The 98th (Prince of Wales) 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 ...

. It was originally raised in 1824 as the 98th Regiment of Foot, before assuming the title of the 98th (Prince of Wales) Regiment of Foot in 1876. Later, in 1881, following the Childers Reforms of the British Army, the regiment was amalgamated with the 64th Regiment of Foot to become the Prince of Wales's (North Staffordshire) Regiment. As the 64th Foot was senior to the 98th, the 98th became the 2nd Battalion in the new regiment. Throughout the course of the regiment's existence it served mostly overseas in South Africa, China and India.

History

Formation

The 98th Foot was raised in

Chichester Chichester ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in the Chichester District, Chichester district of West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher ...

by Lieutenant Colonel Mildmay Fane in response to the threat posed by the French intervention in Spain in March 1824. It was the sixth regiment to be numbered the 98th Foot. The first

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

of the regiment was Major General Henry Conran. The first set of

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were presented by the Duchess of Richmond at a ceremony at Chichester on 6 October 1824. In December 1824 the new regiment was posted to South Africa where for all bar two years of its 13-year tour it was based in Cape Town, the other two years being in Grahamstown. During the entire tour no active service was seen. Returning to England in 1837 the regiment was based for two years in Newcastle upon Tyne where it was frequently called out to support the civil powers during the Chartist unrests. At this point command of the regiment was taken over by its most famous commanding officer, Sir Colin Campbell who commanded the regiment for 12 years between 1835 and 1847.

The Victorian era

In 1841 the regiment moved to Ireland but very shortly afterwards was sent to China during the

First Opium War The First Opium War ( zh, t=第一次鴉片戰爭, p=Dìyīcì yāpiàn zhànzhēng), also known as the Anglo-Chinese War, was a series of military engagements fought between the British Empire and the Chinese Qing dynasty between 1839 and 1 ...

. Arriving in Hong Kong in 1842 it formed part of the 1st Brigade, commanded by Major General

Lord Saltoun Lord Saltoun, of Abernethy, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1445 for Sir Lawrence Abernethy. The title remained in the Abernethy family until the death in 1669 of his descendant the tenth Lady Saltoun. She was succeeded ...

, along with the 26th Foot, the Bengal Volunteer Battalion and the grenadier and light companies of the 41st Madras Native Infantry. The brigade advanced on Chinkiang and after an ineffective pursuit of retreating Chinese forces took part in the final advance on

Nanking Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yan ...

. During this war very few battle casualties were taken but over 50 died from cholera with another over 200 unfit for duty. As a result of its participation in the war, the regiment was awarded its first battle honour "The DRAGON superscribed CHINA". A move to Hong Kong followed where the appalling death rate from disease continued with over 500 dying and sick. This loss of life affected the 98th's commander, Sir Colin Campbell; his biographer,

Adrian Greenwood Adrian Mark Greenwood (October 1973 – 6 April 2016) was a British historian, biographer, author, and art dealer, with a particular interest in nineteenth-century British military history. As well as hundreds of articles on antiques and collec ...

, argues that Campbell was suffering from

manic depression Bipolar disorder (BD), previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that each last from days to weeks, and in some cases months. If the elevated m ...

at the time. The next move was to India in 1846. Initially the regiment was based in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

(Kolkata) and

Dinapore Danapur Nizamat or Danapur is an Indian satellite town and one of six subdivisions (tehsil) in the Patna district of Bihar state.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 ...

, a second battle honour – PUNJAUB – was awarded. From here the regiment was one of the first British units to serve on the North West Frontier and spent 1849–1851 in and around the Kohat Pass area. The governor-general of India, had instructed Sir Colin Campbell to take the 98th on a series of punitive raids against

Pathan Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghans until 1964 after the ...

tribesmen, in order to force them to pay taxes levied by the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

, but Campbell refused and was forced to resign and return to England. By 1851 the regiment had been abroad for a total of nine years and in that time it had suffered over 1,100 deaths, mostly from sickness, with almost 200 invalided home. The last three years of the posting were spent in Calcutta before the regiment returned to England in 1855. Following three years on home service the regiment returned to India and the North West Frontier. As a result, it saw no service in the

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 ...

