Formation to end of 17th century , July 1690 Although briefly designated as 'Irish' when raised in January 1675, the regiment was listed as one of three 'English' units in the
Dutch Anglo-Scots Brigade, a mercenary formation whose origins went back to 1586. During the 1672-1678
Franco-Dutch War, it took part in the unsuccessful
Siege of Maastricht and the battles of
Cassel and
Saint-Denis. It accompanied
William III to England in the November 1688
Glorious Revolution, before transferring onto the English establishment in 1689. Like most regiments, until 1751, when it was designated the 5th Regiment of Foot, it was named after the current colonel. Founded by
Daniel O'Brien, 3rd Viscount Clare, it began life as Viscount Clare's Regiment, then
Sir John Fenwick's, followed by Patrick Westley in 1676. When transferred onto the English establishment, it was commanded by
Thomas Tollemache who was replaced in May 1689 by Edward Lloyd. Posted to Ireland for the 1689-1691
Williamite War, it fought at the
Battle of the Boyne, the Second
Siege of Athlone and the
1691 Siege of Limerick. Following the
October 1691 Treaty of Limerick, it was sent to
Flanders for the duration on the
Nine Years War. Lloyd died in 1694 and replaced as Colonel by
Thomas Fairfax; during the 1695
Siege of Namur, it formed part of Vaudémont's screening force. When the war ended with the 1697
Treaty of Ryswick, it avoided disbandment by being made part of the Irish garrison.
The 18th century The regiment remained in Ireland for the first part of the
War of the Spanish Succession, before being sent to Portugal in 1707 as part of the army under
Henri de Massue, Earl of Galway. Its first serious action was the May 1709
Battle of La Gudina; a disastrous defeat, where the Allies lost over 4,000 prisoners, the regiment took part in a rearguard action that enabled the rest of the army to withdraw. This ended offensive operations and when the war ended in 1713, the regiment was posted to
Gibraltar, where it spent the next 15 years. It was part of the garrison during the 1727
Anglo-Spanish War, when the Spanish
besieged Gibraltar for over four months. On 1 July 1751, a royal warrant provided that in future regiments would not be known by their colonels' names, but by their "number or rank" and it became the
5th Regiment of Foot. During the
Seven Years' War, it was engaged in the 1758
Raid on Cherbourg, the 1760
Battle of Warburg and
Kirch Denkern in 1761, where they captured an entire French regiment. It also took part in the 1762
Battle of Wilhelmsthal, before returning to Ireland after the
1763 Treaty of Paris. Due to the increasing tensions that later resulted in the
American Revolutionary War, the regiment was shipped to
Boston, Massachusetts in May 1774. Elements of the unit were involved in the
Battle of Lexington and Concord in April 1775 and the
Battle of Bunker Hill in June. After being evacuated to
Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1776 the 5th took part in the expedition to
New York, including the battles of
Long Island and
White Plains, and capture of
Fort Washington and
Fort Lee, New Jersey. They subsequently joined Howe's 1777 campaign against
Philadelphia; at
Brandywine Creek, they broke the
Continental Army's centre and captured five cannon. Despite this success, in 1778 the British army withdrew and the regiment was involved in fighting at
Monmouth Court House. In November 1778, they left New York for last time and were transported to the
French West Indies, where on 13 December 1778, they landed on
Saint Lucia. The 5th was engaged with a small force of French and captured a four-cannon battery. On 18 December 1778, a force of 9,000 French troops landed on St. Lucia. The small British force of 1,400 men occupied a hill located on the neck of a peninsula. The French were fairly raw soldiers trained to fight in the classic European style of linear battles. The French advanced on the British force several times. The British, veterans of colonial fighting, inflicted a stinging defeat on the French. The French lost 400 killed and 1100 wounded to the British losses of ten killed and 130 wounded, which included two officers from the 5th Foot. After two years in the West Indies, the 5th Foot was sent to Ireland in December 1780. They were still in Ireland when hostilities between Great Britain, France, Spain, the Netherlands, and the former Colonies officially ended in 1783. On 1 August 1782, all those regiments of the line that did not have a special title were given a county designation. The primary purpose was to improve recruiting, but no links were actually formed with the counties after which the regiments were named. The 5th became the "5th (Northumberland) Regiment of Foot": the county being chosen as a compliment to the colonel,
Hugh Percy, 2nd Duke of Northumberland.
