The Royal Norfolk Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army until 1959. Its predecessor regiment was raised in 1685 as Henry Cornwall's Regiment of Foot. In 1751, it was numbered like most other British Army regiments and named the 9th Regiment of Foot.
It was formed as the Norfolk Regiment in 1881 under the Childers Reforms of the British Army as the county regiment of Norfolk by merging the 9th (East Norfolk) Regiment of Foot with the local Militia and Rifle Volunteers battalions.
The Norfolk Regiment fought in the First World War on the Western Front and in the Middle East. After the war, the regiment became the Royal Norfolk Regiment on 3 June 1935. The regiment fought with distinction in the Second World War, in action in the Battle of France and Belgium, the Far East, and then in the invasion of, and subsequent operations in, North-west Europe.
In 1959, as part of British Army reorganisation, the Royal Norfolk Regiment was amalgamated with the Suffolk Regiment, to become the 1st East Anglian Regiment (Royal Norfolk and Suffolk). In turn the regiment's battalion was amalgamated with the other regular battalions of the East Anglian Brigade (the 2nd East Anglian Regiment (Duchess of Gloucester's Own Royal Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire), the 3rd East Anglian Regiment (16th/44th Foot) and the Royal Leicestershire Regiment) to form the Royal Anglian Regiment, of which A Company of the 1st Battalion is known as the Royal Norfolks.
History Early history
The regiment was raised for the English Army in Gloucester by Colonel Henry Cornewall as Henry Cornewall's Regiment of Foot at the request of James II in 1685 as part of the response to the Monmouth Rebellion. Cornewall resigned his post following the Glorious Revolution and command went to Colonel Oliver Nicholas in November 1688.Cannon, p. 4 In December 1688, Nicholas was also removed due to his personal Jacobite sympathies and command passed to John Cunningham.Cannon, p. 5 In April 1689 the regiment, under Cunningham's command, embarked at Liverpool for Derry for service in the Williamite War in Ireland. Cunningham led a failed attempt to relieve the besieged city of Derry. The regiment briefly returned to England, but in May 1689 Cunningham was replaced by William Stewart, under whom the regiment took part in a successful relief of Derry in summer 1689.Cannon, p. 6 The regiment also saw action at the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690,Cannon, p. 9 the siege of Limerick in August 1690 and the siege of Athlone in June 1691.Cannon, p. 10 It went on to fight at the Battle of Aughrim in July 1691Cannon, p. 11 and the siege of Limerick in August 1691.Cannon, p. 12
In 1701, over the objections of General William Selwyn, the threat of war led the English government to post an Independent Company of regular soldiers, detached from the 2nd Regiment of Foot, to Bermuda, where the militia continued to function as a standby in case of war or insurrection. The company was composed of Captain Lancelot Sandys, Lieutenant Robert Henly, two sergeants, two corporals, fifty private soldiers, and a drummer, and arrived in Bermuda along with the new Governor, Captain Benjamin Bennett, aboard , in May 1701.
The regiment embarked for Holland in June 1701 and took part in the siege of Kaiserswerth and of Venlo in spring 1702 during the War of the Spanish Succession.Cannon, p. 13 In March 1704, the regiment embarked for Lisbon and took part in the Battle of Almansa in April 1707Cannon, p. 18 before returning to England in summer 1708.Cannon, p. 21 The regiment was then based in Menorca from summer 1718 to 1746.Cannon, p. 22 The regiment was renamed the 9th Regiment of Foot in 1751 when all British regiments were given numbers for identification instead of using their Colonel's name. During the Seven Years' War the Regiment won its first formal battle honour as part of the expedition that captured Belle Île from the French in 1761.Cannon, p. 24 It sailed for Cuba with George Keppel, 3rd Earl of Albemarle in March 1762 and took part in the siege and subsequent capture of Havana in summer 1762.Cannon, p. 25
Following the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763 and the end of the war, the regiment moved to a posting at St Augustine, Florida, where it remained until 1769.Cannon, p. 27 In April 1776, the regiment embarked for Canada as part of an expedition under Major-General John Burgoyne and took part in the siege of Fort TiconderogaCannon, p. 28 and the Battle of Fort Anne in July 1777 during the American Revolutionary War.Cannon, p. 29 It surrendered at the Battle of Saratoga in autumn 1777 and its men then spent three years as prisoners of war as part of the Convention Army.Cannon, p. 32
On 31 August 1782, the regiment was linked with Norfolk as part of attempts to improve recruitment to the army as a whole and it became the 9th (East Norfolk) Regiment of Foot. In January 1788, the regiment embarked for the West Indies and took part in the capture of the island of Tobago and in the attack on Martinique.Cannon, p. 34 It went on to capture Saint Lucia and GuadeloupeCannon, p. 35 before returning to England in autumn 1796.Cannon, p. 37 In 1799 the King approved the Regiment's use of Britannia as its symbol. The next period of active service was the unsuccessful Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland under the Duke of York when the regiment took part in the Battle of Bergen in September 1799 and the Battle of Alkmaar in October 1799.Cannon, p. 39 It also took part in the Ferrol Expedition in August 1800 under Sir James Pulteney.Cannon, p. 40 In November 1805, shortly after the Battle of Trafalgar, the Regiment suffered a significant misfortune: as the 1st battalion sailed for the Hanover Expedition a storm wrecked the troop transport Ariadne on the northern French coast and some 262 men were taken prisoner.Cannon, p. 43 The Times reported that some 300 men had been captured, including 11 officers (two of them colonels). There were also 20 women and 12 children aboard. Crew and passengers were saved and conducted to Calais.
