The 32nd Regiment of Foot was an

infantry Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, military service, service, or administrative corps, specialisation. In Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of l ...

of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

, raised in 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 w ...

it amalgamated with the

46th (South Devonshire) Regiment of Foot The 46th (South Devonshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1741. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 32nd (Cornwall) Regiment of Foot to form the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in 1881, b ...

to form the

Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (DCLI) was a Light infantry, light infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1959. The regiment was created on 1 July 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms, by the merger of the 32nd ( ...

in 1881.

History

Early wars

The regiment was first raised by Colonel Edward Fox as Edward Fox’s Regiment of Marines in 1702 to fight in the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict fought between 1701 and 1714. The immediate cause was the death of the childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700, which led to a struggle for control of the Spanish E ...

. Elements of the regiment joined the fleet which sailed from

Spithead Spithead is an eastern area of the Solent and a roadstead for vessels off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds except those from the southeast, with the Isle of Wight lying to the south-west. Spithead and the ch ...

in July 1702 and saw action as marines at the

Battle of Vigo Bay The Battle of Vigo Bay, also known as the Battle of Rande (; ), was a naval engagement fought on 23 October 1702 during the opening years of the War of the Spanish Succession. The engagement followed an Anglo-Dutch attempt to capture the Spanish ...

in October 1702. The marines returned to England in November 1702. The regiment also took part in the capture and defence of Gibraltar in July 1704 and suffered very heavy losses at the

Battle of Almansa The Battle of Almansa took place on 25 April 1707, during the War of the Spanish Succession. It was fought between an army loyal to Philip V of Spain, Bourbon claimant to the Spanish throne, and one supporting his Habsburg rival, Archduke Charl ...

in April 1707. It was disbanded in 1713 but re-raised as Jacob Borr’s Regiment of Foot in 1714. It then served in Ireland from 1716 to 1734. Soldier of 32nd regiment 1742

In summer 1742 the regiment was despatched to Belgium for service in the

War of the Austrian Succession The War of the Austrian Succession was a European conflict fought between 1740 and 1748, primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italian Peninsula, Italy, the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Related conflicts include King Ge ...

: it was held in reserve at the

Battle of Dettingen The Battle of Dettingen took place on 27 June 1743 during the War of the Austrian Succession, near Karlstein am Main in Bavaria. An alliance composed of British, Hanoverian and Austrian troops, known as the Pragmatic Army, defeated a French ...

in June 1743. but fought at the

Battle of Fontenoy The Battle of Fontenoy took place on 11 May 1745 during the War of the Austrian Succession, near Tournai, then in the Austrian Netherlands, now Belgium. A French army of 50,000 under Maurice, comte de Saxe, Marshal Saxe defeated a Pragmatic Ar ...

in May 1745. The regiment returned to England in October 1745 and were stationed in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

during the

Jacobite rising Jacobitism was a political ideology advocating the restoration of the senior line of the House of Stuart to the British throne. When James II of England chose exile after the November 1688 Glorious Revolution, the Parliament of England ruled ...

in 1745. On 1 July 1751 a

royal warrant A royal warrant is a document issued by a monarch which confers rights or privileges on the recipient, or has the effect of law. Royal warrant may refer to: * Royal warrant of appointment, warrant to tradespeople who supply goods or services to a r ...

was issued declaring that in future regiments were no longer to be known by their colonel's name, but by the ''"Number or Rank of the Regiment"''. Accordingly, General Francis Leighton's Regiment was renamed as the 32nd Regiment of Foot. In late 1775, ''Rockingham Castle'', which had been hired to transport three companies of the regiment, along with a number of their families, making for

Cobh Cobh ( ,), known from 1849 until 1920 as Queenstown, is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. With a population of 14,148 inhabitants at the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, Cobh is on the south si ...

in a heavy gale, mistook Robert's Cove for the entrance to Cork harbour, and was driven onto a lee shore at Reannie's Bay, a few miles distant. The master and crew of the ship were drowned, as were about ninety of the passengers. In 1782 all regiments of the line without a royal title were given a county designation and the regiment became the 32nd (Cornwall) Regiment of Foot. In 1796 the regiment was deployed to

Saint-Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colonization of the Americas, French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1803. The name derives from the Spanish main city on the isl ...

as part of the response to a rebellion there but one of the transport ships was captured by the French Navy and some soldiers from the regiment, along with Lieutenant General Frederick Wetherall, became

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

. The regiment were also sent to

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

as part of the response to the Irish rebellion in 1803.

