The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment was the final title of a line infantry regiment of the British Army that was originally formed in 1688. After centuries of service in many conflicts and wars, including both the First and Second World Wars, the regiment was amalgamated with the Essex Regiment in 1958 to form the 3rd East Anglian Regiment (16th/44th Foot). However, this was short-lived and again was amalgamated, in 1964, with the 1st East Anglian Regiment (Royal Norfolk and Suffolk) and 2nd East Anglian Regiment (Duchess of Gloucester's Own Royal Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire), and the Royal Leicestershire Regiment to form the present Royal Anglian Regiment.
History
Formation; 1688 – 1751
The regiment was formed on 9 October 1688 in Reading, Berkshire, in response to a possible invasion by William of Orange, later William III; its first commander was Colonel Archibald Douglas, formerly of The Royal Regiment. On 5 November 1688, William landed in Torquay, James was deserted by his troops and he went into exile. Douglas was replaced by his deputy Robert Hodges, an experienced soldier who served in the Royal Regiment and the Tangier Garrison.
As a result of England's involvement in the 1689–1697 Nine Years War, the regiment was posted to Flanders; between 1689 and 1693, it fought at the battles of Walcourt, Steenkirk and Neer Landen, as well as the 1695 Siege of Namur. Hodges was killed at Steenkirk and replaced by James Stanley, later Earl of Derby.Childs, p. 68
The war ended with the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick and the regiment transferred onto the Irish establishment, based at Carrickfergus. When the War of the Spanish Succession began in 1702, it returned to Flanders and served throughout Marlborough's campaigns, including the capture of Liège in 1702, as well as the battles of Schellenberg, Blenheim, Ramillies, the Oudenarde and Malplaquet. After the Treaty of Utrecht in 1714, it moved to Scotland and held Fort William during the Jacobite Rising of 1715.
In 1739, long-standing commercial tensions with Spain led to the War of Jenkins' Ear, which took place largely in the Caribbean and North America. After a brief period as a marine unit, it was sent to the West Indies in January 1741, an area notorious for high mortality rates. A detachment took part in the failed assault on Cartagena de Indias, in modern Colombia; the troops suffered enormous losses from yellow fever, estimated as between 80 and 90%.
The few survivors returned to England in 1742 and the unit brought back up to strength, while the conflict with Spain expanded into the wider European struggle known as the War of the Austrian Succession. Shortly after the Allied defeat at Fontenoy in May 1745, the regiment moved to Flanders and suffered heavy losses at Melle in July. It retreated to Antwerp and then shipped to Scotland to suppress the Jacobite Rising of 1745 but arrived after the rebellion had been defeated. The regiment remained there until 1749, when it moved to Ireland.
16th Regiment of Foot (1751 – 1782) In 1751, a royal warrant declared that regiments should no longer be known by the name of their colonel, but their number in the order of precedence, and Handasyd's duly became the 16th Regiment of Foot.
American War of Independence The 16th Foot remained in Ireland until 1767, when it sailed to Florida, establishing a headquarters at Pensacola with detachments in various areas of the territory. When the American War of Independence broke out in 1776, the regiment was ordered to New York, but returned south in the following year to various garrisons in Florida and Georgia. In 1778, Spanish forces invaded the area from Louisiana, and part of the 16th was captured with the fall of Baton Rouge. Other detachments helped repel French attacks on Savannah in September 1779 and Pensacola in May 1781. The remains of the 16th Foot returned to England, arriving in March 1782.
16th (Buckinghamshire) Regiment of Foot (1782 – 1809) In August 1782, county designations were added to the numbers of the regiments of foot to encourage recruitment. The regiment duly became the 16th (Buckinghamshire) Regiment of Foot. With the end of the American war, the regiment was reduced to a peacetime complement in 1783, and in the following year moved to garrison duty in Ireland.
West Indies
In August 1790, the 16th Foot sailed to Nova Scotia, moving in the following year to Jamaica. In 1793, British forces invaded the French colony of Saint-Domingue during the War of the First Coalition. The 16th Regiment of Foot was part of the British forces sent to the colony, but were all but wiped out by yellow fever: only an officer and sergeant of the regiment returned alive to Jamaica in 1794. The 16th Foot, as part of the British garrison in Jamaica, fought in the Second Maroon War of 1795–96, before returning to England in late 1796. The much-depleted regiment attempted to recruit in Scotland, before being brought up to strength by volunteers from English militia regiments in 1798. In 1799–1804, the 16th Foot was stationed in England, Scotland and Ireland.
Surinam In January 1804, the 16th Foot sailed for Barbados, arriving in March. On arrival, it formed part of an expeditionary force formed to capture the Dutch colony of Surinam. In May, the Dutch forces surrendered. Detachments of the regiment remained at various locations in Barbados and Surinam, returning gradually to England between 1810 and 1812.
16th (Bedfordshire) Regiment of Foot (1809 – 1881)
In 1809, titles were exchanged with the 14th (Bedfordshire) Regiment of Foot at the request of its colonel who held substantial lands in Buckinghamshire, after which time it became the 16th (Bedfordshire) Regiment of Foot. The regiment took no part in the Napoleonic Wars that was being fought on the continent of Europe, being stationed in England, Scotland and Ireland before sailing to Canada in 1814. It returned to England in August 1815, moving directly to France to form part of the army of occupation following the final defeat of Napoleon. In 1816 the 16th Foot moved to Ireland, remaining there until 1819.
