British Regiments and the Men Who Led Them 1793-1815

British Regiments and the Men Who Led Them 1793-1815: 68th Foot Regiment of Foot

Secondary Titles:

Durham (Light Infantry)

Regimental History

1755:	Raised at Leicester as 2nd Battalion 23rd Foot
1758:	22 April – became 68th Foot
1800:	7 March – 2nd Battalion formed at Sunderland
1802:	August – 2nd Battalion disbanded on Dominica
1808:	10 September – became Light Infantry

Colonels

1758:	22 April	John Lambton
1794:	26 March	John Mansel
1794:	30 April	Thomas Dundas
1794:	6 August	Sir Alured Clarke, G.C.B.
1794:	25 October	Hon. Sir Charles Stuart, K.B.
1795:	25 March	Sir Thomas Trigge, K.B.
1809:	27 May	Sir John Coape Sherbrooke, G.C.B.
1813:	1 January	Sir Henry Warde, G.C.B.

Colonels-Commandant

1800:	7 March	Charles Eustace
1801:	18 June	Richard, Earl of Cavan

Stations and Combats – 1st Battalion

1793:	Gibraltar
1794:	Gibraltar; October - to West Indies; St Lucia
1795:	March – detachment on Grenada and St Lucia; April – Carib uprising on St Lucia; Vieux Fort; Soufriere; June – evacuated to Martinique; 2 companies to Grenada; September – rest of battalion to Grenada; Mount Qua Qua; Fort George
1796:	Grenada; men drafted out to 63rd Foot on St Vincent; to England; September – Portsmouth (10 officers and 27 men)
1797:	March – Liverpool; to Ireland; Malahide
1798:	Malahide; September – Granard; October – Boyle
1799:	Boyle; February – Dublin
1800:	January – Boyle; February – Trim; received 1,777 Irish militia recruits; Newry; to England – Liverpool; March – Sunderland; June – Swinley; Canterbury; December – Portsmouth; to West Indies
1801:	January – Martinique; Fort Edward; March – 4 companies to Saints; July – Barbados; detachment to St Kitts; 4 companies on Martinique
1802:	Barbados; August – absorbed 487 2nd Battalion men
1803:	Barbados; June – St Lucia; Morne Fortuné
1804:	St Lucia
1805:	St Lucia; February – St Vincent; April - Antigua
1806:	St Lucia; June – drafted out; to England; August – Portsmouth (23 officers and 163 men left); Staines; Leeds; November – Ripon
1807:	Ripon; August – received drafts from Irish militia & Durham militia; October - Doncaster
1808:	January – received militia recruits; February – Malton; March - York; July – Doncaster; August – Hull; 10 September – became Light Infantry; absorbed Durham militia volunteers; London; October - Brabourne Lees
1809:	Brabourne Lees; July – to Walcheren; Flushing; October – to England; Dover; Brabourne Lees
1810:	Brabourne Lees; March – Hythe; much Walcheren fever; December – Littlehampton
1811:	February – Lewes; June – Portsmouth; July – Lisbon; to Field Army; Pedrógão
1812:	April – Estramadura; Moriscos; June – Heights of Villares; SALAMANCA; August – Madrid; Olmos; retreat from Burgos
1813:	June – VITTORIA; Dõna Maria; Ostiz; Sorauren; Heights of Salain; Lesaca; NIVELLE
1814:	St Sever; ORTHEZ; Bordeaux; July – to Ireland; Belfast
1815:	Belfast.

Stations and Combats – 2nd Battalion

1800:	7 March – formed in Sunderland from Irish short service militia volunteers; June – Swinley; Canterbury; December – Portsmouth; to West Indies
1801:	January – 8 companies on Barbados; March – 2 ‘lost’ companies arrived; 4 companies to Saints; March – Martinique; April – Dominica; Saints companies returned
1802:	Dominica; April - suppressed mutiny of 8th West India Regiment; September – disbanded, fit men into 1/68th on Barbados.

