the Devonshire Regiment, this Regiment had its origins in 1685 and was raised by the Duke of Beaufort as a corps of "Musketeers and Pikemen," to which was attached, later a company of grenadiers. its recruits were from devon, Somerset and Dorset; and these saw service in Ireland at Londonderry, the Boyne, Athlone, Limerick and Lanesboroough; in Flanders at Huy and Limburg; in Portugal at Portalegre; in Spain at Almanza, in the Nehterlands at malplaquet, Mons, Pont-a -Vendin, Douay, Bethune, Aire and St Venant; In America in 1711 at quebec and then at Dunkirk.

returning to England in 1714, the regiment took part in the suppression of the Jacobite rebellion and was present at Dunblane. it saw no further active service until 1742, when it took part in the fighting at Dettingen and Fontenoy, but again came home to take part in the Civil war of 1745 at Carlisle, returning to the Continent to fight at Roucoux.

Colonel Kinder and the Officers of the 2nd Battalion Devonshire Regiment (1896)

The Warrant Officers, Sergeants and Staff-Sergeants of the 2nd Batt Devonshire Regiment (1896)

The 2nd Battalion Devonshire Regiment on Parade. (1896)

 The Devonshire Regiment

  The next regiment is the Devonshire, consisting of the old 11^th Foot (Regimental District No. 11), and dates from the troublous period of 1685, when it was raised by the Duke of Beaufort to strengthen King James’s cause against the threatened aggression of Monmouth.  The uniform at the commencement was scarlet, with facings, breeches, stockings and ribbons tawny coloured.  When the ill-advised action of James alienated from him the majority of his subjects, the great majority of the officers and men of the 11^th favoured the cause of William of Orange, and the Colonel, who adhered to James, was summarily overpowered and deprived of the de facto command.  Shortly after the accession of William and Mary, the 11^th were engaged in the struggles in Ireland, at which time a considerable Irish element was infused into their ranks, and fought well in the battle which outsted the unfortunate James the last of his dominions.  Their next service was in Portugal, where, at Portalegre, the hopeless odds against them caused the whole regiment to be made prisoner of war.  They were soon exchanged, and the year 1707 saw them again in Portugal, when they greatly distinguished themselves at the Battle of Almanza, which ended so disastrously for the British arms.  The colonel of the 11^th Colonel Hill-was acting in command of the brigade, and he fought brought his own regiment, and another now disbanded, into action when our troops had met with their first repulse.  For a time the 11^th and their comrades-“two regiments against an army”-carried all before them; then the superiority of numbers began to tell, and the devoted regiments were overwhelmed.  The official record thus describes the position: -“Assailed by musketry, charged by cavalry, and attacked on both flanks, in front and in rear, at the same moment, they were overpowered and cur down the dreadful slaughter.”  Colonel Hill with a few other officers, by strenuous endeavours, gathered together the straggling remains of the British regiments and their allies and retreated in a solid square.  The 11^th lost six officers killed and twenty wounded and prisoners; the details of the loss in the rank and file have not been preserved.  They fought before Mons; a few years later they shared in the fighting in Scotland.  Then came the more acceptable campaign in Flanders, where the gallant Devonshire won the first “honour” borne on their colours, when under Field Marshal the Earl of stair they fought at Dettingen.  They had a bad time of it as Fontenoy, where they lost four officers killed and eleven wounded and missing, the corresponding numbers of the rank and file being forty-nine and a hundred and fifty.  A short interval of rest intervened, and then we read of them fighting desperately at Rocoux, where-in a hollow way and assailed by vastly superior numbers-they held their own so stubbornly that in that hollow way were left two hundred who would never see pleasant Devon land again.  In the warrants that appeared in 1751 was one, which directed the facings to be “full green” instead of tawny, though; the actual change had probably taken place some years previously.  Five years later a second battalion was formed, which in two years became the 64^th Regiment.  The regiment was represented at Warboiurg; they garrisoned Minorca, and in 1793 took part in the raid on France.  At Ollomilles, where the 11^th were with the force under Elphinstone, we read that “the credit of the day was chiefly secured from the great exertions and gallant behaviour of Captain Douglas,” while Captain Moncrief and Lieutenant Knight also distinguished themselves.  