HISTORICAL RECORD

OF

THE THIRTY-FIRST, OR THE HUNTINGDONSHIRE,

REGIMENT OF FOOT.

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In the commencement of the eighteenth century, the British Monarch, King William III., found that the conditions of the Treaty of Ryswick, concluded in 1697, were violated by the King of France, Louis XIV., who, on the decease of Charles II. of Spain on the 1st of November, 1700, pursued with unremitting assiduity his ambitious project of ultimately uniting the crowns of France and Spain, by procuring the accession of his grandson, Philip, Duke of Anjou, to the vacant throne; thus excluding the claims of the House of Austria, and disregarding the existing treaties between the principal nations of Europe. The seizure of the Spanish Netherlands by the troops of France,—the detention of the Dutch garrisons in the barrier towns,—the declaration of Louis XIV. in favour of the family of James II., and other acts of hostility, justified the British Government in making preparations for war.

King William had determined on active measures, by sea and land, against the powers of France and Spain, and had accordingly directed augmentations to be made in the navy and army. A division of the army had been appointed, under the command of Brigadier-General Ingoldsby, (twenty-third regiment,) to embark for Flanders, and another portion of the army was selected to embark for the coast of Spain, under the orders of the Duke of Ormond.

The death of King William III. took place on the 8th of March, 1702. His policy was adopted by his successor Queen Anne, who entered into treaties of alliance with the Emperor of Germany,—the States-General of the United Provinces,—and other Princes and Potentates, for preserving the liberty and balance of power in Europe, and for defeating the ambitious views of France.

The measures for increasing the efficiency of the fleet had occasioned the suggestion of raising Corps of Marines, capable of acting on land as well as at sea. Several regiments of the regular army were appointed to serve as Marines, and six additional regiments were especially raised for that service.[6]

On the 14th of March, 1702, a Royal Warrant was issued, authorising Colonel George Villiers to raise a Regiment of Marines, which was to consist of twelve companies, of two serjeants, three corporals, two drummers, and fifty-nine private soldiers each, with an additional serjeant to the grenadier company. The rendezvous of the regiment was appointed to be at Taunton and Bridgewater.

For the raising of this regiment the following officers received commissions, those of the field officers being antedated to the 12th of February, 1702:—

The declaration of hostilities against France and Spain was issued on the 4th of May, 1702: thus began, “fruitful in great actions and important results,” The War of the Spanish Succession.

Additional forces were sent to Flanders, and the Earl of Marlborough was appointed to command the confederate troops with the rank of Captain-General.

The expedition, which had been planned by King William against Spain, was carried out by the Ministers of Queen Anne. It was arranged, accordingly, that a combined fleet of English and Dutch ships, consisting of fifty sail of the line, besides frigates, under Admiral Sir George Rooke, and a land force amounting to nearly fourteen thousand men, under the command of the Duke of Ormond, should proceed to the coast of Spain. The following corps were employed on this service, namely:—

			Officers and Men.
Lloyd’s Dragoons, now 3rd Light Dragoons (detachment.)			275
Foot Guards, the Grenadier and Coldstream			755
Sir H. Bellasis’s	now   2nd	Foot	834
Churchill’s	3rd	”	834
Seymour’s	4th	”	834
Columbine’s	6th	”	724
O’Hara’s, 3 companies	7th	Royal Fusiliers	313
Erle’s	19th	Foot	724
Gustavus Hamilton’s	20th	”	724
Villiers’s Marines, 5 Companies.	31st	”	520
Fox’s Marines	32nd	”	834
Donegal’s	35th	”	724
Charlemont’s	36th	”	724
Shannon’s Marines			834
			——
			9653
Dutch Regiments commanded by Major-General Baron Sparre and Brigadier Pallandt			}   3924
			———
			13,577

Colonel Villiers’s Corps of Marines, now the THIRTY-FIRST regiment, soon after its formation was thus called upon to supply five Companies for embarkation for active service on board the fleet destined against Spain: these Companies embarked in the latter part of May from Plymouth, and proceeded to join the fleet at Portsmouth, from whence the expedition sailed to Cadiz in the month of July, 1702.

