The 57th Regiment of Foot was a regiment

Regiment

A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...

 of line infantry

Line infantry

Line infantry is a type of infantry which composed the basis of European land armies from the middle of the 17th century to the middle of the 19th century....

 in 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...

.
The regiment started out as the 59th Regiment of Foot raised in Gloucester

Gloucester

Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....

 in 1755.
After the disbandment of the 50th Regiment of Foot

50th Regiment of Foot

50th Regiment of Foot may refer to:*50th Regiment of Foot , or Shirley's Regiment, raised 1754*50th Regiment of Foot, formed as the 52nd and renumbered in 1756...

 and the 51st Regiment of Foot

51st Regiment of Foot

51st Regiment of Foot may refer to:*51st Regiment of Foot, 1755-1881*51st King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, 1881-1968...

in 1756, it became the 57th Regiment of Foot. In 1782, it was given a county

Counties of England

Counties of England are areas used for the purposes of administrative, geographical and political demarcation. For administrative purposes, England outside Greater London and the Isles of Scilly is divided into 83 counties. The counties may consist of a single district or be divided into several...

 connection, becoming the "57th (the West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot".

The 57th Regiment earned their nickname of "the Die Hards" after their participation in the Battle of Albuera

Battle of Albuera

The Battle of Albuera was an indecisive battle during the Peninsular War. A mixed British, Spanish and Portuguese corps engaged elements of the French Armée du Midi at the small Spanish village of Albuera, about 20 kilometres south of the frontier fortress-town of Badajoz, Spain.From...

, one of the bloodiest battles of 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...

, fought on the 16 May 1811.