Tangier Garrison
Encyclopedia
English Tangier was a colony
English colonial empire
The English colonial empire consisted of a variety of overseas territories colonized, conquered, or otherwise acquired by the former Kingdom of England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries....

 of the Kingdom of England
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...

 and a military and naval base in Tangier
Tangier
Tangier, also Tangiers is a city in northern Morocco with a population of about 700,000 . It lies on the North African coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel...

, held by the English from 1661 to 6 February 1684, when it returned to being part of Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

.

English take possession

In 1661 King Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

 married the Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 Catherine of Braganza
Catherine of Braganza
Catherine of Braganza was a Portuguese infanta and queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland as the wife of King Charles II.She married the king in 1662...

, and as part of her dowry Charles was granted the ports of Tangier and Bombay (now Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

). As soon as Charles and Catherine's marriage treaty had been signed, Admiral Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich
Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich
Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich, KG was an English Infantry officer who later became a naval officer. He was the only surviving son of Sir Sidney Montagu, and was brought up at Hinchingbrooke House....

, was sent to take possession of Tangier.

Tangier commanded the entry into the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

 and was the principal commercial centre on the North West coast of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

. However, there had been years of conflict between the Portuguese garrison and the Moroccans
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

.

On September 6, 1661, King Charles appointed Henry Mordaunt, 2nd Earl of Peterborough
Henry Mordaunt, 2nd Earl of Peterborough
Henry Mordaunt, 2nd Earl of Peterborough, KG, PC, FRS was an English soldier, peer and courtier.-Early life:Styled Lord Mordaunt from 1628, he was the eldest son of John Mordaunt, 1st Earl of Peterborough...

, as Governor and Captain General of all the forces in Tangier. When Peterborough landed he found the town derelict, and under constant attack from some 17,000 Berber
Berber people
Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...

s.

The Tangier Regiment (later known as the 2nd Regiment of Foot) arrived in Tangier on January 29, 1662 and was joined by Parliamentarian companies from the garrison of Dunkirk and two units from the Royalist Force, which had been serving in Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

; they officially took over Tangier from Montague's small naval garrison. The Regiment remained in Tangier for 23 years, until the port was finally evacuated in 1684.

Three additional regiments from the Dunkirk 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....

 were also placed under Peterborough's command, and he arrived in Tangier with a force of 500 horse
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...

 and 2,000 foot
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...

, with the wives of 200-300 of the soldiers, to serve in a domestic capacity, the first time that wives had officially accompanied an English army to an overseas garrison.

The Portuguese government was not in the least reluctant to part with Tangier. The anchorage was unsafe for shipping, and beyond the landward fortifications lived the Moroccans
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

, who were looking for an opportunity to take back the city. The Portuguese inhabitants were not happy with these arrangements and departed on British ships, leaving a civilian population made up of only the wives and families of the English military.

Work began on a fortified
Fortification
Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...

 harbour at the end of November. It was to be 600 yards long, 30 feet deep at low tide and be able to keep out the roughest of seas. Each redoubt
Redoubt
A redoubt is a fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort, usually relying on earthworks, though others are constructed of stone or brick. It is meant to protect soldiers outside the main defensive line and can be a permanent structure or a...

 had 400 men guarding the excavation site, whilst to the front balls of spikes, stakes and piles of gunpowder
Gunpowder
Gunpowder, also known since in the late 19th century as black powder, was the first chemical explosive and the only one known until the mid 1800s. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate - with the sulfur and charcoal acting as fuels, while the saltpeter works as an oxidizer...

-and-stone mix, which acted as basic landmines were laid.

Tangier declared a free city

On June 4, 1668, Tangier was declared a free city by charter
Charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified...

, with a mayor and corporation to govern it instead of the army.

In 1674, William O'Brien, 2nd Earl of Inchiquin
Baron Inchiquin
Baron Inchiquin is one of the older titles in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1543 for Murrough O'Brien, Prince of Thomond, who was descended from the great high king Brian Boru)...

 took up the post of Governor. In 1675, a garrison school was founded, led by the Rev. Dr George Mercer.

On December 30, 1676, Charles ordered a survey of the city and garrison of Tangier, which was costing about £140,000 a year to maintain. The survey showed that the total inhabitants numbered 2,225, of whom fifty were army officers, 1,231 other ranks, with 302 army wives and children. Amongst the buildings was a hospital and an army school.

