The 82nd Regiment of Foot (Prince of Wales's Volunteers) was an infantry

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, military service, service, or administrative corps, specialisation. In Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of l ...

of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

, raised in 1793. 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 w ...

it amalgamated with the 40th (the 2nd Somersetshire) Regiment of Foot to form the Prince of Wales's Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment) in 1881.

History

Formation

The regiment was raised by General Charles Leigh as the 82nd Regiment of Foot, in response to the threat posed by the French Revolution, on 27 September 1793. It embarked for the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

in June 1795 and was deployed to

Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

in August 1795. On arrival, the regiment was sent to

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...

to reinforce the garrison there.Jarvis, p. 5 Over the following year they repelled several attacks from French troops before returning to England in January 1799. The regiment also took part in an expedition to

Quiberon Bay Quiberon Bay (, ; ) is an area of sheltered water on the south coast of Brittany. The bay is in the Morbihan département. Geography The bay is roughly triangular in shape, open to the south with the Gulf of Morbihan to the north-east and the ...

in June 1800 and then transferred to

Menorca Menorca or Minorca (from , later ''Minorica'') is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Mallorca. Its capital is Maó, situated on the isl ...

in July 1800 before returning home in June 1802. It absorbed the Prince of Wales's Volunteers in 1802, incorporating their name to become the 82nd Regiment of Foot (Prince of Wales's Volunteers).

Napoleonic Wars

A second battalion was raised in August 1804 but remained in the United Kingdom throughout the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

. The 1st battalion saw action at the Battle of Copenhagen in August 1807 during the

Gunboat War The Gunboat War (, , Swedish: ''Kanonbåtskriget''; 1807–1814) was a naval conflict between Denmark–Norway and Great Britain supported by Sweden during the Napoleonic Wars. The war's name is derived from the Danish tactic of employing sm ...

. It embarked for Portugal in early August 1808 for service in the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French ...

and saw action at the

Battle of Roliça At the Battle of Roliça (17 August 1808), the first battle fought by the British army during the Peninsular War, an Anglo-Portuguese army under Sir Arthur Wellesley defeated an outnumbered Imperial French division under General of Divisio ...

in August 1808, 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 ...

later that month and the

Battle of Corunna The Battle of Corunna (or ''A Coruña'', ''La Corunna'', ''La Coruña'' or ''La Corogne''), in Spain known as Battle of Elviña, took place on 16 January 1809, when a French corps under Marshal of the Empire Jean de Dieu Soult attacked a Briti ...

in January 1809 as well as the subsequent evacuation. The battalion then took part in the disastrous

Walcheren Campaign The Walcheren Campaign () was an unsuccessful United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British expedition to the Kingdom of Holland in 1809 intended to open another front in the Austrian Empire's struggle with First French Empire, France ...

in autumn 1809. The battalion returned to the Peninsula in spring 1811 and saw action at the

Battle of Barrosa The Battle of Barrosa (Chiclana, 5 March 1811, also known as the Battle of Chiclana or Battle of Cerro del Puerco) was part of an unsuccessful manoeuvre by an Anglo-Iberian force to break the French siege of Cádiz during the Peninsular War ...

in March 1811, the Siege of Tarifa in December 1811 and the

Battle of Vitoria At the Battle of Vitoria (21 June 1813), a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British, Kingdom of Portugal, Portuguese and Spanish Empire, Spanish army under the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Marquess of Wellington bro ...

in June 1813 as well as the

Siege of San Sebastián The siege of San Sebastián (7 July – 8 September 1813), part of the Peninsular War, Allied forces under the command of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington failed to capture the city in a sie ...

in July 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 order, ...

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, 1st Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese Army, Anglo-Portuguese and Spanish Army ...

