The regiment was first raised by Colonel Edward Fox as Edward Fox’s Regiment of Marines in 1702 to fight in the War of the Spanish Succession.[1][2] Elements of the regiment joined the fleet which sailed from Spithead in July 1702[3] and saw action as marines at the Battle of Vigo Bay in October 1702.[4] The marines returned to England in November 1702.[5] The regiment also took part in the capture and defence of Gibraltar in July 1704[6] and suffered very heavy losses at the Battle of Almansa in April 1707.[7] It was disbanded in 1713 but re-raised as Jacob Borr’s Regiment of Foot in 1714.[1][8] It then served in Ireland from 1716 to 1734.[9]
Soldier of 32nd regiment, 1742
In summer 1742 the regiment was despatched to Belgium for service in the War of the Austrian Succession:[10] it was held in reserve at the Battle of Dettingen in June 1743.[11] but fought at the Battle of Fontenoy in May 1745.[12] The regiment returned to England in October 1745 and were stationed in Lancashire during the Jacobite rising in 1745.[13] On 1 July 1751 a royal warrant was issued declaring that in future regiments were no longer to be known by their colonel's name, but by the "Number or Rank of the Regiment". Accordingly, General Francis Leighton's Regiment was renamed as the 32nd Regiment of Foot.[1]
In late 1775, Rockingham Castle, which had been hired to transport three companies of the regiment, along with a number of their families, making for Cobh in a heavy gale, mistook Robert's Cove for the entrance to Cork harbour, and was driven onto a lee shore at Reannie's Bay, a few miles distant. The master and crew of the ship were drowned, as were about ninety of the passengers.[14] In 1782 all regiments of the line without a royal title were given a county designation and the regiment became the 32nd (Cornwall) Regiment of Foot.[1] In 1796 the regiment was deployed to Saint-Domingue as part of the response to a rebellion there but one of the transport ships was captured by the French Navy and some soldiers from the regiment, along with Lieutenant General Frederick Wetherall, became prisoners of war.[15] The regiment were also sent to Dublin as part of the response to the Irish rebellion in 1803.[16]
Napoleonic Wars
The Battle of Salamanca at which the regiment contributed to the storming parties
The regiment was deployed to Denmark in July 1807 and were ordered aboard the captured Danish ships as marines at the Battle of Copenhagen in August 1807 during the Gunboat War.[17]
During the Napoleonic Wars the regiment had white facings on its uniform and the officer's lace and buttons were gold. The officer's jackets were unlaced, with 10 twist buttonholes placed in pairs. The jacket of the other ranks had 10 square loops spaced in pairs.[27] The regiment fought at the Battle of Quatre Bras, arriving about 3 pm on 16 June 1815 just in time to help halt the French advance.[28] Two days later at Battle of Waterloo the regiment was stationed opposite the French main attacks, standing their ground before attacking Napoleon's assaulting troops. The 1st Battalion of the regiment was part of the 8th British Brigade commanded by Major-General James Kempt, which was in turn part of the 5th British Infantry Division under Lieutenant-General Thomas Picton. The regiment was commanded on the field by Lieutenant-Colonel John Hicks and numbered at 503 men at the battle of Waterloo having suffered casualties at Quatre Bras.[29] It was two men of the regiment's Grenadier company who bore Pictons's body away after he was fatally shot through the head.[30]
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Kingdom of England (1702–1707)
United Kingdom (1801–1881)
British Army