In 1680, the pressure from the Moroccans
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

 increased, as the Moroccan Sultan Moulay Ismail joined forces with the Chief of Fez
Fes
Fes or Fez is the second largest city of Morocco, after Casablanca, with a population of approximately 1 million . It is the capital of the Fès-Boulemane region....

 in order to pursue a war against all foreign troops in his land. Reinforcements were needed at the Garrison, which was raised to 3,000 in number. Also in 1680 the Earl of Inchiquin resigned and was replaced by Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory
Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory
Vice-Admiral Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory, KG, PC, PC was the eldest son of the James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde and Lady Elizabeth Preston, and an Irish politician born at Kilkenny Castle.-Life and career:...

, who died before taking up his post.

The Royal Scots, shortly followed by a further foot regiment, the 2nd Tangier Regiment
2nd Tangier Regiment
The 2nd Tangier Regiment was raised by the Charles FitzCharles, 1st Earl of Plymouth in 1680.Part of the Standing army of King Charles II, the regiment's intended role was to help to garrison the Colony of Tangier, but that was evacuated four years later....

 raised on July 13, 1680, were sent to Tangier. The new regiment was accompanied by the King's Battalion, which was formed from the Grenadier
Grenadier Guards
The Grenadier Guards is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It is the most senior regiment of the Guards Division and, as such, is the most senior regiment of infantry. It is not, however, the most senior regiment of the Army, this position being attributed to the Life Guards...

 and Coldstream Guards
Coldstream Guards
Her Majesty's Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, also known officially as the Coldstream Guards , is a regiment of the British Army, part of the Guards Division or Household Division....

. The Battalion landed in July 1680, and fierce attacks were made against the Moors, who had gained a footing on the edge of the town, finally defeating them by controlled and well-aimed musket fire. The Battalion remained in Tangier until the fort was abandoned.

Growing concerns about the cost of the colony

For some time Parliament had been concerned about the cost of maintaining the Tangier garrison. By 1680 the King had threatened to give up Tangier unless the supplies were voted for its sea defences, intended to provide a safe harbour for shipping. The fundamental problem was that in order to keep the town and harbour free from cannon fire the perimeter of the defended area had to be vastly increased. A number of outworks were built but the siege of 1680 showed that the Moroccans were capable of isolating and capturing these outworks by entrenchments and mining.

The garrison at Tangier had to be constantly reinforced, having cost nearly two million pounds
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...

 of royal treasure, and many lives had been sacrificed in its defence. Merchant ships continued to be harassed by Barbary pirates, and undefended crews were regularly captured into slavery.

The so-called Popish Plot
Popish Plot
The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy concocted by Titus Oates that gripped England, Wales and Scotland in Anti-Catholic hysteria between 1678 and 1681. Oates alleged that there existed an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinate Charles II, accusations that led to the execution of at...

 in England had intensified the dread of Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....

, and the King's frequent request for more troops to increase the size of the garrison raised suspicions that a standing army was being retained in Tangier to ensure a Catholic succession and absolute monarchy
Absolute monarchy
Absolute monarchy is a monarchical form of government in which the monarch exercises ultimate governing authority as head of state and head of government, his or her power not being limited by a constitution or by the law. An absolute monarch thus wields unrestricted political power over the...

.

In October 1680, Colonel Charles FitzCharles, 1st Earl of Plymouth
Charles FitzCharles, 1st Earl of Plymouth
Charles FitzCharles, 1st Earl of Plymouth was the illegitimate son of King Charles II of England, by Catherine Pegge. He had a sister called Catherine FitzCharles who became a nun. His mother went on to marry Sir Edward Greene of Samford in Essex, but they had no further children...

, arrived as Governor, but was taken mortally ill soon afterwards. Colonel Edward Sackville took over the governorship temporarily.

On December 20, 1680, the House of Commons of England
House of Commons of England
The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of Great Britain...

 petitioned the King to give his assent to a Bill of Exclusion to disinherit the Duke of York
Duke of York
The Duke of York is a title of nobility in the British peerage. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of the British monarch. The title has been created a remarkable eleven times, eight as "Duke of York" and three as the double-barreled "Duke of York and...

; adding that, unless and until the bill was passed, Parliament could not give any supplies to Charles. The King refused to sacrifice his brother's right of succession to save Tangier.

