KING'S OWN REGIMENT OF FOOT.
CHARLES EARL OF PLYMOUTH.
Appointed 13th July, 1680.
Charles Fitz-Charles, natural son of King Charles II., by Catherine, daughter of Thomas Pegg, Esq., of Yeldersley, in Derbyshire, was advanced to the peerage in July, 1675, by the titles of Baron Dartmouth, Viscount Totness, and Earl of Plymouth. Being a sprightly youth, and an aspirant to military fame, he obtained permission of the king, his father, to proceed in the character of a volunteer to the city of Tangier, in Africa, where he was initiated in the first rudiments of war. Having been educated abroad, he was familiarly styled Don Carlos, and in the printed narratives of several skirmishes with the Moors he is spoken of in terms of commendation. While he was engaged in the defence of this fortress the Second Tangier, now King's Own, regiment of foot was raised in England, of which his lordship was appointed colonel. During the siege he was attacked with a severe dysentery, of which he died in October, 1680, in the twenty-third year of his age. He was a very promising officer, of good natural abilities, affable, generous, and brave, and his death was much regretted by his companions in arms, also by the king, his father. His body was embalmed, sent to England, and interred in Westminster Abbey.
PIERCY KIRKE.
Appointed 27th November, 1680.
Piercy Kirke is represented by historians as an adventurous soldier of fortune, distinguished for personal bravery and gross immorality. He entered the army soon after the suppression of the insurrection of the Millenarians (or fifth-monarchy men) in 1661, and was many years an officer in the royal regiment of horse guards. During the Dutch war he obtained permission of King Charles II. to proceed to France to join the Duke of Monmouth's regiment of foot,—then in the service of Louis XIV. With this corps he served under the Duke of Monmouth at the siege of Maestricht in 1613; and in the two succeeding campaigns with the French army on the Rhine, commanded by the celebrated Marshal Turenne, under whose orders the English regiments of Monmouth and Churchill, and the Scots regiments of Douglas (now first royal) and of Hamilton, highly distinguished themselves. These corps also acquired additional laurels under Marshal Luxemburg, in 1676; and under Marshal De Crequi, in 1677; but the loose discipline which prevailed in the French army in Germany occasioned the troops to contract licentious habits, from which Kirke was never afterwards thoroughly reclaimed. On the formation of the Second Tangier, now King's Own, regiment, he was appointed to the lieut.-colonelcy, and in November he succeeded the Earl of Plymouth in the command of the corps; he was also appointed commander of the forces at Tangier, and he subsequently performed the duties of governor of that colony. While at Tangier, he was employed on an embassy to the Emperor of Morocco; he is said to have contracted a friendship with several Moorish chiefs, and an interchange of civilities took place between him and the emperor: his connexion with these barbarians, among whom internal feuds and the exercise of cruel propensities were frequent, was not calculated to soften the rugged traits of his character. In 1682 he was removed to the first Tangier (now second or queen's royal) regiment; which corps he commanded at the battle of Sedgemoor, where the rebel army under the Duke of Monmouth was overthrown. He was afterwards directed to attend with his regiment Lord Chief Justice Jeffries and four other judges, who were appointed to try the rebel prisoners; and while employed on this service he is said to have executed a number of wounded rebels in a barbarous manner, and he was also charged with the commission of numerous acts of wanton cruelty, for which he afterwards pleaded the express orders of the king and of Lieut.-General the Earl of Feversham. Brigadier-General Kirke certainly did not exhibit on this occasion the traits of a humane disposition, yet no doubt can exist but that the barbarities said to have been committed by him have been much exaggerated. The secretary-at-war summoned him to appear at court and explain his proceedings, which he did to the satisfaction of the king. He afterwards joined the association in favour of the Prince of Orange; this was, however, not suspected by James II., who promoted him to the rank of major-general on the 8th of November, 1688, and placed him at the head of the van-guard of the army appointed to oppose the Prince. Kirke is reported to have formed the design of seizing the king's person at Warminster, and of delivering him into the hands of the Prince of Orange; but this plot was frustrated by the king's being prevented visiting that quarter in consequence of an excessive bleeding at the nose, to which his Majesty was subject. Major-General Kirke was afterwards arrested and sent under a guard to London; but the flight of the king to France, and the elevation of the Prince of Orange to the throne, following in rapid succession, he was liberated and received into the favour of his new sovereign. In 1689 he was sent with two regiments of foot to the relief of Londonderry, in which service he succeeded; but he was accused of cruelty to the inhabitants, and of augmenting their miseries unnecessarily. He evinced ability and personal bravery in several skirmishes with King James's forces; he served under King William at the battle of the Boyne, and at the siege of Limerick, and on the 24th of December, 1690, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general. He was subsequently appointed to the staff of King William's army in the Netherlands, and he died at Breda on the 31st of October, 1691.
CHARLES TRELAWNY.
Appointed 23rd April, 1682.