British Regiments and the Men Who Led Them 1793-1815

British Regiments and the Men Who Led Them 1793-1815: 42nd Foot Regiment of Foot

Secondary Titles:

Royal Highland

Regimental History

1739:	Raised by Earl of Crawford from independent companies (originally raised for crime-watching in 1725) as 43rd Regiment of Foot
1749:	Re-numbered 42nd Regiment of Foot
1803:	9 July - 2nd Battalion formed at Perth
1814:	24 October - 2nd Battalion disbanded at Aberdeen.

Colonels

1787:	1 June	Sir Hector Munro, K.B.
1806:	3 January	George, Marquis of Huntly (until 1820).

Stations and Combats – 1st Battalion

1793:	Scotland – Fort George; Dundee; Montrose; Aberdeen; Banff; April – Montrose; May – Musselburgh; Hull; to Flanders; October – Menin; Nieuwpoort; to England; Portsmouth; November – ordered to West Indies; Guernsey
1794:	Portsmouth; June – to Flanders; Ostend; Alost; Nijmegen; Tuyl
1795:	Geldermalsen; retreat to Bremen; April – Bremen; to England - Harwich; Chelmsford; Danbury; June - Royston – received red hackle; September – received draft of 1000 men; November – to West Indies; storms in channel – some ships returned to port
1796:	January – 5 companies at Gibraltar; February – other 5 companies reach Barbados; April – St Lucia; Morne Chabot; Morne Fortunée; June – St Vincent; Vigie
1797:	February – St Christopher; April – Puerto Rico; Truxillo raid; received 217 volunteers from 79th on Martinique; to England; July – Portsmouth; Hilsea; to Gibraltar; battalion reunited
1798:	Gibraltar; November – Minorca; Citadella
1799:	Minorca; June – to Genoa; Minorca; September – Gibraltar
1800:	Gibraltar; Cadiz; Gibraltar; Malta; to Egypt
1801:	Marmorice; March – Aboukir; Mandora; Alexandria; Cairo; September – to England; December – Portsmouth; Winchester
1802:	Winchester; high rate of fever; May – Ashford; June – to Edinburgh; discharged 475 men
1803:	Edinburgh; received new colours; April – Leith; Essex; Weeley Barracks
1804:	Weeley Barracks; October – Plymouth; Gibraltar
1805:	Gibraltar
1806:	Gibraltar
1807:	Gibraltar
1808:	Gibraltar; August – to Peninsula; September – Salamanca; retreat to Corunna
1809:	CORUNNA; to England – Portsmouth; Shorncliffe; July – to Walcheren; September – Dover; Canterbury
1810:	Canterbury; July – to Scotland; Musselburgh
1811:	Musselburgh; August – to England; Lewes; Hailsham; Eastbourne
1812:	Lewes; April – Portsmouth; to Peninsula; May – joined field army; received fit men from 2/42nd; SALAMANCA; Fort St Michel; siege of Burgos; Villatora
1813:	Vittoria; Sorauren; NIVELLE; NIVE
1814:	ORTHEZ; TOULOUSE; Bordeaux; June – to Ireland; Cork; Dundalk; August – Kilkenny; December – received men from 2/42nd
1815:	Kilkenny; Cork; May – to Belgium; Brussels; Quatre Bras; WATERLOO; Paris; Army of Occupation; December – to England.

Stations and Combats – 2nd Battalion

1803:	9 July – formed at Perth; November – Leith; Essex; Weeley Barracks
1804:	Weeley Barracks; August – Lexden Heath; October – Liverpool; to Ireland; Dublin
1805:	Dublin; May – Sligo (?); December – Ballinasloe
1806:	Dundalk
1807:	Dundalk; February – Donaghadee; to Scotland - Portpatrick; Glasgow; Fort George
1808:	Fort George; May – Perth; Portpatrick; to Ireland
1809:	Kilkenny; recruited 150 Irish militia volunteers; June – Cork; to Peninsula
1810:	Bussaco; Torres Vedras
1811:	Foz do Arouce; FUENTES D’ONORO
1812:	Ciudad Rodrigo; Badajoz; fit men into 1/42nd, cadre home; July – Portsmouth; to Scotland
1813:	Inverness
1814:	Fort William; August – ordered to Ireland, did not embark; 24 October – disbanded at Aberdeen.