On December 28, 1680 Colonel Percy Kirke
Percy Kirke
Lieutenant General Percy Kirke , English soldier, was the son of George Kirke, a court official to Charles I and Charles II.In 1666 Kirke obtained his first commission in the Lord Admiral's regiment, and subsequently served in the Blues...

 was appointed Colonel and Governor.

Evacuation of Tangier

Finally, in 1683, Charles gave Admiral Lord Dartmouth
George Legge, 1st Baron Dartmouth
Admiral George Legge, 1st Baron Dartmouth PC was an English naval commander who gave distinguished service to both Charles II and James II.-Biography:...

 secret orders to abandon Tangier. Dartmouth was to level the fortifications, destroy the harbour, and evacuate the troops. In August 1683 Dartmouth, as Admiral of the Fleet
Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy)
Admiral of the fleet is the highest rank of the British Royal Navy and other navies, which equates to the NATO rank code OF-10. The rank still exists in the Royal Navy but routine appointments ceased in 1996....

 and captain general in Tangier, sailed from Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...

. He was accompanied by Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...

 who wrote an account of the evacuation.

All the forts and walls were mined for last-minute destruction. On February 5, 1684 Tangier was officially evacuated, leaving the town in ruins, thereafter Kirke's Regiment returned to England.

One of Lord Dartmouth's main concerns was the evacuation of sick soldiers "and the many families and their effects to be brought off". The hospital ship Unity sailed for England on October 18, 1683 with 114 invalid soldiers and 104 women and children. The main force of 2,830 officers and men and 361 wives and children finally completed the demolition of the harbour wall and fortifications, and evacuated the garrison during the early months of 1684.

The 2nd Tangier Regiment
2nd Tangier Regiment
The 2nd Tangier Regiment was raised by the Charles FitzCharles, 1st Earl of Plymouth in 1680.Part of the Standing army of King Charles II, the regiment's intended role was to help to garrison the Colony of Tangier, but that was evacuated four years later....

 left late in the second week of February for Plymouth with some six hundred men and thirty wives and children. The Earl of Dumbarton's regiment went into quarters at Rochester, and Trelawney's Regiment to Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...

.

Before leaving, Dartmouth was able to purchase the release of many English prisoners from Ismail's bagnio
Bagnio
A Bagnio was originally a bath or bath-house.The term was then used to name the prison for hostages in Istanbul, which was near the bath-house, and thereafter all the slave prisons in the Ottoman Empire and the Barbary regencies...

, including several officers and about 40 men, some of whom had spent 10 years in the hands of the Moroccans
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

.

Some of the departing soldiers were to be rewarded with large land grants in the newly acquired Province of New York
Province of New York
The Province of New York was an English and later British crown territory that originally included all of the present U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Vermont, along with inland portions of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine, as well as eastern Pennsylvania...

. Thomas Dongan, 2nd Earl of Limerick
Thomas Dongan, 2nd Earl of Limerick
Thomas Donegan, 2nd Earl of Limerick was a member of Irish Parliament, Royalist military officer during the English Civil War, and governor of the Province of New York...

, a Lieutenant-Governor of Tangier, would become New York Provincial Governor and William "Tangier" Smith, the last mayor of Tangier, would get 50 miles of Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

 front property on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

.

Governors

Term
Incumbent
Notes>
29 January 1662 to 1663 Henry Mordaunt, 2nd Earl of Peterborough
Henry Mordaunt, 2nd Earl of Peterborough
Henry Mordaunt, 2nd Earl of Peterborough, KG, PC, FRS was an English soldier, peer and courtier.-Early life:Styled Lord Mordaunt from 1628, he was the eldest son of John Mordaunt, 1st Earl of Peterborough...

, Governor
1663 to May 4, 1664 Andrew Rutherford, 1st Earl of Teviot
Andrew Rutherford, 1st Earl of Teviot
Andrew Rutherford, 1st Earl of Teviot was the son of William Rutherford of Quarrelholes, Roxburghshire. His education was received in Edinburgh, and he took up the career of soldier of fortune....

, Governor
May 4, 1664 to 1664 Sir Tobias Bridges, Governor
1664 to April 1665 John Fitzgerald, Governor
April 1665 to 1666 John Belasyse, 1st Baron Belasyse
John Belasyse, 1st Baron Belasyse
John Belasyse, 1st Baron Belasyse PC was an English nobleman, soldier and Member of Parliament, notable for his role during and after the English Civil War.-Early life:...

