27th (Inniskilling) Regiment of Foot
Encyclopedia
The 27th Regiment of Foot was an Irish infantry
regiment of the British Army
, formed in 1689 and amalgamated into The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in 1881
.
at Enniskillen
by Colonel Zachariah Tiffin in June 1689, to fight against James II
in the Williamite war in Ireland
. They served successfully, most notably at the Battle of Newtownbutler
, and their performance gained them a place on the English establishment in 1690 as a regular infantry regiment, as such they then fought at the Battle of the Boyne
.
After peace returned to Ireland , the regiment was stationed around the world over the next half a century; from the Low Countries
, West Indies, Minorca
and to Spain
. It formed part of the Government army sent to defeat the Jacobite Rising of 1745
, participating in the Battle of Falkirk
and in the Battle of Culloden
. At this period they were commonly known as Blakeney's Regiment after the colonel-in-chief. In 1751, they were formally titled the 27th (Enniskillen) Regiment of Foot.
During the Seven Years' War
(1756–63) the Regiment fought against the French in North America
and the West Indies. In 1778 it returned to North America
to take part in the War of Independence
, but as the result of the alliance formed by the French with the American colonists, it again found itself involved in numerous expeditions against the French West Indian possessions. The war with France came to an end in 1783 but broke out again ten years later with the French Revolutionary Wars
and the regiment took part in the Flanders Campaign
of 1793. In 1796 the 27th took St. Lucia from the French, where its regimental colour was displayed on the flagstaff of the captured fortress.
The 27th Regiment served throughout the Napoleonic wars
including Egypt
where it formed part of Sir Ralph Abercromby's force that fought the Battle of Alexandria
against the French in 1801, the 2nd Battalion formed part of the garrison
of that city after its capture. The 1st Battalion served in the Calabrian campaign and fought at Battle of Maida
on 4 July 1806. In this engagement the light company fought in James Kempt
's brigade while the one grenadier and eight line companies belonged to Lowry Cole
's brigade.
The 1st Battalion entered the Peninsular War
in November 1812 and participated in the Battle of Castalla
and the Siege of Tarragona
, both in 1813. The 2nd Battalion landed in Spain in December 1812 and fought brilliantly at Castalla on 13 April 1813. While formed in a two-deep line, the unit inflicted 369 killed and wounded on the French 121st Line Infantry Regiment in a few minutes. In the same action the entire brigade only lost 70 casualties. On 13 September 1813, the French surprised and cut the 2nd Battalion to pieces at the Battle of Ordal
. In this action, the 2nd/27th lost over 360 men killed, wounded, and captured.
The 3rd Battalion disembarked in Lisbon
in November 1808. It became part of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
's army and fought at many of the key battles including Badajoz, Salamanca
, Vitoria
, the Pyrenees
, Nivelle
, Orthez
, and Toulouse
. The 3rd Battalion belonged to Cole's 4th Division throughout the war. At the Battle of Sorauren
(Pyrenees), the 3rd/27th lost two officers and 41 men killed, nine officers and 195 men wounded, and seven men taken prisoner. At Toulouse, the unit lost two officers and 23 men killed, and five officers and 76 men wounded.
The 3rd Battalion went on to fight at the Battle of Waterloo
as part of John Lambert's 10th Brigade in the 6th Division. At about 6:30 PM, the French captured the key strongpoint of La Haye Sainte farm. After this success, they brought up several cannon and took the Anglo-Allied lines under fire at extremely close range. At this period, the 698-strong battalion was deployed in square
at the point where the Ohain road crossed the Charleroi
to Brussels
highway. At a range of 300 yards, the French artillery caused the unit enormous casualties within a short time. At day's end, the 3rd Battalion had lost 105 killed and 373 wounded, a total of 478 casualties. The unit was described as "lying dead in a square". At the time of Waterloo, the soldiers of the 27th were dressed in red, short-tailed jackets, overall trousers, and a high-fronted shako. The facing colour was buff and it was displayed on the collar, cuffs, and shoulder-straps. The lace on the cuffs and jackets had square-ended loops.
Between 1837 and 1847 the 27th Regiment was engaged in several of the native wars in South Africa. In 1840, the spelling 'Enniskillen' was changed to 'Inniskilling'. From 1854 and 1868 it served in India
as part of the suppression of the Indian Mutiny and helped to maintain law and order in North-West India. In 1881, as a result of the reforms begun in 1870, the “Twenty-Seventh” became the First Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
.
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
regiment of the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
, formed in 1689 and amalgamated into The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in 1881
Childers Reforms
The Childers Reforms restructured the infantry regiments of the British army. The reforms were undertaken by Secretary of State for War Hugh Childers in 1881, and were a continuation of the earlier Cardwell reforms....
.
