Historical record of the Twenty-second, or the Cheshire Regiment of Foot / containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1689, and of its subsequent services to 1849

by Richard Cannon

John Graves Simcoe.

Appointed 18th June, 1798.

John Graves Simcoe, son of Captain Simcoe of the Royal Navy, evinced great talent from his youth. It is recorded that, when a boy, he was taken prisoner at sea, and conveyed up the river St. Lawrence, to Quebec; and he constructed a chart of the river, which was given to Major-General Wolfe, who sailed with an expedition against Quebec, in 1759. On the 27th of April, 1770, he was appointed ensign in the Thirty-fifth regiment, with which corps he served at Boston, in 1775; he was appointed captain in the fortieth regiment in December, 1775, and served at Long Island and New York in 1776, and in the expedition to Pennsylvania in 1777, when he distinguished himself at the battle of Brandywine, and was wounded. In October of the same year, he was placed at the head of a provincial corps, called "The Queen's Rangers," with the rank of major-commandant, and was promoted to the rank of lieut.-colonel in 1778. His services with this corps are spoken of by Lieut.-General Sir Henry Clinton, in a letter to Lord George Germaine, in the following terms:—"Lieut.-Colonel Simcoe has been at the head of a battalion since October, 1777, and since that time he has been perpetually with the advance of the army. The history of the corps under his command is a series of gallant, skilful, and successful enterprises against the enemy, without a single reverse. The Queen's Rangers have killed, or taken, twice their own numbers. Colonel Simcoe himself has been thrice wounded; and I do not scruple to assert, that his successes have been no less the fruit of the most extensive knowledge of his profession which study and the experience within his reach could give him, than of the most watchful attention and shining courage." After repeatedly distinguishing himself in North and South Carolina, and Virginia, he was included in the capitulation of York Town, and returned to England in a state of debility from excessive exertion, &c. In 1790 he was promoted to the rank of colonel, and in the following year raised a corps of infantry called the Queen's Rangers, of which he was appointed colonel on the 1st of September, 1791. He subsequently proceeded to the West Indies, where he evinced the same talent, energy, and courage which shone so conspicuously in the American war. In 1794 he was promoted to the rank of major-general, and in 1796 to the local rank of lieut.-general in the island of St. Domingo. In January, 1798, he was appointed Colonel of the Eighty-first regiment, and was removed, in June following, to the TWENTY-SECOND regiment, the colonelcy of which corps he retained until his decease in 1806.

Sir James H. Craig, K.B.

Appointed 30th October, 1806.

James Henry Craig was appointed ensign in the thirtieth foot, in 1763, and served with his regiment at Gibraltar; in 1771 he was promoted to captain in the Forty-seventh regiment, with which corps he served several campaigns in America; and in 1777 he was promoted to the majority, and in 1781 to the lieut.-colonelcy, of the Eighty-second regiment, from which he was removed, in 1783, to the sixteenth. He was promoted to the rank of colonel in 1790, and to that of major-general in 1794; in 1795 he was nominated to the colonelcy of the Forty-sixth regiment: he was advanced to the rank of lieut.-general in 1801, and removed to the Eighty-sixth in 1804. He commanded an expedition to the Mediterranean, in 1805, with the local rank of general, and the dignity of a knight of the Bath; the troops under his orders landed at Naples, and subsequently took possession of the island of Sicily. In 1806 he was removed to the TWENTY-SECOND regiment; and in 1807 he was appointed governor of Upper and Lower Canada, with the local rank of general in America; in 1809 he was removed to the Seventy-eighth Highlanders. He was also appointed governor of Blackness Castle. He died on the 12th of January, 1812.

The Honorable Edward Finch.

Appointed 18th September, 1809.

In 1778 the Honorable Edward Finch was appointed cornet in the eleventh light dragoons, and in 1779 he was promoted to a lieutenancy in the Eighty-seventh foot. He embarked for the West Indies, in January, 1780, and served there, and in North America, until 1782, when he returned to England, and was appointed lieutenant and captain in the second foot guards; in 1792 he was promoted to captain and lieut.-colonel in the same corps. He served the campaigns of 1793 and 1794, in Flanders, under His Royal Highness the Duke of York, and shared in the several actions in which the foot guards distinguished themselves. In 1796 he was promoted to the rank of colonel, and in 1799 he commanded the first battalion of his regiment in the expedition to Holland, where he served in several actions under Lieut.-General Sir Ralph Abercromby and His Royal Highness the Duke of York. He commanded the brigade of light cavalry in the expedition to Egypt, in 1800, with the rank of brigadier-general, and was promoted to the rank of major-general, in January, 1801. After commanding the light cavalry in Egypt some time, he was placed at the head of a brigade of infantry, and was honored with the Order of the Crescent from the Grand Seignior. He commanded a brigade of foot guards in the expedition to Hanover in 1805; and in 1807 he commanded a brigade at the capture of Copenhagen. In 1808 he was promoted to the rank of lieut.-general, and appointed colonel of the Fifty-fourth regiment, and in 1809 he was removed to the TWENTY-SECOND. He was promoted to the rank of general in 1819. His decease occurred on the 27th of October, 1843.