The Tangier Garrison was the land force which oversaw the defence of
English Tangier
English Tangier was the period in Moroccan history in which the city of Tangier was occupied by England as part of the English colonial empire from 1661 to 1684. Tangier had been under Portuguese control before King Charles II acquired the ...
between 1661 and 1684 when it was evacuated. It was part of the
English Army, the de facto
standing army
A standing army is a permanent, often professional, army. It is composed of full-time soldiers who may be either career soldiers or conscripts. It differs from army reserves, who are enrolled for the long term, but activated only during wars o ...
that
Charles II established following the
Restoration. Charles II received
Tangier
Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the ca ...
as part of the
Marriage Treaty
The Marriage Treaty, or Anglo-Portuguese Treaty, was a treaty of alliance that was agreed between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Portugal and concluded on 23 June 1661.
It led to the marriage of Charles II of England and Catherine o ...
with Portugal in 1661. He appointed
Henry Mordaunt, 2nd Earl of Peterborough as governor and, on 30 January 1662, the new garrison took up its duties. Peterborough was not a successful appointment as governor, and Andrew, Lord Rutherford, was appointed in 1662/1663 to replace him.
Initial garrison
The early garrison of Tangier was a mixture of English Protestant (and often
Republican) former soldiers of the
New Model Army
The New Model Army was a standing army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War, then disbanded after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. It differed from other armies employed in the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Thr ...
, and Irish (mainly Catholic)
Royalists who had accompanied Charles in exile, serving in
Royalist Army in Exile attached to the
Spanish Army
The Spanish Army ( es, Ejército de Tierra, lit=Land Army) is the terrestrial army of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is one of the oldest active armies — dating back to the late 15th century.
The ...
following the
Treaty of Brussels
The Treaty of Brussels, also referred to as the Brussels Pact, was the founding treaty of the Western Union (alliance), Western Union (WU) between 1948 and 1954, when it was amended as the Modified Brussels Treaty (MTB) and served as the foundin ...
.
The first main unit was a regiment raised in England by Peterborough, probably from amongst former Parliamentarian troops which were being disbanded. This, the
Tangier Regiment (later, the 2nd Regiment of Foot and, later still, the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey); in 1966 this became the
Queen's Regiment
The Queen's Regiment (QUEENS) was an infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1966 through the amalgamation of the four regiments of the Home Counties Brigade. Then, until 1971 the regiment remained one of the largest regiments in the ar ...
and then in 1992 the
Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment
The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (or PWRR, also known as 'The Tigers') is the senior English line infantry regiment of the British Army, second in the line infantry order of precedence to the Royal Regiment of Scotland and part of the Q ...
which still carries the Battle Honour Tangier 1662-80 on its Regimental Colour) was mustered on
Putney Heath on 14 October 1661. As was usual, the regiment was officially referred to by its colonel's name; thus the Tangier Regiment will be found, variously, as Peterborough's, Rutherford's (or Teviot's), Fitzgerald's, Bellasis', Norwood's, Middleton's, Inchiquin's, Fairborne's, and Kirke's. After leaving Tangier, the Regiment became quite popularly (or unpopularly) known as ''Kirke's Lambs''. The regiment, with augmentations and changes, served throughout the English occupation of Tangier, and certainly a few soldiers individually served almost the whole, if not the whole, of that time. Notable in the initial muster list, as a captain, is
Palmes Fairborne
Sir Palmes Fairborne (1644 27 October 1680) was an English soldier and Governor of Tangier.
Early life
Fairborne was the son of Colonel Stafford Fairborne of Newark-on-Trent. When young he fought as a soldier of fortune in Crete at the siege ...
, who himself became governor in 1680, after above 18 years of service there. He was killed by a shot from the Moors, dying in Tangier on 27 October 1680.
Also in the initial garrison was a former Parliamentarian regiment from the garrison of Dunkirk, Sir Robert Harley's regiment.
[''Queen's Royal Surreys'' website] This had previously been Lillingstone's Regiment, raised for service in Flanders in 1657,
[''BCW Project Regimental Wiki''] but most (indeed, almost all) of its officers (including Lillingstone himself) had been replaced before and after the Restoration. It is dubious whether any of the officers listed in August 1659 went to Tangier just over two years later. However, the Lieutenant-Colonel commissioned and so in command of the regiment (Harley did not travel to Tangier) was Maurice Kingwell, who had been Lieutenant-Colonel of Alsop's Regiment in Dunkirk in 1659. Where Peterborough described the regiment as "a regiment of the most estimable I have knowne, and that is governed by sober, able and discreete officers", Kingwell wrote to Harley with a bad report as to the regiment's condition, and his wife later upbraided Harley for "wretched neglect" of it. Peterborough's view may have changed when he sent Kingwell back to England as "seditious and insolent".
Further, there were two smaller (nominally about 500 men, as against 1,000 in the principal units) regiments, both Irish, from the disbanded Royalist Forces which had served with the Spanish Army in Flanders: Fitzgerald's Regiment and Farrell's Regiment.
It is not clear which of the earlier Royalist regiments had become Fitzgerald's prior to its appearance in Mardyke in 1661.
John Fitzgerald himself became notable during his time in Tangier. Farrell's Regiment had earlier been known as Lord Digby's (or Bristol's): In French service at St Ghislain in Flanders,
George Digby had persuaded the regiment to change sides, enabling the town to be recaptured by Spain. Part of the defeated Spanish /Royalist army at the
Battle of the Dunes, the remnant the regiment had also made its way to Mardyke under the command of
Lisagh (or Lewis) Farrell.
