Name : Ferrers's Regiment of Foot Started : 1722 Ended : 1722 Previous Regiment Lineage(s) : ---------------------------------------- Richards's Regiment of Foot (1688 - 1689) St George's Regiment of Foot (1689 - 1695) Courthorpe's Regiment of Foot (1695 - 1695) Sir Matthew Bridges's Regiment of Foot (1695 - 1703) Blood's Regiment of Foot (1703 - 1707) Wightman's Regiment of Foot (1707 - 1722)
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Subsequent Regiment Lineage : ---------------------------------------- Tyrrell's Regiment of Foot (1722 - 1742) Wynyard's Regiment of Foot (1742 - 1751) 17th Regiment of Foot (1751 - 1782) 17th (Leicestershire) Regiment of Foot (1782 - 1881) Leicestershire Regiment (1881 - 1946) Royal Leicestershire Regiment (1946 - 1964) Royal Anglian Regiment (1964 - Present)
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Leicestershire Regiment.
Towards the end of 1688 this regiment was raised near London, and with the 9th (Cornwall's regiment) embarked for Ireland the following year for the relief of Londonderry; but misled by the Governor of the town, it returned to England without taking part in the city's defence. For this, Richards, the first colonel of the 17th, was deprived of his commission. The regiment served in the Netherlands at Fort Kenoque, Namur, St. Denis, and elsewhere, returning home in 1697; but it again re-embarked for the continent in 1702, and saw much hard fighting at Kaiserswerth, Venloo, Ruremonde, Liege, Hut, and Limburg. At Namur a son of the notorious Colonel Blood was in command of the regiment, and is referred to as "a brave and scientific officer, who commanded the Brittish artillery at the battle of Blenheim." Thence the 17th went to Portugal, and shared in the capture of Valencia de Alcantara and Albuquerque, and was engaged at Badajoz and Alcantara, at Ciudad Rodrigo, and Almanza, where, with a loss of twelve officers, and many men killed and wounded, it was compelled to surrender.
In 1715 it met the Jacobites at Sheriffmuir; but after that saw no important foreign service until 1757, when it embarked for Nova Scotia. With a few brief intervals it did almost continuous duty in North America until 1786, taking part in the siege of Louisburg and the capture of Cape Breton; at Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and Montreal, when was completed the conquest of Canada; at Martinique, Grenada, St. Lucia, St.Vincent; at Havannah, in the West Indies; in the War of Independence at Long Island, Brooklyn, New York, White Plains, Fort Washington, Trenton - where the men had to cut their way back "through the enemy at Prince Town", - Brandywine, Philadelphia, and Germanstown; at Freehold, in the retreat through the New Jerseys, and at Stony Point, where the 17th became prisoners of war. After exchange the regiment was engaged at Guildford Court House and York Town, where it was again compelled to surrender.
The 17th, then two battalions strong, joined Abercromby's expedition to Holland in 1799, and after some unimportant foreign service sailed for India in 1804. There it stormed Forts Chumar and Comona, in the Bundelcund district, and Fort Jutgurgh the Nepaul; defeated the enemy at Jubbulpore; and; returning to England in 1823, was, two years later, authorised to bear on the colours the Royal Tiger and "Hindoostan" for its services in that country. In the official history of 1847 the former is "passant regardant," with a green coat and gold stripes. The 17th returned to India in 1836, and in the first Afghan War assisted to capture Hyderabad in Scinde, on the way, as the Ameer of that country refused a passage to the British army. It stormed Ghuznee and fought at Khelat, bearing these names afterwards on the colours for gallantry in the campaign. The commanding officer also received the order of the "Dooranee Empire" from Shah Soojah.
It next saw service outside Aden, marching on one occasion "forty miles in twenty two hours;" and, later on, in the Mahratta district and in Scinde. In 1854 the 17th was despatched to the Crimea, to share in the dangers of the siege in the taking of Kinburn. At the Radan, in 1855, Corporal P. Smith won the Victoria Cross for gallantry in helping the wounded. Finally the 1st battalion went to India in 1870, and assisted in the attack odf Ali Musjid, at the affair of Futtehabad, and other operations in the Koorum and Hazara valleys.
A 2nd battalion, formed in 1799, was disbanded in 1802. The present 2nd battalion was raised in 1858. The county title of the regiment was bestowed in 1782. The original facings were "greyish white"; now they are white. The lace has a black stripe. The badge is the Royal Tiger ("regardand"), with "Hindoostan"; and in cannon's "history" this is correctly depicted in green with gold stripes. It was granted in 1825 for gallant behaviour in the Nepaul War of 1814, when a standard bearing this emblem was taken. The regimental custom for the drummers to wear tiger-skin aprons arise from the same circumstance. The Irish harp came from the Militia battalion for its good service in 1798.