The armament appeared off Cadiz on the 12th of August, and the Duke summoned the place; but his terms being refused, he landed on the 15th at the Bay of Bulls, between Rota and Fort St. Catherine, under great disadvantages and a well conducted opposition: he marched upon Rota, where the horses and stores were disembarked, and in two days afterwards he advanced to the town of St. Mary. Rota was retaken by a coup-de-main, and the British garrison of 300 men was captured. The attempt on Cadiz failed; the troops were re-embarked, and sailed from Cadiz on the 30th of September.

In alluding to this expedition, Bishop Burnet remarks,—“It is certain our Court had false accounts of the state the place was in, both with relation to the garrison, and to the fortifications; the garrison was much stronger, and the fortifications were in a better state, than was represented.”

Conspicuous as the bravery of the troops had been in the expedition against Cadiz, still the failure of the attempt naturally caused painful feelings to arise among the British soldiers, who were disappointed of reaping the well-earned fame of a successful enterprise, when victory appeared almost within their grasp. The receipt of information of the arrival of a Spanish fleet from the West Indies, under a French convoy, at the harbour of Vigo, speedily dissipated these feelings, and gave renewed hopes to the troops. The allied fleet immediately bent its course thither, and arrived before Vigo on the 22nd of October, 1702. The French admiral Count de Chateaurenaud had placed his shipping and the galleons within a narrow passage, the entrance to which was defended by a castle on one side, and by platforms mounted with cannon on both sides of the inlet; a strong boom was thrown across the harbour.

To facilitate the attack on this formidable barrier, the Duke of Ormond landed a portion of his army six miles from Vigo on the 23rd of October, and took, by assault, a battery of forty pieces of cannon, situated at the entrance of the bay. A British flag, hoisted on this fort, was the signal for a general attack. The fleet in full sail approached, broke the boom at the first shock, and became closely engaged with the enemy’s ships, while the British troops that had landed, stormed and captured the batteries. After a vigorous defence, the French and Spaniards, finding they could not escape, set fire to some of their vessels, and cast their cargoes into the sea; but the British exerted themselves nobly in extinguishing the flames, and succeeded in saving six galleons and seven ships of war. Two thousand of the enemy are stated to have perished, and the Spaniards sustained a loss in goods and treasure exceeding eight million dollars, more than one-half of which fell to the captors, whose loss in this victory was inconsiderable. Queen Anne, attended by the Lords and Commons, went in state to St. Paul’s Cathedral to return thanks for this success, and each of the regiments of infantry received 561l. 10s. prize-money.

Villiers’s Marines (THIRTY-FIRST regiment) did not land at Vigo, but served on board the fleet in this gallant enterprise.

The troops under the Duke of Ormond subsequently returned to England, and on their arrival in November, 1702, were stationed as follows, namely:—

On the 6th of January, 1703, seven companies of the regiment were stationed at Plymouth, and on the 27th of that month four companies were ordered for embarkation on board of the ships Suffolk and Grafton, which proceeded on service to the coast of Spain, to join the fleet under Admiral Sir George Rooke, and continued in that quarter, and in the Mediterranean, during that year.

In December, 1703, Colonel Villiers, who was in command of the Regiment on board of the fleet, was drowned. He was succeeded in the Colonelcy of the Regiment by Lieut.-Colonel Alexander Lutterell, on the 6th of December of that year.

The THIRTY-FIRST regiment, being at this time a Marine Corps, continued to serve on board the fleet in the Mediterranean, and in February, 1704, proceeded, under Admiral Sir George Rooke, to Lisbon, from whence it proceeded to Barcelona, where the troops were landed under the command of Major-General the Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, on the 19th of May; but the force, being inadequate for the purpose intended, was re-embarked on the day following.

The fleet next proceeded to attack the fortress of Gibraltar, and the Prince of Hesse effected a landing on the afternoon of the 21st of July, 1704, with eighteen hundred British and Dutch Marines: after a bombardment of three days, the governor was forced to capitulate, and the Prince of Hesse took possession of the garrison on the evening of Sunday, the 24th of July, 1704. The attack of the seamen and marines is recorded in history to have been one of the boldest and most difficult ever performed. The fortress of Gibraltar was thus taken, and was besieged by the Spaniards and French in October following, for seven months, during which period it was successfully defended by the navy and marines, and has since remained, as a monument of British valour, in possession of the Crown of Great Britain.

After selecting a sufficient force to garrison Gibraltar, the Marine Corps were distributed in the several ships of war which were then collected in the Tagus, in order to co-operate with the land forces on the coast of Spain.

