This is a list of British fencible regiments. The ''
fencibles
The Fencibles (from the word ''defencible'') were British regiments raised in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and in the colonies for defence against the threat of invasion during the Seven Years' War, the American War of Independence, the Frenc ...
'' (from the word ') were
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 conscripted ...
s raised in
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
and in the colonies for defence against the threat of invasion during 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†...
, the
American War of Independence
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 ...
and
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 French First Republic, France against Ki ...
in the late 18th century. Usually temporary units, composed of local volunteers, commanded by
Regular Army
A regular army is the official army of a state or country (the official armed forces), contrasting with irregulars, irregular forces, such as volunteer irregular militias, private armies, mercenary, mercenaries, etc. A regular army usually has the ...
officers, their role was, as their name suggests, usually confined to
garrison
A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mil ...
and patrol duties, freeing up the regular Army units to perform offensive operations.
The article is broken into two periods the first list is for the
fencible
The Fencibles (from the word ''defencible'') were British regiments raised in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and in the colonies for defence against the threat of invasion during the Seven Years' War, the American War of Independence, the Frenc ...
regiments raised during 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†...
and the
American War of Independence
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 ...
the first was raised in 1759 two years after the start of the Seven Years' War and the last was disbanded in 1783 when active hostilities with the America colonies ended and the British recognised the ''
de facto
''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
'' existence of the
United States of America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
to be formalised by the
Peace of Paris (1783)
The Peace of Paris of 1783 was the set of treaties that ended the American Revolutionary War. On 3 September 1783, representatives of King George III of Great Britain signed a treaty in Paris with representatives of the United States of Americaâ ...
.
There is a far larger list for 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 French First Republic, France against Ki ...
and the
Irish Rebellion of 1798
The Irish Rebellion of 1798 ( ga, Éirà Amach 1798; Ulster-Scots: ''The Hurries'') was a major uprising against British rule in Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen, a republican revolutionary group influence ...
. The regiments were raised during a time of great turbulence in Europe when there was a real fear that the French would either invade Great Britain or Ireland, or that radicals within Britain and Ireland would rebel against the established order. There was little to do in Britain other than garrison duties, escorting and guarding prisoners as happened at
Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age, although the nature of the early settlement is unclear. ...
and some police actions.
In Ireland there was a French supported insurrection in 1798 and British fencible regiments were engaged in some minor pitched battles. Some regiments served outside Great Britain and Ireland. Several regiments performed garrison duties on the
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...
and
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 ...
. A detachment of the
Dumbarton Fencible Regiment
The plan of raising a fencible corps in the Highlands was first proposed and carried into effect by William Pitt the Elder, (afterwards Earl of Chatham) in the year 1759. During the three preceding years both the fleets and armies of Great Britain ...
escorted prisoners to
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
, and the
Ancient Irish Fencibles
This is a list of British fencible regiments. The ''fencibles'' (from the word ') were British Army regiments raised in Great Britain and in the colonies for defence against the threat of invasion during the Seven Years' War, the American War of ...
were sent to
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
where they took part in the operations against the French in 1801.
When it became clear that the rebellion in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
had been defeated and that there would be peace between
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
and Britain in 1802 (The preliminaries of peace were signed in London on 1 October 1801) the Fencible regiments were disbanded. The final ratification of the
Peace of Amiens
The Treaty of Amiens (french: la paix d'Amiens, ) temporarily ended hostilities between France and the United Kingdom at the end of the War of the Second Coalition. It marked the end of the French Revolutionary Wars; after a short peace it se ...
was concluded in March 1802. When hostilities were renewed with France during the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
the British used alternative methods to defend the
Home Nations
Home Nations is a collective term with one of two meanings depending on context. Politically it means the nations of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). In sport, if a sport is g ...
(see for example the
Additional Forces Act
A set of three Additional Forces Acts of July 1803 created an Army of Reserve for the defence of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland against the imminent threat of sea-borne invasion by Napoleon's French Revolutionary Army. A total ...
, July 1803) and with the exception of the
Royal Manx Fencibles (third corps, 1803–1811) no more fencible regiments were raised for home defence.
Several fencible regiments were raised in the early 1800s in Britain for the defence of
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, some of these saw active service during the
Anglo-American War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...
(see the section (
Further information
Further or Furthur may refer to:
* ''Furthur'' (bus), the Merry Pranksters' psychedelic bus
*Further (band), a 1990s American indie rock band
*Furthur (band), a band formed in 2009 by Bob Weir and Phil Lesh
* ''Further'' (The Chemical Brothers alb ...
).
List of fencible infantry regiments raised prior to 1793
The total number of British fencible infantry regiments raised during 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†...
and the
American War of Independence
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 ...
was nine, of which six were Scottish, two were English and one was
Manx.
List of fencible cavalry regiments raised between 1793 and 1803
The British cavalry and light dragoon regiments were raised to serve in any part of Great Britain and consisted of a force of between 14,000 and 15,000 men. Along with the two Irish regiments, those British regiments that volunteered for service in Ireland served there. Each regiment consisted of eighteen commissioned officers and troops of eighty privates per troop. The regiments were always fully manned as their terms of service were considered favourable. The reduction of Fencible Cavalry was announced to take place on the 25th March, 1800. Early in 1800 all of the regiments were disbanded.
