The 45th (Nottinghamshire) (Sherwood Foresters) Regiment of Foot was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscript ...

, raised in 1741. The regiment saw action during Father Le Loutre's War, the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

and the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

as well as the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

, the

First Anglo-Burmese War The First Anglo-Burmese War ( my, ပထမ အင်္ဂလိပ်-မြန်မာ စစ်; ; 5 March 1824 – 24 February 1826), also known as the First Burma War, was the first of three wars fought between the British and Burmes ...

and the Xhosa Wars. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 95th (Derbyshire) Regiment of Foot to form the

Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence for just under 90 years, from 1881 to 1970. In 1970, the regiment was amalgamated with the Worcestershire Regiment to ...

in 1881.

History

Warburton's Regiment

Prior to 1751, the Regiment was named after Colonel Hugh Warburton. The regiment was originally raised by Colonel Daniel Houghton as Houghton's Regiment in 1741 for service during the

War of the Austrian Succession The War of the Austrian Succession () was a European conflict that took place between 1740 and 1748. Fought primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italy, the Atlantic and Mediterranean, related conflicts included King George's ...

. It was first posted to

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

in 1745, before moving to

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

in 1747 for garrison duty under the command of Warburton. The regiment was ranked as the 56th Regiment of Foot in 1747 but was re-ranked the following year as the 45th Regiment of Foot in 1748. On 1 July 1751 the regiment officially adopted the numerical system rather being named after the commander. The regiment fell victim to a raid on Dartmouth in May 1751 during Father Le Loutre's War when French monarchist (natives and Acadians) from Chignecto, under the command of Acadian

Joseph Broussard Joseph Broussard (1702–1765), also known as Beausoleil ( en, Beautiful Sun), was a leader of the Acadian people in Acadia; later Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick. Broussard organized a Mi'kmaq and Acadian militias against th ...

, raided Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, destroying the town, killing twenty British villagers and torturing and mutilating a sergeant from the 45th Foot. The regiment then defeated the French monarchists (French soldiers, natives and Acadians) at the Battle of Fort Beauséjour in June 1755. The regiment also took part in the Siege of Louisbourg in July 1758 during the

. The regiment also saw action in North America during the American War of Independence, fighting at the

Battle of Long Island The Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn and the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, was an action of the American Revolutionary War fought on August 27, 1776, at the western edge of Long Island in present-day Brooklyn, New Yor ...

in August 1776 before returning to England in 1778. In 1779 the citizens of Nottinghamshire petitioned for the regiment to have the county name included in the regimental name: this was granted and the regiment became the 45th (1st Nottinghamshire) Regiment. In March 1786 the regiment embarked for the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

and garrisoned

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in ...

, Dominica and

Îles des Saintes The Îles des Saintes (; "Islands of the Female Saints"), also known as Les Saintes, is a group of small islands in the archipelago of Guadeloupe, an overseas department of France. It is part of the Canton of Trois-Rivières and is divided in ...

during the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted France against Britain, Austria, Prussia ...

. In May 1801, on the home journey, some 150 French prisoners aboard the ship, the ''Windsor'', overpowered the guard, locked the officers in their cabins and took possession of the ship.

Notable soldiers

* Winckworth Tonge *

Horatio Gates Horatio Lloyd Gates (July 26, 1727April 10, 1806) was a British-born American army officer who served as a general in the Continental Army during the early years of the Revolutionary War. He took credit for the American victory in the Battl ...

* Patrick Sutherland

Gallery

File:Winckworth Tonge, Old Burying Ground, Halifax, Nova Scotia.jpg, Winckworth Tonge,

Old Burying Ground (Halifax, Nova Scotia) The Old Burying Ground (also known as St. Paul's Church Cemetery) is a historic cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is located at the intersection of Barrington Street and Spring Garden Road in Downtown Halifax. History The Old Bur ...

File:Soldier of 45th regiment 1742.jpg, Soldier of 45th regiment, 1742 File:43rd-44th-45th-regiments-of-foot-1.jpg, A grenadier of the 45th Regiment (right), 1751 by David Morier File:HoratioGatesByStuart crop.jpg,

Napoleonic wars

In spring 1807 the regiment embarked on the disastrous British invasion of the River Plate: it saw action at the Second Battle of Buenos Aires in July 1807 but, in the face of defeat, discipline collapsed and eleven men of the regiment completely disappeared. However another unit of the regiment successfully charged the enemy, taking two howitzers and many prisoners. Battle-of-talavera-28th-july-1809-william-heath

