British Regiments and the Men Who Led Them 1793-1815

British Regiments and the Men Who Led Them 1793-1815: 18th Regiment of Foot

Secondary Titles:

The Royal Irish

Regimental History

1684:	1 April – raised from independent companies of Foot on the Irish Establishment under Arthur, Earl of Granard
1803:	9 July – 2nd Battalion formed at Newry
1814:	24 October – 2nd Battalion disbanded at Jersey

Colonels

1762:	1 April	Sir John Sebright, Bart.
1794:	26 February	Sir James Pulteney, Bart.
1811:	27 April	John, Lord Hutchinson, K.B.

Stations and Combats – 1st Battalion

1793:	Gibraltar; November – Toulon; Arenes
1794:	February – Corsica; Calvi
1795:	Corsica
1796:	Corsica; October – Elba; to Italy – Campiglia; Castiglione; Piombono
1797:	Gibraltar; detachment served as marines
1798:	Gibraltar
1799:	Gibraltar
1800:	Gibraltar; Minorca; Cadiz; Minorca; Malta, Marmorice
1801:	Marmorice; February – to Egypt; March – Mandora; Alexandria; Rosetta; Rahmanieh; siege of Cairo; October - Malta
1802:	Malta; to Ireland – Cork; Armagh; June – received new colours
1803:	Armagh; July – Newry; October – to Scotland; Edinburgh; Haddington
1804:	Haddington; to England - Ramsgate; Barham Downs
1805:	January – to West Indies; May – Jamaica
1806:	Jamaica
1807:	Jamaica
1808:	Jamaica
1809:	January – San Domingo; Jamaica
1810:	Jamaica; received fit men from 2nd Battalion
1811:	Jamaica
1812:	Jamaica
1813:	Jamaica
1814:	Jamaica; received volunteers from 2nd Battalion
1815:	Jamaica
1817:	March – England, having lost 50 officers and 3000 men in the West Indies to sickness.

Stations and Combats – 2nd Battalion

1803:	9 July – formed at Newry; to England; October – Scotland; Stirling Castle; Dunbar
1804:	Dunbar; to England – Ramsgate; Barham Downs; Jersey
1805:	Jersey
1806:	Alderney
1807:	Alderney; April – to West Indies; Curacao
1808:	Curacao
1809:	Curacao
1810:	Curacao; fit men into 1st Battalion; cadre to England; October – Ottery; received 500 men from depot
1811:	Jersey
1812:	Jersey
1813:	Jersey
1814:	24 October – disbanded at Jersey; NCOs and volunteers sent to 1st Battalion.

Careers of Senior Officers (shown as highest rank attained in regiment in the period)

Lt. Col. David Douglas Wemyss

Born Scotland 1760; served in West Indies 1778 to 1782; also 1786 to 1789; Major in 3rd Foot march 1791; Lieutenant-Colonel in 18th Foot 12 April 1793 (on transfer from 37th Foot); served in Flanders 1793; Governor of Calvi 1795; brevet Colonel 3 May 1796; on staff in Gibraltar 1797 to 1799; Brigadier-General in Mediterranean 1798; Major-General 29 April 1802; commander of forces in Ceylon 1803 to 1806; Lieutenant-General 25 April 1808; General 12 August 1819; died 1839.

Lt. Col. Henry-Tucker Montresor, K.C.B.

Born 1760; Major in 18th Foot 13 May 1794; commanded 18th Foot in Corsica 1794 to 1795; Lieutenant-Colonel 1 September 1795; transferred to Royal Anglo-Corsican Corps 12 March 1796; brevet Colonel 25 September 1803; Brigadier-General in Windward & Leeward Islands 1804; commanded a brigade in Walcheren 1809; Major-General 25 July 1810; on staff in Ireland 1811; on staff in Sicily 1812; commanded forces in Livorno 1814; Lieutenant-General 4 June 1814; died 1837.