Towards the end of May, 1705, the British fleet having about five thousand troops on board, with General the Earl of Peterborough, proceeded to Lisbon; King Charles embarked on board of the Ranelagh on the 23rd of July, and the Dutch fleet having joined in the Tagus, proceeded from thence, and anchored before Barcelona on the 22nd of August.

The Earl of Peterborough commenced operations against Barcelona by an attack on the strong fortress of Montjuich, which was taken by storm on the 17th of September. In this attack the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt was wounded by a musket-ball which occasioned his death. The city of Barcelona was invested, and after considerable efforts on the part of the besiegers and the besieged, the garrison surrendered on the 6th of October, 1705.

The capture of Barcelona obtained for the allied forces the applause of the nations of Europe, and in a great degree promoted the cause of King Charles in his efforts to succeed to the Crown of Spain.

The decease of Colonel Lutterell having taken place, he was succeeded by Lieut.-Colonel Josiah Churchill, on the 1st of February, 1706.

The neglect of King Charles III. and his counsellors to secure the advantages obtained by the conquests before stated, and the persevering efforts made in favour of King Philip V. by the French, and by those persons in other countries who supported his cause, occasioned great difficulties, as well as serious losses to the allied forces.

A powerful French and Spanish force by land, aided by a fleet, attempted the recapture of Barcelona, which was besieged in the beginning of April, 1706; but when the enemy had made preparations to attack the place by storm, the English and Dutch fleet arrived with reinforcements for the garrison;—the French relaxed in their efforts, and the siege was raised on the 11th of May.

The city of Barcelona was thus relieved, and the allied fleet, with the troops on board, proceeded to the coast of Valencia; after capturing Carthagena, and placing six hundred Marines for its defence, the expedition proceeded to an attack upon Alicant, which, after a gallant resistance and severe loss, surrendered on the 25th of August, 1706.

The fleet then proceeded to Iviça and Majorca, which surrendered to King Charles III., and detachments of Marines were placed as garrisons in those islands.

The defeat of the allied forces under the Earl of Galway by the Duke of Berwick at Almanza, on the 25th of April, 1707, cast a gloom over the prospects of King Charles in Spain; and in June following, measures were adopted for co-operating with the Duke of Savoy and the Prince Eugene, in an attack upon Toulon. The fleet proceeded for the coast of Italy, and anchored between Nice and Antibes, when a conference took place with the commanders-in-chief of the sea and land forces, and it was decided that a joint attack should be made upon a portion of the enemy’s army which was entrenched upon the river Var; the enemy having evacuated his positions, they were immediately occupied by several hundred British seamen and marines; the passage was thus secured for the Duke of Savoy to prosecute his designs, and ships were stationed along different parts of the sea-coast: every aid was afforded by the fleet; but the enemy, having been reinforced, made a successful sally, and the allied forces sustained considerable loss; the siege was consequently raised on the 10th of August following.

In consequence of King Charles having desired that Sardinia should be reduced, with a view to a passage being opened for his troops into Naples to attack Sicily, and also to secure the means of supplying provisions for his armies, it was decided that a body of marines should be withdrawn from Catalonia to assist in this enterprise. On the 12th of August, 1708, the armament designed for this service arrived before Cagliari, the capital of Sardinia, and after receiving a hesitating reply to the summons to surrender, the bombardment commenced on that evening, and continued until the following morning, when, at the break of day, Major-General Wills (Thirtieth regiment), at the head of the Marines, with one Spanish regiment, landed, and the place surrendered.

It was next decided that an attempt should be made upon the island of Minorca. The fleet accordingly set sail, and arrived before Port Mahon on the 28th of August, 1708.

At this period the six marine regiments had been much reduced in numbers by the arduous services on which they had been employed from the commencement of the war, so that it became necessary to draft the men of two of these corps into the other four regiments, in order to render this force effective for the service for which it was now destined, and which, there was reason to expect, would be difficult, and would require the most energetic measures towards effecting the conquest of the island. For this purpose all the Marines fit for service, were drawn from the ships about to return home, and were incorporated in the four regiments which were employed in the reduction of this island. The two regiments (Holl’s and Shannon’s) returned to England in order to recruit their numbers.