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

Lt Col Charles Graham

Born Scotland, son of Colonel Graham of the Black Watch; Major in 42nd Foot 25 August 1778; commanded 42nd Foot in latter stages of North American War; Lieutenant-Colonel 28 April 1782; subsequently Major-General 26 February 1795; commanded a brigade and 2IC to Abercromby in West Indies 1796; Colonel of 5th West India Regiment 30 November 1796; died at Cork 1800.

Major George Dalrymple

Served in American War; Major in 42nd Foot 16 March 1791; commanded 42nd Foot in descent of French coast 1793; to Lieutenant-Colonel in 19th Foot 31 December 1794; died Scotland January 1804.

Lt Col William Dickson

Born Peebles 1748; Major in 42nd Foot 14 January 1795; Lieutenant-Colonel 1 September 1795; commanded 42nd Foot and wounded at Mandora 1801; Brigadier-General September 1803; brevet Colonel 25 September 1803; retired 3 March 1808; died as Lieutenant-Governor of Cork 8 May 1815.

Major Robert Pigot Christie

Major in 42nd Foot 1 September 1795; died June 1796.

Major William Munro

Major in 42nd Foot 1 September 1795; to Lieutenant-Colonel Caithness Fencibles 21 October 1795.

Lt Col James Stewart

Major in 42nd Foot 21 October 1795; Lieutenant-Colonel 14 December 1796; commanded 42nd Foot at Alexandria 1801, wounded at Aboukir; retired 19 September 1804.

Major Alexander Stewart

Major in 42nd Foot 24 June 1796; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 24 January 1797; retired 7 September 1804.

Lt Col James Stirling

Joined 42nd Foot as a volunteer in 1776; served in Flanders 1793 to 1795; Major in 42nd Foot 14 December 1796; served on Minorca 1798; served in Egypt 1801, wounded at Alexandria; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 11 May 1802; Lieutenant-Colonel 7 September 1804; commanded 1/42nd Foot in Peninsula August 1808 to January 1809; brevet Colonel 4 June 1811; again in Peninsula April to November 1812; commanded a brigade in 6th Division November 1812 to June 1813; commanded a brigade in 1st Division September & October 1813; subsequently Major-General 4 June 1814; Lieutenant-Governor of Cork in 1820; died Musselburgh January 1835.

Major Archibald Argyle Campbell

Born Scotland 1768; Major in 42nd Foot 9 July 1803; served in Peninsula August 1808 to January 1809; died of fever at Plymouth 27 January 1809.

Lt Col John Farquharson

Served in Flanders 1793 to 1795; served in West Indies 1795 to 1797; served in Egypt 1801; Major in 8th Garrison Battalion 16 July 1803; Major in 42nd Foot 9 September 1803; Assistant Adjutant-General Northern Districts November 1804; Lieutenant-Colonel 3 March 1808; served in Peninsula August 1808 to January 1809; Assistant Adjutant-General at Walcheren 1809; Assistant Adjutant-General at Horse Guards 1810; retired & Lieutenant-Governor of Carlisle 16 April 1812; died Edinburgh November 1836.

Major Charles MacQuarrie

Major in 42nd Foot 7 September 1804; served in Peninsula August 1808 to January 1809; served in Walcheren 1809; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 25 July 1810; retired May 1811.

Major James Grant

Major in 42nd Foot 7 September 1804; retired November 1805.

Lt Col Robert Walter Stuart, Lord Blantyre, C.B.

Born Scotland 1777; 11th Baron Blantyre in 1783; served on the staff in Portugal 1798; served at Helder 1799; served on the staff in Egypt 1801; Major in 17th Light Dragoons 21 April 1804 (on transfer from 7th Light Dragoons); Lieutenant-Colonel in 42nd Foot 19 September 1804; Assistant Adjutant-General in Copenhagen 1807; commanded 2/42nd Foot in Peninsula July 1809 to August 1810; commanded a brigade in 1st Division August 1810 to January 1812; exchanged to half-pay 8th Garrison Battalion 6 May 1813; subsequently Major-General 12 August 1819; Lieutenant-General 1827; killed during riot in Brussels September 1830.

Lt Col Sir Robert Macara, K.C.B.

