The 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot was an

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and m ...

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 conscripted ...

of the

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 Gur ...

, raised in 1756. Under the

Childers Reforms The Childers Reforms of 1881 reorganised the infantry regiments of the British Army. The reforms were done by Secretary of State for War Hugh Childers during 1881, and were a continuation of the earlier Cardwell Reforms. The reorganisation was ...

it amalgamated with the

49th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) (Hertfordshire) Regiment of Foot The 49th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) (Hertfordshire) Regiment of Foot was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1743. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot to form the Princes ...

to form the Princess Charlotte of Wales's (Berkshire Regiment) in 1881.

History

Formation

The formation of the regiment was prompted by the expansion of the army as a result of the commencement of the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754– ...

. On 25 August 1756 it was ordered that a number of existing regiments should raise a second

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...

; among those chosen was the

19th Regiment of Foot 19 (nineteen) is the natural number following 18 and preceding 20. It is a prime number. Mathematics 19 is the eighth prime number, and forms a sexy prime with 13, a twin prime with 17, and a cousin prime with 23. It is the third full re ...

. The 2nd Battalion of the 19th Regiment of Foot was formed on 10 December 1756 and renumbered as the 66th Regiment of Foot on 21 April 1758. The regiment was posted to

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...

in 1764 and then returned home in 1773. The regiment was given a county designation as the 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot in 1782. In April 1785 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 Great ...

and was garrisoned at Saint Vincent before leaving for Gibraltar in January 1793.

Napoleonic Wars

Battle of Albuhera, by William Barnes Wollen

In early 1796 the regiment returned to the West Indies to take part in a British invasion of Saint-Domingue, where most of the troops caught fever. The regiment returned to Jamaica in September 1798 and moved 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 En ...

in early 1799 and on to

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

in May 1800 before returning home in October 1802. A second battalion was raised in July 1803. The 1st battalion embarked for

Trincomalee Trincomalee (; ta, திருகோணமலை, translit=Tirukōṇamalai; si, ත්‍රිකුණාමළය, translit= Trikuṇāmaḷaya), also known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee Dis ...

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

in March 1804 aboard the

East Indiaman East Indiaman was a general name for any sailing ship operating under charter or licence to any of the East India trading companies of the major European trading powers of the 17th through the 19th centuries. The term is used to refer to vesse ...

. The battalion moved on to

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

in April 1814. From India it was deployed to

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...

in late 1815 for service in the

Anglo-Nepalese War The Anglo-Nepalese War (1 November 1814 – 4 March 1816), also known as the Gorkha War, was fought between the Gorkhali army of the Kingdom of Nepal (present-day Nepal) and the British forces of the East India Company (EIC, present-day Ind ...

. Meanwhile, the 2nd battalion embarked for

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

in April 1809 for service in 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 Spai ...

. It saw action at the

Second Battle of Porto The Second Battle of Porto, also known as the Battle of the Douro or the Crossing of the Douro, was a battle in which General Arthur Wellesley's Anglo-Portuguese Army defeated Marshal Soult's French troops on 12 May 1809 and took back the ...

in May 1809, 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 Spani ...

in July 1809 and 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. Havin ...

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 also took part in the First Siege of Badajoz in January 1811 and the

Battle of Albuera The Battle of Albuera (16 May 1811) was a battle during the Peninsular War. A mixed British, Spanish and Portuguese corps engaged elements of the French Armée du Midi (Army of the South) at the small Spanish village of Albuera, about sout ...

in May 1811. At Albuera the battalion suffered heavy losses: 16 of its officers and 310 of its men killed, wounded or missing. It went on to fight at the

Battle of Arroyo dos Molinos The Battle of Arroyo dos Molinos took place on 28 October 1811 during the Peninsular War. An allied force under General Rowland Hill trapped and defeated a French force under General Jean-Baptiste Girard, forcing the latter's dismissal by ...

in October 1811 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 ord ...

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 Nive The Battles of the Nive (9–13 December 1813) were fought towards the end of the Peninsular War. Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese and Spanish army defeated Marshal Nicolas Soult's French army on French soil in ...

in December 1813 as well as 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 F ...

in February 1814 and the Battle of Toulouse in April 1814. In July 1817 the battalion arrived in

Saint Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three consti ...

with orders to guard Napoleon who was in exile: the two battalions amalgamated again later that year.

The Victorian era

The regiment left Saint Helena in May 1821 following Napoleon's death. It was deployed to Canada in August 1827 before returning home in October 1840. It was sent to Gibraltar in July 1845 before returning to the West Indies in 1848. It returned to Canada in 1851 and returned home in 1854. In March 1857 it was sent to India to help suppress the

Indian Rebellion The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the for ...

. It returned to England in March 1865 but went back to India in February 1870.

