OF

THE FOURTEENTH,

OR

BUCKINGHAM REGIMENT

OF

FOOT.

Sir Edward Hales, Baronet.

Appointed 22nd June, 1685.

This officer was the son of Sir Edward Hales, of Woodchurch, in the county of Kent, who was a distinguished loyalist in the reigns of Charles I. and Charles II., and being forced to flee from England for his loyal attempts during the rebellion, he died in France a few years after the restoration in 1660.

Edward Hales succeeded, on the decease of his father, to the family estate at Woodchurch, and to the dignity of a Baronet; and when the Court began to evince a disposition to favour Papacy, he changed his religion from Protestant to Roman Catholic. He was in great favour with King James II., and having raised a company of foot for the service of that monarch, in June, 1685, he was appointed colonel of a regiment, which is now the Fourteenth Foot. He was also constituted a member of the privy council, one of the lords of the Admiralty, deputy governor of the cinque ports, and lieutenant-governor of the Tower of London. Being unable, from his religion, to take the required oaths on appointment to the colonelcy of his regiment, he was prosecuted and convicted at Rochester assizes; but he moved the case to the Court of King's Bench, pleaded the King's dispensation and had judgment in his behalf:—eleven out of the twelve judges being of opinion that the King might dispense in that case.

Sir Edward Hales was in the King's confidence; and at the Revolution, in 1688, he was employed to make arrangements for His Majesty's flight to France. On the night of the 10th of December, Sir Edward, with the quarter-master of his regiment, Edward Syng[18], quitted Whitehall Palace with the King—proceeded in a hackney coach to Horse-ferry, crossed the Thames in a boat, and continued their flight in disguise to Feversham, where they went on board of the Custom-House hoy, designing to cross the channel to France; but they were suspected of being Popish priests, and were apprehended on board the vessel by the country people. The King being afterwards recognised, he was induced to return to London; but he subsequently escaped from Rochester and proceeded to France. Sir Edward Hales attempted to conceal himself, to escape the fury of the populace, who were enraged against him for changing his religion, and at the time he was apprehended at Feversham the country people were plundering his house, killing his deer, and wantonly destroying his property in Kent.

He was detained in custody, and afterwards confined in the Tower of London for eighteen months; on his release he proceeded to France, and he was at La Hogue ready to embark for England when Admiral Russel defeated the French fleet. His eldest son served in King James's army in Ireland, and was killed at the battle of the Boyne.

While in France, Sir Edward Hales was created by King James, Earl of Tenterden, in Kent. He died in France in 1695, and was buried in the church of St. Sulpice in Paris.

William Beveridge.

Appointed 31st December, 1688.

William Beveridge served under the Prince of Orange in the Netherlands, in one of the British regiments in the service of the States-General of Holland; and at the Revolution, in 1688, His Highness promoted him to the colonelcy of the Fourteenth Regiment of Foot. He commanded the regiment nearly four years; and was killed in a duel with one of his captains, on the 14th of November, 1692.

John Tidcomb.

Appointed 14th November, 1692.

This officer entered the army in the reign of King James II., and was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Thirteenth Foot, on the 31st of December, 1688. He served under Major-General Mackay in Scotland, and displayed great gallantry at the battle of Killicrankie: he also served under King William III., in Ireland, and was at the battle of the Boyne. He returned to England soon afterwards; but accompanied the expedition to Ireland, under Lieutenant-General the Earl of Marlborough, (afterwards the celebrated John Duke of Marlborough,) and was at the capture of Cork and Kinsale, and also in several skirmishes. His excellent conduct on all occasions was rewarded with the colonelcy of the Fourteenth Foot, in 1692: he afterwards served in the Netherlands, was at the battle of Landen, and was engaged in the siege of Namur. He was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general, in 1703; to that of major-general, on the 1st of January, 1704; and to lieutenant-general, on the 1st of January, 1707. He died at Bath, in June, 1713.

Jasper Clayton.