Battle-of-talavera-28th-july-1809-william-heath

The regiment embarked for

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

in July 1808 to serve under General Sir Arthur Wellesley in the

. The regiment fought at the Battle of Roliça in August 1808, the

Battle of Vimeiro In the Battle of Vimeiro (sometimes shown as "Vimiera" or "Vimeira" in contemporary British texts) on 21 August 1808, the British under General Arthur Wellesley (who later became the Duke of Wellington) defeated the French under Major-Gene ...

later that month and the

Battle of Talavera The Battle of Talavera (27–28 July 1809) was fought just outside the town of Talavera de la Reina, Spain some southwest of Madrid, during the Peninsular War. At Talavera, a British army under Sir Arthur Wellesley combined with a Spanish a ...

, where it won the nickname "Old Stubborns", in July 1809. The regiment went on to fight at the

Battle of Bussaco The Battle of Buçaco () or Bussaco, fought on 27 September 1810 during the Peninsular War in the Portuguese mountain range of Serra do Buçaco, resulted in the defeat of French forces by Lord Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese Army. Having o ...

in September 1810 before falling back to the

Lines of Torres Vedras The Lines of Torres Vedras were lines of forts and other military defences built in secrecy to defend Lisbon during the Peninsular War. Named after the nearby town of Torres Vedras, they were ordered by Arthur Wellesley, Viscount Wellington, ...

. It saw action again at

Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro In the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro (3–5 May 1811), the British–Portuguese Army under Wellington checked an attempt by the French Army of Portugal under Marshal André Masséna to relieve the besieged city of Almeida. A bloody stalema ...

in May 1811, the

Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo Sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo are a series of sieges of the Spanish town Ciudad Rodrigo. Specific sieges are: * Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (1370) * Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (1707) * Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (1810) * Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (1812) ...

in January 1812 and the Siege of Badajoz in March 1812 before fighting at the

Battle of Salamanca The Battle of Salamanca (in French and Spanish known as the Battle of Arapiles) on 22July 1812 was a battle in which an Anglo-Portuguese army under the Earl of Wellington defeated Marshal Auguste Marmont's French forces at Arapiles, ...

in July 1812 and the

Battle of Vitoria At the Battle of Vitoria (21 June 1813) a British, Portuguese and Spanish army under the Marquess of Wellington broke the French army under King Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan near Vitoria in Spain, eventually leadin ...

in June 1813. It then pursued the French Army into France and fought at the

Battle of the Pyrenees The Battle of the Pyrenees was a large-scale offensive (the author David Chandler recognises the 'battle' as an offensive) launched on 25 July 1813 by Marshal Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult from the Pyrénées region on Emperor Napoleon’s or ...

in July 1813, the

Battle of Nivelle The Battle of Nivelle (10 November 1813) took place in front of the river Nivelle near the end of the Peninsular War (1808–1814). After the Allied siege of San Sebastian, Wellington's 80,000 British, Portuguese and Spanish troops (20, ...

in November 1813 and the

Battle of Orthez The Battle of Orthez (27 February 1814) saw the Anglo-Spanish-Portuguese Army under Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington attack an Imperial French army led by Marshal Nicolas Soult in southern France. The outnumbered Fr ...

in February 1814 as well as the Battle of Toulouse in April 1814. The regiment returned home in June 1814. The regiment was sent to Ceylon in January 1819 and to

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

in 1824 for service in the

. It formed part of an army which advanced up the River Irrawaddy to the

Kingdom of Ava The Kingdom of Ava ( my, အင်းဝခေတ်, ) was the dominant kingdom that ruled upper Burma (Myanmar) from 1364 to 1555. Founded in 1365, the kingdom was the successor state to the petty kingdoms of Myinsaing, Pinya and Sagaing t ...

and then returned to England in March 1838.

The Victorian era

45th regiment fire upon Sir William Courtney

In May 1838 the regiment took part in the

Battle of Bossenden Wood The Battle of Bossenden Wood took place on 31 May 1838 near Hernhill in Kent; it has been called the last battle on English soil. The battle was fought between a small group of labourers from the Hernhill, Dunkirk, and Boughton area and a detac ...

, a skirmish between a small group of labourers from the Hernhill, Dunkirk, and Boughton area and a detachment of soldiers of the 45th regiment sent from

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

to arrest the marchers' leader, the self-styled Sir William Courtenay, who was actually John Nichols Tom, a

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro ...

maltster Malting is the process of steeping, germinating and drying grain to convert it into malt. The malt is mainly used for brewing or whisky making, but can also be used to make malt vinegar or malt extract. Various grains are used for malting, most o ...

who had spent four years in

Kent County Lunatic Asylum Oakwood Hospital in Barming Heath near Maidstone, England was a psychiatric hospital founded in 1833 as the Kent County Lunatic Asylum. Following transfer of services to Maidstone Hospital, Oakwood closed in 1994 and was then developed as a res ...

