The number of desertions increasing, the King ordered the army to retire towards London, when the cavalry was withdrawn from Warminster by Brigadier-General Maine of the third troop of life guards; and orders were sent to Major-General Kirke to march with the infantry to Devizes, but he refused, and was placed in arrest and sent under a guard to London. Brigadier-General Trelawny, expecting a similar fate, withdrew, with his lieut.-colonel, Charles Churchill, and about thirty non-commissioned officers and soldiers, and joined the Prince of Orange. The King sent Lieut.-General the Earl of Dumbarton to Warminster with two squadrons of horse, and he brought off the remaining officers and men of the four battalions without interruption.
After Brigadier-General Trelawny had joined the Prince of Orange, the King gave the colonelcy of the Queen's regiment of foot to Sir Charles Orby from the commission of lieut.-colonel in the third troop of life guards. But His Majesty, finding the army, on which he had depended, would not be subservient to his designs, fled from London with the view of escaping to France; the Prince of Orange assumed the reins of government, and ordered the regiment to march to Hertford and Ware; and His Highness restored Brigadier-General Trelawny to the colonelcy, and promoted Lieut.-Colonel Charles Churchill to the command of the Holland regiment, now the third foot.
1689
The regiment continued to occupy quarters in the south of England after the accession of William and Mary, and passed the winter of 1689 at Exeter.
1690
In the mean time Ireland had become the scene of conflict between the Roman Catholics and Protestants, and King James, having proceeded thither with a body of French troops, had reduced the greater part of that kingdom under his sway, and had maltreated the Protestants in various ways. In 1689 King William sent Duke Schomberg, with a body of troops, to aid the Protestants, and in 1690 His Majesty resolved to take the field in person. The Queen's regiment of foot was selected to form part of the army in Ireland, and having embarked from Barnstaple in the middle of April, put to sea, but was driven by severe weather to Pembroke. Here the regiment remained about a week, and having again put to sea on the 30th of April, landed at Belfast on the 2d of May. King William arrived in Ireland on the 14th of June, and placing himself at the head of the army, advanced to the banks of the Boyne, on the opposite side of which river King James's army was formed in order of battle.
At day-break on the morning of the 1st of July, the regiment was under arms, every man displaying a green branch in his hat, to distinguish him from the enemy, who wore pieces of white paper in their hats, and the cheerful countenances of the musketeers, pikemen, and grenadiers seemed to give presage of victory. About six o'clock the regiment, with the remainder of Brigadier-General Trelawny's brigade, forming part of the force under Count Schomberg and Lieut.-General Douglas, filed to the right, and having marched about two miles up the river, forded the stream between the King's camp and Slane bridge. Sir Neal O'Neal's regiment of Irish dragoons, in the service of King James, offered some opposition; but was speedily routed and its commanding officer was mortally wounded. After passing the river, Trelawny's brigade halted a short time until additional forces arrived; then advancing through corn fields, over deep ditches, and across a difficult bog, drove the enemy's left wing from its ground in a spirited manner, and forced it to make a precipitate retreat towards Duleek. When the enemy's left flank was thus turned, King William passed the river with the other divisions of his army, and King James's forces were overpowered and chased from the field. Thus a decisive victory was gained, and the troops halted during the night near Duleek.
The regiment advanced with the army upon Dublin, and at the review at Finglass, on the 7th and 8th of July, it mustered (according to the official rolls) five hundred and fifty-three private men, besides officers and non-commissioned officers. The enemy having fled from Dublin, the regiment was stationed several weeks in garrison in that city, of which its colonel was appointed governor.
Meanwhile the combined English and Dutch fleets, commanded by Lord Torrington and Admiral Evertsen, had engaged (30th of June) the French fleet under the Count de Tourville, off the Beachy, and the Dutch, being in the van, suffered so severely, that the enemy not only claimed the victory, but actually gained the ascendancy at sea, and menaced England with an invasion. A body of French landed on the western coast, and destroyed a village, and this event having produced considerable alarm, King William ordered this regiment and several other corps to return to England.[12]
After its arrival in England the regiment was encamped on Southsea common, near Portsmouth, and in the autumn, the danger of foreign invasion having passed away, it was selected to form part of an expedition to Ireland under the Earl of Marlborough, (afterwards the great Duke of Marlborough.) The troops employed on this service[13] embarked about the middle of September, and arrived in Cork roads on the 21st of that month. The fleet entered the harbour on the following day, and the co-operation of part of the army on shore having been secured, the troops landed on the 23d and besieged the city of Cork. A breach having been made, four English regiments, under Brigadier-General Churchill and a body of Danes, passed the river on the 28th of September, wading up to the arm-pits to the east marsh, in order to storm the city wall on that side. The grenadiers under Lord Colchester led the attack, and, while advancing, the Duke of Grafton, who accompanied the storming party in the character of a volunteer, received a mortal wound. Before the storming party gained the breach, the enemy hung out a white flag, and agreed to surrender.