29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot

Drummers

Between 1752 and 1761, the unit's colonel was George Boscawen. During this period, he freed ten black slaves given to him by his brother Admiral Edward Boscawen and enlisted them as drummers. This regimental tradition of having black drummers continued until 1843.

America

In 1770, eight men from the unit's grenadier company were tried for murder after accidentally opening fire on rioters in Boston. Two of them were convicted of manslaughter; the rest were exonerated thanks to their defence counsel John Adams, a future president of the United States.

After a brief spell in England, the regiment returned to Canada in 1776 during the American War of Independence (1775-83) to repulse American attempts to capture Quebec. It then fought on board ship in the Battle of Valcour Island (1776), and on land in the Saratoga campaign (1777), during which its flank companies were captured.

After the British defeat in America, the regiment withdrew first to Canada and then England in 1787. Five years earlier, it had been given a county affiliation with Worcestershire, so it was here that it re-recruited.

War with France

The regiment's opening engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars (1793-1802) came at Alkmaar in Holland in 1799. However, detachments had already served as marines on board two British ships at the Glorious First of June in 1794, gaining the regiment a naval crown.

It was one of the first British units to deploy during the Peninsular War (1808-14) in July 1808. It fought at Rolica (1808), Vimeiro (1808), Talavera (1809) and Albuera (1811), capturing two French Colours. These achievements earned it the accolade 'the best Regiment in this Army' from Sir Arthur Wellesley, the commander-in-chief and future Duke of Wellington.

However, it suffered such losses in the Peninsula that it had to return to England in 1811 to recruit back up to full strength. It was then quickly redeployed to Canada in 1814 for the War of 1812 (1812-15) and to Belgium for the Waterloo campaign in 1815. In both cases, it arrived too late to see any major action.

India

It spent the next four decades on garrison duty in England, Ireland, Mauritius and India. The latter service included fighting at Ferozeshah (1845) and Sobraon (1846) in the First Sikh War (1845-46), and at Chillianwala (1849) and Gujerat (1849) in the Second Sikh War (1848-49).

The regiment also sent a detachment to defend parts of the Grand Trunk Road, which ran between Kabul and Bengal, during the Indian Mutiny (1857-59). It then returned to garrison duties in the British Isles, Malta, Canada and the West Indies in the 1860s and 1870s.

Legacy

The 29th had served alongside the 36th (Herefordshire) Regiment of Foot during the Peninsular War and the two units began recruiting from the same Worcester depot in 1873. Eight years later, in 1881, they were amalgamated to form The Worcestershire Regiment.