Historical Record of the Fifth Regiment of Foot, or Northumberland Fusiliers / Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in 1674, and of Its Subsequent Services to 1837

Early in February, 1815, the first battalion moved from Montreal to Upper Canada, where three companies were stationed at Johnstown, and the remaining seven quartered at the farmers' houses along the St. Lawrence, and scattered over a space of nearly twenty-eight miles. But in May, these seven companies and head-quarters were re-assembled in Fort Wellington. Peace having been concluded with the Americans, early in June the battalion marched to Montreal, and sailing down the St. Lawrence in steam vessels to Quebec, it embarked on the 8th in four transports for Europe.

In the mean time the return of Buonaparte to France, in violation of the treaty of 1814, had rekindled the war on the continent, and the first battalion of the Fifth was immediately ordered to France. After touching at Portsmouth, it disembarked on the 11th of July at Ostend; proceeded by the canal to Ghent, and marching from thence to Paris, joined the British troops encamped at St. Denis on the 24th of August, thus missing being present at the glorious and decisive victory of Waterloo, which, to a regiment, that had so conspicuously shared in all the peninsular campaigns, was at once a disappointment and a misfortune.

Peace having again been concluded, an army of occupation was directed to remain in France for a few years; and in January, 1816, the first battalion of the Fifth formed part of the garrison of the fortified city of Valenciennes; in July, August, and September it was encamped in the vicinity of that town, but returned to Valenciennes in October, and remained there till the month of April, 1817, when it went to Bapaume and the adjacent villages, and thence in July into camp at Cambray. In October it returned to Bapaume, and in June 1818, again joined the camp near Cambray, where the army was reviewed by the allied sovereigns. In October the first battalion of the Fifth marched to Calais, and having embarked on the 31st for England, landed at Dover on the 1st of November, and marched for Winchester, where it arrived on the 10th of the same month.

In the mean time the second battalion, after recruiting to nearly its full numbers, in Exeter barracks, marched in November, 1813, to Chelmsford, and thence in the following month to Windsor, where it remained till October, 1815, when it was ordered to Gosport, and was there finally disbanded on the 24th of June, 1816.

On the 4th of February, 1819, the regiment, now reduced to one battalion, embarked at Portsmouth for the West Indies; arrived on the 3rd of April in Carlisle bay, Barbadoes, and sailed again on the 5th (after being reviewed on the 4th by Lieutenant-General Lord Combermere) for the following destinations, viz., five companies and head-quarters to Antigua, four to St. Christopher's, and one company to Montserrat.

On the 10th of July, 1819, Lieutenant-General Wynyard died, and on the 12th General Sir Henry Johnson, Bart., G.C.B., was appointed Colonel of the Fifth.

The regiment occupied the stations before mentioned, until March, 1821, when five companies with head-quarters were ordered to St. Vincent's, three to Dominica, and two to St. Lucia. On the 25th of October this year, the establishment of the regiment was reduced from ten to eight companies.

After remaining on the above station until January, 1824, two more companies with head-quarters were ordered to Dominica, and the remainder to St. Lucia.

The privilege which the corps for a long series of years enjoyed, of wearing a distinguishing feather, was this year confirmed to it by a letter from the Adjutant-General of the army, of which the following is a copy.

On the 25th March, 1825, the regiment was augmented from eight to ten companies.

In May, 1825, Colonels the Honourable Henry King, C.B., and Sir Charles Pratt, K.C.B., who during the Peninsular war had led the corps in so many days of glory and of victory, were promoted to the rank of Major-Generals in the army: Sir Charles Pratt had been at the head of one or other of the battalions since 1808, and was succeeded in the command of the regiment by Lieutenant-Colonel William Sutherland, from the second West-India Regiment.

On the 16th of March, 1826, the head-quarters embarked at Dominica for England. The regiment landed at Portsmouth on the 12th and 22nd of April and 3rd of June, according as the transports arrived: marched in three divisions on the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th of June, from Cumberland Fort, and arrived on the 29th, 30th, and 31st, at Weedon, in Northamptonshire, where it was joined on the 24th of July by the depôt, consisting of four captains, four subalterns, one surgeon, one serjeant, and sixty-nine rank and file, from Tynemouth Castle. The corps remained at Weedon during the remainder of the year, and was joined during its stay in Northamptonshire, by one hundred and fifty-six recruits from its different recruiting parties.