Born Perthshire 1759; Major in 42nd Foot 14 November 1805; served in Peninsula July & August 1809; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 1 January 1812; Lieutenant-Colonel 16 April 1812; commanded 1/42nd Foot in Peninsula April 1812 to April 1814; wounded at Toulouse; commanded 1/42nd Foot at Quatre Bras; wounded, and killed by Lancers whilst being carried from the field.

Major Thomas Johnson

Major in 42nd Foot 3 March 1808; exchanged to Bradshaw’s Levy 14 July 1808.

Lt Col Robert Henry Dick, C.B.

Born Scotland 1786; served in Sicily 1806; served in Egypt 1807; Major in Bradshaw’s Levy 24 May 1808; Major in 42nd Foot 14 July 1808; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 8 October 1812; commanded 1/42nd Foot and wounded at Waterloo; Lieutenant-Colonel 18 June 1815; ADC to King 1825; on half-pay 1825; subsequently Major-General 10 January 1837; temporary Commander-in-Chief in India 1841 to 1842; killed at Sobraon 1846.

Major Hamilton Rose

Born Wigtown 1776; served in Egypt 1801, wounded at Alexandria; served in Peninsula August 1808 to January 1809; Major in 42nd Foot 9 February 1809; again in Peninsula July 1809 to September 1811; died at Lisbon 5 October 1811.

Major James Jonathan Fraser

Major in 42nd Foot 4 January 1810; Major in 7th Royal Veteran Battalion 27 December 1810; Town Major of Gibraltar in 1815.

Major William Munro

Major in 42nd Foot 7 May 1811; exchanged to half-pay Royal Regiment of Malta 30 May 1811.

Major William Cowell, C.B.

Served in Ireland 1798; served in Egypt 1801; served in Sicily 1806; Major in Royal Regiment of Malta 16 March 1809; Major in 42nd Foot 30 May 1811; served in Peninsula April 1812 to April 1814, wounded at Orthez; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 3 March 1814; died Dublin 1827.

Major Maxwell Grant, K.C.B.

Born Speyside; served on Minorca 1798; served in Egypt 1801, wounded at Alexandria; served in Peninsula with 1/42nd Foot August 1808 to January 1809, wounded at Corunna; served in Peninsula with Portuguese Army August 1809 to April 1814; Major in 6th Portuguese Line 26 August 1809; Lieutenant-Colonel in 6th Portuguese Line 3 July 1810; Major in 42nd Foot 10 October 1811; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 26 August 1813; wounded at Pyrenees; wounded at Nive; died Speyside October 1824.

Major Robert Anstruther (-Thomson)

Served in Peninsula July to December 1809; Major in 42nd Foot 16 April 1812; again in Peninsula April & May 1812; on half-pay 25 December 1814; Major in 102nd Foot 7 September 1815.

Lt Col Sir George Alexander William Leith, Bt.

Born Scotland 1766; served in India 1786 to 1804; Major in 17th Foot 1 January 1800; Lieutenant-Governor of Penang 1800 to 1803; Lieutenant-Colonel in 2nd West India Regiment 13 June 1805; Lieutenant-Colonel in 8th Garrison Battalion 25 October 1806; Quarter-Master General in Ireland 1806; Lieutenant-Colonel in 42nd Foot 13 May 1813; brevet Colonel 4 June 1813; on half-pay December 1814; subsequently Major-General 12 August 1819; died 1842.

Captain John Campbell, C.B.

Born Scotland 1788, son of Lieutenant-General Colin Campbell and brother of future Major-General Sir Guy Campbell; Captain in 42nd Foot 3 December 1807; served in Peninsula July 1809 to November 1810; again in Peninsula April 1812 to March 1813; again in Peninsula September 1813 to April 1814, wounded at Orthez; brevet Major 12 April 1815; commanded 1/42nd Foot at the end of Waterloo as the only unwounded Captain; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 18 June 1815; retired before 1827; died Marseilles March 1841.

Sources:

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

Forbes, Archibald. The Black Watch. The Record of an Historic Regiment. New York: Charles Scriber & Sons, 1896.

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.

Dalton, Charles. The Waterloo Roll Call. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1904.

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 Military – Its System and Organization 1803-1815. Cambridge, Ontario: Rafm Co. Inc. 1983.

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.

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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