The History of The Rifle Brigade

A wish had long been entertained and often expressed by Riflemen, both by those serving in the Regiment and by those who had formerly served in it, that a detailed record of its services should be compiled. It was suggested to me by many of my friends that I should undertake this task. The will certainly was not wanting; but the ability to carry out their wish has not, I fear, been equal to their partial opinion, or to my own desire to do justice to the subject.

The materials for such a compilation were not wanting. The late Colonel Leach published a very brief sketch of the Services of the Regiment,[1] and his ‘Rough Notes’[2] give many and accurate particulars of events during the time he served in it. The Autobiography of Quarter-Master Surtees[3] is a most valuable record of the events in which he took part. Surtees came as a private into the 95th from the 56th Regiment in 1802. His good conduct raised him through the various grades of non-commissioned officer to Quarter-Master of the old 3rd Battalion.

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 His book I have found, on comparing it with other records, most accurate in every particular. As the 3rd Battalion was disbanded before the order for drawing up and preserving regimental records issued from the Horse Guards, no formal record of its services exists;[4] and had it not been for the facts and dates preserved and recorded by Surtees, I should have found it difficult, if not impossible, to have given any detailed account of the actions of that Battalion in the Peninsula and at New Orleans. Though tinged with the peculiar religious opinions which Surtees adopted, and which perhaps scarcely have place in a military record, his work is written with a distinctness and in a style which do him honour. And the high character of the man which breathes through his work has led me to place every confidence in his statements.

Very different are Sir John Kincaid’s two books.[5] These, though written in too jocular and light a strain for regular history (‘ad jocos forte propensior quam decet’) contain many anecdotes and facts of which I have gladly availed myself. And I have found his dates and statements confirmed by other and more formal materials to which I had access.

Costello’s little work[6] has also afforded me much information; and he has recorded many circumstances unnoticed or lightly touched upon by others.

The ‘Recollections of Rifleman Harris’[7] have

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 also been of considerable service to me in compiling this record, especially as preserving many particulars, elsewhere unnoticed, of the retreat to Corunna and of the expedition to Walcheren. His editor, however, seems to have used the materials Harris wrote or dictated without any attempt at arrangement; so that it is difficult, and in some cases almost impossible, to disentangle the narrative, or to arrange the events he describes in chronological order.

The valuable List of the Officers of the Regiment, compiled by Mr. Stooks Smith,[8] has also been of much use to me; and I have to thank that gentleman for some additional information, and for permission to republish that list with continuation to the present time, of which I hope at some future period to avail myself.

Nor can I close this list of printed works bearing on the history of the Regiment without mentioning the ‘Recollections of a Rifleman’s Wife,’ by Mrs. Fitzmaurice, to which I am indebted for many facts and anecdotes, many of them especially valuable because they relate to the less stirring times of peace; nor without expressing my thanks for her permission to use the materials she has thus preserved.


When I proceed to acknowledge the personal recollections and the journals of services in the Regiment which have been placed at my disposal, I scarcely know how adequately to express my obligations to those who have aided me. Everyone who

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 has worn the green jacket, from Generals to private Riflemen, to whom I have applied, or who has heard of my endeavour to preserve a record of the services of the Regiment, has, almost without exception, most kindly placed journals and letters in my hands, or assisted me by personal reminiscences.

The aid of my friend Lieutenant-General Sir Alfred Horsford procured for me the transcript of many valuable records and the elucidation of many points which I could not otherwise have obtained. Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Lawrence not only communicated to me many particulars of the services of the 2nd Battalion in the Crimea, but placed in my hands his private letters written from thence, which afforded me most valuable information. Major-General Hill was so good as to draw up for me a detailed statement of the services of the 2nd Battalion, which he commanded during the Indian Mutiny. To Major-General Leicester Smyth I am indebted not only for a narrative of the battle of Berea, but also for the perusal of a private letter written by him directly after, and describing that engagement, and for much valuable information. By permission of Brigadier-General Ross, Lady Ross transmitted to me his letters to his family both from the Crimea and from India, to the perusal of which I cannot attach too great importance.

Colonel Smith, now I believe the oldest officer of the Regiment living,[9] has freely and kindly communicated to me his recollections of services in the Peninsula and elsewhere, and has patiently borne with my many enquiries which his accurate memory has enabled him to

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 answer. To Colonel Dillon I am indebted for much valuable information which he kindly obtained for me. Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander was so good as to write out for me from his journals a detailed account of the movements and actions of the 3rd Battalion in India, in which he took part. Lieutenant-Colonel Sotheby had the kindness to transcribe for me his journal during the Indian Mutiny, and to illustrate it with sketch-maps. Lieutenant-Colonel FitzRoy Fremantle, Lieutenant-Colonel Eyre, Captain Percival, Captain George Curzon, and Major Harvey placed in my hands their valuable journals and diaries. Colonel H. Newdigate and Captain Austin favoured me with detailed and important particulars as to the services of the companies of Riflemen who formed the Camel Corps. To Lieutenant-Colonel Green I am indebted for his own narrative and that of Mr. Mansel (drawn up at the time) of the affair at Jamo in which he was so desperately wounded. I have to thank Captain Boyle for allowing me to see his continuation to the year 1860 of Mr. Stooks Smith’s List of Officers, and for much other information. To Captain Moorsom I am under great obligations, not only for the three plans (of New Orleans, of Cawnpore, and of Lucknow) which he has contributed to this work, but for materially aiding me in obtaining important information. And to Surgeon-Major Reade I am indebted for an accurate and interesting account of the march to Cawnpore of Colonel Fyers’ detachment, to which he was attached.