The Fifth regiment marched from Weedon barracks in three divisions, on the 1st, 3rd, and 4th of January 1827, by route, to Hull, in Yorkshire, where it arrived on the 10th, 12th, and 13th of the same month, detaching one company to Bradford, one to Halifax, and on the 27th, one company to Brigg. At Hull one hundred and twenty-four men joined as recruits.

On the 28th and 29th of March, and 4th of April the regiment marched from Hull and the detached stations, and arrived on the 5th of April at Bolton, in Lancashire, having one field-officer and three companies detached at Blackburn, one company at Haslington, and one company at Accrington. During its stay at Bolton, the regiment received seventy-seven recruits from its parties, &c., and arrived at its full establishment, having recruited nearly five hundred men during the eleven months which had elapsed since its return from the West Indies.

On the 10th and 17th of September, the regiment marched from Bolton, on route to Liverpool, and on the 19th and 20th the detached companies marched into Liverpool, in which town the regiment remained in billets until the morning of the 25th, when it embarked on board the "Britannia" and the "Birmingham" steam vessels for Ireland, and landed on the 26th at Dublin, where it was quartered in Richmond barracks. On the 15th of October it moved from the Richmond to the Royal barracks, and there remained until it was ordered to Athlone, for which station it marched on the 5th, 7th, and 17th of May, 1828, detaching one company to Shannon Bridge, from which a subaltern and twenty-five men were sent to Tullamore, one company to Ballymahon, (sending small parties to Ballinacarrig and Abbeyshrule,) and one company to Roscommon, having a subaltern and thirty rank and file at Strokestown. The detachment at Tullamore was ordered to head-quarters on the 6th of July.

A party of one hundred men under Major Tovey, marched from Athlone on the 6th of October to Shannon Bridge, and remained there during the fair at Ballinasloe. The detachment at Strokestown joined head-quarters on the 18th of October, and was again sent out on the 26th of January, 1829. On the 22nd of the same month, the company at Ballymahon was withdrawn, and joined the head-quarters at Athlone.

The colours of the regiment having been worn out in the course of its long and honourable service, a new set, after being solemnly consecrated in St. Peter's Church at Athlone, was presented on parade with the usual ceremonies, and a suitable address by Major-General Sir Thomas Arbuthnot, K.C.B., commanding the Connaught district. The General was pleased on this occasion to speak in the most flattering terms of the distinguished gallantry of the regiment in the field, and its good and orderly conduct in quarters.

The regiment marched to Castlebar, in the county of Mayo, on the 30th and 31st of March, 2nd, 3rd, 7th, and 9th of April, detaching two companies to Westport, under a field-officer; one company to Foxford, sending a subaltern and eighteen rank and file to Ballaghadareen, and one company to Dunmore. On the 2nd of May, two companies proceeded, per route, to Ballinrobe.

The distinction of wearing a white or grenadier feather, which the Fifth regiment had proudly won for itself, having become extinct by the regulations of the 10th of February of this year (1829), which directed a white feather to be worn by the whole of the infantry of the army, rifle regiments and light infantry excepted, the commanding officer (Lieutenant-Colonel Sutherland) lost no time in applying, through General Sir Henry Johnson, Bart., G.C.B., the Colonel of the regiment, for an equivalent; this was graciously conceded by his Majesty, George the Fourth, and the distinction of wearing a feather different from the rest of the army, was continued to the corps in the following handsome terms in a letter from Lieutenant-General Sir Herbert Taylor, G.C.H., Adjutant-General of the Forces.

From Castlebar, Westport, and Foxford, the regiment marched on the 10th and 11th of September, agreeably to routes received, for Galway. Two companies, under a field-officer, were stationed at Oughterard; one company at Tuam, one at Ballinasloe, detaching one subaltern, one serjeant, and twenty rank and file to Mount Shannon, and a similar party to Kinavara. The company at Dunmore did not move on this change of the quarters of the regiment. On the 17th of November, the detachment at Kinavara joined the company at Ballinasloe, and on the 5th of April, 1830, one company from Oughterard proceeded to Banagher.