Appointed 15th June, 1713.

Jasper Clayton obtained a commission in the army on the 24th of June, 1695, and afterwards acquired great celebrity as a gallant and meritorious officer. He served under King William until the peace of Ryswick, in 1697. He also served under the great Duke of Marlborough, in the reign of Queen Anne; and was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Eleventh Foot, with which he served in Spain. His regiment suffered severely at the battle of Almanza, in 1707, and he returned with it to England in 1708, to recruit. In 1709, he served in Flanders, and distinguished himself at the siege of Mons, where he was wounded[19]. He also served at the forcing of the French lines, in 1710, and was rewarded with the colonelcy of a newly-raised regiment of foot, on the 8th of December of that year. In 1711 he served in the disastrous expedition against Quebec, and his regiment had three officers and seventy-one soldiers drowned in the river St. Lawrence, then called the river of Canada.

At the peace of Utrecht, in 1713, his regiment was disbanded; and in June of the same year, he was appointed colonel of the Fourteenth Foot. He served in Scotland under the Duke of Argyle, during the rebellion of the Earl of Mar, and commanded a brigade at the battle of Dumblain, on the 13th of November, 1715. He was subsequently appointed lieutenant-governor of Gibraltar; he commanded the troops in that fortress when it was besieged by the Spaniards, in 1727, and his conduct in the successful defence of that important place, called forth the approbation of his sovereign and country. The rank of major-general was conferred on this excellent officer, on the 2nd of November, 1735; and that of lieutenant-general, on the 2nd of July, 1739. In 1743, he served under King George II. in Germany; and highly distinguished himself at the battle of Dettingen, on the 16th of June in that year. He was killed as he was giving orders for the artillery to play upon the bridge as the French retreated, and his fall was equally regretted by his sovereign, the officers, and soldiers of the army. He was interred with military honors in the chapel of Prince George of Hesse, at Hanau.

Joseph Price.

Appointed 22nd June, 1743.

Joseph Price obtained a commission of ensign in a regiment of foot in 1706; and subsequently rose to the rank of captain and lieutenant-colonel in the First Foot Guards. In January, 1741, he was promoted to the colonelcy of the Fifty-seventh (now Forty-sixth) regiment, which was then first raised; and in 1743 he was removed to the Fourteenth Foot. He was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general on the 6th of June, 1745. During the campaign of 1747, he commanded a brigade of infantry in the Netherlands, under His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland. At the battle of Val, on the 2nd of July of that year, he highly distinguished himself. His brigade was posted in the village of Val, and his gallantry during the action was commended by the Duke of Cumberland in his public despatch. He died in November of the same year, at Breda, in Holland.

The Honorable William Herbert.

Appointed 1st December, 1747.

The Honorable William Herbert, fifth son of Thomas, eighth Earl of Pembroke, and father of Henry, first Earl of Caernarvon, was appointed to a commission in the army on the 1st of May, 1722. He was promoted on the 15th December, 1738, to the commission of captain and lieutenant-colonel in the First Foot Guards; and in December, 1747, to the colonelcy of the Fourteenth Foot. In January, 1753, he was removed to the Second Dragoon Guards. He was subsequently advanced to the rank of major-general: he was groom of the bedchamber to King George II., and a member of parliament for Wilton, in Wiltshire. He died on the 31st of March, 1757.

Edward Braddock.

Appointed 17th February, 1753.

Edward Braddock was appointed ensign in the Second Foot Guards on the 11th October, 1710; lieutenant of the grenadier company in 1716[20]; captain and lieutenant-colonel in 1736; major in 1743; and was promoted to the lieutenant-colonelcy of the same regiment on the 21st of November, 1745. In 1753 he was appointed to the colonelcy of the Fourteenth Foot; in the following year he was promoted major-general, and sent with a body of troops to North America; and in 1755 he was commander-in-chief in that country. Having completed arrangements for opening the campaign against the French, who had made aggressions on the British territory, he took the field with a body of regular troops, provincials, and Indians; and on the 9th of July, while marching with twelve hundred men through the woods towards Fort du Quesne, he was suddenly attacked by a body of French and Indians, who had concealed themselves behind the trees and bushes, and his men were put into some confusion. "He exerted himself to remedy this disaster as much as man could do, and, after having had five horses killed under him, he was shot through the arm and through the lungs, of which he died four days afterwards[21]."