The fleet proceeded to commence operations, and the first attack was against Fort Fornelle, which was cannonaded, and surrendered after a contest of four hours; a detachment proceeded to Citadella, the capital, which surrendered; batteries, which had been erected, were opened on the works defending the town of Port Mahon, on the 17th of September, when, after a short but brisk fire, a lodgment was effected under the walls of St. Philip’s Castle, and on the following day the place surrendered.

The valuable and important Island of Minorca was thus reduced to submission to the British Crown by the gallantry of the Navy, and about two thousand four hundred Marines; the island, which was ceded to Great Britain at the Treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, continued in the British possession until the year 1756, when it was recaptured by a combined Spanish and French force under the command of Marshal the Duke de Richelieu.[7]

In the early part of the year 1709, an armament was prepared for the purpose of attacking Port Royal in the province of Nova Scotia, which was then in possession of the French; the expedition was entrusted to Colonel Nicholson of the Marines, and to Captain Martin of the Navy. The squadron proceeded to Boston, where it was reinforced by some ships, and by provincial auxiliary troops: a council of war was held, and arrangements were made for disembarking the troops, which took place on the 24th of September. The fortress surrendered on the 1st of October, and the Marines took possession. The fortress was named Anna-polis Royal, in honor of Queen Anne, in whose reign the conquest was effected.

The affairs of Spain at this time had materially changed, and the prospects of King Charles III. in obtaining the monarchy had become very doubtful. The town of Alicant, after sustaining a powerful siege by the forces of Spain and France, was compelled to surrender in April; the fleet under Admiral Sir George Byng, and the troops on board under Lieut.-General Stanhope, which were destined for its relief, were prevented, by heavy gales and severe weather, from communicating with the town, and affording the desired assistance. The garrison consisted of Colonel Sir Charles Hotham’s and Colonel Frederick Sybourg’s regiments (afterwards disbanded), together with a large body of Marines, who evinced the most heroic perseverance in maintaining the place. On the 6th of April, 1709, the enemy sprung a mine, which split the rock on which the Castle of Alicant was situated, when Colonel Sybourg and several other officers were swallowed up in the opening, which immediately closed. Although they had been permitted to see the mine, they refused to capitulate; the garrison afterwards continued to defend the castle, until Lieut.-General Stanhope, being unable to communicate with the town, proposed terms of surrender, which being acceded to, the gallant survivors of the siege were conveyed on board the fleet, and were removed to Minorca, and afterwards to Barcelona.

In March, 1710, Admiral Sir John Norris, who had arrived at Port Mahon as commander-in-chief of the Naval forces, proceeded to Barcelona, in the month of June, in order to concert with King Charles III. the plan of future operations. It was determined that an expedition should proceed against the Isle of Cette in the province of Languedoc. His troops, including the Marines, landed on the 13th of July, and after a feeble resistance the fort surrendered: the regiment of Stanhope and three hundred Marines advanced against Agde, and the town surrendered. The Isle of Cette was shortly afterwards recaptured by the French, but the British troops had been previously re-embarked.

Colonel Churchill having received Her Majesty’s permission to sell his commission, Lieut.-Colonel Sir Harry Goring, Bart., was promoted to the Colonelcy of the Thirty-first Regiment by purchase, on the 1st of March, 1711.

The decease of Joseph I., Emperor of Germany, took place on the 17th of April, 1711, and King Charles III. of Spain was elected Emperor of Germany, by the title of Charles VI., on the 12th of October of that year: this circumstance rendered unnecessary any further attempts in the cause of King Charles on the part of the British Government. His Majesty embarked at Barcelona on board of the fleet, and proceeded to assume the duties of the Imperial throne.

In the year 1712 negotiations were entered into between Great Britain and France, and a Treaty of Peace was concluded at Utrecht, on the 11th of April, 1713. By this treaty it was settled, that Great Britain should retain possession of Gibraltar, Minorca, and Nova Scotia, which had been conquered during the war, and in acquiring which the Marine Corps had greatly contributed.

From the period of the formation of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment, in the year 1702, as a Corps of Marines, to the termination of the war by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, the regiment was employed, by detachments, on board the fleet, and was engaged on various services at sea, as well as on land, according to the conditions on which it was raised.[8]

Among the reductions which were directed to take place in the establishment of the army consequent on the Peace of Utrecht, the Marine Corps were included in the list of regiments to be discontinued.