Then, as we trace onward the history of the regiment, we hear of their courage and devotion in places, the very names of which are strange and unfamiliar to us of today.  At Farow, Hauteur de Grasse, on the banks of the Neuve, at Cape le Brun and Arenas, the 11^th dealt shrewd blows, and suffered hardships and bore themselves manfully in sore straits of peril, as beseemed men of Devon.  They shared in the expedition against Ostend, and were taken prisoners; then they served in the West Indies at paces with names that seem to have been taken at random from some foreign hagiology-St. Bartholomew, St. Martin, and St. Thomas, St. John, Santa Cruz.  Then came the era of the Peninsular War, in which no regiment earned a nobler name.  In 1808 another Second Battalion was formed, and proceeded at once to join the forces then investing Flushing, where they signalised their bapteme de feu by taking the brass drums of the French 11^th regiment, and, that there might be no lack of musicians, enlisted into their service a Prussian band which had been attached to a French foreign legion.  Meanwhile the first Battalion had joined the fourth Division under Lowry Cole, and was taking its share in the duties then all-important at the seat of war, and here after a time they were joined by the second battalion.  The regiment shared but nominally in the combats of Buasco, Sabugal, and Fuentes d’Onor, not being actually on either occasion.  At Tarifa, however, they did splendid service, Captain Wren particularly distinguishing himself.  But it was at Salamanca that their highest fame was won, a fame perhaps the more brilliant and lasting that in the winning more than half of their gallant number were killed or wounded.  They were in Hulse’s brigade-the “grand brigade,” before whose “withering fire” the splendid dragoons of Boyer went down like children’s play things-and, together with the 61^st, won their way desperately, as Napier relates, through such a fire as British soldiers can sustain.  Seldom has the commander of a regiment received such praise from his superior as was given to Major Newman of the 11^th.  It is impossible for me,” said General Hulse, “to find words to express my admiration of the gallant conduct of your regiment this day, but let every individual of the corps conceive everything that is gallant and brave and apply it to themselves.”  And the praise was not understood.  A standard and a battery were taken by the 11^th that day, and when after the battle the French mustered their forces it was found that the regiment which had been chiefly opposed to the Devonshire only numbered two hundred out of two thousand two hundred which were with the colours before Salamanca was fought.  They fought in the battles of the Pyrenees-at nivelle and the Nive; at San Sebastian, Lieutenant Gethins of the 11^th tore down the French colours waving from the cavalier; at Orthes, where fighting was so desperate that it seemed at one time as if Soult’s exultant boast-“At last I have him!”-Was going to be verified by the defeat of the great English commander, the 11^th had their full share of the fierce work; at Toulouse it was they and the 91^st who retook at last that terrible Colombette redoubt where, within and without, the ground was piled high with dead and dying men.  During Waterloo the Devonshire Regiment was in Ireland, and from that time till 1879 no war of importance claimed their assistance.  They were in Canada during the rising of 1838, then in Australia, the Cape and Hong Kong.  In the Afghan war of 1879-80 they were in general Phavre.

           The second battalion went on the 23^rd July, 1880, under Lieutenant-Colonel Corrie to Dozan, and no receipt of the terrible tidings of Maiwand were moved hurriedly on to a place called Gulistan Karez.  The great difficulty of transport and communication prevented them from reaching Candahar for some three weeks after its relief by General Roberts.  It is noted that they were the first regiment of British infantry that had ever marched through Sind and the bolan during that season of the year.  As a matter of fact their mortality was greater than is often the case with a regiment in the fiercest action.  They lost two officers and a hundred and thirty-six men, while so severely had the climate and illness affected them that, on the 1^st of January 1881, out of 715 that had marched six months before, only 215 were fit for service!  Amongst those of the Devonshire Regiment who have distinguished themselves may be mentioned Lieutenant-Colonel Street, Lieutenant-Colonel Gibbons; Majors Kinder, Tull, Kelsall, and Noon; Captains Harries, Park, Davies, Briggs, and Ellacombe, and Lieutenant Carr.  Her Majesty’s Army

Christie by Peter Deighan