Early wars On 27 September 1688 a commission was issued to Colonel
Solomon Richards to raise a regiment of foot in the
London area. In its early years, like other regiments, it was known by the name of its various colonels. Following a failed attempt to break the
siege of Derry in 1689, Richards was dismissed and replaced by the Irishman
George St George. The regiment embarked for
Flanders in 1693 for service in the
Nine Years' War and took part in the attack of
Fort Knokke in June 1695 and the
siege of Namur in summer 1695 before returning home in 1697. In 1701 the regiment moved to
Holland for service in the
War of the Spanish Succession and fought at the siege of
Kaiserswerth in 1702,the siege of
Venlo later that year and the capture of
Huy in 1703. It transferred to
Portugal in 1704 and took part in the sieges of
Valencia de Alcántara,
Alburquerque and
Badajoz in 1705 as well as the siege of
Ciudad Rodrigo in 1706. It also saw action at the
Battle of Almansa in April 1707 before returning to England in 1709. In spring 1713, the regiment was ranked 17th in seniority. It went to
Scotland to suppress the
Jacobite rising of 1715 and fought at the
Battle of Sheriffmuir in November 1715. In 1726 the regiment moved to
Menorca, assisting the garrison at
Gibraltar during its siege in 1727. The regiment remained on duty in the Balearic Islands until 1748, where it moved to Ireland. On 1 July 1751 a
royal warrant assigned numbers to the regiments of the line, and the unit became the
17th Regiment of Foot. The regiment embarked for
Nova Scotia in 1757 for service in the
French and Indian War; it fought at the
siege of Louisbourg in June 1758, at the
Battle of Toconderoga in July 1759. The following year, the regiment took part in the successful
three-pronged attack against Montréal in September. It also saw engagements in the
West Indies in 1762 and during
Pontiac's Rebellion before assignment to Ireland in 1763 and then a return to England in 1767. By 1769, the regiment was back at full strength and declared "fit for service" at its annual inspection, and was augmented in 1771 with 20 men added to each company, and the addition of a dedicated light company, ordered by the King on December 25, 1770.
American War of Independence After the outbreak of hostilities at the
Battle of Lexington and Concord, the regiment embarked for
Boston from Ireland in the fall of 1776. Rough seas saw its companies separated: its first four companies landed in November, and the remaining six after Christmas 1776. Along with the rest of the garrison, the regiment was evacuated after the
Siege of Boston to Halifax, Nova Scotia. At this time, Lieutenant-Colonel John Darby was superseded by Lieutenant-Colonel
Charles Mawhood, formerly Lieutenant-Colonel of the 19th Regiment of Foot, on April 4, 1776. The regiment set sail from Halifax with the army on June 29 for the invasion of New York, landing unopposed on Staten Island in July. It saw action at the
Battle of Long Island in August 1776, was part of the reserve at the
Battle of White Plains in October 1776 and the
Battle of Fort Washington in November 1776.
Heroes of Princeton The regiment also took part in the
Battle of Princeton in January 1777. Not knowing that he was facing a superior force, Mawhood ordered an attack,
Captain William Leslie was killed, but the regiment routed a militia division, and killed rebel General
Hugh Mercer. However, the rest of the rebel army was brought up and the regiment quickly found themselves surrounded. With superior rebel numbers, the regiment was forced to retreat. Mawhood ordered a desperate bayonet charge to break out of their encirclement, which succeeded. At the same time, Captain William Scott of the 17th Regiment, with just 40 men, successfully defended the 4th Brigade's baggage train against superior numbers of rebel attackers. Thomas Sullivan of the 49th Regiment of Foot remarked: Performance in the battle was mentioned in dispatches. Later, the regiment was lauded as "The Heroes of Prince-town" in British recruiting adverts. It went on to fight at the
Battle of Brandywine in September 1777, the
Battle of Germantown in October 1777, and the
Battle of Monmouth in June 1778. In September 1778, the regiment took part in
Grey's raid at New Bedford and Martha's Vineyard, destroying rebel stores and making off with forage and plunder. Several companies and the regimental colours were captured at the
Battle of Stony Point in July 1779 by a daring night-time bayonet charge by "Mad"
Anthony Wayne. The remaining companies of grenadiers and light infantry were detached to composite flank battalions, while the remaining men, drafts, and recruits from England were formed into the "17th Company" under Captain-Lieutenant George Cuppaidge, who was on business in New York during the action at Stony point. The 17th Company was tasked with fighting partisans in South Carolina in 1780. The reformed regiment was in action again at the
Battle of Guilford Court House in March 1781 and surrendered with the rest of
Cornwallis's army at the
siege of Yorktown in September 1781. The 17th Company, still in South Carolina during the events of Yorktown, fought in the last major action of the war at the
Battle of the Combahee River, where the famous rebel Colonel
John Laurens lost his life.
