Historical Record of the Twenty-first Regiment, or the Royal North British Fusiliers: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in 1678, and of Its Subsequent Services to 1849Cannon, Richard
History
Historical Record of the Twenty-first Regiment, or the Royal North British Fusiliers: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in 1678, and of Its Subsequent Services to 1849
Cannon, Richard
Great Britain. Army -- History; Great Britain. Army. Royal Scots Fusiliers
When the attempts made by King James to establish papacy and
arbitrary government had alarmed his subjects, and the Prince of
Orange was preparing an armament for the invasion of England,
the regiment was one of the corps which marched from Scotland
to support the authority of the King; and in the early part of
November, 1688, it arrived in the vicinity of London, when it was
ordered to occupy quarters in Spitalfields and the Tower Hamlets.
The Prince of Orange landed on the 5th of November; King James
discovered that he had alienated the affections of his subjects,
both civil and military, and he fled to France. Colonel BUCHAN'S
regiment was ordered, by the Prince of Orange, to occupy quarters
at Witney, in Oxfordshire.
[Sidenote: 1689]
The Prince and Princess of Orange were elevated to the Throne by
the titles of King William and Queen Mary; and Colonel Buchan
having adhered to the interests of King James, King William
conferred the colonelcy of the regiment on Colonel Francis Fergus
O'Farrell, by commission dated the 1st of March, 1689.
From Oxfordshire, the regiment marched to Gravesend, where it
embarked for Holland, and joining the Dutch army commanded by
Prince Waldeck, served the campaign of that year with the division
under the Earl (afterwards Duke) of Marlborough. The regiment took
part in a sharp action with the French troops, commanded by Marshal
d'Humières, at _Walcourt_, in the province of Namur, on the 25th of
August, on which occasion the French were repulsed in their attacks
on the allied army, with considerable loss.
[Sidenote: 1690]
The regiment passed the winter in Flanders, and in the summer of
1690 again took the field; it was on its march for Brussels on the
21st of June, in order to join the allied army; but Prince Waldeck
engaged the French at Fleurus, without waiting for the arrival of
the British troops, and was defeated. This disaster occasioned the
services of the army to be limited to defensive operations during
the remainder of the campaign.
[Sidenote: 1691]
In March, 1691, the regiment was encamped at Halle, in South
Brabant, and formed in brigade with the second battalion of the
Royals; the French besieged Mons, and the allies were too few in
numbers to prevent the capture of the place by the enemy. After
the surrender of Mons, the regiment was placed in quarters until
May, when it encamped near Brussels, and was formed in brigade with
the Royals, and the Scots regiments of Mackay, Ramsay, and Angus,
under the orders of Brigadier-General Ramsay.
In a list of the army in Flanders, printed in July, 1691, the
regiment is styled "O'FARRELL'S FUSILIERS;" and its uniform is
stated to be _red, faced and lined with the same colour_.
At the termination of the campaign, the regiment was again placed
in winter-quarters.
[Sidenote: 1692]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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