| The Devonshire Regiment | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1685–1958 |
| Country | Kingdom of England (1685–1707) Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) United Kingdom (1801–1958) |
| Branch | British Army |
| Type | Line Infantry |
| Size | 1–2 Regular Battalions Up to 2 Militia and Reserve Battalions Up to 5 Territorial battalions Up to 19 Hostilities-only battalions |
| Garrison/HQ | Exeter |
| Nickname | The Bloody Eleventh |
| Motto | Semper Fidelis (Ever faithful) |
| Colors | Lincoln green facings |
| March | We've Lived and We've Loved Together |
The Devonshire Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army which served under various titles from 1685 to 1958. Its lineage is continued today by The Rifles.
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In June, 1667, Henry Somerset, Marquess of Worcester, was granted a commission to raise a regiment of foot, The Marquess of Worcester's Regiment of Foot[1]. The regiment remained in existence for only a few months and was disbanded in the same year. It was re-raised in January 1673 and again disbanded in 1674. In 1682, Henry Somerset was created Duke of Beaufort, and in 1685 he was again commissioned to raise a regiment, The Duke of Beaufort's Regiment of Foot, or Beaufort Musketeers, to defend Bristol against the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion[2]. The Regiment served under the name of its various Colonels until it was numbered as the 11th Regiment of Foot when the numerical system of regimental designation was adopted in 1751. It was given the additional county title of 11th (North Devonshire) Regiment of Foot in 1782. In 1881, under the Childers Reforms it became the Devonshire Regiment, at the same time merging with the militia and rifle volunteer units of the county of Devon.
The Regiment was not required to fight at the time of its formation since the Duke of Monmouth was drawn away from Bristol. Its first action came in Ireland in 1690 at the Battle of the Boyne when it fought for William III against the deposed James II. It then joined the armies of the Duke of Marlborough in Holland in the War of Spanish Succession, and also fought in the Iberian Campaign, being captured by the French at Portalegre in 1704 and part of the British army defeated at the Battle of Almansa. Back in Britain, it helped put down the Jacobite Risings of 1715, fighting the rebels at the inconclusive Battle of Sheriffmuir, and 1719, fighting at the Battle of Glen Shiel). In the War of Austrian Succession, it took part in the battles of Dettingen, Fontenoy and Rocoux. In the Seven Years War, it fought at the battles of Warburg, Kloster Kampen, Villinghausen and Wilhelmstahl and took part in the inconclusive Iberian campaign. After the war, it garrisoned the island of Minorca.
The 11th Regiment spent the early years of the French Revolutionary Wars serving as detachments in the Mediterranean with the Royal Navy. It acted as marines in the naval Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1797 and was part of the force that besieged Malta in 1798 and captured the island in 1800. It also took part in an abortive raid on the port of Ostend in 1798. From 1800 to 1806, it was stationed in the West Indies, returning to Europe to fight in the Peninsular War and earning its nickname, The Bloody Eleventh, at the Battle of Salamanca[3]. A 2nd Battalion was formed in 1809 and took part in the disastrous Walcheren Campaign before being disbanded in 1816.
Following the defeat of Napoleon, the regiment spent most of the 19th Century on garrison duty throughout the Empire. It took part in the Tirah Campaign in 1897-1898 and the Second Boer War from 1899 to 1902. The 2nd Battalion was re-formed in 1858 and fought in the Second Anglo-Afghan War, the Ashanti Wars and the Second Boer War.
In the Great War, a total of 25 battalions were raised, which fought on the Western Front, in Italy at the battles of the Piave and Vittorio Veneto, Macedonia, Egypt and Palestine, and Mesopotamia. The 2nd Battalion was awarded the French Croix de guerre for its gallant defence of Bois des Buttes on 27 May, 1918, the first day of the Third Battle of the Aisne[4].
The 1st Battalion was in India when the Second World War broke out, and spent the entire war in India, Ceylon and Burma. The 2nd Battalion was part of 231st Infantry Brigade for the duration of the war, fighting in Malta, Sicily, and Italy. On D-Day, it was intended that the Battalion should land at Le Hamel, on Gold Beach, behind the 1st Hampshires. However, owing to adverse sea conditions and an unexpectedly high tidal surge, three of the four Companies were carried over a mile to the east before they could make landfall and had to make their way to their assigned assembly point on foot[5]. Of the four Company commanders, two were wounded and one was killed[6]. The Battalion continued to fight with the 231st Brigade throughout the Battle of Normandy and the liberation of North-West Europe. The 12th Battalion was part of the 6th Airlanding Brigade, 6th Airborne Division and landed in Normandy on 6 June 1944 in Operation Mallard. The battalion also fought in the Battle of Breville, the Battle of the Bulge and crossed the River Rhine in Operation Varsity.
The 2nd Battalion was disbanded in Exeter in 1948. The remaining battalion was in Malaya from 1948 to 1951 at the time of the Malayan Emergency and in Kenya from 1953 to 1955, during the Mau Mau Uprising.
In 1958, the regiment was amalgamated with the Dorset Regiment to form The Devonshire and Dorset Regiment. Since 2007 its lineage has been continued by The Rifles.
The following members of the Regiment were awarded the Victoria Cross: