Name : 49th (Hertfordshire) Regiment of Foot Started : 1782 Ended : 1816 Previous Regiment Lineage(s) : ---------------------------------------- Trelawney's Regiment of Foot (1743 - 1751) 49th Regiment of Foot (1751 - 1782)
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Subsequent Regiment Lineage : ---------------------------------------- 49th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) (Hertfordshire) Regiment of Foot (1816 - 1881) Princess Charlotte of Wales's (Berkshire Regiment) (1881 - 1885) Princess Charlotte of Wales's (Royal Berkshire Regiment) (1885 - 1921) Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) (1921 - 1959) Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment (Berkshire and Wiltshire) (1959 - 1994) Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment (1994 - 2007) The Rifles (2007 - Present)
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The 49th, Princess Charlotte of Wales's Regiment, a title granted in 1815 for its having formed a guard of honour for the Princess at Weymouth, is a Hertfordshire regiment, and in 1782 was so designated; and its linked battalion, the 66th, or Berkshire Regiment (also receiving its county title in 1782), was united to it under the present name in 1882. The prefix "Royal" was bestowed upon the regiment because of the gallantry of the 1st battalion at Tofrek, near Suakin, in 1885. The 49th had a sort of colonial origin in two companies of the 22nd regiment, which on returning to England, in Anne's reign, had left them as "Independent Companies" in Jamaica. To these six other companies were added before they left the colony and became in 1744 a regiment of the Line, known at first as the 63rd Americans; but on the reduction of some other regiments it received its late number about 1748. Its first visit to England took place in 1762, when it was relieved by its present 2nd battalion; but it sailed West again to join Lord Howe in 1776, and fought at Bunker's Hill, Brooklyn, Brunx, Long Island, Brandywine, etc. During the campaign the light companies were allowed to wear red and the grenadiers white and black plumes; but the authority for this has disappeared. After doing hard work at St. Domingo, at Ostend and Egmont-op-Zee in 1798-99, as marines on board the fleet and at Copenhagen in 1801, and in Canada between 1803 and 1814, fighting at Queenstown, Chrystler's Farm, Fort George, Black Rock, Stony Creek, etc., the 49th did only general duty until 1841, when it shared in the first China War. It was engaged at Chusan, Canton, Amoy, Shanghai, and Ningpo, and for its gallant service earned distinction of the "Dragon Badge."
It was one of the most earliest regiments in the Crimea, was present at the battles of the Alma and Inkerman, and shared in the siege of Sevastopol and the desperate fighting of the assaults on the Quarries and the Redan. In this campaign Sergeant G. Walters and Corporal J. Owens won the Cross for Valour for bravery and for assisting General Adams and Major Conolly. In 1882 it formed part of the army despatched to Egypt; did not accompany the rest of the army to Ismailia, but assisted in the capture of Kafr-ed-Dauar. Near Chalouffe one man of the 49th had an extraordinary escape - a shell passed between his legs and the explosion carried away the seat of his trousers, yet he was otherwise uninjured. It also did good service round Suakin, fighting at the battles of Hasheen and Tofrek in 1885, and shared in the arduous labours of the Nile campaign for the relief of Gordon.
The originals facings of the 49th were first "full" green and next "Lincoln green. The regimental badge is the Chinese Dragon with "China,".