Careers of Senior Officers (shown as highest rank attained in regiment in the period)

Lt Col James Stewart

Served in North America 1758 to 1760; served in West Indies 1762 to 1767; and again 1769 to 1773; Lieutenant-Colonel in 68th Foot 25 July 1788; commanded 68th Foot 1788 to 1797; brevet Colonel 1 March 1794; subsequently Major-General 3 May 1796; lost both sons, officers in 68th Foot in West Indies 1796; served on staff positions in Britain 1797 to 1803; Lieutenant-General 25 September 1803; General 4 June 1812; died April 1815.

Lt Col John Brydges Schaw

Major in 68th Foot 26 July 1788; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 22 November 1790; Lieutenant-Colonel 1 September 1795; commanded 68th Foot in West Indies 1795 to 1796; retired late 1796.

Lt Col John Simon Farley

Born 1753; served in West Indies 1772 to 1773; served in Gibraltar 1785 to 1794; Major in 68th Foot 1 September 1795; again in West Indies 1795 to 1796; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 1 January 1798; Lieutenant-Colonel 1 March 1800; served in West Indies 1800 to 1806; commanded 2/68th Foot 1800 to 1809; on staff 1809 to 1815; subsequently Major-General 4 June 1811; Lieutenant-General 19 July 1821; died London 1824.

Major Malby Brabazon

Major in 68th Foot 1 September 1795; died Grenada late 1795.

Major Thomas Picton

Born Haverfordwest 1758; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 19 November 1794; Major in 68th Foot 30 January 1796 (on transfer from 17th Foot); to Lieutenant-Colonel 56th Foot 1 May 1796; brevet Colonel 1 January 1801; Governor of Trinidad 1801 to 1803; subsequently Major-General 25 April 1808; commanded 3rd Division in Peninsula 1810 to 1814; Lieutenant-General 4 June 1813; killed at Waterloo.

Lt. Col. George Airey

Born 1761; served in West Indies 1780 to 1781, and 1788 to 1782; Major in 68th Foot 1 May 1796; Lieutenant-Colonel in 8th Foot 4 May 1798; brevet Colonel 25 April 1808; subsequently Major-General 4 June 1811; Quarter-Master General in Ireland 1813; served in many and varied staff positions 1800 to 1820; Lieutenant-General 1821; died Paris 1833.

Lt Col Robert Anstruther

Born Fife 1768; Major in 66th Foot 17 August 1797; Lieutenant-Colonel in 68th Foot 31 August 1797 (on transfer from 66th Foot); commanded 68th Foot 1797 to 1799; Captain & Lieutenant-Colonel 3rd Foot Guards 16 August 1799; subsequently Deputy Quarter-Master General in Egypt 1801; commanded a brigade in Peninsula 1808; died of disease (possibly exhaustion) in Corunna January 1809.

Lt Col David Cunynghame, Bart.

Born Scotland 1769; Captain & Lieutenant-Colonel 3rd Foot Guards 15 January 1794 (on transfer from 95th Foot); brevet Colonel 26 January 1797; POW in Ostend raid 1798; paroled 1799; to Lieutenant-Colonel 68th Foot 16 August 1799; retired on half-pay 82nd Foot 7 February 1801; died Jersey 1854.

Major Townshend Monckton Hall

Major in 68th Foot 1 September 1798 (on transfer from 28th Foot); retired 1802.

Lt Col Robert W Johnson

Major in 68th Foot 27 February 1800 (on transfer from 9th Foot); brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 7 May 1808; Lieutenant-Colonel 13 July 1809; retired late 1809 or early 1810.

Major George Scott

Major in 68th Foot 1 March 1800 (on transfer from 64th Foot); gone by late 1803.

Lt Col Francis Mannooch

Major in 1/1st Foot 1 August 1795; Lieutenant-Colonel in 68th Foot 2 March 1800 (on transfer from 1st Foot); retired April 1802.

Major William Wright

Major in 68th Foot 2 March 1800 (on transfer from 54th Foot); on half-pay 1802; exchanged to Major in 30th Foot 20 August 1803; died Penang August 1809.

Lt Col William Johnston, K.C.B.