19th century The regiment embarked for
Portugal in July 1808 for service in the
Peninsular War. The regiment fought in the
Battle of Roliça and the
Battle of Vimeiro in August 1808, the
Battle of Corunna in January 1809 and the
Battle of Bussaco in September 1810. It earned the nicknames the "Old and Bold", "The Fighting Fifth" and also "Lord Wellington's Bodyguard". It formed part of a small force which beat off an overwhelming body of the enemy at El Boden in 1811, a performance which Wellington notified to the Army as
a memorable example of what can be done by steadiness, discipline, and confidence. The regiment was in the
3rd Division, 2nd Brigade under command of Major General
Charles Colville, consisting of the 1st/5th Regiment of Foot, 2nd/
83rd Regiment of Foot, 2nd/
87th Regiment of Foot and the
94th Regiment of Foot. The regiment went on to fight at the
Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo in January 1812, the
Battle of Badajoz in April 1812 and the
Battle of Salamanca in July 1812 as well as the
Battle of Vitoria in June 1813. It then pursued the French Army into France and saw action at the
Battle of Nivelle in November 1813, the
Battle of Orthez in February 1814 and the
Battle of Toulouse in April 1814. The 1st Battalion served on the Canadian frontier in 1814, during the
War of 1812. It then returned to Europe but arrived too late to take part in the battle of Waterloo, though it did serve in the army of occupation in France. The 2nd Battalion was disbanded on 24 June 1816. On 4 May 1836, the 5th became a
fusilier regiment and was redesignated as the
5th (Northumberland Fusiliers) Regiment of Foot: The King has been pleased to command, that the 5th, or Northumberland, Regiment of Foot shall in future be equipped as a Fusilier Regiment, and be styled the 5th Regiment of Foot, or Northumberland Fusiliers. The regiment, which was increased to two battalions in 1857, saw active service in the
Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the
Second Anglo-Afghan War in 1880. At the same time the existing
militia and rifle volunteer units of the district became battalions of the regiment. Accordingly, on 1 July 1881 the
Northumberland Fusiliers was formed as the county regiment of
Northumberland, (including the
Counties of the towns of
Newcastle upon Tyne and
Berwick-upon-Tweed) with the following battalions: The war ended with the
Treaty of Vereeniging in June 1902, and the 2nd Battalion stayed in South Africa until January 1903, when 357 officers and men left Cape Town for home on the
SS Aurania.
Reorganisations 1900–1908 With the continuation of the war in South Africa, a number of regiments containing large centres of population formed additional regular battalions. The Northumberland Fusiliers formed 3rd and 4th regular Battalions in February 1900, when the militia battalion was relabeled as the 5th battalion. The 3rd was stationed in South Africa, and in 1902 some of the men were in
Antigua to guard the
Boer prisoners of war placed there. The 4th formed part of the garrison in Ireland. Both were disbanded in 1907. The 5th (militia) battalion (known as the 3rd battalion until February 1900) was embodied in December 1899, and from February 1900 to July 1901 was stationed at
Malta. In 1908 a reorganisation of reserve forces was carried out under the
Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907. The militia were transferred to a new "Special Reserve" while the Volunteer Force was reorganised to become the
Territorial Force. The "Volunteer Battalion" designation was discarded, and territorial battalions were numbered on after those of the regular army and special reserve. The new organisation was thus: It was the second largest
infantry regiment of the
British Army during the war, surpassed only by the 88 battalions of the
London Regiment. The increase in strength was done partly by forming duplicates of existing
T.F. battalions, and partly by the creation of new "
Service" battalions. An example of the first instance was the 4th Battalion which was renumbered as the 1/4th in August 1914 on forming a duplicate 2/4th Battalion. A 3/4th Battalion followed in June 1915. Among the Service Battalions were the
Tyneside Scottish (20th - 23rd Battalions) and the
Tyneside Irish (24th - 27th Battalions), while the
17th (Service) Battalion was formed by staff of the
North Eastern Railway, and was involved in railway construction. The battalions mostly saw action on the
Western Front, but also in
Macedonia,
Gallipoli,
Egypt and
Italy. In 1936, the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers was one of four line infantry regiments selected for conversion to specialised Divisional (Machine Gun) or Divisional (Support) Battalions. The other regiments selected were the
Cheshire Regiment, the
Manchester Regiment and the
Middlesex Regiment.
Second World War team of 7th Royal Northumberland Fusiliers,
59th (Staffordshire) Division in position in a field of corn at
Someren in the Netherlands, 21 September 1944. The regiment expanded to ten battalions during the
Second World War. Although most of them served as divisional machine gun or support battalions, some of them formed motorcycle,
searchlight, tank,
reconnaissance, ordinary
infantry and even deception units. They saw action with the
BEF in
North-West Europe in 1940 and the
21st Army Group in
1944–45,
North Africa 1940–43,
Italy 1943–45,
the fall of Singapore and the defence of the United Kingdom.
Korean War The 1st Battalion was attached to the
29th Independent Infantry Brigade, which had been sent to Korea to reinforce the Allied effort there. When it arrived in Korea in December 1950, the Brigade comprised: • 1st Battalion, the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers • 1st Battalion, the
Gloucestershire Regiment • 1st Battalion, the
Royal Ulster Rifles •
8th King's Royal Irish Hussars • C Squadron,
7th Royal Tank Regiment, with specialised armour • 45 Field Regiment RA • 11 LAA Battery RA • 170 Mortar Battery RA • plus supporting units. In April 1951 the battalion was involved in the
Battle of the Imjin River, as the brigade stood in the path of the
Chinese Spring Offensive. In July 1951, it was re-organized as 29th British Infantry Brigade and absorbed into the
1st Commonwealth Division. ==Regimental museum==