, Governor
unable to take oath of conformity
1666 to 1669 Sir Henry Norwood, Governor
1669 to 1670 John Middleton, 1st Earl of Middleton
John Middleton, 1st Earl of Middleton
John Middleton, 1st Earl of Middleton was a Scottish army officer, who belonged to a Kincardineshire family which had held lands at Middleton since the 12th century....

, Governor
1st Term
1670 to 1672 Sir Hugh Chomondeley, acting Governor
1672 to 1674 John Middleton, 1st Earl of Middleton
John Middleton, 1st Earl of Middleton
John Middleton, 1st Earl of Middleton was a Scottish army officer, who belonged to a Kincardineshire family which had held lands at Middleton since the 12th century....

2nd Term
1674 to 1675 Budget Meakin, acting Governor
1675 to 1680 William O'Brien, 2nd Earl of Inchiquin
William O'Brien, 2nd Earl of Inchiquin
William McMurrough O'Brien, 2nd Earl of Inchiquin was an Irish nobleman.-Life:William O'Brien was the son of Murrough O'Brien, 1st Earl of Inchiquin and Elisabeth St. Leger...

, Governor
1680 to 1680 Palmes Fairbourne, Governor
1680 to 1680 Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory
Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory
Vice-Admiral Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory, KG, PC, PC was the eldest son of the James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde and Lady Elizabeth Preston, and an Irish politician born at Kilkenny Castle.-Life and career:...

died after appointment but before taking up position
1680 to October 1680 Charles FitzCharles, 1st Earl of Plymouth
Charles FitzCharles, 1st Earl of Plymouth
Charles FitzCharles, 1st Earl of Plymouth was the illegitimate son of King Charles II of England, by Catherine Pegge. He had a sister called Catherine FitzCharles who became a nun. His mother went on to marry Sir Edward Greene of Samford in Essex, but they had no further children...

, Governor
died soon after taking up position as Governor
October 1680 to December 28, 1681 Sir Edward Sackville, Governor
December 28, 1681 to 1683 Sir Percy Kirke
Percy Kirke
Lieutenant General Percy Kirke , English soldier, was the son of George Kirke, a court official to Charles I and Charles II.In 1666 Kirke obtained his first commission in the Lord Admiral's regiment, and subsequently served in the Blues...

, Governor
1683 to 6 February 1684 Admiral Lord Dartmouth
George Legge, 1st Baron Dartmouth
Admiral George Legge, 1st Baron Dartmouth PC was an English naval commander who gave distinguished service to both Charles II and James II.-Biography:...

, Governor
Re-incorporated into Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

>

British Library

  • Manuscript Collection: 1671-1675 - Samuel Luke, Merchant, Tangier, Morocco. Reference Sloane MSS
  • B. Museum Add. Mss.36528 Diary of John Luke (see & Judge Advocate to John Middleton, Earl of Middleton, Govr of Tangier)

See also

  • Alexander Spotswood
    Alexander Spotswood
    Alexander Spotswood was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army and a noted Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. He is noted in Virginia and American history for a number of his projects as Governor, including his exploring beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains, his establishing what was perhaps the first...

  • Colonial Heads of Tangier
  • George Elliott (surgeon)
    George Elliott (surgeon)
    George Elliott was the English surgeon to the Earl of Teviot's Regiment.Elliott was the illegitimate son of Richard Eliot , the wayward second son of Sir John Eliot and of Catherine Killigrew . George Eliott's grandson Granville Elliott spent much effort in seeking to prove that Richard had...

  • John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough
    John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough
    John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, Prince of Mindelheim, KG, PC , was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reigns of five monarchs through the late 17th and early 18th centuries...

  • Roger Elliott
    Roger Elliott
    Major General Roger Elliott was one of the earliest British Governors of Gibraltar. His nephew George Augustus Eliott also became a noted Governor and defender of Gibraltar....

  • Tangier Crisis
  • Tangier Protocol
    Tangier Protocol
    Tangier Protocol was an agreement signed between France, Spain and the United Kingdom by which Tangier, Morocco became an international zone.-History:The protocol was signed in 1925. Starting from 1929, Spain assumed the policing of the city...

  • The Tangier Regiment and 2nd Tangier Regiment
    2nd Tangier Regiment
    The 2nd Tangier Regiment was raised by the Charles FitzCharles, 1st Earl of Plymouth in 1680.Part of the Standing army of King Charles II, the regiment's intended role was to help to garrison the Colony of Tangier, but that was evacuated four years later....

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