Early history The regiment was originally raised by Colonel
James Abercrombie as the 52nd Regiment of Foot in 1755 for service in the
Seven Years' War. It was re-numbered as the
50th Regiment of Foot, following the disbandment of the existing
50th and
51st regiments, in 1756. In its early years the regiment wore a uniform of black facings and white lace; when they wiped sweat away with their cuffs the dye stained their faces, giving rise to the nickname the "Dirty Half-Hundred" ("half-hundred" equals fifty)." The regiment embarked for
Germany in June 1760 and saw action at the
Battle of Corbach in July 1760, the
Battle of Warburg later that month and the
Battle of Villinghausen in July 1761 as well as the
Battle of Wilhelmsthal in June 1762. It returned home in March 1763. The regiment was posted to
Jamaica in 1772, and then to
New York in 1776. At this point, troops were transferred to other regiments and the officers returned to England to raise a new force; as such, the regiment did not see action in the
American Revolutionary War. The men of the regiment served on various ships of the
Royal Navy as
marines and saw action at the
First Battle of Ushant in July 1778. and took part in the
Siege of Calvi in July 1794. It returned to Gibraltar in 1797 and moved to
Menorca in 1799 before embarking for
Egypt in 1800. The regiment fought at the
Battle of Mandora in March 1801, the
Battle of Alexandria later that month and the
Siege of Cairo in May 1801. The regiment then proceeded to
Malta in October 1801 and to
Ireland in May 1802.
Napoleonic Wars A second battalion was raised in 1804 to increase the strength of the regiment. before returning home in November 1807. It then embarked for
Portugal in May 1808 for service under General
Sir Arthur Wellesley in the
Peninsular War and saw action at the
Battle of Roliça in August 1808 and the
Battle of Vimeiro later that month. In January 1809 the battalion took part in the
Battle of Corunna, commanded by
Charles James Napier, carrying out successive
bayonet charges to keep the French at bay, at which General
Sir John Moore shouted "Well done, 50th! Well done, my Majors!". The battalion was subsequently evacuated from the Peninsula. Both battalions then embarked from
the Downs in July 1809 and saw action in the disastrous
Walcheren Campaign. It was the last regiment to leave
Holland in December 1809. The 1st battalion returned to Portugal in September 1810 and took part in the
Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro in May 1811, the
Battle of Arroyo dos Molinos in October 1811 and the
Battle of Almaraz in May 1812 as well as the
Battle of Vitoria in June 1813. It then pursued the French Army into France and fought at the
Battle of the Pyrenees in July 1813, the
Battle of Nivelle in November 1813 and the
Battle of the Nive in December 1813 as well as the
Battle of Orthez in February 1814 and the
Battle of Toulouse in April 1814. The regiment returned to Ireland in July 1814.
The Victorian era The regiment was deployed to the
West Indies in January 1819 and landed in
Jamaica in March 1819. It was renamed the '''50th (or Duke of Clarence's) Regiment of Foot''', in honour of the future
King William IV in 1827. with detachments then stationed at Sydney, Norfolk Island, and Tasmania, before being relieved and transported to
India in 1841. It fought in the
Gwalior campaign in December 1843 and were prominent at the
Battle of Mudki in December 1845, the
Battle of Ferozeshah later that month and the
Battle of Aliwal in January 1846 as well as the
Battle of Sobraon in February 1846 during the
First Anglo-Sikh War. Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Ryan, who had commanded the regiment in the early battles of the campaign and then commanded the 2nd Brigade at Sobraon, died two months later from the wounds he had received in that battle. The regiment arrived back in England in July 1848. The regiment embarked for
Malta in February 1854 from where it sailed to
Varna in June 1854 for service in the
Crimean War. The regiment fought at the
Battle of Alma in September 1854, the
Battle of Inkerman in November 1854 and in the
Siege of Sevastopol in winter 1854. The regiment left the Crimean Peninsula in May 1856. The regiment landed in
Auckland in November 1863 for service in the
New Zealand Wars. It joined a field force which marched into the interior of the country as part of Lieutenant General
Duncan Cameron's West Coast campaign and while encamped at Nukumaru near
Whanganui came under sustained attack from
Māori in January 1865 during the
Second Taranaki War: a total of 11 private soldiers from the regiment and 23 Māori died in the engagement. The regiment moved to
Sydney in June 1867 and then left for England in March 1869. 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 50th was linked with the
97th (The Earl of Ulster's) Regiment of Foot, and assigned to district no. 46 at
Maidstone Barracks in
Kent. On 1 July 1881 the
Childers Reforms came into effect and the regiment amalgamated with the 97th (The Earl of Ulster's) Regiment of Foot to form the
Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment. ==Battle Honours==