The Leicestershire Regiment A royal warrant dated 31 August 1782 bestowed county titles on all regiments of foot that did not already have a special designation "to cultivate a connection with the County which might at all times be useful towards recruiting". The regiment became the
17th (Leicestershire) Regiment of Foot. The regiment was withdrawn from New York at the end of the war to
Nova Scotia in 1783 before returning to England in 1786. The regiment was increased to two battalions in 1799 and both battalions took part in the
Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland, being present at the
Battle of Bergen in September 1799 and the
Battle of Alkmaar in October 1799, before the second was disbanded in 1802. In 1804 the regiment moved to
India, and remained there until 1823. In 1825 the regiment was granted the badge of a "royal tiger" to recall their long service in the sub-continent. During this time, the regiment fought in the
Gurkha War (1814–16) and the
Third Maratha War (1817–18). The Regiment was posted to
New South Wales from 1830 to 1836.
Australian frontier wars During the early years of the
Moreton Bay penal colony, in the area of
Australia now known as
South East Queensland, the 17th Regiment was involved in two documented incidents of
Aboriginal massacre. The first was on
Moreton Island, traditional home of the
Ngugi people. On 1 July 1831, the then Commandant of the colony, Captain Clunie with a detachment of the 17th Regiment surrounded a Ngugi camp at dawn on the edge of the freshwater lagoon close to the island's southern extremity, killing up to twenty of them. George Watkins recorded: ‘nearly all were shot down. My informant, a young boy at the time, escaped with a few others by hiding in a clump of bushes’ This military operation was commanded by Major William Croker, and his directive from Bourke was to vigorously suppress the resistance. Croker's men returned after a month in the disputed area.
The Victorian era The regiment returned to India in 1837, and then took part in the
Battle of Ghazni in July 1839 and the
Battle of Khelat in November 1839 during the
First Anglo-Afghan War. The regiment next came under fire at the
siege of Sevastopol in winter 1854 during the
Crimean War. In 1858 a second battalion was raised.
Childers reforms The regiment was not fundamentally affected by the
Cardwell Reforms of the 1870s, which gave it a depot at
Glen Parva Barracks from 1873, or by the
Childers reforms of 1881 – as it already possessed two battalions, there was no need for it to amalgamate with another regiment. Under the reforms the regiment became
The Leicestershire Regiment on 1 July 1881. The regiment also incorporated the local
militia and
rifle volunteers and consisted of: • The 1st and 2nd Battalions (formerly the 1st and 2nd battalions of the 17th Foot) • 3rd (Militia) Battalion (formerly the Leicestershire Militia) •
1st Leicestershire Rifle Volunteer Corps, redesignated as the
1st Volunteer Battalion in 1883. Following the end of the war in South Africa, the 1st battalion was in late 1902 transferred to
Fort St. George in
Madras Presidency, 540 officers and men leaving Port Natal on the SS
Ortona arriving in Madras in late November. The 2nd battalion was stationed at
Guernsey at the same time. In 1908, the Volunteers and Militia were reorganised nationally, with the former becoming the
Territorial Force and the latter the
Special Reserve. The 1st Volunteer Battalion was split to form the
4th and 5th Battalions (TF). There was a minor controversy in the same year, when new
colours were issued to the 1st Battalion to replace those of the 17th foot. A green tiger had been shown on the old colours and the regiment refused to take the new issue into use. The issue was resolved when the regiment received permission for the royal tiger emblazoned on the regimental colours to be coloured green with gold stripes. The regiment now had one Reserve and two Territorial battalions.