In August, 1830, whilst the regiment was stationed in Galway, a general election took place, and the representation of both the town and county was keenly contested; during the fortnight the elections lasted, the corps was constantly under arms and patrolling, and performed the harassing duty of that period with so much temper, conduct, and forbearance, that a public meeting was held, composed of the most respectable inhabitants of the town and its vicinity, including the several candidates and their supporters, and the following resolution, declaratory of their grateful sense of the good conduct of the regiment unanimously passed:—

It may not be irrelevant to mention, that the Fifth Regiment has always been remarkable for the good feeling that has subisted between it and the inhabitants of the different stations at which it has been quartered.

The regiment being ordered to Cork, the head-quarters and detachments marched from their respective stations on the 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd of October, and on the 26th it was countermanded to Buttevant barracks, where the several divisions arrived on the 27th, 28th, and 29th of the same month.

A detachment was furnished by the corps to Mitchelstown on the 14th of February, 1831, and being removed on the 2nd of May to Galbally, it rejoined at Buttevant on the 15th of June.

On the 14th of March, the head-quarters, with four companies,—and on the 16th, four more companies, marched per route to Clare Castle, where they arrived to preserve order during the Clare election on the 17th and 19th, detaching one company to Kilrush, one to Corrofin, and subalterns' parties to Kildysart, Quinn, Kilkeshan, and Six Mile Bridge. The head-quarters marched to Ennis on the 30th of March; and the detachments at Quinn, Kilkeshan, and Six Mile Bridge, to the same place on the 6th of April. On the 5th of May the head-quarters returned to Buttevant, leaving eight companies detached in various directions (some being afterwards encamped) in the county of Clare, which was then, and had for some months been, in a very disturbed state—in fact, bordering on open rebellion. A small party of fifteen, half military (of the Fifth) and half police, who were almost unarmed, having only a pistol and five rounds of ammunition each (being employed on a particular service), were attacked on the morning of the 8th of May, by some hundreds of the turbulent peasantry of the parish of Clondegad, in the county of Clare, and, in the course of a running fight, which was bravely sustained by these few men for several miles, Colour-Serjeant James Robinson of the grenadier company, was basely and barbarously murdered. His remains were buried at Ennis, and a handsome tomb with an appropriate inscription, placed over them by the regiment.

While the counties of Clare and Galway were in this disturbed state many of the magistrates declined to act. Under these circumstances, Lieutenant-Colonel Tovey and Captains McDonald and Spence, of the Fifth regiment, were selected as gentlemen in whose firmness, prudence, and discretion, the Government could confide, and they received Commissions of the Peace for the above counties. The judicious conduct of those gentlemen as magistrates reflected credit on the regiment; their exertions were followed by happy results;—the two counties became tranquil, and the inhabitants returned to their peaceful and industrious habits[44].

On the 20th of September these companies were all concentrated at Buttevant; and a letter conveying the high sense entertained by Major-General Sir Thomas Arbuthnot of the good conduct of the regiment, of which the following is a copy, was received with the notification of their march from Clare:—

On the 16th of September, orders were received at Buttevant to hold the six service companies in readiness to embark for Gibraltar, and in consequence, the reserve, or depôt, was with great promptitude formed on the same day. On the 23rd the regiment was reviewed by Lieutenant-General Sir Hussey Vivian, K.C.B., Commander of the Forces in Ireland; and on the 29th it was inspected by Major-General Sir George Bingham, K.C.B., commanding the district, when both these distinguished officers expressed their unqualified approbation of its appearance, movements, and interior economy.

The reserve marched on the 7th of November to Fermoy, being destined to remain for the present in Ireland, which continued in a very disturbed state; and the service companies moved to Cork towards the end of the month, and there embarked under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Sutherland, on the 29th of November and 5th and 6th of December, on board the "Marquis of Huntley," (head-quarters,) "William Harris," and "Sylvia," transports; sailed from Cove on the 26th of December, arrived in the bay of Gibraltar, after a very quick but boisterous passage, on the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th, and disembarked on the 9th, 10th, and 12th of January, 1832, to do duty in that far-famed fortress.

