Formed in 1685. It displayed splendid bravery but was cut to pieces at Almanza in 1707. During the Peninsular War it gained great distinction. At Salamanca, the fierce character of the struggle may be gathered from the fact that only four officers and sixty-seven men of the regiment could be mustered at the close of the action, to hear, however, words of praise seldom addressed to an individual regiment. At Toulouse for the second time during the war it shared in the supreme effort which turned the tide of victory. No record of the Devons would be complete which omitted the supreme gallantry of the regiment in the desperate fighting at Wagon Hill during the South African War.

Nickname: "The Bloody Eleventh," from the number of casualties at the battle of Salamanca.