29th Regiment of Foot
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Early History
The 29th Regiment of Foot was raised in 1694 by Colonel Thomas Farrington, an officer of the Coldstream Guards during War of the Grand Alliance known in America as King William's War. It was disbanded in 1698 after the Peace of Ryswick and reformed in 1702 for the War of the Spanish Succession, also known as Queen Anne's War. The regiment served under the John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough at the victorious Battle of Ramillies in 1706 against the French in what is now Belgium and in the siege of Ostend. In 1727 the regiment saw action at Gibraltar and were sent to Fortress Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island in 1745. In 1749, the regiment was at the site of Halifax, Nova Scotia, where the soldiers cleared the land for the new town. An altercation with some Native Americans led to an order that all officers in the regiment must always be armed, thus earning their first nickname as the "Ever Sworded" due to the swords the officers are required to wear even when off-duty a tradition still in effect today as the officer of the day is still armed even at the officers mess.
In 1751, the regiment received the new designation as the 29th Regiment of Foot, when the British Army went to numbers instead of colonel's names for regiments. In 1759 Admiral Lord Edward Boscawen gave to his brother Colonel George Boscawen 10 black youths he acquired in the capture of Guadeloupe from the French in the same year. These young men were released from slavery and joined the regiment as drummers, a tradition the regiment continued until 1843. These men received the pay of a corporal and if they survived to retire received a pension from the army.
Boston Massacre
In 1768 the 29th along with the 14th Regiment of Foot were sent to Boston, where on the evening of March 5, 1770, men of the 29th Grenadier Company under the command of Captain Thomas Preston took part in the Boston Massacre in which five colonist died during a riot in front of the Boston customs house. Due to the incident, the regiment earned the nickname the "Vein Opeaners" for drawing first blood in the American Revolution. Two of the men involved Hugh Montgomery and Matthew Killroy were found guilty of manslaughter and branded on the thumb. The other men involved and Captain Thomas Preston were found not guilty. The 29th returned to England in 1773.
American Revolution
Early in the spring of 1776 during the start of the 2nd year of the American Revolutionary War, the 29th Regiment of Foot was sent with other British regiments to relieve the siege of Quebec City by an American army. After pushing the American army down the St. Lawrence River at the Battle of Trois-Rivières, men from the battalion companies served on board the ships of General Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester in the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain on October 11, 1776. In 1777, the Light Infantry Company and the Grenadier Company were with Lt. General John Burgoyne as he headed down from Montreal to Saratoga. Both the Light Infantry Company and Grenadier Company saw action at the Battle of Hubbardton under the command of Brigadier Simon Fraser, as part of his Advance Corps on July 7, 1777. Both companies surrendered with the rest of Burgoyne's Army after the defeats at Battle of Freeman's Farm and Battle of Bemis Heights in September and October of 1777. The other eight Battalion Companies remained in Canada and took part in raids and small battles along the Vermont and New York frontiers during the rest of the American Revolution. In 1781 the 29th was linked to the county of Worcestershire in England, giving them a recruiting area and home. The 29th Regiment returned to England in 1787.
Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812
On June 1, 1794, the 29th served as marines aboard the Royal Navy ships during the naval battle know as the Glorious First of June under Admiral Richard Howe against a French Fleet in the North Atlantic Ocean. During the Napoleonic Wars the 29th Regiment of Foot was with the Duke of Wellington's Army in Spain and Portugal from 1808 to 1811, fighting in the Battle of Roliça, Battle of Vimeiro, Battle of Grijo, Battle of Talavera and the Battle of Albuera all British victories during the Peninsular War. After suffering heavy casualties at the Battle of Albuera the 29th was sent back to England to recruit more men. Of a total strength of 31 officers and 476 other ranks the 29th lost 17 officers and 363 other ranks killed wounded or missing at Albuera. In 1814 the 29th was dispatched back to Nova Scotia, Canada during the War of 1812. The regiment did not see any major action while stationed in North America. They were quickly recalled back to Europe in 1815 to face Napoleon during the Hundred Days campaign but arrived shortly after the Battle of Waterloo.
India
In 1842 the 29th was sent to garrison the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. From 1845 to 1846, the 29th Regiment of Foot fought in the First Anglo-Sikh War in the Punjab area of India at the final battle of the war at Sobraon the 29th and two battalions of Indian Sepoys twice unsuccessfully assaulted the sikh earthworks before finally breaking through on the third assault, 10 days later the British Army occupied Lahore ending the war. The friendship between the Regiment and the 10th Regiment of Foot is an old one. The Regiments refer to each other as "Our Cousins". It is supposed to have arisen in the Napoleonic Wars, if not earlier, when the 29th and 10th Regiments many times fought side by side. The friendship was cemented in the Sikh Wars, when the two Regiments met in the captured trenches at the bloody Battle of Sobraon on February 10, 1846 where the 29th again suffered heavy casualties 186 men were killed or wounded out of a total of 552. From 1848 to 1849, the 29th served in the Second Anglo-Sikh War. The 29th was still in India and Burma until 1859 during which time the Indian Mutiny took place. A large detachment from the regiment helped to keep open the Grand Trunk Road.
New Titles
The regimental badge of the 29th and later of the Worcestershire Regiment show the influence of the Coldstream Guards on the regiment. The Coldstream Guards and the 29th are the only two regiments to have the elongated star and garter of the Order of the Garter as their regimental badge with it's motto "Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense" translated "Shame be to him who evil thinks" earning a third nickname "The Guards of the Line".
On 1 July 1881 the regiment amalgamated with the 36th Regiment of Foot to form the 1st and 2nd Battalions, The Worcestershire Regiment. The Worcesters, too, amalgamated with the Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) in 1970, forming the 1st Battalion, Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment. However, it is intended that it will soon be merged with two other regiments to form the Mercian Regiment.
See also
- List of Regiments of Foot
- List of British Forces in the American Revolutionary War
- List of nicknames of British Army regiments
- List of British Army regiments (1881)
- Structure of the British Army
- History of the British Army