Previous to the embarkation of the Fifth from Ireland, the circumstance of the regiment having an "Order of Merit," a privilege established in this regiment in the year 1767 (as explained in page 37), attracted the attention, and elicited the representations, of the local military authorities. The commanding officer, after the arrival at Gibraltar, was in consequence called upon by the General Commanding-in-Chief, Lord Hill, to explain under what regulations and arrangements the Order was conferred, candidates selected, medals provided and distributed, and other particulars connected with this most laudable institution. The required information was promptly afforded, proved satisfactory, and the following gratifying letter was the result, viz.:—

The "Order of Merit," which has been so long held by the regiment, consecrated and enhanced by purity and justice of distribution, and the real worth of the meritorious though humble individuals who earn so honourable a mark of good conduct, and brightened by the numerous distinguished services of the Fifth Regiment since its foundation, is thus confirmed by the sanction of the Sovereign, the legitimate fount of honour, distinction, and reward.

On the 27th of July, in this year (1832), the reserve companies of the regiment marched from Fermoy to Kilmallock, and in August to Bruff, where they continued until the 24th of January, 1833, when they proceeded to Nenagh: and from thence, in October to Templemore.

On the night of the 24th of April, 1833, whilst at Gibraltar, the roof of the Line Wall House, in which were the mess-rooms and the quarters of Lieutenant-Colonel Sutherland, suddenly burst out into an immense blaze of fire, in consequence of one of the wooden wall-plates, which had been carelessly built into the flue of a chimney, imperceptibly igniting the joists, lathing, couples, and lining of the roof over the ceiling: from the quantity of timber used in its construction, the house burnt with such fierceness and rapidity, that the ceilings of the rooms, almost instantly falling in, it was found impossible, notwithstanding the utmost exertions of the garrison, to save even the colours of the regiment, which were thus unfortunately, although accidentally, consumed.

In June and July, 1834, that scourge, the cholera, attacked the garrison with such violence that the Fifth lost one officer, two serjeants, one drummer, forty-one privates, three women, and four children, in all fifty-two souls, some of the former being among the finest and best-conducted young men in the regiment, whilst it may be mentioned, as a somewhat singular fact, that during the whole period of its ravages, not one case of cholera occurred in the Provost prison, at that time crowded with the most dissipated characters of the garrison, although it raged in the Artillery barracks, and the civil habitations in its immediate vicinity—an undeniable proof of the efficacy of abstemiousness and temperance, even though forced, on such occasions.

In the autumn of this year, the regiment having received orders to be prepared for removal to Malta, on the eve of embarkation the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir William Houstoun, G.C.B. and G.C.H., expressed his approbation of its conduct whilst under his command, in the following flattering terms:—

The regiment embarked in His Majesty's troop ship, "Romney," on the 15th October,—sailed on the next day,—and anchored on the 26th, after a very stormy passage, in the harbour of Valetta, under those stupendous fortifications which had been rendered famous by the prowess of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, and had for some generations been designated by the proud title of "the Bulwarks of Christendom:"—it disembarked without any accident or casualty on the 27th of the same month,—and for a short time occupied Fort Manoel.

The colour of the regimental facings was this year authorized by the subjoined letter to be changed to a handsome and lively green, viz.:—

In September of this year (1834) the reserve companies marched from Templemore to Cork, where they remained ten months.

General Sir Henry Johnson, Bart., G.C.B., having died on the 18th of March, 1835, at a very advanced age, was succeeded in the Colonelcy of the regiment, on the 25th of the same month, by Lieutenant-General the Honourable Sir Charles Colville, G.C.B. and G.C.H., who with much distinction, and especially in the affair at El Bodon, commanded the brigade in which the Fifth served during a considerable period of the Peninsular war.