History
The regiment was raised as local militiaMilitia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
at Enniskillen
Enniskillen
Enniskillen is a town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is located almost exactly in the centre of the county between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 13,599 in the 2001 Census...
by Colonel Zachariah Tiffin in June 1689, to fight against James II
James II of England
James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
in the Williamite war in Ireland
Williamite war in Ireland
The Williamite War in Ireland—also called the Jacobite War in Ireland, the Williamite-Jacobite War in Ireland and in Irish as Cogadh an Dá Rí —was a conflict between Catholic King James II and Protestant King William of Orange over who would be King of England, Scotland and Ireland...
. They served successfully, most notably at the Battle of Newtownbutler
Battle of Newtownbutler
The Battle of Newtownbutler took place near Enniskillen in County Fermanagh, Ireland, in 1689 and was part of the Williamite War in Ireland between the forces of William and Mary and those of King James II.-The war in western Ulster:...
, and their performance gained them a place on the English establishment in 1690 as a regular infantry regiment, as such they then fought at the Battle of the Boyne
Battle of the Boyne
The Battle of the Boyne was fought in 1690 between two rival claimants of the English, Scottish and Irish thronesthe Catholic King James and the Protestant King William across the River Boyne near Drogheda on the east coast of Ireland...
.
After peace returned to Ireland , the regiment was stationed around the world over the next half a century; from the Low Countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
, West Indies, Minorca
Minorca
Min Orca or Menorca is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. It takes its name from being smaller than the nearby island of Majorca....
and to Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. It formed part of the Government army sent to defeat the Jacobite Rising of 1745
Jacobite Rising of 1745
The Jacobite rising of 1745, often referred to as "The 'Forty-Five," was the attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British throne for the exiled House of Stuart. The rising occurred during the War of the Austrian Succession when most of the British Army was on the European continent...
, participating in the Battle of Falkirk
Battle of Falkirk (1746)
During the Second Jacobite Rising, the Battle of Falkirk Muir was the last noteworthy Jacobite success.-Background:...
and in the Battle of Culloden
Battle of Culloden
The Battle of Culloden was the final confrontation of the 1745 Jacobite Rising. Taking place on 16 April 1746, the battle pitted the Jacobite forces of Charles Edward Stuart against an army commanded by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, loyal to the British government...
. At this period they were commonly known as Blakeney's Regiment after the colonel-in-chief. In 1751, they were formally titled the 27th (Enniskillen) Regiment of Foot.
During the Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
(1756–63) the Regiment fought against the French in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and the West Indies. In 1778 it returned to North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
to take part in the War of Independence
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
, but as the result of the alliance formed by the French with the American colonists, it again found itself involved in numerous expeditions against the French West Indian possessions. The war with France came to an end in 1783 but broke out again ten years later with the French Revolutionary Wars
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
and the regiment took part in the Flanders Campaign
Flanders Campaign
This feature refers to the conflict that took place during the Wars of the French Revolution 1792–1801.For the Low Countries campaigns of the War of the Grand Alliance 1688–97 see Nine Years' War...
of 1793. In 1796 the 27th took St. Lucia from the French, where its regimental colour was displayed on the flagstaff of the captured fortress.
The 27th Regiment served throughout the Napoleonic wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
including Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
where it formed part of Sir Ralph Abercromby's force that fought the Battle of Alexandria
Battle of Alexandria
The Battle of Alexandria or Battle of Canope, fought on March 21, 1801 between the French army under General Menou and the British expeditionary corps under Sir Ralph Abercrombie, took place near the ruins of Nicopolis, on the narrow spit of land between the sea and Lake Abukir, along which the...
against the French in 1801, the 2nd Battalion formed part of the garrison
Garrison
Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....
of that city after its capture. The 1st Battalion served in the Calabrian campaign and fought at Battle of Maida
Battle of Maida
The Battle of Maida on 4 July 1806 saw a British expeditionary force fight a First French Empire division outside the town of Maida in Calabria, Italy during the Napoleonic Wars. John Stuart led 5,200 British troops to victory over about 6,000 French soldiers under Jean Reynier, inflicting...
on 4 July 1806. In this engagement the light company fought in James Kempt
James Kempt
General Sir James Kempt, GCB was a British Army officer, who served in Holland, Egypt, Italy, the Peninsula, and British North America during the Napoleonic Wars...
's brigade while the one grenadier and eight line companies belonged to Lowry Cole
Lowry Cole
Sir Galbraith Lowry Cole, GCB , styled The Honourable from birth, was an Irish British Army general and politician.-Army Service:...
's brigade.
The 1st Battalion entered the Peninsular War
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
in November 1812 and participated in the Battle of Castalla
Battle of Castalla
In the Battle of Castalla on 13 April 1813, an Anglo-Spanish-Sicilian force commanded by Lieutenant General John Murray, 8th Baronet fought Marshal Louis Gabriel Suchet's French Army of Valencia and Aragon. Murray's troops successfully repelled a series of French attacks causing Suchet to retreat....
and the Siege of Tarragona
Siege of Tarragona (1813)
In the Siege of Tarragona , an overwhelming Anglo-Allied force commanded by Lieutenant General John Murray, 8th Baronet failed to capture the Spanish port of Tarragona from a small Franco-Italian garrison led by General of Brigade Antoine Bertoletti.-Background:Murray's Anglo-Sicilian-Spanish army,...