Thomas Fowke.

Appointed 12th November, 1755.

This officer had been upwards of fifty years in the army when he was appointed to the colonelcy of the Fourteenth Foot, his first commission being dated the 25th of May, 1705. After serving the Crown fifteen years, he was promoted to the lieutenant-colonelcy of the Seventh Dragoons, by commission dated the 25th of June, 1720. In January, 1741, he was promoted to the colonelcy of the Fifty-fourth (now Forty-third) regiment, which was then first raised; and in August of the same year he was removed to the Second, or Queen's Royal regiment. His commissions of general officer were dated,—brigadier-general, 1st June, 1745; major-general, 18th of September, 1747; and lieutenant-general, 30th of April, 1754. He was governor of Gibraltar in 1756, when the island of Minorca, which was then subject to the British Crown, was attacked by the French; and having disobeyed the directions, which he received from the Secretary at War, to send a reinforcement to that island, he was tried by a general court-martial, and sentenced to be suspended for nine months; but the King, George II., directed that he should be dismissed from the service.

Charles Jefferies.

Appointed 7th September, 1756.

After a progressive service in the subordinate commissions, this officer was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Fourteenth Foot on the 12th of September, 1745, and in February following he was removed to the Thirty-fourth regiment. In January, 1756, he was promoted to colonel-commandant of a battalion of the Sixty-second Royal American regiment, now the Sixtieth, or King's Royal Rifle Corps. At this period he was with the Thirty-fourth regiment at the island of Minorca, which was soon afterwards attacked by the French, and he signalized himself in the defence of Port Mahon, particularly in repulsing an attack on the place by storm, on which occasion he was taken prisoner. His gallantry was shortly afterwards rewarded with the colonelcy of the Fourteenth regiment. He was promoted to the rank of major-general on the 27th of June, 1759. He died in 1765.

The Honorable William Keppel.

Appointed 31st May, 1765.

The Honorable William Keppel, fourth son of William-Anne, second Earl of Albemarle, was appointed captain and lieutenant-colonel in the First Foot Guards on the 28th of April, 1750; and gentleman of the horse to His Majesty King George II. in December, 1752. On the 21st of July, 1760, he was promoted to second major, with the rank of colonel, in the First Foot Guards; and in December of the following year, to the colonelcy of the Fifty-sixth Foot. In the succeeding spring he proceeded with his regiment on an expedition against the Havannah, with the local rank of major-general. In August the Havannah capitulated, when he took possession of the fort La Punta; and being afterwards left commander-in-chief at that station, he re-delivered the city to the Spaniards according to the conditions of the Treaty of Peace in 1763. He was promoted to the rank of major-general on the 10th of July, 1762; was removed from the colonelcy of the Fifty-sixth to the Fourteenth Foot in 1765; and was advanced to the rank of lieutenant-general in May, 1772. In 1773 he was appointed commander-in-chief in Ireland. In 1775 he was removed to the colonelcy of the Twelfth Dragoons. He was several years a representative in parliament for the borough of Windsor. His decease occurred on the 1st of March, 1782.

Robert Cunninghame.

Appointed 18th October, 1775.

This officer served several years in the Thirty-fifth Foot, in which regiment he rose to the rank of captain in December, 1752. He was soon afterwards appointed adjutant-general in Ireland, which office he held for many years. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1757;—to that of colonel in 1762;—and to the colonelcy of the Fifty-eighth Regiment in 1767. In 1772 he was advanced to the rank of major-general; three years afterwards he was removed to the command of the Fourteenth Foot; and in August, 1777, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general. On the 4th of April, 1787, he was removed to the colonelcy of the Fifth, Royal Irish, Dragoons, and he was advanced to the rank of general in 1793. He died in 1797.