Major William Conolly

Brevet Major 1 March 1794; Major in 18th Foot 1 September 1795; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 9 January 1798; gone by 1800.

Major Thomas Probyn

Major in 18th Foot 1 September 1795; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 1 January 1801; retired December 1802; Inspecting Field Officer of Yeomanry January 1804.

Major Sebright Mawby

Served in Gibraltar 1787 to 1793; served in Toulon and Sicily; Major in 18th Foot 1 June 1799; commanded 18th Foot on Minorca 1800 to 1802; Lieutenant-Colonel of 53rd Foot 5 October 1804; subsequently brevet Colonel 4 June 1813; Major-General 12 August 1819.

Major Robert Campbell

Major in 18th Foot 30 October 1802 (on transfer from 48th Foot); retired August 1805.

Lt. Col. Robert Douglas

Major in 56th Foot 10 March 1797; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 11 May 1802; Lieutenant-Colonel in 18th Foot 9 July 1803 (on transfer from 56th Foot); commanded 2/18th Foot 1803 to 1804; Lieutenant-Colonel in 55th Foot 22 September 1804; subsequently Major-General 4 June 1814; died in Essex 1828.

Major William Needham

Major in 18th Foot 9 July 1803 (on transfer from the half-pay of 9th Light Dragoons); Lieutenant-Colonel in 12th Battalion of Reserve October 1804.

Major John Hope

Major in 18th Foot 9 July 1803; retired November 1806.

Lt. Col. William Henry Espinasse

Major in 11th Foot 6 August 1799; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel May 1802; Lieutenant-Colonel in 18th Foot 14 September 1804 (on transfer from 11th Foot); Lieutenant-Colonel in 4th Foot 6 August 1805; retired January 1810.

Lt. Col. Richard O’Dogherty

Major in 69th Foot ???; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 11 May 1802; Lieutenant-Colonel in 18th Foot 14 November 1804 (on transfer from 69th Foot); retired August 1805.

Major Charles James Dunlop

Major in 18th Foot 28 September 1804; retired December 1806.

Major Edward Mockler

Major in 18th Foot October 1804 (on transfer from 46th Foot); exchanged to 11th Garrison Battalion 23 April 1805; Inspecting Field Officer of Yeomanry in Ireland 1805.

Lt. Col. Lionel Smith

Major in 85th Foot 27 April 1802; Major in 16th Foot 29 June 1802; Lieutenant-Colonel in Nova Scotia Fencibles 6 June 1805; Lieutenant-Colonel in 18th Foot 6 August 1805; Lieutenant-Colonel in 65th Foot 25 November 1806.subsequently Major-General 12 August 1819; Lieutenant-General 10 January 1837; died Mauritius 1842.

Lt. Col. Hon. Henry Cadogan

Born London 1780; Major in 53rd Foot 8 November 1804; Lieutenant-Colonel in 18th Foot 22 August 1805 (on transfer from 53rd Foot); on half-pay of Birmingham Fencibles 5 March 1807; killed in action at Vittoria 1813.

Major John Ross

Major in 18th Foot 23 April 1805 (on transfer from half-pay of 11th Garrison Battalion); exchanged to 28th Foot 18 April 1807.

Major Henry Snook

Major in 18th Foot 13 August 1805; retired November 1805.

Major Joseph Gubbins

Major in 18th Foot 7 November 1805 (on transfer from 40th Foot); Lieutenant-Colonel in 8th Garrison Battalion 25 November 1806; subsequently Inspecting Field Officer of Militia in Nova Scotia 16 November 1809; brevet Colonel 4 June 1814.

Lt. Col. Robert Honyman

Lieutenant-Colonel in 18th Foot 27 November 1806 (on transfer from 93rd Foot); died in West Indies 1809.