In 1820, the regiment began a long term of colonial service. It was stationed in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) until 1828, when it moved to the Bengal Presidency. It returned to England between December 1840 and January 1841. In 1843 it took up garrison duties in Ireland, remaining there until 1846 when it moved to Gibraltar. In the following year, it moved to Corfu, forming part of the garrison of the United States of the Ionian Islands, a British protectorate.
In 1851, the 16th Foot returned to Jamaica, moving to Canada in 1854. It returned to the United Kingdom in 1857, where it was initially stationed in Ireland and moved to England in 1859.
Formation of second battalion and service to 1881 Following the Indian Mutiny of 1857, the British Army took over responsibility for maintaining a garrison in the sub-continent from the Honourable East India Company. This new commitment necessitated an increase in the size of the army, and the 1st to 25th regiments of foot were each authorised to raise a second battalion. Accordingly, the 16th Foot raised a second battalion in Ireland in July 1859.
In 1861, both battalions sailed separately to Canada, as part of a reinforcement of British forces there in reaction to the American Civil War. The diplomatic crisis brought about by the Trent Affair increased tensions, with expectations of war against the United States only receding in 1862.
On 21 May 1863, Jesse Wright published a notice that he had discovered the corpse of a disfigured British soldier with his hands cut off washed up on the coast of the Wolf Islands dressed in his military uniform as 1st Battalion infantryman with the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment 16th Regiment.
The 1st Battalion left Canada for the Imperial fortress of Bermuda in 1865 and the 2nd moved to Barbados in 1866. In 1869 the 2nd Battalion returned to England, with the 1st Battalion moving to Ireland in 1870. The 1st Battalion remained at various home stations in Jersey (Channel Islands), England and Ireland, while the 2nd Battalion moved to Madras in India in 1876.
The regiment was not fundamentally affected by the Cardwell Reforms of the 1870s, which gave it a depot at Kempston Barracks near Bedford 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. The depot was the 16th Brigade Depot from 1873 to 1881, and the 33rd Regimental District depot thereafter
The Bedfordshire Regiment (1881 – 1919)
Childers reforms On 1 July 1881, the Childers Reforms came into effect. These were the logical continuation of the 1873 reforms: the regimental numbers of infantry regiments were replaced with territorial titles, "brigade districts" were renamed as "regimental districts", and the local militia and rifle volunteer corps were affiliated to the new regiments. Accordingly, the 16th Foot became The Bedfordshire Regiment. The regimental district comprised the counties of Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.
Regimental structure
When the Bedfordshire Regiment was formed on 1 July 1881, it consisted of two regular, two militia and three volunteer battalions, with the regimental depot being based at Kempston barracks: 1st Battalion (formerly 1st Battalion, 16th (Bedfordshire) Regiment of Foot raised in 1688) 2nd Battalion (formerly 2nd Battalion, 16th (Bedfordshire) Regiment of Foot raised 1858) 3rd (Militia) Battalion (formerly Bedfordshire Light Infantry Militia) 4th (Militia) battalion (formerly Hertfordshire Militia) 1st Hertfordshire Rifle Volunteer Corps: redesignated 1st (Hertfordshire) Volunteer Battalion in 1887Sainsbury J.D. (1969) Hertfordshire's Soldiers. Echo Press, p51 2nd Hertfordshire Rifle Volunteer Corps: redesignated 2nd (Hertfordshire) Volunteer Battalion in 1887 1st Bedfordshire Rifle volunteer Corps: redesignated 3rd Volunteer Battalion in 1887
In 1900, the 4th (Huntingdonshire) Volunteer Battalion was raised.
Under the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 the reserve battalions were reorganised in 1908: The two militia battalions were renamed as the 3rd (Reserve) and 4th (Extra Reserve) Battalions. The 1st and 2nd Volunteer Battalions were merged to form The Hertfordshire Battalion (Territorial Force) The 3rd and 4th VBs became the 5th Battalion (TF)
The following year, the Hertfordshire Battalion left the regiment to become the 1st Battalion The Hertfordshire Regiment.
Service 1881–1914 On formation, the 1st Battalion the Bedfordshire Regiment was stationed at Newry in Ireland, while the 2nd was in India. The 1st Battalion remained on home service in England and Malta until 1889, when it sailed for India. In 1895, it formed part of the force that took part in the Relief of Chitral. The battalion left India in 1907, arriving in England via Aden in the following year. In 1913, it was posted to Mullingar in Ireland.Fuller, Steven (2011). 1st Bedfordshires. Part One: Mons to the Somme, Fighting High Ltd, p.2.
The 2nd Battalion served in India and Burma until 1891 when it returned to England, moving to Dublin in 1898. From there it moved to South Africa in 1900, taking part in the Second Boer War. In 1903, it returned to England and moved to the Imperial fortress of Gibraltar in 1907, the Imperial fortress of Bermuda in 1910, and to South Africa in 1912.
The 4th (Militia) Battalion was embodied in January 1900, and a contingent of 500 officers and men embarked the SS Goorkha the following month for service in South Africa, taking part in the Second Boer War. Lieutenant-colonel Lord Cranborne was in command. Most of the battalion returned home on the SS Guelph in June 1902.