, both in 1813. The 2nd Battalion landed in Spain in December 1812 and fought brilliantly at Castalla on 13 April 1813. While formed in a two-deep line, the unit inflicted 369 killed and wounded on the French 121st Line Infantry Regiment in a few minutes. In the same action the entire brigade only lost 70 casualties. On 13 September 1813, the French surprised and cut the 2nd Battalion to pieces at the Battle of Ordal
Battle of Ordal
The Battle of Ordal on 12 and 13 September 1813 saw a First French Empire corps led by Marshal Louis Gabriel Suchet make a night assault on a position held by Lieutenant General Lord William Bentinck's smaller Anglo-Allied and Spanish advance guard...
. In this action, the 2nd/27th lost over 360 men killed, wounded, and captured.
The 3rd Battalion disembarked in Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
in November 1808. It became part of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
's army and fought at many of the key battles including Badajoz, Salamanca
Battle of Salamanca
The Battle of Salamanca saw Anglo-Portuguese and Spanish armies under the Duke of Wellington defeat Marshal Auguste Marmont's French forces among the hills around Arapiles south of Salamanca, Spain on July 22, 1812 during the Peninsular War....
, Vitoria
Battle of Vitoria
At the Battle of Vitoria an allied British, Portuguese, and Spanish army under General the Marquess of Wellington broke the French army under Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan near Vitoria in Spain, leading to eventual victory in the Peninsular War.-Background:In July 1812, after...
, the Pyrenees
Battle of the Pyrenees
The Battle of the Pyrenees was a large-scale offensive launched on 25 July 1813 by Marshal Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult from the Pyrénées region on Emperor Napoleon’s order, in the hope of relieving French garrisons under siege at Pamplona and San Sebastián...
, Nivelle
Battle of Nivelle
The Battle of Nivelle took place in front of the River Nivelle near the end of the Peninsular War . After the Allied siege of San Sebastian, Wellington's 80,000 British, Portuguese and Spanish troops were in hot pursuit of Marshal Soult who only had 60,000 men to place in a 20-mile perimeter...
, Orthez
Battle of Orthez
The Battle of Orthez saw the Anglo-Portuguese Army under Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington defeat a French army led by Marshal Nicolas Soult in southern France near the end of the Peninsular War.-Preliminaries:...
, and Toulouse
Battle of Toulouse (1814)
The Battle of Toulouse was one of the final battles of the Napoleonic Wars, four days after Napoleon's surrender of the French Empire to the nations of the Sixth Coalition...
. The 3rd Battalion belonged to Cole's 4th Division throughout the war. At the Battle of Sorauren
Battle of Sorauren
The Battle of Sorauren was part of a series of engagements in late July 1813 called the Battle of the Pyrenees in which a combined British and Portuguese force under Sir Arthur Wellesley held off Marshal Soult's French forces attempting to relieve San Sebastián.With sizable Anglo-Portuguese forces...
(Pyrenees), the 3rd/27th lost two officers and 41 men killed, nine officers and 195 men wounded, and seven men taken prisoner. At Toulouse, the unit lost two officers and 23 men killed, and five officers and 76 men wounded.
The 3rd Battalion went on to fight at the Battle of Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
as part of John Lambert's 10th Brigade in the 6th Division. At about 6:30 PM, the French captured the key strongpoint of La Haye Sainte farm. After this success, they brought up several cannon and took the Anglo-Allied lines under fire at extremely close range. At this period, the 698-strong battalion was deployed in square
Infantry square
An infantry square is a combat formation an infantry unit forms in close order when threatened with cavalry attack.-Very early history:The formation was described by Plutarch and used by the Romans, and was developed from an earlier circular formation...
at the point where the Ohain road crossed the Charleroi
Charleroi
Charleroi is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. , the total population of Charleroi was 201,593. The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of and had a total population of 522,522 as of 1 January 2008, ranking it as...
to Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
highway. At a range of 300 yards, the French artillery caused the unit enormous casualties within a short time. At day's end, the 3rd Battalion had lost 105 killed and 373 wounded, a total of 478 casualties. The unit was described as "lying dead in a square". At the time of Waterloo, the soldiers of the 27th were dressed in red, short-tailed jackets, overall trousers, and a high-fronted shako. The facing colour was buff and it was displayed on the collar, cuffs, and shoulder-straps. The lace on the cuffs and jackets had square-ended loops.
Between 1837 and 1847 the 27th Regiment was engaged in several of the native wars in South Africa. In 1840, the spelling 'Enniskillen' was changed to 'Inniskilling'. From 1854 and 1868 it served in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
as part of the suppression of the Indian Mutiny and helped to maintain law and order in North-West India. In 1881, as a result of the reforms begun in 1870, the “Twenty-Seventh” became the First Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers was a Irish infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 27th Regiment of Foot and the 108th Regiment of Foot...
.