1791
1792
Having been relieved from duty at Jamaica, the regiment embarked on board of His Majesty's ship Dover, of forty-four guns, on the 9th of April, 1791, and landed at Portsmouth on the 10th of June. In the autumn it marched to Chatham, and afterwards to Canterbury; and on Friday, the 21st of November, it received their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of York, at Dover, on their arrival from the Continent; the Duke of York having married, a few weeks previously, Frederica Charlotte Ulrica, Princess Royal of Prussia.
1793
Early in 1792 the regiment returned to Chatham, and was brigaded with the Third Foot (the Buffs) under the command of Colonel Fox; in June the two regiments encamped on Bagshot-heath, with several other corps, under the command of the Duke of Richmond: at this camp the regiment remained three weeks; it was reviewed several times by His Majesty, and afterwards returned to Chatham, where it remained several months.
In the meantime a revolution had taken place in France, where a republican party had seized the reins of government, beheaded their sovereign, and involved the country in anarchy and bloodshed. Not content with carrying the horrors of democracy into every part of France, the republicans endeavoured to propagate their doctrines in all countries, and to overturn the constitution of every monarchy in Europe. Under these circumstances, the British people became involved in war for the defence of the fixed rights of their sovereign, the preservation of their own civil and religious liberties, and of their honor as a nation.
The Fourteenth Regiment was one of the first corps completed to a war establishment, under the zealous and judicious arrangements of its excellent commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Welbore Ellis Doyle, who assumed the command on the arrival of the regiment from Jamaica in 1791; it was also one of the corps selected for foreign service at the commencement of the war; and embarking at Dover, on the 19th March, 1793, for Holland, to aid the Dutch in repelling an attack of the French, it landed at Helvoetsluys, in the island of Voorn, on the 25th of March, being the first regiment of the line which arrived at the scene of war. The success of the allied arms had removed the theatre of war from Holland to the confines of French Flanders; and the Fourteenth Regiment, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Doyle, proceeded to Briel, where it embarked for Antwerp, whence it marched to Ghent, and was removed in canal boats to Bruges, where it halted a few days. From Bruges it marched to Tournay, where it arrived towards the end of April; and the flank companies, with those of the Thirty-seventh and Fifty-third Regiments, were placed under the orders of Major Mathews, of the Fifty-third, and detached to Marquain, to watch the motions of the enemy, in which service they were employed until the 20th of May.
The Duke of York assumed the command of the British and Hanoverian troops in Flanders, and co-operated with the Austrians under the Prince of Saxe-Cobourg. On the 23rd of May the Fourteenth Regiment was engaged in the attack of the enemy's fortified camp at Famars, and evinced great gallantry. Being composed principally of young soldiers, they rushed up the heights with great impetuosity to attack the enemy, but did not preserve sufficient order; Lieut.-Colonel Doyle galloped to the front, halted, and reformed the ranks, then bid the band play the tune "ça ira," and using a few encouraging expressions to the men, led them to the attack, when they rushed in compact order upon their opponents, and overpowered all opposition[4]. The French retreated across the Scheldt, and the allied army invested the fortress of Valenciennes. Lieutenant Charles W. Doyle, who performed the duty of brigade-major, was thanked for his conduct.
The loss of the regiment was limited to two serjeants and seven rank and file wounded; the Duke of York expressed his approbation of its conduct in orders.
The Fourteenth Regiment was employed at the siege of Valenciennes, under the Duke of York, and on the 25th of July, it furnished a detachment to take part in storming the horn-work. Lieut.-Colonel Doyle being appointed to the command of one of the attacking columns, obtained permission to place at the head of his party, one hundred volunteers of the Fourteenth Regiment, and having assembled the corps, he said, "Soldiers, one hundred volunteers from among you are to lead the column that I am to command upon a service of the greatest danger; I have thought it right to state this before I call upon you; such of you as volunteer this dangerous enterprise, recover arms:" when every man brought his musket to the "recover." The colonel was much affected by this display of devotion, and said, "Soldiers, I thank you from my heart; where all are equally desirous of facing the greatest danger, I cannot look, or wish, for volunteers. Officers, call out the first ten men for duty in each company."
On the 26th of July the following general order was issued.—