Regular Army The 1st Battalion landed at
Saint-Nazaire as part of the
16th Infantry Brigade in the
6th Division in September 1914 for service on the
Western Front. It then suffered terrible losses at the
Battle of the Somme in July 1916. It then moved to
Basra in
Mesopotamia in December 1915 The 2/4th Battalion and 2/5th Battalion landed in France as part of the
2nd Lincoln and Leicester Brigade in the
2nd North Midland Division in February 1917 also for service on the Western Front. The 11th (Service) Battalion (Midland Pioneers) landed in France as the pioneer battalion for the
6th Division in March 1916 also for service on the Western Front. In 1931 the regimental facing colour was changed from white to pearl grey. Previous to 1881 the 17th foot had "greyish white" facings.
The Second World War Regular Army battalions The 1st Battalion was a
Regular Army unit stationed in the Far East on the outbreak of the
Second World War. The battalion fought the
Imperial Japanese Army in the
Malayan Campaign in early 1942 and sustained heavy casualties, temporarily amalgamating with the 2nd Battalion,
East Surrey Regiment to create the
British Battalion which was, however, later captured and the men of both battalions remained as
prisoners of war (POWs) for the rest of the war. The battalion reformed in May 1942 by the redesignation of the 8th Battalion. near
Tobruk, 10 November 1941. The 2nd Battalion, as part of the
16th Infantry Brigade, saw action at the
Battle of Sidi Barrani in December 1940 and at the
Battle of Bardia in January 1941 during the
Western Desert Campaign.
War Service battalions The 7th Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment was created in July 1940 in
Nottingham in the aftermath of Dunkirk, when the BEF had been evacuated from France and a German invasion of England seemed likely. As a result, the British Army underwent a dramatic increase in size, mainly in the infantry, with the formation of numerous war service battalions, similar to the Kitchener battalions created in the Great War. The 7th Leicesters, composed largely of conscripts, and originally unbrigaded, was, in October 1940, assigned to the
205th Independent Infantry Brigade (Home). In 1948, in common with all other infantry regiments, the 2nd Battalion was abolished. The 5th Battalion (TA) had been reformed in 1947. The 1st Battalion served in the
Korean War from 1951 to 1952. They subsequently moved to England (exercising the freedom of the City of
Leicester in 1952), Germany, Sudan, where they operated with the
Sudan Defence Force and departed on 16 August 1955, Cyprus,
Brunei and
Aden. The Territorial units were reformed in 1947 as
579 (The Royal Leicestershire Regiment) Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA and 5th Battalion Royal Leicesters. In 1961 they merged to become the 4th/5th Battalion. In 1963 the Forester Brigade was dissolved, with the Royal Leicesters moving to the
East Anglian Brigade where they joined the
1st,
2nd and
3rd East Anglian Regiments.
Amalgamation into the Royal Anglian Regiment On 1 September 1964 the regiments of the East Anglian Brigade became
The Royal Anglian Regiment. The 1st Battalion, Royal Leicestershire Regiment became the
4th (Leicestershire) Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment. The battalion garrisoned
Malta as part of
Headquarters Malta and Libya from 1965. The "Leicestershire" subtitle was removed on 1 July 1968 and the battalion was disbanded in 1975. The Royal Leicestershire heritage was included in the new regiment's button design, which features the royal tiger within an unbroken wreath. When the Territorial Army was converted into the
Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve (TAVR) in 1967, 4/5th Battalion provided two elements: • 4th (Leicestershire) Company, 5th (Volunteer) Battalion,
Royal Anglian Regiment in TAVR II (units with a
NATO role) •
The Royal Leicestershire Regiment (Territorials) in TAVR III (home defence units). The TAVR regiment was later reduced to B (Royal Leicestershire) Company, 7th (Volunteer) Battalion in the Royal Anglians. In 1978, 4th Coy 5th Bn and B Coy 7th Bn were amalgamated to form HQ (The Royal Leicestershire) Company of 7th Bn Royal Anglians Under the 2020 plans for the Army Reserve, C Company at Leicester will absorb B (
Lincolnshire) Company by the end of 2016. ==Regimental museum==