The decease of Queen Anne took place on the 1st of August, 1714, and King George I., who was then at Hanover, was immediately proclaimed as the Sovereign of Great Britain and Ireland. The partisans of the Pretender, James Francis Edward Stuart, son of the late King, James II., renewed their exertions in his behalf; and Jacobite principles had become so prevalent in certain parts of the kingdom, that it was necessary that the army, which had been considerably reduced after the Peace of Utrecht, should be again augmented.

Six additional regiments of cavalry (from the ninth to the fourteenth dragoons) were raised. The establishments of the regiments of infantry were increased, and, in consideration of the services of the Marine Corps during the late war, Wills’s, now thirtieth,—Goring’s, now thirty-first,—and Borr’s, now thirty-second, which had been ordered to be disbanded, were retained on the establishment, and were incorporated with the regiments of infantry of the line, and authorised to take rank according to the dates of their original formation in 1702.

The adherents of the Stuart dynasty continued to be numerous, particularly in Scotland, where active preparations were made for the elevation of the “Pretender” to the throne; and the Chevalier de St. George[9] (so styled in France) repeated the attempt which he had made in 1708, and effected a landing in Scotland in December, 1715, where a rebellion had broken out in September; the Earl of Mar had assembled his vassals, erected the standard of the Pretender in the Highlands, and had been joined by several clans, to the number of ten thousand men. King George I. was supported by his Parliament in adopting energetic measures for opposing the designs of the Jacobites, and for maintaining the Protestant Succession.

To oppose the rebellious forces, the Duke of Argyle was appointed to the command of the army in Scotland. After several movements and skirmishing, the rebel army, commanded by the Earl of Mar, advanced, in the early part of November, towards the Firth; and the Duke of Argyle quitted the camp at Stirling, and proceeded to the vicinity of Dumblaine. On the morning of Sunday, the 13th of November, the hostile armies confronted each other on Sheriffmuir. After half-an-hour’s sharp fighting the left wing of the rebel army gave way, and the King’s troops captured several standards and colours; but while this portion of the rebel army was being pursued, the rebels had defeated the left wing of the royal army. Thus each commander had a wing triumphant and a wing defeated: both armies returned to their former ground, but the action was not renewed. The rebels were, however, defeated in their design of crossing the Firth, and they retired, during the night, towards Perth. The royal army returned to Stirling on the following day. The rebels who had assembled in England under the Earl of Derwentwater and Mr. Forster, were also compelled to surrender at Preston, in Lancashire, to General Carpenter, on the same day as the battle of Sheriffmuir was fought.

Towards the end of December the “Pretender” arrived in Scotland, but his presence did not animate the Scots sufficiently to induce them to renew the contest in his behalf; they considered him unfit to be the leader of a great military enterprise, although the Chevalier is recorded in history to have greatly distinguished himself in the battle of Malplaquet in 1709, “when he charged twelve times with the household troops of the King of France, and, in the last charge, was wounded in the arm by a sword.” The Chevalier had the credit of possessing plenty of animal courage, when led by others, but no moral fortitude when left to himself, and dependent upon his own resources.[10]

In the latter part of the year 1715 the royal army had been joined by considerable reinforcements, and in January, 1716, the Duke of Argyle advanced towards Perth.

The Pretender and the Earl of Mar, being unable to oppose effectual resistance, and seeing no prospect of establishing a footing in Scotland, withdrew from their army privately, and escaped to France, after which the Highlanders dispersed.

The rebellion in Scotland at this period thus terminated.

The THIRTY-FIRST regiment proceeded to Ireland, and continued to form a part of the force in that portion of the United Kingdom until the year 1739.

On the retirement of Colonel Sir Harry Goring, on the 8th of September, 1716, Lord John Kerr was appointed to the Colonelcy of the regiment.

The remainder of the reign of King George I. did not produce any events to give occasion for the active services of the army, and the movements of regiments from one station to another seldom took place.

His Majesty’s decease occurred on the 11th of June, 1727, and his son, King George II., succeeded to the throne.

Major-General Lord John Kerr died on the 1st of August, 1728, and on the 13th of that month, Colonel the Honorable Charles Cathcart, from the Ninth foot, was appointed to the Colonelcy of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment.

Colonel William Hargrave was promoted on the 1st of January, 1731, from the Seventh Royal Fusiliers to the Colonelcy of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment, in succession to Colonel the Honorable Charles Cathcart, who was removed to the Eighth dragoons.