Second Anglo-Afghan War

The Maiwand Lion, Forbury Gardens, Reading 2

The regiment was deployed to

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...

in early 1880 and took part in the Battle of Maiwand in July 1880 where the British forces were routed and most of the regiment was caught up in the rout. Some 140 of them made a stand at the Mundabad Ravine, which ran along the south side of the battlefield, but were forced back with heavy losses. Eventually 56 survivors made it to the shelter of a walled garden and made a further stand. Eventually the 56 were whittled down to only 11 men—two officers and nine other ranks. An Afghan artillery officer described their end: Officers who died in the action included: Lieutenant-Colonel James Galbraith, Captain Ernest Stephen Garratt, Captain William Hamilton M'Math, Captain Francis James Cullen, Captain Walter Roberts, Lieutenant Maurice Edward Rayner, Lieutenant Richard Trevor Chute, Second Lieutenant Arthur Honywood, Second Lieutenant Walter Rice Olivey and Second Lieutenant Harry James Outram Barr. This battle was the last time a British regiment lost its colours in battle. A subscription led to two memorials in

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

: a window in St Mary's Church, and a large memorial sculpture, the '' Maiwand Lion'', erected in 1886 in Forbury Gardens. The regiment also saw action at the Battle of Kandahar in September 1880.

Amalgamation

As part of the

Cardwell Reforms The Cardwell Reforms were a series of reforms of the British Army undertaken by Secretary of State for War Edward Cardwell between 1868 and 1874 with the support of Liberal prime minister William Ewart Gladstone. Gladstone paid little attentio ...

of the 1870s, where single-battalion regiments were linked together to share a single depot and recruiting district in the United Kingdom, the 66th was linked with the

, and assigned to district no. 41 at Brock Barracks in Reading. On 1 July 1881 the

came into effect and the regiment amalgamated with the 49th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) (Hertfordshire) Regiment of Foot to form the Princess Charlotte of Wales's (Royal Berkshire Regiment).

Legacy

William McGonagall William Topaz McGonagall (March 1825 – 29 September 1902) was a Scottish poet of Irish descent. He gained notoriety as an extremely bad poet who exhibited no recognition of, or concern for, his peers' opinions of his work. He wrote about 2 ...

wrote of the Battle of Maiwand in his poem ''The Last Berkshire Eleven: The Heroes of Maiwand'', which includes mention of Bobbie, the regimental pet dog, who survived the battle: :And they broke from the enclosure, and followed by the little dog, :And with excitement it was barking savagely, and leaping like a frog; :And from the field the last eleven refused to retire, :And with fixed bayonets they charged on the enemy in that sea of fire. Dr. John H. Watson, fictional narrator of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, was wounded while attached to the regiment at the 1880 Battle of Maiwand. He was on attachment from his own regiment, the

5th (Northumberland Fusiliers) Regiment of Foot The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers was an infantry regiment of the British Army. Raised in 1674 as one of three 'English' units in the Dutch Anglo-Scots Brigade, it accompanied William III to England in the November 1688 Glorious Revolution an ...

.Doyle, Chapter 1

Battle honours

Battle honours won by the regiment were: *Peninsular War:

Douro The Douro (, , ; es, Duero ; la, Durius) is the highest-flow river of the Iberian Peninsula. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province, central Spain, meanders south briefly then flows generally west through the north-west part o ...

, Talavera, Albuhera, Vittoria,

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...

, Nivelle,

Nive The Nive (; eu, Errobi; oc, Niva) is a French river that flows through the French Basque Country. It is a left tributary of the river Adour. It is long. The river's source in the Pyrenees in Lower Navarre. The river Nive was made famous by t ...

, Orthes, Peninsula, *Second Anglo-Afghan War: Kandahar 1880, Afghanistan 1879-80

Colonels of the Regiment

Colonels of the Regiment were:

66th Regiment of Foot

*1758–1758: Lt-Gen. Edward Sandford *1758–1763: Maj-Gen.

John La Fausille John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

*1763–1776: Gen.

Lord Adam Gordon Major Lord Adam Granville Gordon (1 March 1909 – 5 July 1984) was a British royal courtier. Gordon was the second son of Lt.-Col. Granville Cecil Douglas Gordon (1883–1930), who was later an equerry to the Duke of Connaught, and Violet ...

*1776–1794: Lt-Gen.

Joseph Gabbett Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot - (1782)

*1794–1808: Gen. John Thomas de Burgh, 13th Earl of Clanricarde *1808–1829: Gen. Oliver Nicolls *1829–1835: Gen. Sir William Anson, 1st Baronet, KCB *1835–1859: Gen. Richard Blunt *1859–1870: Gen. Edward Wells Bell *1870–1881: Gen. Thomas Henry Johnston

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

McGonagall's poem

{{DEFAULTSORT:British Army, 66th Berkshire Regiment Infantry regiments of the British Army Military units and formations in Berkshire Organisations based in Berkshire Military units and formations established in 1758 Military units and formations disestablished in 1881