The 95th (Derbyshire) 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 Gur ...

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 ...

, raised in 1823. 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

45th (Nottinghamshire) (Sherwood Foresters) Regiment of Foot The 45th (Nottinghamshire) (Sherwood Foresters) Regiment of Foot was a British Army line infantry regiment, raised in 1741. The regiment saw action during Father Le Loutre's War, the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War as wel ...

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 ...

in 1881.

History

Formation

The regiment was raised by General Sir Colin Halkett as the 95th Regiment of Foot, in response to the threat posed by the French intervention in Spain, on 1 December 1823. It embarked for

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

in March 1824 and was given a territorial designation as the 95th (Derbyshire) Regiment of Foot in December 1825. It then sailed on to the Ionian Islands in January 1830; the headquarters was initially established in Corfu but moved to Vido in December 1831.Wylly, p. 390 The headquarters went back to Corfu in May 1832, to

Cephalonia Kefalonia or Cephalonia ( el, Κεφαλονιά), formerly also known as Kefallinia or Kephallenia (), is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece and the 6th largest island in Greece after Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Rhodes and Chios. It ...

in April 1833 and back to Corfu again in June 1834. The regiment embarked for home in December 1834. The regiment embarked for

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 October 1838; the headquarters was initially established at

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

but moved to

Kandy Kandy ( si, මහනුවර ''Mahanuwara'', ; ta, கண்டி Kandy, ) is a major city in Sri Lanka located in the Central Province. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills ...

in September 1841 and reverted to Colombo in January 1844.Wylly, p. 400 While in Colombo the regiment suffered from a serious epidemic of cholera: at least 63 soldiers died. The regiment transferred to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

in March 1847. In autumn 1848 the regiment lost nearly 40% of its strength to

fever Fever, also referred to as pyrexia, is defined as having a temperature above the normal range due to an increase in the body's temperature set point. There is not a single agreed-upon upper limit for normal temperature with sources using val ...

: representatives of Jardine Matheson provided extensive support in the form of the loan of boats and trips for convalescents. The regiment embarked for home in March 1850.

Crimea

The regiment embarked for

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

in March 1854 for service in the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included t ...

. It sailed on to Kalamita Bay in September 1854 and advanced under heavy

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

n fire at the

Battle of Alma The Battle of the Alma (short for Battle of the Alma River) was a battle in the Crimean War between an allied expeditionary force (made up of French, British, and Ottoman forces) and Russian forces defending the Crimean Peninsula on 20Septem ...

later that month. Due to the heavy casualties suffered in this attack the Regimental colours, normally carried by an

ensign An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be diff ...

, were seized by Private James Keenan: he planted them triumphantly on the earthwork of the Great Redoubt.Wylly, p. 429 The regiment lost some 20 officers and some 180 other ranks in the battle. The regiment sustained further losses at the

Battle of Inkerman The Battle of Inkerman was fought during the Crimean War on 5 November 1854 between the allied armies of Britain and France against the Imperial Russian Army. The battle broke the will of the Russian Army to defeat the allies in the field, and ...

in November 1854 and Major John Champion, who commanded the regiment during the battle, was killed in action. The regiment was also present at the

Sevastopol Sevastopol (; uk, Севасто́поль, Sevastópolʹ, ; gkm, Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoúpolis, ; crh, Акъя́р, Aqyár, ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea, and a major port on the Black Sea ...

in winter 1854: the regiment continued to sustain losses caused by the extreme cold and rampant disease. This led to the comment that: "there may be few of the 95th left but those few are as hard as nails." The regiment embarked for home in June 1856.

Indian Rebellion

The regiment embarked for the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is ...

in June 1857 but, within days of arriving in September 1857, it was sent 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 ...

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 ...

. The regiment took part in the capture of the entrenched town of Rowa in January 1858: Private Bernard McQuirt was awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

for his part in the action. It went on to take part in a skirmish at Kotah-ke-Serai in June 1858 during which the rebel leader, Rani of Jhansi, was killed. It also took part in the recapture of

Gwalior Gwalior() is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; it lies in northern part of Madhya Pradesh and is one of the Counter-magnet cities. Located south of Delhi, the capital city of India, from Agra and from Bhopal, the ...

later that month as well as several other actions during the Central Indian campaign. The regiment remained in India until October 1870 when it sailed for England. 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 95th was linked with the 54th (West Norfolk) Regiment of Foot, and assigned to district no. 26 at Normanton Barracks in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the no ...

. On 1 July 1881 the

came into effect and the regiment amalgamated with the

to form the

Battle honours

Alma Alma or ALMA may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Alma'' (film), a 2009 Spanish short animated film * ''Alma'' (Oswald de Andrade novel), 1922 * ''Alma'' (Le Clézio novel), 2017 * ''Alma'' (play), a 1996 drama by Joshua Sobol about Alma ...

Inkerman Inkerman ( uk, Інкерман, russian: Инкерман, crh, İnkerman) is a city in the Crimean peninsula. It is ''de facto'' within the federal city of Sevastopol within the Russian Federation, but '' de jure'' within Ukraine. It ...

, Central

Victoria Cross

*Private Bernard McQuirt

Indian Mutiny 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 fo ...

(6 January 1858)

Colonels of the Regiment

Colonels of the Regiment were:

The 95th Regiment of Foot

*1823–1829: Gen. Sir Colin Halkett

The 95th (Derbyshire) Regiment of Foot - (1825)

*1829–1834: Lt-Gen. Sir Archibald Campbell, 1st Baronet GCB (of Ava) *1834–1838: Lt-Gen. Sir Charles Pratt, KCB

The 95th (Derbyshire) Regiment - (1838)

*1838–1843: Lt-Gen. Sir John Buchan, KCB *1843–1848: Lt-Gen. George Guy Carleton L'Estrange, CB *1848–1850: Lt-Gen. Sir Richard Armstrong KCB *1850–1853: Gen. Sir John Bell GCB *1853–1868: Gen. Sir

Francis Cockburn Sir Francis Cockburn (; 10 November 1780 – 24 August 1868) served in the British Army, played an important role in the early settlement of eastern Canada and was a colonial administrator. Cockburn was born in England in 1780. He was the fif ...

*1868–1869: Gen.

John ffolliott Crofton General John ffolliott Crofton (9 October 1800 – 17 July 1885) was a British Army officer. He was born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of Revd Henry Crofton and Frances ffolliott. Educated privately, he gained a BA degree at Trinity College, Dublin ...

*1869–1871: Maj-Gen. Frederick Holt Robe, CB *1871–1876: Gen. James Pattoun Sparks, CB *1876–1881: Gen. John Studholme Brownrigg, CB

Notes

References

Sources

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:95th (Derbyshire) Regiment Of Foot Infantry regiments of the British Army Military units and formations in Derbyshire Regiments of the British Army in the Crimean War Military units and formations disestablished in 1881