The 32nd 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 mar ...

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 ...

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 Gurk ...

, raised in 1702. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the

46th (South Devonshire) Regiment of Foot The 46th (South Devonshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1741. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 32nd (Cornwall) Regiment of Foot to form the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in 1881, b ...

to form the

Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (DCLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1959. The regiment was created on 1 July 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms, by the merger of the 32nd (Cornwall Light ...

in 1881.

History

Early wars

The regiment was first raised by Colonel Edward Fox as Edward Fox’s Regiment of Marines in 1702 to fight in the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

. Elements of the regiment joined the fleet which sailed from

Spithead Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds except those from the southeast. It receives its name from the Spit, a sandbank stretching south from the Hampshire ...

in July 1702 and saw action as marines at the Battle of Vigo Bay in October 1702. The marines returned to England in November 1702. The regiment also took part in the capture and defence of Gibraltar in July 1704 and suffered very heavy losses at the

Battle of Almansa The Battle of Almansa took place on 25 April 1707, during the War of the Spanish Succession. It was fought between an army loyal to Philip V of Spain, Bourbon claimant to the Spanish throne, and one supporting his Habsburg rival, Archduke Charl ...

in April 1707. It was disbanded in 1713 but re-raised as Jacob Borr’s Regiment of Foot in 1714. It then served in Ireland from 1716 to 1734. Soldier of 32nd regiment 1742

In summer 1742 the regiment was despatched to Belgium for service in 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 held in reserve at the

Battle of Dettingen The Battle of Dettingen (german: Schlacht bei Dettingen) took place on 27 June 1743 during the War of the Austrian Succession at Dettingen in the Electorate of Mainz, Holy Roman Empire (now Karlstein am Main in Bavaria). It was fought between a ...

in June 1743. but fought at the Battle of Fontenoy in May 1745. The regiment returned to England in October 1745 and were stationed in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

during the

Jacobite rising , war = , image = Prince James Francis Edward Stuart by Louis Gabriel Blanchet.jpg , image_size = 150px , caption = James Francis Edward Stuart, Jacobite claimant between 1701 and 1766 , active ...

in 1745. On 1 July 1751 a royal warrant was issued declaring that in future regiments were no longer to be known by their colonel's name, but by the ''"Number or Rank of the Regiment"''. Accordingly, General Francis Leighton's Regiment was renamed as the 32nd Regiment of Foot. In late 1775, ''Rockingham Castle'', which had been hired to transport three companies of the regiment, along with a number of their families, making for Cobh in a heavy gale, mistook Robert's Cove for the entrance to Cork harbour, and was driven onto a lee shore at Reannie's Bay, a few miles distant. The master and crew of the ship were drowned, as were about ninety of the passengers. In 1782 all regiments of the line without a royal title were given a county designation and the regiment became the 32nd (Cornwall) Regiment of Foot. In 1796 the regiment was deployed to Saint-Domingue as part of the response to a rebellion there but one of the transport ships was captured by the French Navy and some soldiers from the regiment, along with Lieutenant General Frederick Wetherall, became prisoners of war. The regiment were also sent to

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

as part of the response to the Irish rebellion in 1803.

Napoleonic Wars

The regiment was deployed to Denmark in July 1807 and were ordered aboard the captured Danish ships as marines at the Battle of Copenhagen in August 1807 during the

Gunboat War The Gunboat War (, ; 1807–1814) was a naval conflict between Denmark–Norway and the British during the Napoleonic Wars. The war's name is derived from the Danish tactic of employing small gunboats against the materially superior Royal Na ...

. The regiment landed in Portugal in June 1808, and under General

Sir Arthur Wellesley Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister o ...

, fought in the Battle of Roliça and 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 ...

in August 1808. The regiment fought under General Sir John Moore in the retreat to Corunna, and on returning to England they were part of the

Walcheren Campaign The Walcheren Campaign ( ) was an unsuccessful British expedition to the Netherlands in 1809 intended to open another front in the Austrian Empire's struggle with France during the War of the Fifth Coalition. Sir John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chath ...

in the Netherlands where many were struck down with malaria. After being reinforced the regiment returned to Spain in June 1811, and contributed to the storming parties 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. The regiment pursued the French Army into France and saw action again 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 the 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 December 1813Swiney, p. 103 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 Fr ...

in February 1814. During the Napoleonic Wars the regiment had white facings on its uniform and the officer's lace and buttons were gold. The officer's jackets were unlaced, with 10 twist buttonholes placed in pairs. The jacket of the other ranks had 10 square loops spaced in pairs. The regiment fought at the Battle of Quatre Bras, arriving about 3 pm on 16 June 1815 just in time to help halt the French advance. Two days later at

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...

the regiment was stationed opposite the French main attacks, standing their ground before attacking

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's assaulting troops. The 1st Battalion of the regiment was part of the 8th British Brigade commanded by Major-General

James Kempt General Sir James Kempt, ( – 20 December 1854) was a British Army officer, who served in the Netherlands, Egypt, Italy, the Peninsula, and British North America during the Napoleonic Wars. He led a British brigade at the Battle of Waterloo and ...