The two Irish Royalist regiments, with Harley's English Parliamentarian unit, were shipped more or less directly from Flanders to Tangier and, hence, do not appear on the establishment of the English Army at the time. Completing the first garrison was a troop of horse, nominally the Governor's. In addition, it was agreed to take onto the English establishment a troop of Portuguese cavalry who remained behind.
Thus, the military Establishment for Tangier was given as 3,000 foot (in four regiments, two of 1,000 men, and two of five hundred men) and one troop of 100 horse plus one expected troop of Portuguese horse who were to stay, but come onto English pay. The Establishment also shows general officers (Judge-Advocate, Physicians, Engineers, Gunners and so on). The actual number in the garrison (not including officers and general officers) was 2,723 foot soldiers (Governor's 1,000; Harley's 947; Fitzgerald's 395; Farrell's 381) with 98 in the English troop of horse and 80 in the Portuguese troop This was the first time that wives had been permitted, officially, to accompany an English army on an overseas posting. It is not clear whether wives and families accompanied the initial garrison, or whether they made their own way out over a period of time. Certainly, no ship appears to have been allocated to carry families where, on the return 22 years later, they were specifically provided for.
At the first council of war held by Peterborough, on 12 February 1662, there were present: The Governor; Colonel Farrell and Major Bolger of Farrell's; Lieutenant-Colonel Kingwell and Major Blague of Harley's; Lieutenant-Colonel Fiennes and Major Johnson of Peterborough's; Lieutenant-Colonel (Edward) Fitzgerald (not Colonel John Fitzgerald, who arrived a few days later) and Major Rudyard of Fitzgerald's; with 'Mat Lake' (probably Nathaniel Luke) as secretary.
''
iennes' sally - under construction'
With the one major incident and (probably) many minor incidents, together with toll of poor living conditions and tropical diseases and ailments, the strength of the garrison had been reduced to 2,118 foot soldiers by 23 October 1662 (Governor's 793; Harley's 559; Fitzgerald's 395; Farrell's 371). That muster does not include the troop of horse but, during the year, the Portuguese horse appear to have returned to Portugal.
Lord Rutherford
These units were augmented later in 1661 by elements of Rutherfurd's (Scottish Royalist) Regiment
and Roger Alsop's (Parliamentarian) Regiment
just before Peterborough was replaced by
Andrew Rutherfurd, 1st Earl of Teviot as governor. The regiments were merged (into two in 1662) ultimately becoming a single regiment (1668), and this, the Tangier Regiment, remained in Tangier thereafter, a total of 23 years, until the port was finally evacuated in 1684.
The religious and political differences sometimes caused them to clash and, although
martial law
Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory.
Use
Marti ...
was strictly enforced, the Garrison was prone to bouts of ill-discipline most notably
drunkenness
Alcohol intoxication, also known as alcohol poisoning, commonly described as drunkenness or inebriation, is the negative behavior and physical effects caused by a recent consumption of alcohol. In addition to the toxicity of ethanol, the main p ...
.
The Garrison quickly developed a reputation as a tough life, manning the forts of the town which were under constant threat from the
Moorish
The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages.
Moors are not a distinct or ...
inhabitants of the surrounding region. While this often involved sporadic skirmishes, it also included larger engagements such as the
Battle of Tangier against
Guyland and the
Great Siege of Tangier.
Despite occasional enforcement of the
Test Act
The Test Acts were a series of English penal laws that served as a religious test for public office and imposed various civil disabilities on Roman Catholics and nonconformists. The underlying principle was that only people taking communion i ...
s, the garrison was notable for the large number of Catholics serving in it. Irish Catholics in particular, unable to serve in the
Irish Army
The Irish Army, known simply as the Army ( ga, an tArm), is the land component of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Defence Forces of Republic of Ireland, Ireland.The Defence Forces are made up of the Permanent Defence Forces – the standing bran ...
due to the
Penal Laws, went to Tangier. It also attracted professional soldiers, as it was one of the few places where those in the English Army could find active service. This made it a source of protests in the
English Parliament
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised ...
, where
Whigs regarded it as a large "Catholic Army" which might be brought to England by Charles to enforce
absolute rule on the country. These fears grew especially large at the time of the
Popish Plot
The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy invented by Titus Oates that between 1678 and 1681 gripped the Kingdoms of England and Scotland in anti-Catholic hysteria. Oates alleged that there was an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinate ...
. It was due to these political pressures, as well as its large cost, that the Garrison was eventually withdrawn and Tangier abandoned.
After returning to the
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles (O ...
, many of the veterans of the Garrison went on to play influential roles in the
Glorious Revolution and the
War of the Two Kings
The Williamite War in Ireland (1688–1691; ga, Cogadh an Dá Rí, "war of the two kings"), was a conflict between Jacobite supporters of deposed monarch James II and Williamite supporters of his successor, William III. It is also called the ...
. A group of officers known as the "Tangerines" were part of the conspiracy to invite
William III to invade England to take the throne from his uncle
James II James II may refer to:
* James II of Avesnes (died c. 1205), knight of the Fourth Crusade
* James II of Majorca (died 1311), Lord of Montpellier
* James II of Aragon (1267–1327), King of Sicily
* James II, Count of La Marche (1370–1438), King C ...
in 1688.
[Childs. ''The Army, James II and the Glorious Revolution'' p.156-57] Many former Tangier officers were key figures in the development of the modern
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 ...
.
References
Bibliography
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* The URL is a preview location only.
* Childs, John. ''The Army, James II and the Glorious Revolution''. Manchester University Press, 1980.
External links
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{{Tangier
Tangier
1661 establishments in the British Empire
1684 disestablishments