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Thread: British Army Regiment Names

  1. #21
    Prince of Essling's Avatar Napoleonic Enthusiast
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    Default Re: British Army Regiment Names

    British Foot Artillery - have looked at Oman's "History of the Peninsular War" (see extract for Talavera attached). Batteries have commander's name, plus company number & battalion number.

  2. #22

    Default Re: British Army Regiment Names

    Its also worth mentioning that there were at least three different types of militia in service in Britain for most of the period of the Napoleonic Wars. I say at least, because the actual number depends on how you differentiate between them and some authors/historians use different categorizations. I tend to stick with the system based on terms of service which produces three main categories.

    1. The Home Defence Force
    The Home Defence Force was under the authority of 'The Home Office' rather than the War Office. It was recruited by ballot (The Ballot Act 1802) from all eligible men aged 18-40 and consisted of infantry only in County Regiments.

    This was essentially a completely seperate army which was raised by every county in Britain and consisted of Home Defence Battalions (Fencibles) under the command of the Lord Leiutent if the County. The men themselves were selected by ballot from amongst the able bodied men of the County, although most who served were actually substitutes who agree to serve in the place of those whose name was drawn in return for a fee. Service in the 'Fencibles' was not a bad option for those who were down on their luck. The substitution fees paid were significantly higher than the bounty being paid by the regular army, you were exempt from military service as a result, and guaranteed not to have to serve abroad. If fact, it was a criminal offence for a 'Fencible' to volunteer or be coerst into the army, and the political rules governing the deployment of the Fencibles meant that your regiment was unlikely to even leave the county let alone the country.

    2. Army of the Reserve
    This army was raised and commanded by the The Duke of York and recruited by ballot (The Aditional Forces Act 1803) to provide an additonal reserve battalion for home defence only to every Army Regiment. The men draw by ballot to serve were guaranteed not to have to serve abroad even though they formed part of a British Army Regiment. However, unlike the Fencibles they were allowed to volunteer to transfer to one of the regiments 'fighting battlaions' if they so wished. A £10 bounty was paid to those men who elected to do so, and officer who persuaded the men under their command to volunteer on mass were guaranteed promotion in the fighting battalion as a result.

    It was a very unpopular system, not least because the inducements used to persuade men to volunteer for transfer were sometimes less than honourable (e.g. keeping the men on parade until enough volunteered) and overall it only raised 48,000 recruits in two years, had very high desertion rates, and was abolished in 1805.

    3. The Volunteer Reserve
    Basically, these were locally raised volunteer units. Consisting of a variety of Yeomanry and Honourable Companies. They were privately raised and funded volunteer units granting immunity from the ballot and army service, and so were extrememly popular with anyone eligible for military service who lacked the funds to buy a substitute if his name came up in either of the other ballots. They were essentially private armies with all the problems that such things entail, but some like the Honourable Artillery Company (which was actually much larger than a company, and included horse, foot and guns) were extremely well equipped and efficient.
    Last edited by Didz; September 08, 2010 at 11:11 AM.

  3. #23

    Default Re: British Army Regiment Names

    This is a great resource for my current GB campaign - thanks to all.

  4. #24
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    Default Re: British Army Regiment Names

    There used to be an excellent website called Regiments.org that covered the names of regiments and corps in the British and various Commonwealth armies from the 1600s to the present day. Unfortunately it went offline around 2008 or so

  5. #25
    Prince of Essling's Avatar Napoleonic Enthusiast
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    Default Re: British Army Regiment Names

    Quote Originally Posted by Wardude1987 View Post
    There used to be an excellent website called Regiments.org that covered the names of regiments and corps in the British and various Commonwealth armies from the 1600s to the present day. Unfortunately it went offline around 2008 or so

    You could try "the Internet Archive Wayback Machine" at http://www.archive.org/web/web.php - it sometimes turns up obscure old stuff.......

  6. #26

    Default Re: British Army Regiment Names

    I realy only know the Irish Regiment names. 27th's nickname was the "Skins" Due to the fact that their regional name is Inniskilling.
    Oh by the way my avatar is both of the Colours of the 27th. The Kings colour, to the left and the the Regimental Colour (I think thats what one would call it) to the right.
    Last edited by Londnred; October 20, 2010 at 03:14 AM. Reason: need to add something.
    For King, Country, and lots of lovely money.

  7. #27
    Prince of Essling's Avatar Napoleonic Enthusiast
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    Default Re: British Army Regiment Names

    Quote Originally Posted by Londnred View Post
    I realy only know the Irish Regiment names. 27th's nickname was the "Skins" Due to the fact that their regional name is Inniskilling.
    Oh by the way my avatar is both of the Colours of the 27th. The Kings colour, to the left and the the Regimental Colour (I think thats what one would call it) to the right.
    As already posted nicknames of British Units at - http://www.napoleon-series.org/index.html

  8. #28

    Default Re: British Army Regiment Names

    Fantastic work lads. + rep all round.

    Anyone want to make a French/Prussian/Russian/Austrian one next?
    "It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom -- for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself."

    Declaration of Arbroath, 1320AD

  9. #29

    Default Re: British Army Regiment Names

    This is GREAT, I like it!

    |Of, the esteemed House: DE BODEMLOZE|



  10. #30

    Default Re: British Army Regiment Names

    I don't know if this thread is still being updated at all but I have been compiling a large table of the British Land Forces from 1793 to 1815. The table includes all regular regiments in the period including disbanded regular regiments, militias, fencibles and Volunteer Regiments with establishments, uniforms, region base and lifetime. If anyone wants to add it to this threat let me know.

    I also stumbled across archived post on a different site which lists the army of the East India company which I have added to and made a bit more User friendly. If you want to add this too let me know.

    EDIT: I have nearly finished all the Infantry Regiments I will get on to cavalry, artillery and foreign units after.

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