Historical Record of the First Regiment of Foot. Cannon Richard
The fame of the deeds of the past and present generations in the various battle-fields where the robust sons of Albion have fought and conquered, surrounds the British arms with an halo of glory; these achievements will live in the page of history to the end of time.
The records of the several regiments will be found to contain a detail of facts of an interesting character, connected with the hardships, sufferings, and gallant exploits of British soldiers in the various parts of the world where the calls of their Country and the commands of their Sovereign, have required them to proceed in the execution of their duty, whether in active continental operations, or in maintaining colonial territories in distant and unfavourable climes.
The superiority of the British infantry has been pre-eminently set forth in the wars of six centuries, and admitted by the greatest commanders which Europe has produced. The formations and movements of this arme, as at present practised, while they are adapted to every species of warfare, and to all probable situations and circumstances of service, are calculated to show forth the brilliancy of military tactics calculated upon mathematical and scientific principles. Although the movements and evolutions have been copied from the continental armies, yet various improvements have from time to time been introduced, to ensure that simplicity and celerity by which the superiority of the national military character is maintained. The rank and influence, which Great Britain has attained among the nations of the world, have in a great measure been purchased by the valour of the Army, and to persons, who have the welfare of their country at heart, the records of the several regiments cannot fail to prove interesting.
HISTORICAL RECORD OF THE FIRST, OR ROYAL REGIMENT OF FOOT
The Royal Regiment of Foot is the representative of a body of gallant Scots, formerly in the service of the celebrated Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden; and of another body of Scots, many years in the service of the Kings of France; and it claims an origin anterior to that of any other corps in the British army; but, although a laborious research has been made, and much information procured, yet, owing to the little attention which was paid to the history of military bodies previously to the last century, all the circumstances connected with its origin have not been ascertained. Its first Colonel was Sir John Hepburn, a distinguished officer, well known in Europe during the early part of the seventeenth century; but it appears to have existed some time as independent companies before it was constituted a regiment. Tradition has connected its early services with the ancient Scots Guards at the French court; and, in order that the claims of the Royal Regiment to antiquity may be clearly understood, a brief statement of the origin and services of the Scots Guards is introduced into this record.
The Scots have been celebrated for deeds of arms for many centuries, and they have been described by historians as a hardy, valiant, and generous people. Led by a native ardour for military fame, many Scotsmen have quitted their own country, and, like the daring adventurers of the remote ages, they have sought renown in foreign lands, where they have acquired celebrity for martial achievements, long before the practice of forming military bodies into regiments existed. It is recorded in history, that as early as the year 882, Charles III., King of France, had twenty-four armed Scots, in whose fidelity and valour he reposed confidence, to attend his person as a guard.6
The life of Louis IX. is stated to have been twice preserved, – once in France, and afterwards in Egypt during the Holy War, by his faithful and valiant Scots attendants; and that monarch, after his return from Palestine, in 1254, increased the number of Scots who attended his person to about one hundred, and constituted them a Corps of Guards.7 The practice of having armed Scots attendants appears to have been continued by the succeeding sovereigns of France, and Charles V. is stated to have placed this corps on a regular establishment.
About the year 1484, another auxiliary force proceeded from Scotland to France; and the Scots in the French service signalized themselves in various parts of Europe, but especially in Italy in the year 1495, and they acquired the principal glory in the conquest of Naples.8 There were also Scots troops with the French army serving against the Venetians in 1509,9 and with King Francis I. of France, in Italy, in 1515, in which year the Scots Guards were nearly all killed in defence of the King's person before Pavia, where he was taken prisoner.10 After this fatal battle King Francis is stated to have exclaimed, "We have lost everything but our honour!"
Two historical accounts of the origin and services of the First, or Royal, Regiment of Foot, have already been printed, in which this corps is stated to be a continuation of the ancient Scots Guards at the French Court but this is an error, – the Scots Guards were Cavalry, and this was always an Infantry corps, and it never sustained any character in the French army, but that of a regiment of the line. The supposition, that this Regiment was formerly the Body Guard of the Scottish kings is also without foundation.
Milan, a military historian of the 18th century, who evinced much zeal and assiduity in tracing the origin of every British corps, designates the Royal Regiment an "Old Scots Corps; the time of its rise uncertain;" and in the two editions of his succession of Colonels, published in 1742 and 1746, he did not give the date of the appointment of its first Colonel, Sir John Hepburn; but, in a subsequent edition, he states the 26th of January, 1633, to be the date of this officer's commission, as Colonel of the Old Scots Corps. This date appears to be correct, as Sir John Hepburn did not quit Germany until 1632, and no mention of a Scots Regiment in the French service has been met with in any of the military histories, or other French works (of which many volumes have been examined), previously to 1633. This corps must, however, have existed some time as independent companies, previously to its being constituted a regiment, as Père Daniel, in his history of the French army,11 states, that this regiment, which he designates "Le Regiment de Douglas," was sent from Scotland to France in the reign of James VI. (James I. of England), and this monarch commenced his reign in 1567, when he was only a child, and died in 1625; hence it is evident that it had been in France some years before its formation into a regiment, under the command of Sir John Hepburn, took place. Père Daniel also alludes to this corps, in connexion with Henry IV. of France, and thus associates its services with the wars between that monarch and the Leaguers, which fixes the date of its arrival in France about the second year of his reign, viz. 1590. Francis Grose, the author of the British Military Antiquities, does not profess to be in possession of any information respecting the Royal Regiment, beyond what he obtained from Père Daniel; and the French historians of the seventeenth century introduce the regiment into their works abruptly, without saying a word about its origin. Thus, the only intelligence extant relating to the origin of this distinguished corps, and which is corroborated by collateral evidence, amounts to this: – "A body of Scottish Infantry proceeded from Scotland to France in the reign of James VI., to assist Henry IV. in his wars with the Leaguers; and was constituted in January, 1633, a regiment, which is now the First, or Royal, Regiment of Foot in the British line." The companies which proceeded to France were probably raised and commanded by men who had served in the Scots Guards at the French Court, which might give rise to the tradition of the Royal Regiment being connected with that corps; and, as the Scots Guards have ceased to exist, the Royals may be considered as the representative of that ancient body.
The occasion of these Scots companies being raised and sent to France in the reign of James VI., was the succession of Henry of Navarre, a Protestant prince, to the throne of France, in 1589, by the title of Henry IV., when a sanguinary war commenced between him and the combined Roman Catholic princes and nobles, called the Leaguers, who opposed his accession to the throne with all their power and influence. Queen Elizabeth furnished the French monarch with auxiliary English forces; the King of Scotland permitted his subjects to aid the Protestant cause, and several companies of Scottish foot were
Bishop Lesley; and Abercromby's Martial Achievements of the Scots Nation.
L'Escosse Françoise, par A. Houston; and the Translator's Preface to Beauge's History of the Campaigns in 1548 and 1549.
Bishop Lesley; and Philip de Commines.
List of the French army printed at the time.
L'Ecosse Françoise, par A. Houston.
Histoire de la Milice Françoise, par Le Père Daniel. 2 tom. 4to. Paris, 1721.