Sergeant-Major Bond, of the Sligo Militia, and formerly of the 1st Battalion, gave me a detailed

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 account, from his journal, of the Kaffir War of 1847–9; and Corporal Scott, late of the 1st Battalion, communicated to me a most minute and accurate journal which he kept in short-hand during the Kaffir War of 1851–52, during the Crimean campaign, and during his service in Canada. It is not too much to say that without the valuable contributions of these two non-commissioned officers it would have been impossible to give any detailed account of the doings of the 1st Battalion during these wars. Sergeant Fisher, late of the 2nd Battalion, placed in my hands an interesting journal kept during the Indian Mutiny; and Sergeant Carroll, of that Battalion, has communicated many particulars respecting the Camel Corps.

To these and to other Riflemen I owe my thanks, not only for the documents they have communicated to me, but for the kindness with which they have entertained, and the courtesy with which they have replied to my many questions for further information or details.

The officers commanding the four Battalions have given free access to, or transcripts of the several Battalion Records. These, though drawn up in obedience to an order issued in 1822, do not seem to have been compiled till some years afterwards.

That of the 1st Battalion appears to have been written by, or under the eye of, Sir Amos Norcott, who then commanded it, and by whom the transcript transmitted to the Horse Guards is signed. For it is very full and explicit in relating the actions in which he was personally engaged (as, for instance, the account of the

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 engagement at Buenos Ayres, which bears internal evidence of having been drawn up by an eye-witness) but is rather slight and meagre in the narrative of many Peninsular and other victories.

The Record of the 2nd Battalion, transmitted to the Horse Guards, and dated March 10, 1831, is a model of what such a document should be. It has been compiled with great accuracy; and the movements and engagements of the Battalion, the lists of killed and wounded, and the distinctions won by its officers and men, are recorded under separate heads and with great minuteness.

These Records have been continued to the present time, for the most part with great accuracy and precision.

The Records of the 3rd and 4th Battalions have also been placed in my hands. The latter, containing, of course, only the movements of the Battalion, calls for no comment; that of the 3rd Battalion has been, in the earlier parts, kept irregularly, probably in consequence of the Battalion being broken up and constantly in the field; and no one perusing it could form an idea of, or trace accurately the distinguished service of that Battalion during the Indian Mutiny.

Nor is it to Riflemen alone that I am indebted for assistance. I have to thank Major-General Sir John Adye for permission to use the plan of Cawnpore, published in his account of those eventful days; Major-General Payn for an interesting letter on the same subject; the author of the articles on Ashantee in ‘Colburn’s United Service Magazine’ for his liberal and unsolicited authority to use them as materials for my

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 narrative; and especially Lieutenant-Colonel Home, R.E. for his kindness in giving me tracings of the plans of the operations at New Orleans deposited in the Quarter-Master General’s Office, and for permission to have copies made of the plans prepared in the topographical department of that office for the Record of the 52nd.

I have expressed in another place the assistance I have derived from the accurately kept journal of the late Major George Simmons, and from his separate memoir on Waterloo, which were placed in my hands by his widow.


I have not attempted to trace the strategical or tactical movements of the armies of which the Battalions have formed part, for two reasons: my own inability to record what has been so well described by abler pens; and also because any attempt to have done so would have swelled this book to an extent altogether disproportionate to its object.

For it must be borne in mind that I profess to be the historian, not of wars, but of this particular Corps only, and of that part it alone bore in them.

So, in like manner, I have not recorded the deeds of other regiments which may have acted with the Riflemen, save in a very few instances where it was impossible to separate the narrative of their movements from that of the movements of regiments which fought beside, or supported them. In the case of their old and most frequent companions in arms, the 43rd and 52nd, it was unnecessary that I should record their actions, since the histories of both these distinguished

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 Corps have been fully and well written.[10] And if others who have fought, and fought well, beside the Riflemen are here unnoticed, and as yet without a special history, they must believe that their gallant deeds, albeit unrecorded here, live in the recollection and the praise of many Riflemen.

To some readers some of the facts and anecdotes I have here recorded may appear trifling and unworthy of mention. But it must be borne in mind that I write for Riflemen, at the desire of Riflemen, and to preserve the memory of the deeds of Riflemen. By them I am sure nothing will be considered trivial, nothing out of place in a history of the Regiment, which records the valour, the acts, the sufferings or even preserves an anecdote of any (of whatever rank) of the members of that brotherhood.

W. H. C.