Napoleonic Wars
In June 1808, the regiment sailed to Portugal for service in the Peninsular War.Cannon, p. 44 It saw action at the Battle of Roliça and the Battle of Vimeiro in August 1808.Cannon, p. 46 Following the retreat from Corunna, the regiment buried Sir John Moore (commander of the British forces in the Iberian peninsula) and left Spanish soil.Cannon, p. 49 The regiment then took part in the disastrous Walcheren expedition to the Low Countries in summer 1809.Cannon, p. 52
The regiment returned to the Peninsula in March 1810 and fought under Wellington at Battle of Bussaco, Portugal in September 1810,Cannon, p. 53 the Battle of Sabugal in April 1811 and the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro in May 1811.Cannon, p. 58 It also saw action at the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo in January 1812, the siege of Badajoz in March 1812 and the Battle of Salamanca in July 1812.Cannon, p. 61 It saw further combat at the siege of Burgos in September 1812,Cannon, p. 62 the Battle of Vitoria in June 1813Cannon, p. 64 and the siege of San Sebastián in September 1813.Cannon, p. 66 The regiment pursued the French Army into France and fought them at the Battle of Nivelle in November 1813Cannon, p. 71 and the Battle of the Nive in December 1813.Cannon, p. 72
The regiment was sent to Canada with most of Wellington's veteran units to prevent the threatened invasion by the United States, and so arrived in Europe too late for the Battle of Waterloo.Cannon, p. 76 The 1st Battalion participated in the Army of Occupation in France, whilst the 2nd Battalion was disbanded at the end of 1815.Cannon, p. 79
The Victorian era
The regiment saw action at Kabul in August 1842 during the First Anglo-Afghan WarCannon, p. 92 and at the Battle of Mudki and the Battle of Ferozeshah in December 1845Cannon, p. 102 and the Battle of Sobraon in February 1846 during the First Anglo-Sikh War.Cannon, p. 109 The Norfolk Artillery Militia was formed in 1853.The History of the 4th Battalion Norfolk Regiment 1899 -p122 "The Norfolk Artillery Militia marched into the barracks at Southtown on Friday last, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Astley." Such are almost the words of the announcement under our Yarmouth heading this week. One has heard of these ...The history of Norfolk: from original records and other ... vol.2 p468 Robert Hindry Mason – 1884History of freemasonry in Norfolk, 1724 to 1895 Hamon Le Strange – 1896 --p296 "... this company was the first nucleus of the battalion, now the 3rd Volunteer Norfolk Regiment, of which he became Lieut.-Colonel. On taking command of the Norfolk Artillery, he resigned the Volunteers, and was appointed Honorary Colonel."Charles Harbord Suffield (5th Baron), Alys Lowth – 1913 My memories, 1830–1913 p103 "THE NORFOLK ARTILLERY of transfers from the East and West Norfolk Militia and a few volunteers. Lord Hastings was their first commandant; their second was Lieut-Col. Astley. The regiment did good work, both at home and abroad, and ..."Sancroft Holmes, Diary of the Norfolk Artillery 1853–1908A Norfolk diary: passages from the diary of the Rev. Benjamin John Armstrong – 1949 p284 "Two evenings were devoted to the entertainment, and the Corn Hall was crowded. The profits, they say, amount to £40. May Staying at Yarmouth. Inspection of the Norfolk Artillery Militia (commanded by Lord Suffield) by Sir Evelyn Wood."History, Gazetteer and Directory of Norfolk, and the City and ... -p335 William White – 1864 "The Militia Babracks, a handsome range of red brick buildings adjoining the Naval Hospital, were erected in 1856 for the accommodation of the staffs of the East Norfolk Militia and the Norfolk Artillery Militia."
The regiment fought in the Crimean War at the siege of Sevastopol in winter of 1854[ In 1866 it landed at Yokohama, Japan as part of the British garrison stationed there in protection of British commercial and diplomatic interests in the recently opened treaty port. The regiment saw action at Kabul again in 1879 during the Second Anglo-Afghan War.
The regiment was not fundamentally affected by the Cardwell Reforms of the 1870s, which gave it a depot at Gorleston Barracks in Great Yarmouth 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 31st Brigade Depot from 1873 to 1881, and the 9th Regimental District depot thereafter Under the reforms the regiment became The Norfolk Regiment on 1 July 1881. It had two regular battalions (1st and 2nd) and two militia battalions (the 3rd and 4th - the latter formed from the East Norfolk Militia). It inherited all the battle honours and traditions of its predecessor regiment.Beckett, p. 86
The 1st battalion was stationed in Gibraltar from 1887, then in British India.
In October 1899 war broke out between the United Kingdom and the Boer Republics in what is now South Africa. The 2nd Battalion embarked for service there in early January 1900, and was stationed in the Transvaal Colony.Hart′s Army list, 1903 The war ended with the Treaty of Vereeniging in June 1902 and the Battalion stayed in South Africa until January 1903, when 417 officers and men left Cape Town for home. The 3rd (Militia) Battalion (the former 1st Norfolk Militia) was embodied in January 1900 for service during the Second Boer War. 540 officers and men left Queenstown in the SS Orotava the following month for Cape Town. As the Norfolk Regiment, it first saw action at the Battle of Poplar Grove in March 1900 during the Second Boer War.