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. The battalion then embarked for North America for service in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

.Jarvis, p. 59 It saw action on the Canadian frontier in 1814 which later earned the battle honour 'Niagara'. Jarvis, p. 64 The battalion left for home in June 1815 but, shortly after arriving in England, it embarked for

Ostend Ostend ( ; ; ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke, Raversijde, Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the la ...

from where it marched to Paris.Jarvis, p. 61 Meanwhile, the second battalion was disbanded in December 1815. On the return journey from France, in January 1816, the brig ''Boadicea'' was wrecked in heavy storms off the east coast of Ireland while carrying 290 troops and 34 women and children from the regiment: 190 people died when the ship went down off Courtmacsherry.

The Victorian era

The regiment embarked for

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

in January 1819 and returned home in March 1832. It then sailed for

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

in January 1837,Jarvis, p. 72 on to the West Indies in December 1839 and on to Canada in April 1843Jarvis, p. 73 before returning home in May 1848. It then embarked for the

Ionian Islands The Ionian Islands (Modern Greek: , ; Ancient Greek, Katharevousa: , ) are a archipelago, group of islands in the Ionian Sea, west of mainland Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese ("Seven Islands"; , ''Heptanēsa'' or , ''Heptanē ...

in January 1855;Jarvis, p. 77 it also saw action at the Siege of Sevastopol in summer 1855 during the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

. The regiment returned to India in February 1857 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 form ...

. It took part in the recapture of Cawnpore in July 1857 and then took part in the reinforcement of Lucknow defending the residency until it was relieved in November 1857.Jarvis, p. 101 It transferred to

Aden Aden () is a port city located in Yemen in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula, on the north coast of the Gulf of Aden, positioned near the eastern approach to the Red Sea. It is situated approximately 170 km (110 mi) east of ...

in 1869 and returned home in 1870. 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 82nd was linked with the 40th (the 2nd Somersetshire) Regiment of Foot, and assigned to district no. 14 at

Peninsula Barracks, Warrington Peninsula Barracks is a military installation on O'Leary Street in Warrington, England. History The barracks were built in the Fortress Gothic Revival Style and, although construction started a few years earlier, they were opened as Orford Barr ...

. On 1 July 1881 the

came into effect and the regiment amalgamated with the 40th (the 2nd Somersetshire) Regiment of Foot to form the Prince of Wales's Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment).

Battle honours

Battle honours won by the Regiment were: * ''Peninsular War'':

Roliça Bombarral () is a portuguese municipality in the Oeste region, historical province of Estremadura, and the Leiria district. The population in 2011 was 13,193, in an area of . It includes four civil parishes () that provide local services. Histo ...

, Vimiera,

Vitoria Vitoria or Vitória may refer to: People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Sofia Vitória ( ...

Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

, Nivelle,

Orthez Orthez (; ; , ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, and region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. It lies 40 km NW of Pau on the Southern railway to Bayonne. The town also encompasses the small village of Sai ...

, Peninsula * ''American War of 1812'': Niagara * ''Crimean War'':

Sevastopol Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base th ...

* ''Indian Mutiny'':

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

Colonels of the Regiment

Regimental colonels were: ;82nd Regiment of Foot *1793–1797: Gen. Charles Leigh *1797–1798: Gen. James Stuart *1798–1836: Gen. Sir Henry Pigot, GCMG ;82nd Regiment of Foot (Prince of Wales's Volunteers) - (1802) *1836–1841: Gen. Sir John Wilson, KCB *1841–1850: Lt-Gen. Sir Andrew Pilkington, KCB *1850–1856: Lt-Gen. Francis Miles Milman *1856–1859: Lt-Gen. Nicholas Hamilton, KH *1859–1872: Gen. Hon. Thomas Ashburnham, CB *1872–1881: Gen. William Samuel Newton

References

Sources

External links

* {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Infantry regiments of the British Army Military units and formations established in 1793 Military units and formations disestablished in 1881 South Lancashire Regiment 1793 establishments in Great Britain 1881 disestablishments in the United Kingdom