Name : North Staffordshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's) Started : 1921 Ended : 1959 Previous Regiment Lineage(s) : ---------------------------------------- 64th Regiment of Foot (1758 - 1782) 64th (2nd Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot (1782 - 1881) Prince of Wales's (North Staffordshire) Regiment (1881 - 1921)
---------------------------------------- 98th Regiment of Foot (1824 - 1876) 98th (Princes of Wales's) Regiment of Foot (1876 - 1881) Prince of Wales's (North Staffordshire) Regiment (1881 - 1921)
The Prince Of Wales's (North Staffordshire Regiment)
The 11th Foot, in 1758, was deprived of its 2nd battalion, which was numbered the 64th, after two years service under the former number. It was named the "2nd Staffordshire" in 1782, a title it bore until the amalgamation of 1882 when, however, the regiment was first designated the South Staffordshire, altered shortly after to its present name.
The year after it first had an independent existence it was despatched to the West Indies to take part in the capture of Martinique and Guadaloupe; sent home after that, it returned to the American continent at the outbreak of the war of Independence, served first at Nova Scotia, and then at Boston until the evacuation of the city, fighting also at Staten Island, Brooklyn, Ridgeway, Hill of Campo, Brandywine, the Acushusat River Expedition, Charleston, and Eutaw Springs, where the 64th did not "give ground until over powered by numbers and severe slaughter." After general duty it once more appeared before Martinique and Guadaloupe in 1794, to help in their reduction and to suffer heavy loss; and after an interlude in Ireland, where the regiment defeated the French at Ballinamuck, it returned to the west Indies and saw the surrender of St. Martin, St. Lucia, Demerara, Essequibo, and Surinam; coming home in 1815 to form part of the Army of Occupation of France. Embarking for India in 1849, the 64th was employed in garrison duty there until 1856, when the Persians attacked Heart, and war consequently broke out between Great Britain and Persia. The regiment formed part of the expedition, was at the storming of the Fort of Reshire, the surrender of Bushire, and the battle of Kooshab; after which, with Mohumra as a "base of operations," the army prepared to march on Ispahan. But the war was virtually over. The Persian forces, some seven thousand strong, took up a position at Ahwaz, but evacuated it without firing a shot on the approach of three hundred British soldiers. On returning to India, the outbreak of the Mutiny called for the service of the Staffordshire men. The enemy was met with at Futtehpore, Aong, Pandoo Nuddee, Kalee Nuddee, Kerkeroulie, Bareilly, and Cawnpore, when some of the 64th were left to garrison the place, and the remainder served with Outram and Havelock in the advance on Lucknow. The Cawnpore garrison had meanwhile had severe work to do against the attacks of Tantia Topee; and the regiment also took part in the Rohilcund campaign, and in most of the operations that attended the suppression of the Mutiny. During the campaign Drummer Thomas Flynn won the Cross for Valour for "conspicuous gallantry." Since that campaign the gallant 64th have seen no active but much foreign service.
The present 2nd battalion of the regiment first appears in 1824, and was entitled the "Prince of Wales's Regiment of Foot" in 1876, from its having acted as guard to his Royal Highness during his visit to Malta. On this occasion new colours were presented to the regiment, and the Prince requested that the old should be entrusted to his care. The title and the badge of His Royal Highness's Plume date from this event, but five other battalions have borne the number. The first served from 1760 to 1765, and fought at Havannah in 1762; the second from 1780 to 1783; the third, raised in 1796, became the 91st; the fourth, formed in 1804, was disbanded in 1818 as the 97th; and the fifth, enlisted in 1804 as the 99th, disappeared as "the Prince of Wales's Tipperary Regiment" in 1818.
The late 98th Foot was recruited at Chichester and sailed for the Cape in 1824; it underwent varied foreign and home service until 1841, when the regiment, with Sir Colin Campbell, shared in the operations on the Yangtse, after which it was transferred to Hong Kong and left the "far East" for India in 1846, and was present on the operations in the Punjab. Four years later the flank companies served under Sir Colin Campbell in the Afridi War, and came home in 1855; but returned again to India two years later, when one wing is sent with the Euzosffzie Expedition.
Transferred to Quettah in 1884, the regiment formed part of the Zhob Valley Expedition, seeing the "affair" of Doulatzai. Out of its total service more than fifty years have been spent abroad.
The black facings of the 64th were changed to white-the colour of those of the 98th-in 1881. The Prince of Wale's Plume was inherited as a badge from the 2nd battalion; the dragon was also won by the 98th for its services in 1841 in China, and used to be on the forage-caps; the Staffordshire knot was worn by the 64th and the Militia. The knot is on the button (with the regimental name, a laural branch, a scroll with "Prince of Wale's," and the Plume), on the tunic collar, and on the forage-cap, with the Plume and motto. The plume appears also, with the name, on the helmet-plate and waist-plate. The 2nd and the 3rd battalions are formed by the 2nd and 3rd King's Own Staffordshire battalions, raised in 1797 and 1798. The Volunteer battalions are the 2nd Staffordshire, Stoke-upon-Trent (scarlet and white), and the 5th Staffordshire, Burton-on-Trent (scarlet and blue). The depot was based in Lichfield.