. Instead it was employed as part of the Sittana Field Force sent to deal with the so-called Hindustani Fanatics. The regiment returned home in 1867 and then in 1870 moved to Ireland for three years. During this time it dealt with minor disturbance including a mutiny by the Tipperary Light Infantry Militia. 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 98th was linked with the

64th (2nd Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot The 64th (2nd Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army. The regiment was created as the 2nd Battalion, 11th Regiment of Foot in 1756, redesignated as the 64th Regiment of Foot in 1758, and took a county titl ...

, and assigned to district no. 20 at

Whittington Barracks DMS Whittington, otherwise known as Defence Medical Services Whittington (formerly Whittington Barracks), is a military base in Whittington, Staffordshire, near Lichfield in England. It is home to the Staffordshire Regiment Museum, the Headquart ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

. The next posting was to the West Indies from 1873 to 1880 followed by a move to Malta. It was in Malta following the presentation of what transpired to be the last set of regimental colours by

The Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

that the regiment became the 98th (Prince of Wales's) Regiment of Foot on 27 October 1876.

Amalgamation

War broke out in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

in 1879 and in 1880 in response the regiment moved once more to India being based initially at

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

. It was here that in 1881 the eventual conclusion of 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 ...

took effect and the regiment amalgamated with the 64th Foot and with militia and rifle volunteer units in Northern Staffordshire to form the Prince of Wales's (North Staffordshire) Regiment. As the junior regiment the 98th Foot became the 2nd Battalion of the new regiment. The regiment was renamed The North Staffordshire (The Prince of Wales's) Regiment in 1920. In 1959 the North Staffordshire and

South Staffordshire Regiment The South Staffordshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence for only 68 years. The regiment was created in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 38th (1st Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot a ...

s amalgamated to form the Staffordshire Regiment (The Prince of Wales's). In September 2007 The Staffordshire Regiment amalgamated with the 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment and the

Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment (29th/45th Foot) (abbreviated as ''WFR'') was an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Prince of Wales' Division. The regiment served as the county regiment for Derbyshire, Nottingha ...

to form the

Mercian Regiment The Mercian Regiment (Cheshire, Worcesters and Foresters, and Staffords) is an infantry regiment of the British Army, which is recruited from five of the counties that formed the ancient kingdom of Mercia. Known as 'The Heart of England's Infant ...

, in which the Staffords became the 3rd (Staffordshire) Battalion. The Dragon device is still carried on the colours and drums of the Mercian Regiment.

Battle honours

The 98th Foot was granted the following battle honours: * The DRAGON superscribed CHINA (1842); * PUNJAUB (1848).

Colonels of the Regiment

Colonels of the Regiment were: *1824–1829: Lt-Gen. Henry Conron *1829–1832: Lt-Gen. Sir Samuel Venables Hinde, KCB *1832–1836: Maj-Gen. Hon. Sir Charles John Greville, KCB *1836–1839: Lt-Gen. John Ross, CB *1839–1854: Gen. Sir

Willoughby Cotton Lieutenant-General Sir Willoughby Cotton (1783 – 4 May 1860) was an English soldier in the British Army. Family Willoughby Cotton was born in 1783, to Vice-Admiral Rowland Cotton and Elizabeth Aston. They also had a daughter, Sydney Arabe ...

, GCB, KCH *1854–1863: Gen. William Lindsay Darling *1863–1864: Maj-Gen.

Robert Henry Wynyard Major General Robert Henry Wynyard (24 December 1802 – 6 January 1864) was a British Army officer and New Zealand colonial administrator, serving at various times as Lieutenant Governor of New Ulster Province, Administrator of the Gove ...

, CB *1864–1881: Gen. Sir Robert Percy Douglas, Bt.

References

Sources

* * *

External links

Official British Army Website of the 98th Regiment of Foot
{{DEFAULTSORT:98th (Prince Of Wales's) Regiment Of Foot Infantry regiments of the British Army North Staffordshire Regiment Military units and formations established in 1824 Military units and formations in Staffordshire Military units and formations disestablished in 1881 1824 establishments in the United Kingdom