Raising and Seven Years War The regiment was raised at
Winchester by Colonel
Thomas Fowke as '''Thomas Fowke's Regiment of Foot''' in 1741. The regiment's first deployment was on garrison duties at
Menorca in 1742. The regiment was numbered 54th Regiment of Foot from 1747 until 1751 when it became the
43rd Regiment of Foot. A detachment of the 43rd was defeated in a skirmish with
Mi'kmaq and
Acadian resistance fighters at
Bloody Creek near
Fort Anne on 8 December 1757. The regiment had spent almost two years on garrison duties when, in 1759, as part of General
Wolfe's force, it took part in the capture of
Quebec gaining its first battle honour. The next campaign was in the
West Indies where the 43rd took part in the
capture of Martinique in January 1762 and of
Saint Lucia later in the month from the French and the capture of
Havana In August 1762 from the Spanish. The 43rd were joined by the 52nd at
Boston in June 1774. At the
Battles of Lexington and Concord, the
Grenadier and
Light Infantry (flank) companies of the regiment were deployed. At the
Battle of Bunker Hill, the regiment formed part of the 'Assault Force', which had the unfortunate job of assaulting the heavily defended
Breeds Hill. Following the
Siege of Boston, the regiment was evacuated to
Halifax in
Nova Scotia. One year later, the regiment sailed for
Long Island and took part in the
Battle of Long Island, They were defeated at
Guadeloupe in 1794 by a much larger French force after defending their position for three months.
Light Infantry In 1803, the 43rd, the 52nd and the 95th Rifles became the first Corps of Light Infantry and formed the Light Brigade at
Shorncliffe in
Kent under the command of Major-General
John Moore. The regiment was re-titled as the
43rd (Monmouthshire) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry).
Peninsular War In August 1808, during the
Peninsular War, the 43rd fought in the
Battle of Vimeiro which drove Napoleon's forces from Portugal. The campaign against the French then moved to Spain where in January 1809 the regiment took part in the retreat to Vigo and
Corunna; achieving fame as part of the rearguard to the army before returning to England. In May 1809 the 1st battalion of the 43rd, as part of Sir
Robert Craufurd's Light Brigade, sailed for
Portugal to join Sir Arthur Wellesley's army. On landing at
Lisbon the 43rd moved to Spain to support Wellesley's forces there. The battalion's march of 250 miles from Lisbon to
Talavera included a march of fifty-two miles in twenty-six hours in the hottest season of the year. The battle of Talavera had been won before the battalion arrived. However, a company of the 43rd which had been at Lisbon from December 1808 fought in the battle as part of General Richard Stewart's brigade. In 1810 the 43rd formed part of the Light Division under the command of Sir Robert Craufurd. The 43rd fought in the battle of the crossing of the
Côa in July 1810, the
Battle of Bussaco in September 1810 and the
Battle of Sabugal in April 1811. The 43rd also took part in the
Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro in May 1811, the assault on the fortress of
Ciudad Rodrigo in January 1812 and the
Siege of Badajoz in April 1812; when storming the breach the 43rd lost 20 officers and 335 men. The regiment went on to fight at the
Battle of Salamanca in July 1812 and the
Battle of Vitoria in June 1813 and then pursued the French Army into France where they saw action at the
Battle of Nivelle in November 1813, the
Battle of the Nive in December 1813 and the
Battle of Toulouse in April 1814. Following the end of the Peninsular War in 1814 the Light Division was disbanded and the 43rd returned to England. The 2nd battalion of the 43rd was part of the
Walcheren Campaign in 1809 where many troops died to fever in the Scheldt marshes.
Battle of New Orleans , the colonel of the regiment in the late 1840s The 43rd returned to America in 1814 as part of an expeditionary force which initially had some success but was defeated during the
Battle of New Orleans by the forces of
General Jackson in 1815. The regiment then returned to Europe. The 43rd arrived in Belgium too late to fight in the
Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815. The regiment formed part of the army of occupation in France until November 1818.
Canada 1836–1846 The regiment served in
Ireland from 1819 to 1823 and then at
Gibraltar from 1823 to 1830. Following a period in England the 43rd returned to
Canada in 1836. The regiment under the overall command of
Sir John Colborne commander-in-chief Canada took part in the suppression of the Rebellions of 1837. In December 1837, in severe weather conditions, the regiment marched from Fredericton to Quebec a distance of 370 miles of many forests, frozen rivers and mountainous terrain in a period of eighteen days. The march received much attention in Canada and the Duke of Wellington expressed his high admiration for the arduous undertaking the 43rd had completed. The regiment left Canada for England in 1846 and was stationed in the south of England and then in Ireland until 1851.
Southern Africa 1851–1853 The 43rd were sent to South Africa for service in the
Eighth Xhosa War in 1851. In 1852 a detachment from the regiment departed
Simon's Town aboard the troopship
HMS Birkenhead bound for
Port Elizabeth. At two o'clock in the morning on 28 February 1852, the ship struck rocks at Danger Point, just off
Gansbaai. The troops assembled on deck, and allowed the
women and children to board the lifeboats first, but then stood firm as the ship sank when told by officers that jumping overboard and swimming to the
lifeboats would mostly likely upset those boats and endanger the civilian passengers. 357 men drowned. The bravery and discipline shown by British troops which included a detachment of the 43rd under the command of Lieutenant Girardot during the ship-wreck received much publicity in England and abroad.
King Frederick of Prussia ordered that the story of the bravery shown during the sinking of the troopship be read out to each regiment of his army as an example of devotion to duty.
Indian Mutiny The 43rd moved from South Africa to India arriving at Madras in January 1854. The regiment assisted in putting down the
Indian Mutiny from 1857 to 1859. In the campaign, the regiment marched 1,300 miles in six months; from Southern India to Bengal and engaged in many actions with the enemy along the way. The regiment also won its first
Victoria Cross awarded to
Henry Addison in 1859.
New Zealand Wars In September 1863, the 43rd left India to take part in the
New Zealand Wars. The 43rd led the storming column at
Gate Pa in April 1864 and took part in the assault on the fort at Te Ranga in June 1864.
Frederick Augustus Smith was awarded the
Victoria Cross for his bravery during an attack on a Maori trench. The regiment returned to England in February 1866.
Later history For the next fifteen years the regiment was mainly stationed abroad with only brief periods spent in the UK. The major operation it was engaged in during this time was in the suppression of the rebellion by the
Moplahs in Southern India in 1873. As part of the
Cardwell Reforms of the 1870s, where single-battalion regiments were linked together to share a single depot and recruiting district in the United Kingdom, the 43rd was linked with the
53rd (Shropshire) Regiment of Foot, and assigned to district no. 21 at
Copthorne Barracks in
Shrewsbury. On 1 July 1881 the
Childers Reforms came into effect and the regiment amalgamated with the
52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) to form the 1st and 2nd battalions of the Oxfordshire Light Infantry (which became the
Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in 1908). ==Battle honours==