Manchester regiment
On 21 April 1758 this 2nd Battalion of the 8th Foot was constituted a Regiment in its own right and numbered 63rd. For the next two hundred years both regiments led their own separate lives until they were reunited in 1958 to form the King’s Regiment.
The Regiment’s first commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Peter Desbrisay, was killed in action during a French assault on the citadel of Basse Terre. From this campaign the Regiment later adopted as its badge the Fleur de Lys, the French national emblem. However it took 164 years before War office official approval was given in 1923.
The Regiment moved to Ireland in 1764 and, during the next eleven years, was stationed from time to time in Cork, Youghal, Dublin, Belfast, Antrim, Kilkenny and Monkstown.
The American Revolution began in 1775, with two groups of nervous, trigger-happy men facing each other across a small wooden bridge in Concord, Massachusetts. It ended, six years later with three massive armies bombarding each other across the siege-trenches of Yorktown, Virginia. During those six years, the American settlers declared and won their independence from Britain. This was not a conventional war of good and bad, right and wrong, them and us.
Reinforcements were sent in May and with them went the 63rd. They first saw action at the battle of Bunker Hill Boston. The Grenadier and Light Companies of the 63rd were actively engaged in this action. In 1776 the Rebels declared independence. At the same time Britain’s fortunes changed and, under command of Sir William Howe, Rhode Island fell to the British. By the autumn of 1777 Philadelphia was also in British hands. The Regiment took part in several actions during the war including 1776 – Brooklyn, 1777 – Brandywine, 1779 – Stony Point, Eutaw Springs, Hobkirk’s Hill, the storming of fort Clinton on the’ Hudson River and in 1780 – Charleston. Finally, when the long-drawn out war came to an end in 1782, the Regiment were part of the garrison of Charleston. At the withdrawal of British troops in December 1782 the 63rd was sent to Jamaica for a short time.
The definite peace treaty between England and the United States of America was signed on 3 September 1783 and steps were taken to bring back to England certain regiments that were considered surplus to the establishment of the colonial garrisons during peace. Among these was the 63rd Regiment that left Jamaica early in 1784 and returned to England after an absence of nearly nine years.
From 1800 the Regiment led a wandering existence joining a force. It helped to garrison Turin, Minorca, Gibraltar and Malta until May 1803 when it sailed to Ireland.
During December the 1st Battalion 63rd Regiment was part of the force sent to seize the island of Madeira. A few weeks later it sailed for the West Indies, arriving at Barbados in February 1808 and taking part in the various successful expeditions against the French on the islands of Martinique and once again in Guadeloupe.
Disease and fever in the West Indies took their toll and during nine months in 1809 4 officers and 250 other ranks died of yellow fever. In 1810 the commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Fairtlough, died of dysentery, together with 2 other officers and 178 other ranks.
Mortality was not so great in 1811 but 2 officers, 2 sergeants, 2 drummers and 66 private soldiers fell victim to the climate and disease and both officers and men had little to do except drink and quarrel with each other. By December 1811 the battalion was reduced to a strength of 12 officers, 20 sergeants, 15 drummers and 230 rank and file. Reinforcements arrived during 1812 and 1813 so that by 1814 battalion strength had risen to 32 officers, 46 sergeants, 21 drummers and 825 rank and file.
For the next 35 years the Regiment, in common with the rest of the British Army, saw very little action. Routine garrison duties were carried out in Portugal, Australia, Tasmania, India, Burma, Ireland and England. A little over a year later on the Regiment’s return to England it received orders to act as escorts in convict ships sailing for New South Wales and Tasmania, then known as Van Diemen’s Land. During its three years spent in Australia the Regiment had its headquarters in Hobart Town, Van Diemen’s Land (Now Tasmania) with the rest of the Regiment split into detachments varying in strength from 71 all ranks to just 2 private soldiers, amongst 47 different posts all over the colony. The next 13 ½ years were spent in India and Burma.
