56th (West Essex) Regiment of Foot

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name=56th (West Essex) Regiment of Foot


caption=
dates=1755-1881
country=United Kingdom
branch=Army
type=Line Infantry
command_structure=
role=
size=
current_commander=
garrison=
colonel_in_chief=
colonel_of_the_regiment=
nickname=The Pompadours
motto="Montis insignia Calpe"
colors=Purple facings to uniform
identification_symbol_2=
identification_symbol_2_label=
march=
mascot=
battles=Moro; Gibraltar; Sevastopol. ["Havannah" awarded 1909, after amalgamation into Essex Regiment]
notable_commanders=
anniversaries=

The 56th (West Essex) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment in the British Army from 1755 to 1881. The regiment was amalgamated with the 44th (East Essex) Regiment of Foot to form the Essex Regiment in 1881.

Formation and early service

Following the rise of tensions in North America in 1755, the British government decided to raise ten regiments of infantry in preparation for an expected war with France. Orders for the raising of the 52nd to 61st Regiments of Foot were issued in December of that year.

One of these regiments, the 58th Regiment of Foot, was raised at Newcastle and Gateshead on December 28 1755, under the colonelcy of Lord Charles Manners, whose commission was dated December 26th. Throughout 1756 it recruited heavily to come to its authorised establishment of ten companies, each of 78 men. On December 25th, 1756, the 50th and 51st Regiments were disbanded, and all higher-numbered units redesignated, with the 58th becoming the 56th Regiment of Foot.

In April 1757 it moved to Berwick, and thence into Scotland, where it would take up garrison duties; it occupied quarters at Aberdeen in 1758 and Edinburgh in 1759. In July 1760 it returned to England, sailing from Leith to Portsmouth, and was stationed at Hilsea through 1761. On December 17th of that year, Lord Charles Manners was succeeded in the colonelcy by Colonel William Keppel.

West Indies campaign

On January 4th, 1762, Britain declared war on Spain in the Seven Years' War, and began preparing for an expedition against Spanish possessions in the Caribbean. The 56th was assigned as part of the expeditionary force, and sailed from Portsmouth on March 5th, arriving off Havana on June 6th and landing the following day. The regiment numbered a total of 933 officers and men, and was brigaded with four companies of the 1st Foot and a battalion of the 60th Foot.

The main object of the force was to besiege the Moro fortress, which guarded the harbour. After a long reduction, a storming party was organised and attacked on July 30th, and took the fort after a brief but violent action, in which 150 of the garrison were killed and 400 taken prisoner, with the remaining 200 dying in an attempt to escape in small boats. The regiment was granted the battle honour "The Moro" for this action. [This distinction is unusual both for being the first battle honour granted for an individual action in a larger engagement, as well as for being one of the few battle honours received by a regiment on its first active service. It is also unique to the 56th; no other regiment was granted the honour]

The city surrendered on August 13th; in 1909, the Essex Regiment would belatedly receive the battle honour "Havannah" for the 56th's service in the siege. The regiment suffered twelve deaths, with one officer and 23 men wounded, during the campaign. The 56th remained as part of the Havana garrison for the following year, until Cuba was returned to Spain by the Treaty of Paris, when it was transported to Ireland, arriving in Limerick in October 1763. The regiment moved to Dublin in May 1765, and in June 1765 the colonelcy was assigned to Lieutenant-General James Durand. He died in 1766, and was succeeded by Colonel Hunt Walsh.

Gibraltar

In 1770 the regiment was despatched to Gibraltar, sailing from Cork in May. The regiment was augmented by a light infantry company of seventy men in December 1770, and the ten line companies had their authorised establishment raised by twenty-one men.

The regiment remained in the Gibraltar garrison for several years, and was present when Spain declared war on the United Kingdom in June 1779 and the Great Siege of Gibraltar began. At this point, the effective regimental strength was 560 men and 27 officers, around a tenth of the garrison. A relief convoy arrived early in 1780, and a second in April 1781, but supplies remained limited. The commander of the garrison decided late in 1781 to attempt a sortie, and this was launched on the night of November 26th; the flank companies of the 56th were part of the raiding force, and successfully destroyed several batteries of artillery.

On October 31st 1782 the regiment was given a county affiliation, part of a move to increase recruiting by linking regiments to local areas, and became the 56th (West Essex) Regiment of Foot.