Born 1773; served in Gibraltar and Toulon 1793; served in Corsica 1794; served in Irish Rebellion 1798; Major in 68th Foot 27 February 1800; served in West Indies 1801; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 25 April 1808; Lieutenant-Colonel 13 July 1809; commanded 68th at Walcheren 1809; commanded 68th in Peninsula June 1811 to April 1814; wounded at Vittoria; brevet Colonel 4 June 1814; subsequently Major-General 25 May 1825; Colonel of 68th Foot 6 April 1838; Lieutenant-General 28 June 1838; died Southampton 1844.

Major Alexander Mark Ker Hamilton

Born Scotland 1767; Major in 68th Foot 12 March 1800; on half-pay 1802; to Lieutenant-Colonel 5th West India Regiment 11 April 1805; brevet Colonel 4 June 1813; subsequently Major-General 12 August 1819; died 1842.

Lt Col George Henry Vansittart

Born Berkshire 1768; Major in New South Wales Corps 1793; Major in 95th Foot 21 March 1794; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 26 January 1797; on half-pay 1797; Lieutenant-Colonel in 68th Foot 10 April 1801; served in West Indies 1801 to 1803; on half-pay 1803; subsequently Major-General 25 September 1803; Lieutenant-General 25 July 1810; General 19 July 1821; died 1824.

Lt Col Robert Smyth

Major in 52nd Foot 4 April 1801 (on transfer from 8th Foot); Lieutenant-Colonel in 68th Foot 26 April 1802; to Lieutenant-Colonel 5th Garrison Battalion May 1807.

Major Michael Edward Jacob

Major in 30th Foot 26 July 1803; exchanged to half-pay 68th Foot 3 August 1803; brevet Colonel 4 June 1811; subsequently Major-General 4 June 1814; died December 1815.

Major Richard Thompson

Major in 68th Foot 25 July 1805; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 30 December 1811; retired September 1812.

Major Adolph Hinuber

Major in 68th Foot 13 July 1809; retired October 1812.

Major John Campbell

Major in 68th Foot 4 June 1811; on half-pay list 1815 and 1820.

Major John Pauncefoot Hawkins, C.B.

Born Gloucestershire 1784; served in Peninsula June 1811 to December 1813; wounded at Heights of Villares; Major in 68th Foot 17 September 1812; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 21 June 1813; commanded 68th Foot in late 1813 and early 1814; Lieutenant-Colonel after 1820; retired July 1830.

Major George Champion Crespigny

Born Suffolk c1787; served in Peninsula June 1811 to January 1812; Major in 68th Foot 8 October 1812; again in Peninsula December 1812 to July 1813; killed in action in Pyrenees 30 July 1813.

Major James Winnett

Major in 68th Foot 26 August 1813; retired after 1820.

Sources:

War Office. Army Lists 1796 to 1815. London: various years.

Ward, S.G.P. Faithful: The Story of the Durham Light Infantry. Eastbourne: Anthony Rowe, 1962.

Chichester, Henry Manners, and Burges-Short, Henry. The Records and Badges of Every Regiment and Corps in the British Army. London: William Clowes & Sons, 1895.

Westlake, Ray. English & Welsh Infantry Regiments - An Illustrated Record of Service 1662-1994. Staplehurst: Spellmount, 2002.

McKenna, Michael G. The British Army – And Its Regiments and Battalions. West Chester, Ohio: The Nafziger Collection. 2004.

Reid, Stuart. Wellington’s Officers, Volume 1. Leigh-On-Sea: Patrizan Press, 2008.

Reid, Stuart. Wellington’s Officers, Volume 2. Leigh-On-Sea: Patrizan Press, 2009.

Park, S.J. and Nafziger, G.F. The British Miltary – Its System and Organization 1803-1815. Cambridge, Ontario: Rafm Co. Inc. 1983.

Philippart, John. The Royal Military Calendar, or Army Service and Commission Book. London: A.J. Valpy, 1820.

London Gazette Website. September 2010.

The Napoleon Series – Peninsula Roll Call. September 2010.

Placed on the Napoleon Series: November 2010

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