On the 27th of January, 1737, Colonel William Handasyd was promoted from the Fifteenth foot to the Colonelcy of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment, in succession to Colonel William Hargrave, who was removed to the Ninth foot.

In the year 1739 the THIRTY-FIRST regiment was removed from Ireland to Great Britain.

In the two previous years the British merchants had made great complaints against the Spanish depredations in America, and on the 23rd of October, 1739, war was proclaimed against Spain by Great Britain; and the events which occurred in Germany in the following year occasioned the contest that is designated the “War of the Austrian Succession,” in which most of the European powers became engaged, and which disturbed the long interval of comparative peace that had succeeded the Treaty of Utrecht.[11]

These events were occasioned by the decease of Charles VI., Emperor of Germany, on the 20th of October, 1740. The Emperor was the last Prince of the House of Austria, and he was succeeded in his hereditary dominions by his eldest daughter, the Archduchess Maria Theresa, who married, in 1736, the Duke Francis Stephen, of Lorraine. The Duke, in the following year, became Grand-Duke of Tuscany. Immediately on her father’s decease, Maria Theresa was proclaimed Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, Princess of Transylvania, Archduchess of Austria, and universal successor to all the dominions of the House of Austria, pursuant to the “Pragmatic Sanction;”[12] and she declared her husband co-regent in the government of her dominions.

Although the possessions of Austria were guaranteed to the Archduchess Maria Theresa by the German Edict known in history as the “Pragmatic Sanction,” to which nearly all the powers of Europe had been parties, yet the succession of the Archduchess to her father’s Austrian hereditary territories was disputed by several claimants; and among others by Charles Albert, Elector of Bavaria, who was afterwards elected Emperor of Germany. The King of Prussia also revived a dormant claim to Silesia, which he invaded in November; the Prussian monarch offered Maria Theresa sufficient money to resist all her enemies, on condition of ceding Silesia to him, but the proposition was indignantly rejected.

The King of France supported the Elector of Bavaria, while King George II. supported the Archduchess Maria Theresa; and in April, 1741, the British Parliament voted a subsidy of 300,000l. to the Queen of Hungary and Bohemia. His Majesty also informed the Parliament, that the Queen of Hungary had demanded the twelve thousand troops he had stipulated to furnish; and accordingly he had requested the King of Denmark and the King of Sweden to hold in readiness their quotas of six thousand men each, for the maintenance of which they had received subsidies from England. King George II. was drawn into the war from the apprehension of losing Hanover, but at this period His Majesty abstained from being a principal in the contest, by agreeing with the French sovereign, Louis XV., to give his vote, as Elector of Hanover, to the Elector of Bavaria for the dignity of Emperor of Germany, and thereby to preserve the neutrality of his Hanoverian territories.

During 1741 and the previous year the regiment was encamped at Windsor, and on Lexden Heath, near Colchester, as part of the force ordered to be prepared for the assistance of Maria Theresa, but no embarkation for continental service took place during the year 1741.

The Elector of Bavaria was chosen Emperor of Germany at Frankfort on the Maine, and crowned, as Charles VII., on the 11th of February, 1742: he was, however, a most unhappy prince; his electoral dominions were overrun by the Austrians, the French were driven out of Bohemia, and the King of Prussia, under the mediation of King George II., concluded a peace at Breslau with the Queen of Hungary.

The King of England resolving to take a more active part in the war, an army of sixteen thousand men, under Field-Marshal the Earl of Stair, was ordered to be embarked for the Netherlands in the summer of 1742, in order to support the Queen of Hungary.

On the 17th of May the THIRTY-FIRST regiment embarked at Deptford for Flanders, having been previously reviewed on Kew-green by King George II. and the Duke of Cumberland, with the other regiments destined for the above service.[13] No action took place during the year, the troops being suddenly marched into winter-quarters, after every preparation had been made for active operations.

In the commencement of the year 1743 the British and Hanoverian troops were assembled in the Low Countries, commanded by Field-Marshal the Earl of Stair, as allies to the Austrians, under the command of Marshal Neuperg and the Duke d’Aremberg, and advanced towards Germany, in order to secure the navigation of the Upper Maine. The French Marshal, Noailles, had anticipated the British general, and was already on the opposite shore of this river, and in possession of its principal posts when the Allies arrived at Aschaffenberg. Here the Allied army remained until June, on the 19th of which month King George II., attended by the Duke of Cumberland, arrived at the camp.