The siege was finally lifted in February 1783 - after three years and seven months - when the Treaty of Paris ended hostilities, and confirmed British possession of Gibraltar. The 56th received the battle honour "Gibraltar" for its service in the siege, with the right to bear the castle-and-key insignia on its colours. It was relieved in October 1783, and returned to England.

In the spring of 1784 it moved to garrison duty in Scotland, serving at various stations there until January 1788, when it embarked for Ireland with a reduced establishment of ten companies. From 1788 to 1793 it was stationed in Ireland.

French Revolutionary Wars

With the French Revolution of 1792 the army was expanded in preparation for war; the authorised establishment of the 56th was brought up to twelve companies, and it was ordered to prepare for overseas service. It embarked for the West Indies in November 1793, arriving at Barbados in January 1794, and fought at the capture of Martinique in February. The line companies being left there as a garrison, the light and grenadier companies fought at the capture of St. Lucia in April, and the whole regiment saw service fighting at the capture of Guadeloupe in September. It remained as a garrison in the West Indies for the remainder of 1794, but took great losses from disease. In October, the men still fit for service were transferred to the 6th, 9th and 15th regiments, and the remaining cadre of officers and men embarked to return to England on January 3, 1795.

Arriving in England in February, they were stationed at Chatham to recruit and retrain. The regiment sailed to Cork in September, and after a brief period in Ireland was deemed to have attained "so perfect a state of discipline and efficiency" ["Historical Record", p.25] that it was considered fit for overseas service once more, and despatched to Barbados. It was sent to St. Domingo, and remained there through 1797. On the death of General Walsh, the colonelcy had passed to Major-General Samuel Hulse on March 7 1795; he did not retain it long, and it was conferred on Major-General Chapple Norton on January 24 1797. After a period stationed in Jamaica, the regiment returned to England at the end of 1798, again to recruit and rebuild its strength.

In 1799 the regiment was part of the force sent to the Netherlands in the ill-fated Helder Campaign, arriving in Holland in September in time for the Battle of Schoorl-Oudkarspel on the 19th, where it suffered sixty-three officers and men killed or wounded, plus another fifty-nine missing. It fought at Bergen and Egmont-op-Zee on October 2nd, before withdrawing from the Netherlands on November 18th.

During 1800 the regiment was stationed in Ireland, and increased its establishment by a further two companies of a hundred men each. The new recruits, since returning from the West Indies in 1799, had been enlisted for service only within Europe; on hearing the announcement of the major victories in the Egyptian campaign in 1801, they promptly offered their services for general service throughout the world. This offer was, however, quickly followed by the Peace of Amiens in 1802, and the regiment remained in Ireland.

Napoleonic Wars

On the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars, a major expansion of the land forces was put in place to deter an invasion; on 25th December 1804, some four hundred men raised in Surrey were placed on the Army establishment as the 2nd Battalion, 56th Regiment, shortly thereafter expanded to 656 men. The existing battalion of the regiment was, accordingly, redesignated as the 1st Battalion, 56th Regiment. Noting the great success the two existing battalions had had with recruiting, a third was authorised, and raised in 1813 at Horsham as the 3rd Battalion, 56th Regiment.

1st Battalion

The 1st Battalion moved from Ireland to the Isle of Wight in January 1805, where it was brought to a full strength of a thousand men, and shortly thereafter embarked for Bombay, where it remained as a garrison for several years. In 1808, its strength was augmented to 1300 men. A force of 200 men were detached for service in the Indian Ocean in January 1809, successfully raiding the Île Bourbon in September, capturing a large amount of shipping at anchor.

During this time, in August 1809, the remaining companies of the battalion were shipped from Bombay to Madras at short notice and under great secrecy in August, in an attempt to avert a possible rebellion of the Indian regiments by a show of force. This was successful, with any violence being averted, and the regiment received the thanks of the Governor in Council.

In 1810 a second expedition was mounted into the Indian Ocean, with a strong detachment of the first battalion as well as various other units, and the Île Bourbon was taken on July 10th. The detachment also saw action at the capture of Mauritius in December.

In 1811 the headquarters of the regiment was joined by a large party of volunteers from the militia, which had been taken into the 56th, and received a new pair of colours as a gift from the Honourable East India Company. The detachment from the Indian Ocean returned towards the end of the year.

