British Regiments and the Men Who Led Them 1793-1815

British Regiments and the Men Who Led Them 1793-1815: 11th Regiment of Foot

Secondary Titles: North Devonshire

Regimental History

1685:	20 June – formed as Duke of Beaufort’s Regiment in Bristol
1808:	25 August – 2nd Battalion raised in Dublin

Colonels

1791:	9 November	James Grant
1806:	20 April	Hon. Richard Fitz-Patrick
1807:	25 February	Sir Charles Asgill, Bart.

Stations and Combats – 1st Battalion

1793:	To Gibraltar; August – Fort Malgue; Toulon; Ollomilles; Mt. Farow; Cape le Brun; Arenas
1794:	February – Corsica; siege of Bastia; detachment as marines at Glorious 1st of June
1795:	Corsica; Genoa; Gibraltar
1796:	England
1797:	England ; detachment as marines at Cape St Vincent
1798:	Norwich; Yarmouth; May – Ostend raid; whole battalion taken POW; France - Fort l’Escarpe (POW); December - Colchester
1799:	Colchester
1800:	Chelmsford; Chatham; March - to West Indies; Martinique
1801:	Capture of Antigua; St Bartholomew; St Martin; St Thomas; St John; Santa Cruz; October - Martinique
1802:	Martinique; September – Dominica
1803:	Dominica
1804:	May – Barbados ; St Christopher
1805:	St Christopher
1806:	July – to England ; October – Deal; Tiverton
1807:	Tiverton; May – Plymouth; to Funchal Bay; Madeira
1808:	Madeira
1809:	Madeira; July – to Peninsula; August – Lisbon; September – joined Army at Guardiana
1810:	March – received 300 drafts from 2nd Battalion; BUSSACO; Torres Vedras
1811:	Sabugal, Almeida; Fuentes d’Onoro; Gallegos
1812:	Ciudad Rodrigo; St Vincente; SALAMANCA (suffered 66% casualties); Burgos; 6 companies home to recruit
1813:	Pursuit after Vittoria; Sauroren; San Sebastian; Bidassoa; NIVELLE; Villefranque; St Pierre; NIVE
1814:	Bayonne; ORTHES; TOULOUSE; Bordeaux; June – to Ireland ; Monkstown
1815:	Athlone; June – Dublin.

Stations and Combats – 2nd Battalion

1808:	25 August – raised in Dublin; October – Liverpool; Brabourne Lees; Chatham; Maldon
1809:	July – Harwich; to Walcheren; October – Harwich; Chelmsford
1810:	Sent 300 men to Peninsula; Chelmsford; London – Burdett Riots; Kingston; to Guernsey; Alderney
1811:	Guernsey; Spithead - sea accident – 200 men lost; Falmouth; March – Cadiz; Gibraltar; May – light company at TARIFA
1812:	Detachment from Gibraltar to Ceuta ( Morocco )
1813:	March – rest of battalion less flank companies to Ceuta
1814:	Ceuta; August – Gibraltar
1815:	Gibraltar
1816:	16 March – disbanded at Gibraltar.

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

Lt. Col. John Glover

Major in 11th Foot July 1782 (on transfer from 32nd Foot); Lieutenant-Colonel ?; Lieutenant-Colonel in 87th Foot 20 January 1795.

Lt. Col. Edmund, Viscount Dungarvon

Major in 87th Foot May 1794; Lieutenant-Colonel in 87th Foot July 1794; Lieutenant-Colonel in 11th Foot 20 January 1795; exchanged to Coldstream Foot Guards 17 May 1796.

Captain George Moncrieff

Captain in 11th Foot ?; commanded 11th Foot at Toulon late 1793; brevet Major 14 December 1793; Lieutenant-Colonel in 90th Foot 27 May 1794.

Lt. Col. Patrick Hely

Major in 11th Foot ?; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 1 March 1794; commanded 11th Foot in Corsica 1794; Lieutenant-Colonel 1 September 1795; commanded 11th Foot 1795 to 1798; killed in action at Ostend Raid 19 May 1798.

Lt. Col. John Henry Fraser

Brevet Colonel 3 May 1796; Lieutenant-Colonel in 11th Foot 17 May 1796 (on transfer from Coldstream Foot Guards); Brigadier-General at Cape of Good Hope February 1797; Major-General 1 January 1801.

Major Andrew Armstrong

Captain in 11th Foot 23 July 1785; brevet Major 6 May 1795; Major 1 September 1795; wounded and taken POW at Ostend Raid of 1798; subsequently court-martialled and acquitted over role in raid; retired 5 August 1799.

Major John Hadden

Brevet Major 6 May 1795; Major in 11th Foot 2 September 1795; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 1 January 1800; retired February 1807.

Captain James Wemyss

Captain in 11th Foot 12 February 1790; brevet Major 1 September 1794; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 9 January 1798; exchanged to an Independent Company 24 March 1798.

Major Henry William Espinasse

Captain in 11th Foot 5 October 1793; brevet Major 26 January 1797; Major in 11th Foot 6 August 1799; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel May 1802; Lieutenant-Colonel in 18th Foot 14 September 1804.

Lt. Col. Rufane Shaw Donkin

Born London 1773; Major in 44th Foot 1September 1794; Lieutenant-Colonel in 11th Foot 24 May 1798 (on transfer from 44th Foot); commanded 11th Foot in West Indies 1802; exchanged to Staff Corps 18 May 1805; subsequently brevet Colonel 25 April 1808; Brigadier-General on Staff 1811; Major-General 4 June 1811; Lieutenant-General 1821; General 1838; died Southampton 1838.