War with Russia broke out in 1854 and shortly after landing on Russian soil the 63rd was sent to take part in the forthcoming battle at the River Alma. They went on to Balaclava where the Regiment was present at the mainly cavalry engagement which later became famous as ‘The Charge of The Light Brigade’. They then took part in the battle of Inkerman in the early hours of Sunday 5 November 1854. By mid-afternoon the Russians had begun to withdraw into Sevastopol. During the battle the 63rd lost three officers and thirteen men killed. Seven officers, nine Sergeants and seventy-four men were wounded. This was a day in which the Sergeants of the Regiment excelled themselves. The Escort to the Colours – Colour Sergeants Francis Avery and James Wooton were both wounded when the young Ensigns had fallen. The Queen’s Colour was rescued in the heat of the battle by Colour Sergeant John Brophey who continued to wave the Colour and cheer the Regiment on until he was wounded in the left thigh. Sergeant Arthur Roberts received a wound, which caused him to fall. He quickly got up, retrieved the Regimental Colour and, refusing to leave the field, continued to carry the Colour until incapacitated by a second wound.
Leaving the Crimea in May 1856 the 63rd arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia on 2nd June 1856. In April 1861 the Civil War between the northern and southern states in America commenced. In November 1861 occurred the ‘Trent’ incident in which officials from the northern American states boarded the British mail steamer Trent and removed two Confederate emissaries who were on a diplomatic mission to Great Britain.
The second Afghan war broke out in 1877 and, following the disaster at Maiwand in southern Afghanistan, the 63rd was selected to take part in the second phase of the campaign when they occupied Kandahar. A year later they were back on the Afghan border-manning outposts in an inter-tribal war.
In 1881 the 63rd amalgamated with the 96th Regiment of Foot to form the 1st and 2nd Battalions Manchester Regiment. From this point onwards, the system of maintaining one battalion overseas and at a higher state of readiness for operations than the home based battalion, worked well. The regimental depot at Ashton-under-Lyne was to provide a permanent home for the Regiment and a strong link with the home population. The Militia battalions became the 3rd (Reserve) and 4th (Extra Reserve) Battalions and in due course battalions of the Lancashire Rifle Volunteer Corps became ‘Volunteer Battalions’ of the Regiment.
The British Government was unwilling to send reinforcements to the somewhat weak garrisons in Cape Colony and Natal as long as there seemed any hope whatever that war might be avoided; only two battalions proceeded from their peacetime stations to South Africa whilst the negotiations with the Boer leaders were in progress and before any mobilisations orders had been issued.
1st Battalion the Manchester Regiment left its base at Gibraltar in August, landing at Durban in the middle of the following month. From Durban the battalion went direct of Ladysmith, then already threatened by the invading Boers. Here they formed part of the garrison of the town, which, during the many long months defied the Boer army. The key of the defences was Caesar’s Camp, which was occupied by the Manchester’s from the beginning of the siege and was the object of three major attacks by the Boers during the siege.
Caesar’s Camp ridge is extremely steep and the crest was covered with mimosa trees about 20 feet high. The hillside sloped gently to the Boer positions. The ground was so rocky that it was impossible to dig trenches and small rifle pits and sangars for three to four men were made every ten or twenty yards which provided some form of head cover. These were positioned between bushes and grass and were difficult for the Boers to locate. Reveille each day was 2.30 am so that the troops could either reach or quit their positions without being seen by the enemy. Once in position no one could leave or approach except under fire.
During the rest of the war the battalion was not engaged in any decisive actions, but marched and fought in the Transvaal – at Graskop, Bergendal, in the Lydenburg district and indeed all over the three colonies; protecting convoys, holding important centres and clearing various parts of the country. Later it took part in the big ‘drives’ which, carried out in combination with the blockhouse lines that had been widely established, gradually wore down the Boers and brought resistance to an end in early 1902.Two soldiers, privates James Pitts and Robert Scott, were each awarded the Victoria Cross for their gallantry in the repulse of the Boer attack on Caesar’s Camp on 6 January 1900.
2nd Manchesters arrived in South Africa in April 1900. They acted as garrison troops at Picksburg and later spent most of their time marching and counter-marching in pursuit of the Boers; finally taking part in the great ‘drives’ which helped bring the war to an end. In addition to the work carried out by the 1st and 2nd Battalions, four other battalions of the Manchester Regiment were involved. These were the 3rd, 4th, 5th & 6th Battalions. Men from the Volunteer Companies in and around Manchester also served with the 1st and 2nd Battalions.
Manchester Fort Ceasars Camp
Pitts and Scott Caesars Camp
My sincere thanks go to Captain (Retd) Robert Bonner MA
Chairman Museum of The Manchester Regiment for supplying this information.
See: angloboer war website for an indepth look at the regiment site
See: Julius Haslam memories
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