[The only commissioned officers who received half-pay, were the adjutants; and the quarter-masters were given a stipend of two shillings per day ]
List of fencible infantry regiments raised between 1793 and 1803
Scottish fencibles
The Scottish Fencibles raised in 1793 had eight companies each, except the
Orkney
Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...
, which had three.
Those raised in 1794–1802 had ten companies, except the 1st Battalion Rothesay and Caithness Regiment, which had eight, and three others — the Angus Volunteers, Ross-shire and
Shetland
Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom.
The islands lie about to the no ...
Fencibles — which had only two companies.
Of the total number of Scottish corps raised from 1739 to 1802, independent of Colonel Macneil's Argyll, Colonel Robertson's Perthshire (both having very few Highlanders), and the Ross-shire Fencibles (which are not included, as their number was small), the total number of Fencibles raised in the Highlands, and considered as exclusively Highland, amounted to twenty-six battalions Some of the other Scottish Fencibles, however, although not nominally Highland, had a number of men from the Highlands in their ranks, and this fact is noted in the above list under the regiments concerned.
English fencibles
Irish fencibles
Welsh fencibles
Manx fencibles
Further information
Three other Fencible Corps may have been raised between 1795–1798, which were disbanded in 1801–2 viz.:
[
*Royal Birmingham or Rann's Fencibles
*Nova Scotia Provincial Regiment (for service in Canada), 1803–1816: Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario.][
*Prince Edward's Island Fencibles (for service in Canada)][
In 1803 four Fencible Corps were raised for service in Canada. They were:][
*Royal Newfoundland, or Skerret's Fencibles,][ 1803–1816: Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario.][ located at St.Johns in 1804.] raised in Newfoundland.
*New Brunswick, or Hunter's Fencibles,[ raised in 1803, numbered 104th in 1810, New Brunswick.][ Listed as a corps at New Brunswick in 1804.]
*Nova Scotia, or Wetherall's Fencibles[ Located in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1804.] In January 1804 Lieut-Colonel John A. Vesey, from 52nd was appointed to be Lieutenant-Colonel, vice Roberts, deceased. Lieut-Col John Taylor succeeded Lieutenant-Col Anderson in 1806.
*Canadian Fencible Infantry, or Peter's Fencibles[
They were all disbanded in 1816.][
Besides the established regiments there were seven regiments (each of one battalion) for which Letters of Service were issued, but which never appear to have been formed.][ cites ''History of British Army'', vol. iv., Part II., pp. 943–944.] Five were to have been raised in Scotland and two in England, with a strength of ten companies each:
The total number of fencible infantry corps embodied 1793–1802 was thus 61 battalions of which 29 were Scottish, 15 were English, 4 Irish, 1 Welsh and 2 Manx. "Most of the Fencible Corps," writes Sir John Fortescue "were created either in 1794 or 1798, and to judge by the old Monthly Army Lists of 1799, the greatest number of them in existence at one time in Great Britain was 31 regiments of cavalry and 45 battalions of infantry. But by March 1800 the greater part of the cavalry had been disembodied, so that it would not be wise to reckon the Fencibles as exceeding, at their highest figure, twenty to twenty-five thousand men".
[ notes: The official list of Auxiliary Forces in 1800 shows 13 regiments of fencible cavalry and 46 battalions of fencible infantry.]
The preliminaries of peace were signed in London on 1 October 1801. The final ratification of the Peace of Amiens
The Treaty of Amiens (french: la paix d'Amiens, ) temporarily ended hostilities between France and the United Kingdom at the end of the War of the Second Coalition. It marked the end of the French Revolutionary Wars; after a short peace it se ...
, however, was not concluded until March 1802. Fortescue writes "most, if not all, of the fencible infantry were disbanded in May 1801, before the signature of the preliminaries of peace", but Ian Scobie states that this was not so, as the greater number were not disbanded until late in 1801 or early in 1802, and that many of the Scottish fencibles, were not disbanded until some time after the Peace of Amiens had been signed (as will be seen from the preceding lists).
The disbandment of the fencibles in 1802, and "the establishment in that year of a permanent Scots Militia, rendered unnecessary any further organisation on a large scale of this more ancient but partial system of national defence".[
]
See also
*Sea Fencibles
The Sea Fencibles were naval fencible (a shortening of ''defencible'') units established to provide a close-in line of defence and obstruct the operation of enemy shipping, principally during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
The ea ...
*List of British Commands and Army groups
This is a list of British Army commands and army groups. It is intended as a central point of access information about British formations of that size.
* Aldershot Command (until 1941)
*Anti-Aircraft Command
*Army Headquarters (from 1 November 2 ...
Notes
References
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Attribution:
* endnotes:
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Further reading
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*{{Citation , author=Rhgnus, date=20 February 1858 , journal=Notes and Queries , title=Fencible Light Dragoons , series=2 , volume=5 , page=155 , url=https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=File:Notes_and_Queries_-_Series_2_-_Volume_5.djvu&page=163
Military units and formations of the British Army