Major Samuel Gibbs

Taken POW at Ostend Raid 1798; Major in 11th Foot 5 August 1799; commanded 11th Foot in attack on St Martin 1800; Lieutenant-Colonel in 10th West India Regiment 1 April 1802; subsequently brevet Colonel 25 July 1810; Brigadier-General at Java 1811; Major-General 4 June 1813; 2IC and killed in action at New Orleans January 1815.

Lt. Col. Henry Fox Brownrigg

Lieutenant in Royal Engineers 1801; Captain in Staff Corps May 1801; Lieutenant-Colonel in Quartermaster-General’s Department 30 March 1805; Lieutenant-Colonel in 11th Foot 18 May 1805; Deputy Quarter-Master for Coote’s expedition 1805; killed in action at Montevideo, Argentina April 1807.

Lt. Col. James Forster

Major in 11th Foot 25 December 1801; commanded 11th Foot at home 1806 to 1808; Lieutenant-Colonel 16 April 1807; transferred to Ancient Irish Fencibles 11 June 1811.

Lt. Col. Frederick Newman, C.B.

Served in Ostend Raid and taken POW 1798; served in West Indies 1800 to 1805; Major in 11th Foot 16 April 1807; commanded 1/11th Foot at Madeira 1809; commanded 1/11th Foot in Peninsula August 1809 to December 1810; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 17 August 1812; commanded 1/11th Foot in Peninsula July 1812 to December 1813; Lieutenant-Colonel 4 June 1813; on half-pay 1820.

Major William Gordon MacGregor

Served in Mediterranean 1796 to 1797; Major in 11th Foot 26 November 1807; served in Peninsula with 1/11th Foot August 1809 to September 1812; wounded at Salamanca; Lieutenant-Colonel in 46th Foot 4 February 1813.

Lt. Col. Joseph Gubbins

Lieutenant-Colonel in 8th Garrison Battalion 25 November 1806 (on transfer from 18th Foot); Lieutenant-Colonel in 11th Foot 8 September 1808; commanded 2/11th Foot 1808 to 1809; exchanged to Staff Corps 16 November 1809.

Major George Granby Hely

Major in 11th Foot 8 August 1808; served in Walcheren with 2/11th Foot 1809; served in Peninsula January 1811 to February 1812; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 4 June 1814.

Major Henry Hollis Bradford

Born Yorkshire 1781; Major in 9th Garrison Battalion 10 September 1808; Major in 11th Foot 20 September 1808; served in peninsula August 1808 to January 1809 as ADC to General Fraser; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 28 December 1809; again in Peninsula November 1811 to April 1814 as Assistant Adjutant-General; Assistant Quartermaster-General and wounded at Waterloo; died of wounds 7 December 1816.

Lt. Col. George Cuyler, C.B.

Major in 86th Foot May 1805; Inspecting Field Officer of Militia in Nova Scotia 1808; Lieutenant-Colonel in 11th Foot 16 November 1809; commanded 1/11th Foot in Peninsula January 1811 to September 1812; wounded at Salamanca; commanded 1/11th Foot again January to April 1814; brevet Colonel 4 June 1814; died 1818.

Lt. Col. Charles Griffiths

Major in 82nd Foot 1 June 1796; Lieutenant-Colonel in Ancient Irish Fencibles 11 December 1800; brevet Colonel 25 July 1810; Lieutenant-Colonel in 11th Foot 11 June 1811; commanded 2/11th Foot at Ceuta (Morocco); Major-General 4 June 1813; on staff at Gibraltar 1813 to 1815.

Major Colquhoun Grant

Born Moray, Scotland 1780; Captain in 11th Foot 19 November 1800; served in Peninsula with 1/11th Foot August 1809 to April 1811; brevet Major 30 May 1811; on staff as Assistant Quartermaster-General and Intelligence Officer May 1811 to July 1812; POW July 1812 to December 1813; Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General January to April 1814; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 19 May 1814; Major 13 October 1814; Assistant Quartermaster-General and Intelligence Officer at Waterloo; died 1829.

Major William Sandys Elrington

Captain in 11th Foot 4 June 1801 (on transfer from 6th West India Regiment); served in Peninsula August 1809 to January 1813; brevet Major 1 January 1812; Major 4 June 1813; Major in 4th Veteran Battalion 9 December 1819.

Major Henry Bristowe

Captain in 11th Foot 2 November 1808 (on transfer from 1st Life Guards); served in Walcheren 1809; served on staff as Deputy Assistant Quartermaster-General in Peninsula January 1812 to April 1814; Major 20 January 1814; exchanged to half-pay of 38th Foot 1815.

Captain John Campbell

Captain in 11th Foot 9 July 1802; served in Peninsula with 1/11th Foot August 1809 to May 1811; Major in 17th Portuguese Line 1 July 1811; served in 17th Portuguese Line May 1811 to September 1813; brevet Major 4 June 1812; retired 13 October 1814.

Captain Francis Gualey

A French émigré; Captain in 11th Foot 25 November 1808; served in Peninsula with 1/11th Foot August 1809 to April 1814; wounded at Salamanca; brevet Major 12 April 1814; wounded at affair of outposts at Bayonne; died of wounds at Toulouse April 1814.

Sources:

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

Cannon, Richard. Historical Record of the Eleventh or North Devon Regiment of Foot: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment, and of its Subsequent Services to 1845. London: Parker, Furnivall & Parker, 1845.

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.

Fletcher, Ian. Wellington’s Regiments. Staplehurst: Spellmount, 1994.

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.

Hall, John A. A History of the Peninsular War: Volume VIII – The Biographical Dictionary of British Officers Killed and Wounded 1808-1814. London: Greenhill Books, 1998.

London Gazette Website. May 2009.

The Napoleon Series – Peninsula Roll Call. May 2009.

Placed on the Napoleon Series: June 2009

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