. In November 1839 the regiment was involved in suppressing the

Newport Rising The Newport Rising was the last large-scale armed rising in Wales, by Chartists whose demands included democracy and the right to vote with a secret ballot. On Monday 4 November 1839, approximately 4,000 Chartism, Chartist sympathisers, under ...

which had been organised by Chartist protestors. The regiment was deployed to South Africa in 1843 and saw action in the Seventh Xhosa War in 1846 and the Eighth Xhosa War in 1851 before returning home in 1859. In 1866, the regiment became the 45th (Nottinghamshire) (Sherwood Foresters) Regiment of Foot. It took part in the

British Expedition to Abyssinia The British Expedition to Abyssinia was a rescue mission and punitive expedition carried out in 1868 by the armed forces of the British Empire against the Ethiopian Empire (also known at the time as Abyssinia). Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia, ...

in 1867.Dalbiac, p. 214 As part of the Cardwell Reforms of the 1870s, where single-battalion regiments were linked together to share a single depot and recruiting district in the United Kingdom, the 45th was linked with the 17th (Leicestershire) Regiment of Foot), and assigned to district no. 27 at Glen Parva Barracks in Leicestershire. On 1 July 1881 the Childers Reforms came into effect and the regiment amalgamated with the 95th (Derbyshire) Regiment to form the

Sherwood Foresters The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence for just under 90 years, from 1881 to 1970. In 1970, the regiment was amalgamated with the Worcestershire Regiment to ...

Battle honours

The regiment's battle honours were as follows: * Louisburg, *Rolica, Vimiera, Talavera, Busaco, Fuentes D'Onoro, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Orthes, Toulouse, Peninsula, * Ava, * South Africa 1846–47,

Colonels of the Regiment

Colonels of the regiment were: *1741–1745: Brig-Gen. Daniel Houghton

45th Regiment of Foot – (1751)

*1745–1761: Gen. Hugh Warburton *1761: Maj-Gen. Andrew Robinson *1761–1767: Maj-Gen. Hon. John Boscawen *1767–1784: Gen. William Haviland

45th (Nottinghamshire) Regiment of Foot

*1784–1787: Maj-Gen. Sir John Wrottesley, 8th Baronet *1787–1788: Lt-Gen. James Cuninghame *1788–1802: Gen. James Whorwood Adeane *1802–1823: Gen. Frederick Cavendish Lister *1823–1837: Gen.

Richard Lambart, 7th Earl of Cavan Richard Ford William Lambart, 7th Earl of Cavan (10 September 1763 – 21 November 1837), styled Viscount Kilcoursie from 1772 to 1778, was a British military commander throughout the Napoleonic era and beyond. He became head of the British Army ...

, KC *1837–1840: Lt-Gen. Sir

William Henry Pringle Lieutenant-General Sir William Henry Pringle GCB (21 August 1772 – 23 December 1840) was a British Army officer who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for two constituencies in Cornwall. He was born the eldest son of Maj-Gen. Henry Pringle ...

, GCB *1840–1847: Gen. Sir Fitzroy Jeffries Grafton Maclean, Bt. *1847–1856: Gen. Sir

Colin Halkett General Sir Colin Halkett (7 September 1774 – 24 September 1856) was a British Army officer who became Lieutenant Governor of Jersey. Family Halkett came from a military family. His father was Major General Frederick Godar Halkett and his yo ...

, GCB, GCH *1856–1858: Gen. Thomas Brabazon Aylmer *1858–1866: F.M. Sir Hugh Rose, 1st Baron Strathnairn, GCB, GCSI

45th (Nottinghamshire) (Sherwood Foresters) Regiment of Foot

*1866–1868: Gen. Thomas Armstrong Drought *1868–1876: Gen. Frederick Horn, GCB *1876–1878: Gen. Henry Cooper *1878–1881: Gen. Sir Daniel Lysons, GCB

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

Frank Burton 45th Regiment of Foot
{{DEFAULTSORT:45th (Nottinghamshire) Regiment Of Foot Infantry regiments of the British Army Military units and formations in Nottinghamshire Military units and formations of the United Kingdom in the Peninsular War Regiments of the British Army in the American Revolutionary War Military units and formations disestablished in 1881