Lt. Col. James William Graves

Born Ireland 1775; served in Flanders 1793 to 1795; served in West Indies 1795 to 1803; commanded 14th Foot survivors on return from West Indies 1803; Major in 14th Foot 22 October 1803; served in Hanover 1805; Lieutenant-Colonel in 5th Garrison Battalion 25 November 1806; Lieutenant-Colonel in 18th Foot 5 March 1807; Served in West Indies 1809 to 1814; brevet Colonel 4 June 1814; subsequently Major-General 19 July 1821 (rank withdrawn 1826); died Jersey 1845.

Lt. Col. Edward Walker

Served Gibraltar, Mediterranean, Egypt, West Indies; Major in 18th Foot 4 December 1806; Lieutenant-Colonel in 18th Foot 1 October 1812; commanded 2/18th Foot 1812 to 1814; on half-pay 1814 on reduction of 2nd Battalion; Lieutenant-Colonel in 60th Foot 9 February 1815; on half-pay 1820.

Major Wintringham Loscombe

Born Devon 1784; Major in 18th Foot 6 November 1806; retired November 1808.

Major Jonathan Yates

Major in 18th Foot 18 December 1806 (on transfer from 1st Foot); taken POW in West Indies February 1807; exchanged to 47th Foot November 1807.

Major Frederick Philips Robinson

Major in 18th Foot 18 April 1807 (on exchange from 28th Foot); exchanged to 91st Foot 30 April 1807.

Major William Thomlinson

Major in 18th Foot 30 April 1807 (on transfer from 91st Foot); died February 1811.

Major John B. Haffey

Major in 18th Foot 5 November 1807 (on transfer from 47th Foot); gone by 1815.

Major Henry Gibbs Bird

Major in 18th Foot 17 November 1808; died October 1809.

Lt. Col. George Horsford

Major in 58th Foot 4 June 1796; Major in 99th Foot 30 August 1799; Lieutenant-Colonel in 4th West India Regiment 28 August 1801; Lieutenant-Colonel in 18th Foot 26 January 1809; commanded 1/18th Foot 1809 to 1812; brevet Colonel 25 July 1810; Lieutenant-Governor of Bermuda 1812; subsequently Major-General 4 June 1813.

Major Isaac Edward Inston

Major in 18th Foot 12 October 1809; died November 1813.

Major Robert Smyth

Major in 18th Foot 31 January 1811; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 1 January 1812.

Major John MacNiel

Major in 18th Foot 19 October 1812 (on transfer from 7th West India regiment); on half-pay 1820.

Major William Fraser

Brevet Major 4 June 1811; Major in 18th Foot 25 November 1813 (on transfer from 60th Foot); Assistant Adjutant-General on staff in Jamaica; brevet Lieutenant-Colonel 12 August 1819; on half-pay 1820.

Major Jeffery O’Connell

Brevet Major 4 June 1814; major in 18th Foot 8 September 1814; on half-pay 1815.

Sources:

War Office. Army Lists 1796 to 1815. London: various years.

Cannon, Richard. Historical Record of the Eighteenth or The Royal Irish Regiment of Foot: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment, and of its Subsequent Services to 1848. London: Parker, Furnivall & Parker, 1848.

Chichester, Henry Manners, and Burges-Short, Henry. The Records and Badges of Every Regiment and Corps in the British Army. London: William Clowes & Sons, 1895.

McKenna, Michael G. The British Army – And Its Regiments and Battalions. West Chester , Ohio: The Nafziger Collection. 2004.

Park, S.J. and Nafziger, G.F. The British Miltary – Its System and Organization 1803-1815. Cambridge, Ontario: Rafm Co. Inc. 1983.

Philippart, John. The Royal Military Calendar, or Army Service and Commission Book. London: A.J. Valpy, 1820.

Reid, Stuart. Wellington’s Officers, Volume 1. Leigh-On-Sea: Patrizan Press, 2008.

Westlake, Ray. English & Welsh Infantry Regiments - An Illustrated Record of Service 1662-1994. Staplehurst: Spellmount, 2002.

London Gazette Website. May 2009.

Placed on the Napoleon Series: June 2009

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