John Douglas.

Appointed April 4th, 1787.

John Douglas was many years an officer in the Scots' Greys, with which corps he served several campaigns in the Netherlands previously to the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748–9. He also served with his regiment in Germany, under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, from 1759 to 1762, distinguishing himself on several occasions; and on the 14th of November, 1770, he was promoted to the lieutenant colonelcy of the regiment (the Greys). In 1775 he was appointed Aide-de-Camp to the King, with the rank of colonel in the army;—in February, 1779, he was promoted to the rank of major-general; and in April of the same year he obtained the colonelcy of the Twenty-first Light Dragoons, which corps was then first embodied. His regiment was disbanded at the conclusion of the American war in 1783; and in 1787 he obtained the colonelcy of the Fourteenth Foot; he was also promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general in the same year. In 1789 he was removed to the colonelcy of the Fifth Dragoon Guards, which he retained until his decease in 1790.

George Earl Waldegrave.

Appointed 27th August, 1789.

Viscount Chewton was appointed ensign in the Third Foot Guards on the 10th of May, 1768; lieutenant and captain on the 12th of August, 1773; and captain-lieutenant and lieutenant-colonel in the Second Foot Guards in 1778. In the following year he was appointed lieutenant-colonel commanding the Eighty-seventh Foot, then first raised; and in 1782 he was promoted to the rank of colonel. He succeeded, on the decease of his father, in 1784, to the dignity of Earl Waldegrave; and was also appointed master of the horse to the Queen, and aide-de-camp to the King. In August, 1789, he was appointed colonel of the Fourteenth Foot. He died about six weeks afterwards.

George Hotham.

Appointed 18th November, 1789.

George Hotham procured the appointment of ensign in the First Foot Guards on the 14th of May, 1759; he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant and captain in 1765; and to that of captain and lieutenant-colonel in 1775. In 1781 he was appointed aide-de-camp to the King, with the rank of colonel in the army; and in 1789 he obtained the colonelcy of the Fourteenth Foot. His commissions of general officer were dated,—major-general, 28th of April, 1790, lieutenant-general, 26th of January, 1797, and general, 29th of April, 1802. He died in 1806.

Sir Harry Calvert, Baronet, G.C.B.

Appointed 8th February, 1806.

Sir Harry Calvert, Baronet, was appointed second lieutenant in the Twenty-third, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, in April, 1778; he was several months at the Royal Military College at Woolwich, and proceeding to North America in the following year, he joined his regiment, which was then employed on the outpost duty of the army. In December, 1779, he served with his regiment in the expedition, under Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Clinton, to South Carolina, and was at the siege and capture of Charlestown. He afterwards served under the Marquis Cornwallis, and shared in all the difficulties, dangers, and privations, in the campaigns of the southern provinces, until the siege of York Town, when the Marquis Cornwallis was forced to surrender, with the troops under his command, to General Washington. He remained a prisoner of war from October, 1781, until the peace in 1783, when he proceeded with his regiment to New York. In the early part of 1784 he returned to England, when he procured permission to pass the remainder of the year on the Continent. In October, 1786, he purchased the command of a company in his regiment, with which he did duty until the spring of 1790, when he exchanged into the Coldstream Guards. On the breaking out of the war of the French revolution, in 1793, he proceeded with the brigade of Foot Guards, commanded by Major-General (afterwards Lord) Lake, to Holland, and when the Duke of York assumed the command of the British and Hanoverian troops in Flanders, Captain Calvert was nominated one of His Royal Highness's aides-de-camp. After serving in this capacity until the surrender of Valenciennes, he was sent to England with the account of that event, on which occasion King George III. was pleased to confer on him the rank of major. He obtained the rank of lieutenant-colonel in December, 1793, by the purchase of a company in the Coldstream Guards. He served with the allied army during the year 1794, and returned to England on the recall of the British troops early in 1795. In May of that year he was employed on a confidential mission to the court of Berlin; and in 1796 he was appointed Deputy Adjutant-General to the Forces: he obtained the rank of colonel in June 1797, and in 1799 he was appointed to the lieutenant-colonelcy of the Sixty-third Regiment.

