Historical Record of the Sixth, or Royal First Warwickshire Regiment of Foot: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in the Year 1674, and of Its Subsequent Services to 1838Cannon, Richard
History
Historical Record of the Sixth, or Royal First Warwickshire Regiment of Foot: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in the Year 1674, and of Its Subsequent Services to 1838
Cannon, Richard
Great Britain. Army -- History; Great Britain. Army. Infantry. 6th Regiment (Royal 1st Warwickshire)
SIR HENRY BELLASIS was educated in strict principles of loyalty
and attachment to monarchical government, and though but a youth
at the time, he suffered in the royal cause during the usurpations
of Cromwell. Soon after the restoration he was appointed captain
of an independent company of one hundred men, in garrison at Hull,
of which fortress the Lord Bellasis (or Belasyse) was appointed
governor; who resigned, in 1673, in consequence of the Test-act,
he being a Roman Catholic. In the summer of 1674 Sir Henry Bellasis
raised a company of musketeers and pikemen for the service of the
United Provinces of the Netherlands, and was engaged at the siege
of Grave in the autumn of that year. He also served at the siege
of Maestricht in 1676; at the battle of Mont-Cassel in 1677; and
in the following spring he succeeded Colonel Ashley in the command
of the regiment which is now the SIXTH foot. At the battle of
St. Denis, in 1678, he evinced signal valour and ability, vying
in feats of gallantry with his commanders the Prince of Orange
and the celebrated Earl of Ossory, and was wounded. During the
rebellion of the Duke of Monmouth, in 1685, he accompanied his
regiment to England; and in 1687 circumstances occurred which
occasioned him to withdraw from the Dutch service; but he preserved
his attachment to the protestant interest and to the Prince of
Orange. In 1689 he succeeded the Duke of Norfolk in the colonelcy
of a newly-raised regiment (now twenty-second foot), with which
corps he served in Ireland under the veteran Duke Schomberg. He
served as brigadier-general under King William in 1690; was at the
battle of the Boyne; and at the siege of Limerick, where he again
distinguished himself. In 1691 he acquired new honours at the siege
of Athlone; he also displayed bravery and judgment at the battle of
Aghrim; and on the reduction of Galway he was appointed governor
of that fortress, and took possession of the town on the 26th of
July, with his own and two other regiments of foot. The rank of
major-general was conferred on this distinguished officer in April,
1692, and he commanded a brigade under King William in Flanders,
in the autumn of that year. He acquired additional reputation at
the battle of Landen, in 1693; also in the command of a brigade
under King William during the following campaign; and in October,
1694, his Majesty rewarded him with the rank of lieutenant-general.
His meritorious conduct procured him the favour and confidence of
his sovereign, by whom he was employed on important services.
He commanded the camp on the Bruges canal in May, 1695; and a
division of the covering army was placed under his orders during
the siege of Namur. At the close of the campaign he was appointed
president of the general court-martial which tried the officers
who surrendered Dixmude and Deinse to the enemy, and sentenced
Major-General Ellemberg to be shot. He continued to serve in the
Netherlands until the peace of Ryswick. In 1701 he obtained the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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