With the return of Napoleon to France in 1815, the 1st Battalion was again despatched to Mauritius to reinforce the garrison there against the possibility of a revolt by the French population, where it remained.

2nd Battalion

The 2nd Battalion moved between various stations in southern England through 1805, being presented with its colours on 28th November at the Isle of Wight. In December it was brought up to an establishment of 866 men, raised to a thousand early in 1806. In March 1806 it moved to Guernsey for garrison duties, returning to the Isle of Wight in early 1807, and embarked for India in June. The two portions of the battalion were split up in a gale, one group putting in at the Cape of Good Hope to refit before continuing to Madras in convoy with HMS "Greyhound", arriving in December. The battalion proceeded to Bombay, where it encountered the 1st Battalion for the first time, and moved to Surat in January 1809, where four companies were detached to aid in the capture of a bandit fort at Mallia, returning to the battalion in December.

A detachment of the battalion served on board the frigates "Psyche" and "Piedmontaise" as marines in 1809-1810, and fought in a brief war with Travancore in 1809.

The 2nd Battalion expanded its establishment in 1810, rising to an authorised strength of 1306 men. It suffered greatly from disease during operations in 1813, and then in camp in 1814, losing some three hundred and thirty men between March 1813 and December 1814, but by January 1815 had moved to more salubrious climes at Assaye and was able to muster nine hundred men fit for service.

The 2nd Battalion was ordered to be disbanded as part of the reduction in the army after Waterloo, and marched to Bombay in November 1816. There, four hundred men who volunteered to continue in India were transferred to the 65th Regiment, and the bulk of the regiment sailed for England in January. The line companies were disbanded at Rochester on June 25th, and the flank companies (which had left India in July) at Chatham on December 29th.

3rd Battalion

The 3rd Battalion was raised at Horsham in November 1813, and was recruited very rapidly; within a month of its formation, it was reported as ready for service. It embarked for Holland on 9th December, and fought at the Battle of Merxem on January 30 1814. After service in the siege of Antwerp, the battalion returned to England after Napoleon's abdication, and disbanded at Sheerness on October 24th. The men still fit for service were drafted to the 1st and 2nd battalions, and sent to India.

Peacetime service

By the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the regiment was stationed in Mauritius, where it undertook routine garrison duties in the newly acquired colony. A major fire in September 1817 destroyed more than half of Port Louis, the island's capital; the regiment was employed in attempting to fight the fire, and two men were killed. In 1818 General Norton died, and was succeeded in the colonelcy by Lieutenant-General Sir John Murray. The regiment finally returned to England in 1826, after twenty years overseas.

In 1827 it moved to Ireland from Hull, and after General Murray's death, the colonelcy was conferred upon Lieutenant-General Lord Aylmer. The regiment received new colours on April 4 1828. On July 23 1831 Lieutenant-General Sir Hudson Lowe was appointed to the colonelcy.

Under the 1825 army reforms, six companies would be sent for overseas service at any one time, whilst four remained in the United Kingdom as a depot. Accordingly, when the regiment embarked for Jamaica in 1831 it took six of its ten companies. Other than a brief epidemic of yellow fever in 1837, claiming sixty men, the time in Jamaica was uneventful. In July 1838, the Sheerness depot provided the guard of honour for the visit of Marshal Soult. [Article in "The Times", July 31, 1838]

In March 1840 the main body of the regiment sailed aboard HMS "Apollo" for Canada, to reinforce the garrison there during the Northeastern Boundary Dispute. It returned to England in July 1842, aboard HMS "Resistance", where it rejoined its depot companies and moved to Ireland. On November 17 1842, the Earl of Westmorland was appointed to the colonelcy.

The regiment remained at various stations in Ireland, serving to assist in keeping the peace during the widespread repeal movement demonstrations, until it moved to England in 1844. A reserve battalion was formed this year, by organising the existing depot companies, and forming a new depot force. The main force of the regiment moved to Gibraltar in December 1846. The reserve battalion of the regiment was transported to join them in February 1847 [Article in "The Times", February 15, 1847] ; it later disbanded, with the men transferred to rejoin the main force.

