The 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot was a

line infantry Line infantry was the type of infantry that composed the basis of European land armies from the late 17th century to the mid-19th century. Maurice of Nassau and Gustavus Adolphus are generally regarded as its pioneers, while Turenne and Mon ...

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscript ...

of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

, raised in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

in February 1702. Under the

Childers Reforms The Childers Reforms of 1881 reorganised the infantry regiments of the British Army. The reforms were done by Secretary of State for War Hugh Childers during 1881, and were a continuation of the earlier Cardwell Reforms. The reorganisation wa ...

it amalgamated with the

67th (South Hampshire) Regiment of Foot The 67th (South Hampshire) Regiment of Foot was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1756. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot to form the Hampshire Regiment (later the Roy ...

to become the

Hampshire Regiment The Hampshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot and the 67th (South Hampshire) Regiment of Foot. The regim ...

(later the

Royal Hampshire Regiment The Hampshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot and the 67th (South Hampshire) Regiment of Foot. The regim ...

) in 1881.

History

Early years

The regiment was raised in

by Lieutenant-General

Thomas Meredyth Lieutenant-General Thomas Meredyth or Meredith (after 1661–1719), of Chelsea, Middlesex, was an Irish officer of the British Army and a politician who sat in the Parliament of Ireland from 1703 to 1719 and as a Whig in the British House of Co ...

as Meredyth's Regiment in February 1702. It embarked for the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in May 1703 and fought under the Duke of Marlborough at the

Battle of Schellenberg The Battle of Schellenberg, also known as the Battle of Donauwörth, was fought on 2 July 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession. The engagement was part of the Duke of Marlborough's campaign to save the Habsburg capital of Vienna from a ...

in July 1704,Whitting, p. 3 the

Battle of Blenheim The Battle of Blenheim (german: Zweite Schlacht bei Höchstädt, link=no; french: Bataille de Höchstädt, link=no; nl, Slag bij Blenheim, link=no) fought on , was a major battle of the War of the Spanish Succession. The overwhelming Allied ...

in August 1704 and the

Battle of Ramillies The Battle of Ramillies (), fought on 23 May 1706, was a battle of the War of the Spanish Succession. For the Grand Alliance – Austria, England, and the Dutch Republic – the battle had followed an indecisive campaign against the Bourbon a ...

in May 1706Whitting, p. 6 as well as the

Battle of Oudenarde The Battle of Oudenarde, also known as the Battle of Oudenaarde, was a major engagement of the War of the Spanish Succession, pitting a Grand Alliance force consisting of eighty thousand men under the command of the Duke of Marlborough and Prin ...

in July 1708 and the

Battle of Malplaquet The Battle of Malplaquet took place on 11 September 1709 during the War of the Spanish Succession and was fought between a French army commanded by the Duke of Villars and a Grand Alliance force under the Duke of Marlborough. In one of the blo ...

in September 1709 during the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

.Whitting, p. 7 The regiment embarked for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

in 1711 as part of the Quebec Expedition but lost 8 officers and 253 men when the ships in which it was sailing foundered on the rocks on the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

; the expedition returned home. It was also in action at the

Capture of Vigo The Capture of Vigo and Pontevedra also known as the British Expedition to Vigo and Pontevedra occurred in October 1719 during the War of the Quadruple Alliance when a British expedition made a descent on the Spanish coast.Rodger p. 229. They the ...

in October 1719. The regiment next saw action at the

Battle of Dettingen The Battle of Dettingen (german: Schlacht bei Dettingen) took place on 27 June 1743 during the War of the Austrian Succession at Dettingen in the Electorate of Mainz, Holy Roman Empire (now Karlstein am Main in Bavaria). It was fought between a ...

in June 1743 during the

War of the Austrian Succession The War of the Austrian Succession () was a European conflict that took place between 1740 and 1748. Fought primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italy, the Atlantic and Mediterranean, related conflicts included King George ...

.Whitting, p. 8 It also fought at the

Battle of Falkirk The Battle of Falkirk (''Blàr na h-Eaglaise Brice'' in Gaelic), on 22 July 1298, was one of the major battles in the First War of Scottish Independence. Led by King Edward I of England, the English army defeated the Scots, led by William Wa ...

in January 1746 during the

Jacobite rebellion Jacobitism (; gd, Seumasachas, ; ga, Seacaibíteachas, ) was a political movement that supported the restoration of the senior line of the House of Stuart to the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British throne. The name derives from the first name ...

when its colonel, Sir Robert Munro, 6th Baronet, was shot and then finished off with three sword blows to the head. It went on to fight under the command of Colonel Lewis Dejean at the

