the siege of Chandore, a strong hill fort in Candeish. This place surrendered on the 12th of October 1804. Lieutenant Shawe was also at the siege of Gaulnah in the same month; on the 30th of October he was promoted to the rank of Captain in the Seventy-fourth regiment.

Captain Shawe proceeded with his regiment to the Peninsula in January 1810; was present at the battle of Busaco on the 27th of September following; also at the affairs of Redinha on the 12th of March 1811, Condeixa on the day following, Foz d’Aronce on the 15th of that month, Sabugal on the 3rd of April, and at the battle of Fuentes d’Onor on the 3rd and 5th of May 1811; in the latter action Captain Shawe was wounded. He was advanced to the brevet rank of Major on the 30th of May 1811, and served at the siege and storming of Ciudad Rodrigo in January 1812; the siege of Badajoz and the escalading of Fort Picurina on the 25th of March. This fort was assaulted and carried by five hundred men of the third division, two hundred of whom were under Brevet-Major Shawe, who was dangerously wounded; he however recovered, and received the brevet of Lieut.-Colonel, which was dated the 27th of April 1812, for his services on this occasion. He was also thanked in general orders by Viscount Wellington for his conduct, received a medal, and was subsequently nominated a Companion of the Order of the Bath.

Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Shawe was appointed Major in the Fifty-ninth regiment on the 4th of June 1813, and was promoted Lieut.-Colonel in the Eighty-fourth regiment on the 15th of April 1817, and was removed to the Eighty-seventh regiment on the 30th of April 1818, the command of which devolved upon him in May 1823 in consequence of the decease of Lieut.-Colonel Miller. Lieut.-Colonel Shawe died on the 10th of April 1826, on board His Majesty’s sloop “Slany,” while within one day’s sail of Penang, where he was buried with all military honors. His life was sacrificed to his zeal for his duty, his health being such that, on leaving Calcutta, his medical advisers tried every argument to dissuade him from proceeding to join his regiment, then employed in the Burmese territory.