The regiment left Gibraltar in May 1851 aboard the "Resistance", for service in Bermuda. [Article in "The Times", June 4, 1851] In September 1853, an outbreak of yellow fever aboard the convict hulk "Thames" in Bermuda harbour spread to the barracks; of a detachment of 500 men present, more than a hundred died. [Article in "The Times", October 13, 1853] The regiment was ordered home in December 1853 [Article in "The Times", December 21, 1853] , but did not reach Ireland until January 1855, again in the "Resistance". [Article in "The Times", January 16, 1855]

Crimean War

After a brief spell in Ireland, the regiment was ordered overseas to fight in the Crimean War, and arrived off Balaklava in late August, where it was proposed to land it in preparation for a Russian attack; it was eventually attached to the First Division. [Article in "The Times", September 10, 1855] The regiment saw some service at the end of the Siege of Sevastopol, and was awarded the battle honour "Sevastopol".

The regiment boarded HMS "Algiers" to leave the Crimea on 11th July 1856, part of the final rearguard to depart. [Article in "The Times", July 31, 1856]

Indian service

On the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny, the regiment was stationed in Ireland; it sailed for India in late August 1857. [Article in "The Times", August 26, 1857] Whilst it remained in Bombay through the Mutiny, it did not see active service. The Earl of Westmoreland died in October 1859, and was succeeded as colonel by Lieutenant-General John Home Home on the 17th. He, however, died shortly afterwards, and was succeeded by the regiment's twelfth - and final - colonel, General Henry William Breton.

The regiment boarded ships to return from Bombay in December 1865; they arrived at Portsmouth, and took up residence in barracks there, in March 1866. [Article in "The Times", March 27, 1866] After a spell in England, the regiment moved to Ireland in early 1868, and then embarked for India in February 1871. By late 1877 the regiment had moved to Aden [Article in "The Times", October 23, 1877] , and was ordered home in early 1878.

Amalgamation and successors

In 1872, the Cardwell reforms had organised the depot system such that all single-battalion regiments would share a depot with another, "partner", regiment; in theory, whilst one was on foreign service the other would remain at home to train and act as a reserve. Under the Childers reforms in 1881, each of these pairs of regiments were amalgamated together to form a new two-battalion regiment; the senior regiment would become the senior battalion, and the junior regiment the junior, with no significant change in personnel.

The 56th had been paired (appropriately) with the 44th (East Essex) Regiment of Foot. On amalgamation on July 1, 1881, the 56th (as the junior of the two regiments) became the 2nd Battalion, The Essex Regiment.

Whilst the 56th had formally ceased to exist, a degree of individual continuity remained; the 2nd Battalion of the Essex Regiment remained in an independent existence until 1948, when the regiment was amalgamated into a single regular battalion. The Essex Regiment was itself amalgamated into the single-battalion 3rd East Anglian Regiment (16th/44th Foot) in 1958; in 1964, this became the 3rd Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment. The 3rd Battalion Royal Anglians was finally disbanded in 1992; two battalions remain today, but the direct lineage to the 56th Foot ceased in 1948.

Traditions

The regiment was originally uniformed with deep crimson facings, which in 1764 was changed to purple. The colour was often called "pompadour", from which the regiment's nickname of "The Pompadours" came. The reasons for the name of the colour are unclear; it is often said that the shade was Madame de Pompadour's favourite colour. Some soldiers of the regiment preferred to claim that it was the colour of her underwear.cite book|first=Richard|last=Holmes|authorlink=Richard Holmes (military historian)
title=Redcoat|format=paperback|year=2002|location=London
publisher=HarperCollins|id=ISBN 0-00-653152-0 p.43]

The regiment carried on its colours the words "Moro" and "Sevastopol", as well the Gibraltar castle and key device superscribed "Gibraltar" and subscribed with the motto "Montis Insignia Calpe".

Notes

ources

*cite book|first=Richard|last=Cannon|authorlink=
title=Historical Record of the Fifty-Sixth, or the West Essex Regiment of Foot|year=1844|location=London|publisher=Parker, Furnivall and Parker [http://books.google.com/books?id=65fOcWvlJ24C Digitised copy]

*cite web
url=http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/inf/056-757.htm
title=56th (West Essex) Regiment of Foot
accessmonthday=May 6
accessyear=2007
last=Mills
first=T.F.
work=regiments.org Includes chronological index of titles.