The two armies were encamped on the plains near the banks of the Maine, opposite to, and in sight of, each other; with a ridge of hills, covered with woods on the north of each, the Allies being on the north and the French on the south side of the river. The Confederate army amounted to nearly forty thousand men, in high spirits, though nearly destitute of provisions. A retrograde movement being resolved on for the purpose of obtaining supplies, as well as to effect a junction with a corps of twelve thousand Hessians and Hanoverians, in some danger of being cut off at Hanau, His Majesty, on the evening of the 26th of June, gave orders that the army should hold itself in readiness to march on the following morning; accordingly the Confederate army marched towards Dettingen before daylight on the morning of the 27th of June. The army was weakened for want of provisions, the soldiers having been on half-rations for some time, and the horses were without forage.

Marshal Noailles immediately ordered a large force of cavalry and infantry, composed of the household troops and of the Royal Guards, to the village of Dettingen, by which the British had to pass. The THIRTY-FIRST regiment, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Montague, was in advance towards Dettingen, when the French made the above movement, and gave the first intelligence of it to His Majesty.

Aschaffenberg was occupied by the French the moment it was evacuated by the Allies. The Confederate army had to march through a narrow way between a mountain and the Maine, the cannon on the opposite side of the river commanding its flank. Dettingen, in front, was occupied in force by the French, and also Aschaffenberg in the rear. In this situation the destruction of the Allies seemed inevitable; but Marshal Noailles having repassed the river, the Duke de Grammont, who succeeded to the command, advanced to the attack through the defile, thus relinquishing all the advantages of his position. The British troops, animated by the presence of their Sovereign, on the 27th of June, received the impetuous attack of the French with such steadiness and intrepidity, that the latter were forced to retire, and recross the Maine with the greatest precipitation and the loss of five thousand men.

The Twentieth and THIRTY-FIRST regiments were in reserve in a wood on the British right, and towards the afternoon they were led into action by his Majesty in person, who evinced the same martial qualities for which he was distinguished at the battle of Oudenarde, on the 11th of July, 1708, when Hereditary Prince of Brunswick Lunenburg.

The regiment sustained but trifling loss at the battle of Dettingen, in consequence of its having been in reserve during the early part of the action.[14]

Although the victory was highly honorable to those by whom it was gained, yet it was productive of no decisive results.[15] The allied army continued its march to Hanau; it subsequently crossed the Rhine, and was employed in West Germany, but returned to Flanders for winter-quarters.

On the 20th of March, 1744, France declared war against England, and on the 29th of that month a counter-declaration was made by Great Britain, in which the French monarch was accused of violating the “Pragmatic Sanction,” and of assisting the son of the Pretender in his designs on the British throne.

The regiment served the campaign of 1744 with the army commanded by Field-Marshal Wade; it was encamped some time on the banks of the Scheldt, and afterwards penetrated the French territory to the vicinity of Lisle, but no general engagement occurred.

In January, 1745, the Emperor Charles VII. died at Munich, and Francis, Grand-Duke of Tuscany, consort of Maria Theresa, became a candidate for the Imperial crown; this event changed the aspect of affairs in Germany, and led to the re-establishment of the House of Austria in the Imperial dignity.

Colonel Lord Henry Beauclerk was appointed, on the 22nd of April, 1745, from the forty-eighth to the Colonelcy of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment, in succession to Colonel W. Handasyd, deceased.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland was appointed to the command of the Confederate army, and on the French investing Tournay, which towards the end of April was besieged by an immense force, under Marshal Count de Saxe, His Royal Highness determined to raise the siege, which resulted in the battle of Fontenoy.

On the morning of the 11th of May, the formidable position at Fontenoy, occupied by the superior numbers of the enemy, was attacked, when the British infantry evinced that heroism for which that arme of the service has ever been conspicuous, and forced the enemy’s position; but being exposed to a destructive cross-fire, in consequence of the Dutch having failed in their attack on the village of Fontenoy, and Brigadier-General Ingoldsby not having captured a battery in the wood of Barry, the British regiments, which had forced the French position, were ordered to retire. The attack was repeated, with the same results: British valour was conspicuous, but the failure of the Dutch rendered a retreat necessary, and the Allied army withdrew to Aeth.[16]

In the London Gazette it was stated that,