, which was in turn part of the 5th British Infantry Division under Lieutenant-General

Thomas Picton Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Picton (24 August 175818 June 1815) was a British Army officer who fought in the Napoleonic Wars. According to the historian Alessandro Barbero, Picton was "respected for his courage and feared for his irascible t ...

. The regiment was commanded on the field by Lieutenant-Colonel John Hicks and numbered at 503 men at the battle of Waterloo having suffered casualties at Quatre Bras. It was two men of the regiment's Grenadier company who bore Pictons's body away after he was fatally shot through the head.

The Victorian era

The regiment was sent to Canada in June 1830 and fought at the Battle of Saint-Denis in November 1837 and at the

Battle of Saint-Eustache The Battle of Saint-Eustache was a decisive battle in the Lower Canada Rebellion in which government forces defeated the principal remaining Patriotes camp at Saint-Eustache on December 14, 1837. Prelude After the victory at Saint-Charles, th ...

in December 1837 during the

Lower Canada Rebellion The Lower Canada Rebellion (french: rébellion du Bas-Canada), commonly referred to as the Patriots' War () in French, is the name given to the armed conflict in 1837–38 between rebels and the colonial government of Lower Canada (now south ...

. The regiment also saw action at the

Siege of Multan The siege of Multan began on 19 April 1848 and lasted until 22 January 1849, and saw fighting around Multan (in present-day Pakistan) between the British East India Company and the Sikh Empire. It began with a rebellion against a ruler imposed ...

in autumn 1848 and at the

Battle of Gujrat The Battle of Gujrat was a decisive battle in the Second Anglo-Sikh War, fought on 21 February 1849, between the forces of the East India Company, and a Sikh army in rebellion against the company's control of the Sikh Empire, represented by ...

in February 1849 during the

Second Anglo-Sikh War The Second Anglo-Sikh War was a military conflict between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company that took place in 1848 and 1849. It resulted in the fall of the Sikh Empire, and the annexation of the Punjab and what subsequently ...

. The regiment defended

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

from July to November 1857,

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 ...

es being awarded to William Dowling, Henry Gore-Browne, Samuel Lawrence and William Oxenham. The regiment's commanding officer, Colonel John Inglis, was in overall command of the Lucknow Residency during the

siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characteriz ...

. The regiment was retitled the 32nd (Cornwall) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) in recognition of its contribution during the rebellion. 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 32nd was linked with the

, and assigned to district no. 35 at

Victoria Barracks, Bodmin Victoria Barracks was a military installation in Bodmin, Cornwall. History The barracks originally comprised a keep, adjoining stables and a parade ground completed in 1859. In 1873 a system of recruiting areas based on counties was instituted ...

. On 1 July 1881 the Childers Reforms came into effect and the regiment amalgamated with the 46th (South Devonshire) Regiment of Foot to form the

. The home church of the 32nd Regiment where regimental

colours Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...

are retired is St. Petroc's Church located in Bodmin,

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

.Swiney, p. xii

Battle honours

Battle honours gained by the regiment were: * ''Peninsular War'': Roliça, Vimiera, Corunna,

Salamanca Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Herit ...

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 Nivelle () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department * Nivelle Offensive The Nivelle offensive (16 April – 9 May 1917) was a Franco-British operation on the Western Front ...

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 * Waterloo * ''Second Anglo-Sikh War'': Goojerat,

Mooltan Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab. Multan is one of the olde ...

, Punjaub * ''Indian Mutiny'':

* Dettingen ''(awarded to successor regiment, 1882)'' *

Gibraltar 1704–05 The history of Gibraltar portrays how The Rock gained an importance and a reputation far exceeding its size, influencing and shaping the people who came to reside here over the centuries. Prehistoric Evidence of hominid inhabitation of the ...

''(awarded to successor regiment, 1909)''

Victoria Crosses

* Private William Dowling, Indian Mutiny (4 July 1857 and 27 September 1857) * Captain Henry Gore-Browne, Indian Mutiny (21 August 1857) * Lieutenant Samuel Lawrence Indian Mutiny (7 July 1857 and 26 September 1857) * Corporal William Oxenham Indian Mutiny (30 June 1857)

Regimental Colonels

Colonels of the Regiment were: ;32nd Regiment of Foot – (1751) ;32nd (the Cornwall) Regiment of Foot – (1782) ;32nd (The Cornwall) Regiment Foot (Light Infantry) – (1858)

References

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:32nd (Cornwall) Regiment Of Foot Infantry regiments of the British Army Military units and formations established in 1702 Military units and formations in Cornwall Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry 1702 establishments in England