35th (Royal Sussex) Regiment of Foot
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| 35th (Royal Sussex) Regiment of Foot |
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|---|---|
| Active | 1693 - 1881 |
| Country | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland |
| Branch | British Army |
| Type | Infantry |
| Nickname | The Orange Lillies |
| Battles/wars | French and Indian War American War of Independence Napoleonic War |
| Battle honours | Maida |
The 35th (Royal Sussex) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment in the British Army . The regiment became The Royal Sussex Regiment .
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[edit] History
The 35th Regiment changed it's name many times during it's history. Originally formed as the Earl of Donegal's Regiment of Foot in 1693 (raised by Arthur Chichester, 3rd Earl of Donegall in Belfast), which was disbanded in 1698 and raised again in 1701. The regiment was also known as the Belfast Regiment and by two other colonel's names before it was given the numerical title of 35th in 1747. It was given the title Prince of Orange's Own Regiment in 1751 and in 1782 became the 35th (The Dorsetshire) Regiment of Foot. In 1805 the regiment changed it's county allegiance and recruiting ground becoming the 35th (Sussex) Regiment of Foot.
In 1881 during the Childer's Reforms of the British Army the 35th Regiment was united with the 107th Regiment of Foot (Bengal Light Infantry) to form the The Royal Sussex Regiment.
[edit] Early history
[edit] The Orange Lillies
The Earl of Donegall, a wealthy land owner, raised the regiment and paid for it out of his own pocket. As a mark of respect to Chichester, William III granted permission for the regiment to wear orange facings on their uniforms. When the War of the Spanish Succession started in 1702 the regiment was involved in the Battle of Cadiz in 1702, the defence of Gibraltar in 1704 to 1705, and the Siege of Barcelona , where the Earl of Donegall was killed. At the disastrous Battle of Almansa in 1707 the regiment was practically wiped out and the Regimental Colours were lost (they were recovered three years later in a church in Madrid) . The survivors returned to Ireland where the regiment was reconstituted. After the war the 35th Foot remained mostly in Ireland .
In 1756 the regiment was sent to America to fight in the French and Indian War which had broken out in 1754. The colonel of the regiment at this time was Charles Otway and the regiment was known as the Otways.
[edit] Fort William Henry
main article Battle of Fort William Henry
The regiment is most known for the "massacre" inflicted on it after the Fall of Fort William Henry during the French and Indian War , as depicted by James Fenimore Cooper in his book Last of the Mohicans and in the movie of the same name.
The 35th Foot was part of the garrison, under Lieutenant-Colonel George Monro in August 1757 when it was forced to surrender to the superior forces of General Montcalm . The force was allowed to leave the fort with their weapons. The Native American allies of the French set upon the retreating force killing 185 and turning the retreat into disorder, with many members of the garrison being lost in the wilderness for a number of days before reaching safety.
In 1759 the regiment had it's revenge on Montcalm when, at the Battle of Quebec (1759) , the 35th Foot were in General Wolfe's army on the right of the British line. The steady fire of the 35th broke the French Regiment Royal Roussillon, which had been at Fort William Henry, who turned and fled. Regimental tradition states that members of the regiment picked up the Frenchmen's plumes and placed them in their own headress'. The Roussillon Plume would be incorporated into the badge of the Royal Sussex Regiment in 1881.
[edit] American Revolution
The regiment returned to fight in the American War of Independence in 1775. They fought at the Battles of Bunker Hill , Brooklyn and White Plains . It also took part in the capture of St Lucia in the West Indies in 1778 and remained in the Caribbean area until 1785 when it returned to England.
[edit] Change of titles
In 1782 George III added county titles to infantry regiments in order to help recruiting and the regiment became the 35th (Dorsetshire) Regiment although the reason for the connection with Dorset is not known. The first real connection with Sussex came in 1787 when Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond , joined the Regiment - Lennox not only recruited Sussex men for the Regiment from his family estates in the County but, in 1804, obtained Royal permission for the title "Sussex" to be transferred from the 25th Regiment of Foot (later to become the King's Own Scottish Borderers) to the 35th.
[edit] 19th-Century
[edit] Napoleonic War
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[edit] Royal Regiment
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[edit] Amalgamation
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