Napoleonic Wars

The regiment was deployed to Denmark in July 1807 and were ordered aboard the captured Danish ships as marines at the Battle of Copenhagen in August 1807 during the

Gunboat War The Gunboat War (, , Swedish: ''Kanonbåtskriget''; 1807–1814) was a naval conflict between Denmark–Norway and Great Britain supported by Sweden during the Napoleonic Wars. The war's name is derived from the Danish tactic of employing sm ...

. The regiment landed in Portugal in June 1808, and under General

Sir Arthur Wellesley Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (; 1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was a British Army officer and statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures in Britain during t ...

, fought in the

Battle of Roliça At the Battle of Roliça (17 August 1808), the first battle fought by the British army during the Peninsular War, an Anglo-Portuguese army under Sir Arthur Wellesley defeated an outnumbered Imperial French division under General of Divisio ...

and the

Battle of Vimeiro In the Battle of Vimeiro (sometimes shown as "Vimiera" or "Vimeira" in contemporary British texts) on 21 August 1808, the British under General Arthur Wellesley (who later became the Duke of Wellington) defeated the French under Major-Gene ...

in August 1808. The regiment fought under General Sir John Moore in the retreat to Corunna, and on returning to England they were part of the

Walcheren Campaign The Walcheren Campaign () was an unsuccessful United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British expedition to the Kingdom of Holland in 1809 intended to open another front in the Austrian Empire's struggle with First French Empire, France ...

in the Netherlands where many were struck down with malaria. After being reinforced the regiment returned to Spain in June 1811, and contributed to the storming parties at the

Battle of Salamanca The Battle of Salamanca (in French and Spanish known as the Battle of the Arapiles) took place on 22July 1812. An Anglo-Portuguese Army, Anglo-Portuguese army under the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Earl of Wellington (future ...

in July 1812. The regiment pursued the French Army into France and saw action again at the

Battle of the Pyrenees The Battle of the Pyrenees was a large-scale offensive (the author David Chandler recognises the 'battle' as an offensive) launched on 25 July 1813 by Marshal Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult from the Pyrénées region on Emperor Napoleon's order, ...

in July 1813, the

Battle of Nivelle The Battle of Nivelle (10 November 1813) took place in front of the river Nivelle near the end of the Peninsular War (1808–1814). After the Allied siege of San Sebastian, Wellington's 80,000 British, Portuguese and Spanish troops (20, ...

in November 1813 and the

Battle of the Nive The Battles of the Nive (9–13 December 1813) were fought towards the end of the Peninsular War. Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese Army, Anglo-Portuguese and Spanish Army ...

in December 1813Swiney, p. 103 as well as the

Battle of Orthez The Battle of Orthez (27 February 1814) saw the Anglo-Spanish-Portuguese Army under Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington attack an Imperial French army led by Marshal Nicolas Soult in southern France. The outnumbered F ...

in February 1814. During the Napoleonic Wars the regiment had white facings on its uniform and the officer's lace and buttons were gold. The officer's jackets were unlaced, with 10 twist buttonholes placed in pairs. The jacket of the other ranks had 10 square loops spaced in pairs. The regiment fought at the

Battle of Quatre Bras The Battle of Quatre Bras was fought on 16 June 1815, as a preliminary engagement to the decisive Battle of Waterloo that occurred two days later. The battle took place near the strategic crossroads of Quatre Bras and was contested between el ...

, arriving about 3 pm on 16 June 1815 just in time to help halt the French advance. Two days later at

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium), marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The French Imperial Army (1804–1815), Frenc ...

the regiment was stationed opposite the French main attacks, standing their ground before attacking

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

's assaulting troops. The 1st Battalion of the regiment was part of the 8th British Brigade commanded by Major-General

James Kempt General Sir James Kempt, ( – 20 December 1854) was a British Army officer, who served in the Netherlands, Egypt, Italy, the Peninsula, and British North America during the Napoleonic Wars. He led a British brigade at the Battle of Waterloo and ...

, which was in turn part of the 5th British Infantry Division under Lieutenant-General

Thomas Picton Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Picton (24 August 175818 June 1815) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator. He fought in the Napoleonic Wars and died at Waterloo. According to the historian Alessandro Barbero, Picton was "respecte ...

. The regiment was commanded on the field by Lieutenant-Colonel John Hicks and numbered at 503 men at the battle of Waterloo having suffered casualties at Quatre Bras. It was two men of the regiment's Grenadier company who bore Pictons's body away after he was fatally shot through the head.

