Historical Record of the Fifty-sixth, or the West Essex Regiment of Foot: Containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1755, and of its subsequent services to 1844.Cannon, Richard
History
Historical Record of the Fifty-sixth, or the West Essex Regiment of Foot: Containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1755, and of its subsequent services to 1844.
Cannon, Richard
Great Britain. Army. Regiment of Foot, 56th (West Essex) -- History
SIR JOHN MURRAY, a baronet of Nova Scotia, entered the army as
ensign in the Third Foot Guards in 1788, and rose to the rank
of lieutenant and captain in 1793. He served in Flanders as
aide-de-camp to Field-Marshal Freytag, and afterwards to His Royal
Highness the Duke of York; and was at the actions of St. Amand
and Famars, and the siege of Valenciennes; also at the siege of
Dunkirk, and the engagements at Maubege and near Cambresis. In the
spring of 1794 he was promoted to the rank of major, and a few
weeks afterwards to the lieutenant-colonelcy of the Eighty-fourth
Regiment. He was present at the various actions near Tournay, in
the same year, and in the retreat to Holland. He afterwards served
under General Sir Alured Clarke, and was at the capture of the Cape
of Good Hope in September, 1795. In 1799 he commanded a body of
troops on the Red Sea; and, in 1800, he was promoted to the rank
of colonel. He performed the duties of quarter-master-general to
the troops which proceeded from India to Egypt under Major-General
Sir David Baird; and afterwards, returning to India, commanded
the Bombay division of the army which joined Major-General the
Honorable Arthur Wellesley, at Poonah, during the Mahratta war,
in 1803. He also commanded a body of troops during the subsequent
hostilities with Scindeah and Holkar. Having been promoted to the
rank of major-general in 1805, and returned to Europe, he served
on the staff of the eastern district, from December of that year
to April, 1808; and he subsequently commanded the King’s German
Legion in the expedition to the Baltic, &c., under Sir John Moore,
whom he accompanied to Portugal. Remaining in that country, he
served under Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Wellesley, in the
operations against the French under Marshal Soult, and took a
conspicuous part in the expulsion of the French from Oporto. On
the 27th of May, 1809, he was appointed colonel of the Third West
India Regiment; and on the 1st of January, 1812, he was promoted to
the rank of lieutenant-general. Early in 1813 he took the command
of the Anglo-Sicilian army in the south of Spain, and was engaged
in operations to create a diversion in favour of the grand allied
army under Lord Wellington, and to prevent Marshal Suchet detaching
troops to Castille. His proceedings on this occasion did not
realize the expectations which had been entertained, and a general
court-martial, assembled after his return to England, found him
guilty of error of judgment. In 1818 he was appointed colonel of
the FIFTY-SIXTH Regiment; and, in 1825, promoted to the rank of
general. His honorary distinctions were those of knight grand cross
of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic order, and the first class of the
order of St. Januarius of Naples. He died in 1827.
MATTHEW, LORD AYLMER, K.C.B.
_Appointed 29th October, 1827._
Removed to the Eighteenth or the Royal Irish Regiment, in 1832.
SIR HUDSON LOWE, K.C.B.
_Appointed 23rd July, 1832._
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