Battle of Culloden The Battle of Culloden (; gd, Blàr Chùil Lodair) was the final confrontation of the Jacobite rising of 1745. On 16 April 1746, the Jacobite army of Charles Edward Stuart was decisively defeated by a British government force under Prince Wi ...

in April 1746 and was ranked the 37th Foot in 1747. The regiment returned to the Netherlands and fought at the

Battle of Lauffeld The Battle of Lauffeld, variously known as Lafelt, Laffeld, Lawfeld, Lawfeldt, Maastricht, or Val, took place on 2 July 1747, between Tongeren in modern Belgium, and the Dutch city of Maastricht. Part of the War of the Austrian Succession, a Fr ...

in July 1747. On 1 July 1751 a royal warrant was issued which provided that in future regiments would no longer be known by their colonel's name, but would bear a regimental number based on their precedence: the regiment became the 37th Regiment of Foot. The second battalion became the

75th Regiment of Foot The 75th (Stirlingshire) Regiment of Foot, was a British Army line infantry regiment, raised in 1787. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 92nd (Gordon Highlanders) Regiment of Foot to form the Gordon Highlanders in 1881. History ...

in 1758. The regiment fought at the

Battle of Minden The Battle of Minden was a major engagement during the Seven Years' War, fought on 1 August 1759. An Anglo-German army under the overall command of Prussian Field Marshal Ferdinand of Brunswick defeated a French army commanded by Marshal of Fr ...

in August 1759 during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754 ...

. After the battle the men of the regiment picked dog-roses from the hedges and put them in their headdresses to celebrate the victory. It also took part in a skirmish at

Grebenstein Grebenstein () is a town in the district of Kassel, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 16 km northwest of Kassel on the German Timber-Frame Road. In 1762 it was the scene of a skirmish between British and French troops during the Seven Years' ...

in June 1762Whitting, p. 11 and another at Fellinghausen in July 1762. It was then garrisoned in

Menorca Menorca or Minorca (from la, Insula Minor, , smaller island, later ''Minorica'') is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Majorca. Its cap ...

from 1763 to 1769.Whitting, p. 12 The regiment embarked for

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

for service in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

in 1776 and was present at the

Battle of Long Island The Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn and the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, was an action of the American Revolutionary War fought on August 27, 1776, at the western edge of Long Island in present-day Brooklyn, New Yor ...

in August 1776 and the British surrender at the end of the

Siege of Yorktown The Siege of Yorktown, also known as the Battle of Yorktown, the surrender at Yorktown, or the German battle (from the presence of Germans in all three armies), beginning on September 28, 1781, and ending on October 19, 1781, at Yorktown, Virg ...

in September 1781.Whitting, p. 14 It became the 37th (the North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot in 1782.

Napoleonic wars

The regiment was next in action at the

Battle of Tournay The Battle of Tournay or Battle of Tournai or Battle of Pont-à-Chin (22 May 1794) saw Republican French forces led by Jean-Charles Pichegru attack Coalition forces under Emperor Francis II and Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. After a ...

in May 1794 in the

Flanders Campaign The Flanders Campaign (or Campaign in the Low Countries) was conducted from 20 April 1792 to 7 June 1795 during the first years of the War of the First Coalition. A coalition of states representing the Ancien Régime in Western Europe – Au ...

of the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted France against Britain, Austria, Pruss ...

. It was posted to the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

from 1800 to 1809 to

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = "Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gibr ...

from 1812 to 1814 and to

from 1814 to 1826.

The Victorian era

Koor Sing, 'The Rebel of Arrah,' and his attendants

The regiment embarked for

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

in 1846 and took part in the suppression of the Matale rebellion in 1847. It moved to India in spring 1857 and, having arrived by steamer on the

Son River Son River ( hi, सोन नदी, also spelt Sone River) is a perennial river located in central India. It originates near Amarkantak Hill in Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi district of Chhattisgarh and finally merges with the Ganges River near Pa ...

, opened fire on the attacking mutineers at the

Siege of Arrah The siege of Arrah (27 July – 3 August 1857) took place during the Indian Mutiny (also known as the Indian Rebellion of 1857). It was the eight-day defence of a fortified outbuilding, occupied by a combination of 18 civilians and 50 members ...

in July 1857 during the

Indian Rebellion The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against Company rule in India, the rule of the East India Company, British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the The Crown, British ...