New colours having been received early this year to replace those accidentally consumed with the Line Wall House at Gibraltar, as before narrated, Major-General Sir Frederick Ponsonby, K.C.B., the Lieutenant-Governor, was requested to present them, but, a question having arisen relative to an additional banner[45] which the regiment had long carried, the subject was, after some discussion and correspondence, submitted to the decision of His Majesty, whose commands and pleasure on this head will be found in the following letter:—

The reserve companies embarked from Cork on the 1st of August, 1835, and proceeded to Dover, where they passed the succeeding fifteen months, and in October, 1836, marched to Gosport.

His Majesty King William IV. having been pleased, in 1836, to approve of the corps being equipped as Fusiliers, and designated the "Fifth Regiment of Foot, or Northumberland Fusiliers;" commissioned the Ensigns as second Lieutenants accordingly, and gave his Royal permission that the word "Wilhelmsthal," in commemoration of the field on which it originally took its grenadier caps from the enemy, should be borne on its colours and appointments, as will appear by the subjoined copies of letters.

On the 14th of December, 1836, the Governor of Malta, Major-General Sir Henry Bouverie, presented the new colours to the regiment, drawn up for the purpose in review order on the Florian Parade.

His Excellency, on arriving in front of the line, was received with a general salute, the band playing and drums beating, after which the company on the right flank closed ranks, and was marched by its Captain in quick time (the band playing the grenadier's march) to the point in the front of the line, where the new colours were stationed, under a guard, and an escort of colour-serjeants; on arriving at which the company was halted, its ranks opened, and the colours, which appeared for the first time displayed, were saluted with presented arms, the music playing "God save the King."

The march was then resumed in open order, and the colours escorted in slow time towards the left flank of the line, and thence to their appointed station in front of the centre, whilst the band and escort filed through the ranks to their posts on the right; the colours were received by a general salute from the regiment; arms were then shouldered, three sides of a square, open to the front, formed, and the service of consecration read in a most appropriate and impressive manner by the Rev. J. T. H. Le Mesurier, Chaplain to the Forces; the children of both sexes of the soldiers of the regiment, attired in uniform suits of new clothes that had lately been presented to them, repeating the responses.

Prayers being ended, His Excellency Sir Henry Bouverie handed the colours to the Lieutenants, under a general salute from the square, and then addressed the regiment in nearly the following terms:—

His Excellency having concluded his appropriate address, Lieutenant-Colonel Sutherland replied to the following purport.

The square was then reduced, and his Excellency having rode down the line, ranks were closed, open column formed, and the review commenced by marching past in slow and quick time, and in column at quarter distance. The manual and platoon exercises (the latter also kneeling as light infantry) were then performed, under the orders of Brevet Major Johnson, after which the Lieutenant-Colonel put the regiment through a variety of manœuvres and firings, in close, extended, and skirmishing order, of which his Excellency expressed his unqualified approbation.

In the evening his Excellency dined with the officers of the regiment at the mess, where a large party of about fifty persons, consisting of Vice-Admiral Sir Josias Rowley, the Captains of the squadron, commanding officers of corps, heads of departments, and staff, was assembled to meet him.

On the following Sunday the colours were, according to custom on such occasions, taken with the regiment to church; when the duties of soldiers, both as men and Christians, were inculcated by the chaplain to the forces in the most impressive manner.

The regiment embarked from Malta on the 28th of March, 1837, and arrived on the 4th of April following at Corfu, where it has continued until the end of the year 1837, which brings this memoir to a conclusion.

The foregoing pages show that the Fifth Regiment of Foot, or Northumberland Fusiliers, has preserved by its conduct in time of peace, untarnished, the laurels which it has acquired in war. Soon after its formation it availed itself of the opportunities which then occurred of acquiring a reputation for gallantry in action; and, under the influence of zealous officers and an excellent esprit de corps, it has conducted itself, in the various situations in which it has been placed during a period of more than one hundred and sixty years, so as to preserve its character and acquire additional honour. The distinctions which have, from time to time, been conferred on this corps, show the estimation in which its services are held:—the inscriptions which it bears on its colours are memorials of its gallantry in battles and sieges, where the British troops have acquired never-fading laurels, and have elevated the military character of their country, to the admiration of the nations of Europe.