1691
The loss of the battle of Fleurus on the 21st of June, 1690, by the Dutch troops under Prince Waldeck, gave the French the ascendancy over the confederates in Flanders; and the Royal Fusiliers were selected to augment the forces in that country, where His Majesty resolved to command in person. The regiment embarked from Cork in January 1691, and sailing for Flanders experienced very severe weather at sea, and two vessels, having on board part of the Fusiliers, were wrecked on the English coast, and many men perished. The remainder of the regiment landed at Ostend and went into quarters in West Flanders, where it was joined by a fine body of recruits and by a number of men who had been left sick at Kinsale.
When the army took the field, the Royal Fusiliers were formed in brigade with the regiments of Bath (tenth), Hodges (sixteenth), and Fitzpatrick (afterwards disbanded), commanded by Brigadier-General Churchill, and served the campaign of this year with the main army commanded by King William; but no general engagement occurred. The regiment passed the winter in cantonments among the Belgic peasantry.
1692
The Earl of Marlborough, having fallen under the displeasure of King William, was removed from his commands, and was succeeded in the colonelcy of the Royal Fusiliers by Lord George Hamilton by commission dated the 23rd of January, 1692.
On the army taking the field, the regiment was again placed in the brigade commanded by Brigadier-General Churchill, and it served at the battle of Steenkirk on the 24th of July, 1692. On this occasion the leading column attacked the French forces commanded by Marshal Luxemburg with signal gallantry and success; but owing to the thick woods, with narrow and difficult defiles, which the army had to pass, together with the tardiness of Count Solms in obeying His Majesty's commands, some delay occurred. The Royal Fusiliers and a few other corps hastened through the defiles, and formed line at the skirts of the wood, where they were exposed to a heavy cannonade, and lost several men. In consequence of the delay which had occurred, the King ordered a retreat, and the French did not venture to attack the army in its retrograde movement.
Sir Robert Douglas having been killed in the act of rescuing the colours of the first battalion of the Royals from the enemy, was succeeded in the colonelcy of that regiment by Lord George Hamilton; and the command of the Royal Fusiliers was conferred on Colonel Edward Fitzpatrick, from a newly-raised regiment, which had been disbanded.
On the 22nd of August the regiment was detached from the main army, with several other corps, under Lieutenant-General Talmash, to Furnes, where the troops encamped until the fortifications were put in a state of defence; the Royal Fusiliers afterwards proceeded to Dixmude, and were employed in repairing the works;[11] and after the completion of this service, they marched into quarters at Ghent, where they passed the winter.
1693