On the 9th of January, 1799, His Majesty was pleased to appoint Colonel Calvert to the important situation of Adjutant-General to the Forces, in which capacity he was enabled to perform important and valuable services to the crown and to the country, during one of the most eventful periods in the history of Great Britain. In August, 1800 he was nominated to the colonelcy of the Fifth West India regiment; in 1803 he was promoted to the rank of major-general; in 1806 he was removed to the Fourteenth Foot, and in 1810 he was advanced to the rank of lieutenant-general.

At the period of his appointment to the high and important station of Adjutant-General of the Forces, the want of efficient regulations, and of an adherence to a system founded on principles calculated to promote the advantage of every branch of service, was felt by all persons called upon to take a part in the concerns of the army, and serious inconvenience was experienced from the absence of such a system by His Royal Highness the Duke of York, who, at two different periods, had to contend against powerful continental armies, with troops, though eminently brave, and endued with the true spirit of their profession, yet not formed upon sound general principles of discipline. His Royal Highness, being appointed Commander-in-Chief, applied himself with great diligence to the correction of abuses, and to the improvement of the condition of the army in every particular: and his efforts, which were honoured with the encouragement and approbation of His Majesty, were ably seconded by his staff officers, who were judiciously selected to carry his views into effect; the ultimate accomplishment of these objects reflected the highest credit on those who planned, and on those who executed measures which have conduced to the safety and glory of the United Kingdom and of its numerous colonial possessions. Among these officers, Sir Harry Calvert held a distinguished station. As Adjutant-General, the discipline, equipment, and efficiency of the army came under his superintendence, and to improve and perfect these, he devoted his best energies and unwearied attention. The general orders of the army, in the successive editions which were brought forward from the year 1799, afford abundant proofs of the value of his labours, in the numerous and excellent regulations made from time to time for the better government of the army. In the clothing, messing, equipment, and every other branch of the interior economy, improvements were introduced to promote the health and comfort of the soldier, and the efficiency of corps; and the establishment of confidential inspection reports facilitated the accomplishment of these objects, by furnishing the Commander-in-Chief, and the authorities under him, with the means of forming a correct judgment of the state of each corps in all its details,—of correcting what was wrong,—of supplying what was deficient, and of ascertaining the merits and capabilities of the officers. The energies of his mind were also directed to the improvement of the morale, as well as to ameliorate the materiel of the army. Being a man of high and sensitive honor himself, he wished to inspire all his brother officers with the same sentiments, by impressing them with a just idea of what they owed to themselves, both as individuals, and as members of the profession of arms. Conscious that no man can be truly respectable who does not respect himself, he was always anxious to uphold and encourage this principle; in accordance with which, he was particularly careful to afford every officer charged with misconduct the fullest opportunity of explanation, and, in conveying disapprobation or censure, he avoided the use of terms calculated to affect the officer's personal feelings, or to degrade him in his own estimation: his verbal intercourse was conducted on the same principle. Such was the kindness of his look and demeanour, and the courtesy of his language, that it was impossible to offer him any personal disrespect; and with whatever sentiments a gentleman might have approached him in his official capacity, he could retire with those only of respect and esteem. To the officers of his own department, who were in daily intercourse with him, his orders were conveyed in the form of requests; and the urbanity of his manners, tempered with self-respect, ensured prompt and cheerful co-operation. In so extensive a branch of the service, the preparation of many documents was necessarily confided to assistants, and the alterations which suggested themselves to his refined discrimination, were proposed with delicacy,—a trait of character grateful to the feelings of his subordinates, and remembered with emotions of respect constantly increased by continued intercourse. In 1807, when the recruiting of the army was placed under his superintendence, he applied himself successfully to the improvement of that branch of the service. He interested himself in the Royal Military Asylum, and in the establishment of regimental schools; the condition of general hospitals also engaged his attention,—he visited them all in 1814, and suggested many improvements in their conduct and management. The invalid and the pensioner found a friend and protector in him, and the representations of a discharged private soldier were received and considered with the same care as those of the higher grades of the service. In this, and in every other respect, he acted in accordance with the desires of the Duke of York, whose innate goodness of heart, and natural generosity and condescension, led him to promote and encourage every species of kindness to the humblest members of the profession to which he was so devotedly attached; and Sir Harry Calvert was the faithful organ of His Royal Highness's benevolent intentions, delighting in the good he was thus enabled to effect.

