Steve Brown - Wellingtons Redjackets: The 45th (Nottinghamshire) Regiment on Campaign in South America and the Peninsula, 1805-14

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WELLINGTONS REDJACKETS

The 45th (Nottinghamshire) Regiment on Campaign in South America and the Peninsula, 180514

This edition published in 2015 by Frontline Books,
an imprint of Pen & Sword Books Ltd,
47 Church Street, Barnsley, S. Yorkshire, S70 2AS.

Copyright Steve Brown, 2015

The right of Steve Brown to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

ISBN: 978-1-47385-175-7
PDF ISBN: 978-1-47385-178-8
EPUB ISBN: 978-1-47385-176-4
PRC ISBN: 978-1-47385-177-1

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

CIP data records for this title are available from the British Library

Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY

Typeset in 10/12 point Palatino

For more information on our books, please email: , write to us at the above address, or visit:
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Contents

by Robert Burnham

Foreword

Observe this regiment how well they look! They have been with me the whole time. They have gone through everything what fine fellows!
The Duke of Wellington during the final inspection of the 3rd Division, 13 June 1814.

Wellingtons Peninsular Army was filled with many illustrious regiments whose deeds have been enshrined in the history and folklore of the Napoleonic Wars. Included among them are the 95th Rifles, the British Guards, the Buffs and the Die-Hards. Yet in the fine fellows quote mentioned above Wellington was not referring to any of these, but to a regiment that is remembered by few: the 45th Foot. What makes the 45th Foot stand out above the rest is that it was one of four regiments to fight in the Peninsular War from the very beginning until the very end. The regiment landed in Mondego Bay, Portugal, on 1 August 1808 and only returned to its barracks in Ireland in July 1814, after the first abdication of Napoleon.

During the six years that the 45th Foot served in the Peninsula, it would gain fame among its fellow soldiers. It would fight in almost every battle and siege Wellington commanded at, except for the sieges of Burgos in 1812 and that of San Sebastian in 1813. The 45th Foot, which only ever had its 1st Battalion serving in the Peninsula, would receive an incredible fourteen Peninsular War battle honours for its colours. Only two other units would receive more: the 5th Battalion 60th Rifles would earn sixteen, and the 95th Rifles would earn fifteen. Yet those numbers can be a bit misleading. The 5th Battalion 60th Rifles never operated as a battalion in the Peninsula, instead having its companies sent piecemeal to different brigades thus having the opportunity for at least one of its companies to take part in a battle; while the 95th Rifles had three battalions serving in the Peninsula.

But the battle honours do not tell the whole story of this remarkable regiment. When the 45th Foot arrived in Portugal in 1808, there were over 650 officers and men present with the colours. Over the next six years, 1,800 men would serve with the 45th in the Peninsula. The harsh campaigning, battles, sickness and disease took its toll. After the initial deployment in 1808, periodically men would go out as replacements to bring the regiment up to strength. On 25 April 1814, despite receiving over 1,000 replacements over the years, the 1st Battalion 45th Foot could only muster 279 effectives. During those six years it took numerous casualties, with over 540 men killed or dying of sickness and disease. Many were sent home broken in body from wounds and disease.

The casualties among its officers were even higher, for they believed in leading from the front. Twenty-five of the 123 officers who served with the first battalion in the Peninsula would be killed in action or die from their wounds, while another thirty-seven would be wounded, many of these multiple times. Of the six lieutenant-colonels who would command the battalion in the campaign, two would be killed in action, one would die from his wounds, a fourth would be wounded and captured, while the last battalion commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Leonard Greenwell, had been wounded five times prior to assuming command in May 1814. During the siege of Badajoz in April 1812, out of thirty-five infantry officers present in the 1st Battalion, three would be killed, three who would die of their wounds, and another nine would be wounded. This was a staggering forty per cent casualty rate for one battle.

The Rolls of the Military General Service Medal provide a testimony to the many years the regiment served in the Peninsula. The medal was first issued thirty-three years after the end of the Peninsular War, in 1847. A soldier who fought in any of the twenty-eight battles covered by the award was eligible to receive it; the only stipulation was that he had to still be alive. For many, the medal came too late. However, for others, it was long overdue recognition of their valour on the battlefield. Of the twenty-eight battles named, twenty were fought in the Peninsula. For each battle the soldier fought, he could receive an appropriate clasp on the medal.

Over 26,000 medals were awarded, 278 of them going to the 45th Foot. But the regiment stands out not because of the quantity of medals issued, but the number of clasps awarded. Two soldiers earned fifteen clasps, meaning that they had fought in fifteen of the twenty major battles of the Peninsular War. One of the recipients was from the 45th Foot Private James Talbot. Of the thirteen soldiers who received the medal with fourteen clasps, five were from the 45th Foot. Eleven of the forty soldiers awarded the medal with thirteen clasps served in the 45th Foot, while twelve veterans of the 45th Foot were among the seventy-seven soldiers who earned twelve clasps. The regiment had over twenty per cent of the longest serving soldiers in the Peninsular War.

Why this distinguished regiment is not better known is something of a mystery. Perhaps it is because only one private soldier had his memoirs published. Whatever the reason, Steve Brown has brought to life this valiant regiment and the soldiers who served in it.

Robert Burnham
Editor, The Napoleon Series

Introduction

The first battalion of the 45th (or the 1st Nottinghamshire) Regiment of Foot was one of the hardest-fighting and longest-serving units in Wellingtons Peninsular Army, being one of the few regiments to serve continuously from the fresh-faced landing at Mondego Bay in August 1808 until the war-soiled remnants sailed home from Pauillac in July 1814. The 45th fought at nearly every major engagement in the Peninsular War, and formed one-third of a famous brigade in Lieutenant-General Thomas Pictons Fighting Third Division, alongside its old friends the Irish 88th Connaught Rangers and the Scottish 74th, the Assaye Tigers; Wellingtons equivalent perhaps to the American Civil War era Iron Brigade.

Sir Charles Omans classic study Wellingtons Army contains an extensive Regimental Bibliography. Nearly every regiment which participated in the long and sanguinary Peninsular War is represented therein, with some receiving disproportionate representation - the 43rd Foot have four references, the 95th Rifles eleven - but the 45th Foot has none. History is written by the victors; and by the survivors. The 45th left few diarists, and only one memoirist, a roguish cobblers son from Kilmarnock named William Brown, down to drummer should have at least an equal voice. All of the officers and staff who served in the regiment at this time do appear, all 120 or so of them, to a lesser or greater degree, but that is done primarily to show the regimental system at work; seniority, promotion, purchase, supersession, leave of absence, the whole box and dice. Unlike the other ranks, officers could apply for home leave if they felt unwell or had urgent matters at home, so the large number reflects coming-and-going as much as sickness or death. The other ranks, however, were there until death or disablement took them.

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