. It returned to England in 1861 and was sent to

in 1865 before returning to India in 1866. As part of the

Cardwell Reforms The Cardwell Reforms were a series of reforms of the British Army undertaken by Secretary of State for War Edward Cardwell between 1868 and 1874 with the support of Liberal prime minister William Ewart Gladstone. Gladstone paid little attention ...

of the 1870s, where single-battalion regiments were linked together to share a single depot and recruiting district in the United Kingdom, the 37th was linked with the

, and assigned to district no. 40 at

Lower Barracks Lower Barracks was a military installation in Winchester. It was the depot of the Royal Hampshire Regiment from its formation in 1881 until it moved out in 1959. The Royal Hampshire Regiment Museum reopened at Serle's House in 2004. It is one o ...

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

. The regiment returned to England in 1875 and then moved to Ireland in 1880.Whitting, p. 51 On 1 July 1881 the

came into effect and the regiment amalgamated with the 67th (South Hampshire) Regiment of Foot to become the

(later the

Battle honours

Battle honours won by the regiment were: *

Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the greatest town between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district (''Kreis'') of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of De ...

, Tournay,

Peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on a ...

Blenheim Blenheim ( ) is the English name of Blindheim, a village in Bavaria, Germany, which was the site of the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. Almost all places and other things called Blenheim are named directly or indirectly in honour of the battle. Places ...

, Ramillies, Oudenarde, Malplaquet, Dettingen ''(all awarded to successor regiment, 1882)''

Regimental Colonels

Colonels of the Regiment were: *1702–1710: Lt-Gen.

*1710–1715: Col. William Windress *1715–1717: Gen.

John Fane, 7th Earl of Westmorland John Fane, 7th Earl of Westmorland (24 March 1685 – 26 August 1762), styled The Honourable John Fane from 1691 to 1733 and Lord Catherlough from 1733 to 1736, of Mereworth Castle in Kent, was a British Army officer and politician who sat in t ...

(Baron Catherlough) *1717–1722: Col.

Edward Montagu, Viscount Hinchingbrooke Edward Richard Montagu, Viscount Hinchingbrooke (7 July 1692 – 3 October 1722) was a British Army officer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1713 to 1722. Hinchingbrooke was the eldest son of Edward Montagu, 3rd Earl of Sandwi ...

*1722–1735: Brig-Gen. Hon. Robert Murray *1735–1745: Maj-Gen. Hon.

Henry Ponsonby Major-General Sir Henry Frederick Ponsonby (10 December 182521 November 1895) was a British soldier and royal court official who served as Queen Victoria's Private Secretary. Biography Born in Corfu, he was the son of Major-General Sir Frede ...

(killed at the

Battle of Fontenoy The Battle of Fontenoy was a major engagement of the War of the Austrian Succession, fought on 11 May 1745 near Tournai in modern Belgium. A French army of 50,000 under Marshal Saxe defeated a Pragmatic Army of roughly the same size, led by ...

) *1745–1746: Col. Sir Robert Munro, Bt. (killed at the

) *1746–1752: Lt-Gen. Lewis Dejean ;37th Regiment of Foot *1752–1768: Lt-Gen. Hon. James Stuart *1768–1773: Lt-Gen. Sir George Gray, Bt. *1773–1783: Lt-Gen. Sir

Eyre Coote Eyre Coote may refer to: *Eyre Coote (East India Company officer) (1726–1783), Irish soldier and Commander-in-chief of India *Eyre Coote (British Army officer) (1762–1823), Irish-born general in the British Army * Eyre Coote (MP) (1806–1834), ...

, KB ;37th (the North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot *1783–1798: Gen. Sir John Dalling *1798–1810: Gen. Sir

Hew Whitefoord Dalrymple General Sir Hew Whitefoord Dalrymple, 1st Baronet (3 December 1750 – 9 April 1830) was a Scottish general in the British Army and Governor of Gibraltar. Early life Dalrymple was the only son of Captain John Dalrymple, of the 6th Dragoons and ...

*1810–1814: Lt-Gen. Sir Charles Ross, Bt *1814–1831: Gen. Sir Charles Green, Bt *1831–1851: Gen. Hon. Sir Alexander Duff, GCH *1851–1858: Lt-Gen. William Smelt, CB *1858–1862: Lt-Gen. John Fraser *1862–1879: Gen. Sir Thomas Simson Pratt, KCB *1879–1881: Gen. Sir Edmund Haythorne, KCB

References

Sources

* *

External links

History of the 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot by Paul Jerrard
{{Regiments of Foot Royal Hampshire Regiment Infantry regiments of the British Army Military units and formations in Hampshire Military units and formations established in 1702 Regiments of the British Army in the American Revolutionary War Military units and formations disestablished in 1881 Military units and formations of the United Kingdom in the Peninsular War 1702 establishments in England British military units and formations of the War of 1812