Having conducted, in conjunction with the able officers associated with him in the other military departments, the details of the British army, when it was on a scale of magnitude surpassing anything previously known, and through the whole course of the most tremendous contest in which the nation ever was engaged, and having witnessed victory achieved, by the valour and discipline of the troops under their matchless chief, with the glorious termination of the war, he was rewarded with the dignity of Baronet, in October, 1818; and in the beginning of the year 1820, he retired from that high situation which he had so long and so ably filled, carrying with him the cordial good wishes of every rank. He had previously been appointed lieutenant-governor of Chelsea Hospital; honored with the dignity of Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, and Grand Cross of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order; and in 1826, he was promoted to the rank of general. He died suddenly of a fit of apoplexy, while on a visit with his family at Claydon Hall, in Buckinghamshire, on the 3rd of September, 1826.

Thomas Lord Lynedoch.

Appointed 6th September, 1826.

This nobleman, whose services, when General Graham, were of a most distinguished character, was removed to the First, or Royal, Regiment of Foot, on the 12th of December, 1834, the colonelcy of which corps he retained to the period of his decease, which took place on the 18th December, 1843.

The Honorable Sir Charles Colville, G.C.B. and G.C.H.

Appointed 12th December, 1834.

Sir Charles Colville, whose distinguished services during the late war are recorded in the history of Europe, was removed to the colonelcy of the Fifth Regiment of Foot, or Northumberland Fusiliers, on the 25th of March, 1835, in succession to General Sir Henry Johnson, deceased. He died on the 27th March, 1843.

The Honorable Sir Alexander Hope, G.C.B.

Appointed 25th March, 1835.

The Honorable Alexander Hope entered the army as ensign in the Sixty-third Regiment, on the 6th of March, 1786, and after a service of upwards of thirteen years he was promoted to the lieutenant-colonelcy of the Fourteenth Foot, on the 27th of August, 1794. He commanded the regiment during its retreat through Holland, and in the attack of the French post at Gueldermalsen, on the 8th of January, 1795, he received a wound in the shoulder which deprived him of the use of his right arm. He was appointed governor of Tynemouth and Clifford's fort, in 1797; lieutenant-governor of Edinburgh Castle, in 1798; and deputy adjutant-general to the expedition to Holland, in 1799. He was promoted to the rank of colonel in the army, on the 1st of January, 1800; and to the colonelcy of the Fifth West India Regiment, on the 30th of October, 1806. In April, 1808, he was further promoted to the rank of major-general. In April, 1813, he was removed to the colonelcy of the Forty-seventh Regiment; and in June of the same year, he was advanced to the rank of lieutenant-general. He obtained the rank of general, on the 22nd of July, 1830; and the colonelcy of the Fourteenth Regiment, in 1835. He was constituted a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath: he was lieutenant-governor of the Royal Hospital at Chelsea: he died on the 19th of May, 1837.

Sir James Watson, K.C.B.

Appointed 24th May, 1837.

London: Harrison and Co., Printers, St. Martin's Lane.

[18] Vide King James's own account of this circumstance, in Doctor Clarke's life of that monarch.