The Victorian era

The regiment was sent to Canada in June 1830 and fought at the Battle of Saint-Denis in November 1837 and at the Battle of Saint-Eustache in December 1837 during the

Lower Canada Rebellion The Lower Canada Rebellion (), commonly referred to as the Patriots' Rebellion () in French, is the name given to the armed conflict in 1837–38 between rebels and the colonial government of Lower Canada (now southern Quebec). Together wit ...

. The regiment also saw action at the

Siege of Multan Siege of Multan may refer to, * Siege of Multan, 1296–1297, Alauddin Khalji's conquest of Multan. * Siege of Multan (1398) part of the Timurid invasion of India * Siege of Multan (1528), Babur annexes Langah dynasty * Siege of Multan (1772) ...

in autumn 1848 and at the

Battle of Gujrat The Battle of Gujrat was a decisive battle in the Second Anglo-Sikh War, fought on 21 February 1849, between the forces of the East India Company, and a Sikh army in rebellion against the company's control of the Sikh Empire, represented by ...

in February 1849 during the

Second Anglo-Sikh War The Second Anglo-Sikh War was a military conflict between the Sikh Empire and the East India Company which took place from 1848 to 1849. It resulted in the fall of the Sikh Empire, and the annexation of the Punjab region, Punjab and what sub ...

. The regiment defended

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

from July to November 1857,

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

es being awarded to William Dowling, Henry Gore-Browne, Samuel Lawrence and

William Oxenham William Oxenham Victoria Cross, VC (July 1823 – 29 December 1875) was an England, English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to United Kingdom, B ...

. The regiment's commanding officer, Colonel John Inglis, was in overall command of the Lucknow Residency during the

siege A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...

. The regiment was retitled the 32nd (Cornwall) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) in recognition of its contribution during the rebellion. 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 attentio ...

of the 1870s, where single-battalion regiments were linked together to share a single depot and recruiting district in the United Kingdom, the 32nd was linked with the

, and assigned to district no. 35 at

Victoria Barracks, Bodmin Victoria Barracks was a military installation in Bodmin, Cornwall. History The barracks originally comprised a keep, adjoining stables and a parade ground completed in 1859. In 1873 a system of recruiting areas based on counties was institute ...

. On 1 July 1881 the

came into effect and the regiment amalgamated with the 46th (South Devonshire) Regiment of Foot to form the

. The home church of the 32nd Regiment where regimental

colours Color (or colour in Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though color is not an inherent property of matter, color perception is related to an object's light absorpt ...

are retired is St. Petroc's Church located in

Bodmin Bodmin () is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated south-west of Bodmin Moor. The extent of the civil parish corresponds fairly closely to that of the town so is mostly urban in character. It is bordered ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

.Swiney, p. xii

Battle honours

Battle honours gained by the regiment were: * ''Peninsular War'':

Roliça Bombarral () is a portuguese municipality in the Oeste region, historical province of Estremadura, and the Leiria district. The population in 2011 was 13,193, in an area of . It includes four civil parishes () that provide local services. Histo ...

, Vimiera, Corunna,

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

Nivelle Nivelle () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 647 communes of the Nord department of the French Republic. The communes cooperate ...

Nive The Nive (; ; ) is a French river that flows through the French Basque Country. It is a left tributary of the river Adour. It is long. The river's source in the Pyrenees in Lower Navarre. The river Nive was made famous by the ''Le petit Nicol ...

, Orthes, Peninsula *

Waterloo Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, 1815 battle where Napoleon's French army was defeated by Anglo-allied and Prussian forces * Waterloo, Belgium Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Australia * Waterloo, New South Wale ...

* ''Second Anglo-Sikh War'': Goojerat, Mooltan,

Punjaub Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and nor ...

* ''Indian Mutiny'':

* Dettingen ''(awarded to successor regiment, 1882)'' * Gibraltar 1704–05 ''(awarded to successor regiment, 1909)''

Victoria Crosses

* Private William Dowling,

Indian Mutiny The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form ...

(4 July 1857 and 27 September 1857) * Captain Henry Gore-Browne, Indian Mutiny (21 August 1857) * Lieutenant Samuel Lawrence Indian Mutiny (7 July 1857 and 26 September 1857) * Corporal

Indian Mutiny (30 June 1857)

Regimental Colonels

Colonels of the Regiment were: ;32nd Regiment of Foot – (1751) ;32nd (the Cornwall) Regiment of Foot – (1782) ;32nd (The Cornwall) Regiment Foot (Light Infantry) – (1858)

References

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:32nd (Cornwall) Regiment Of Foot Infantry regiments of the British Army Military units and formations established in 1702 Military units and formations in Cornwall Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry 1702 establishments in England