"Firing into the Brown" #93 - Foot Guards, Bastion No. 1 and stuff

"So Carnehan weeds out the pick of his men, and sets the two of the Army to show them drill and at the end of two weeks the men can manoeuvre about as well as Volunteers. So he marches with the Chief to a great big plain on the top of a mountain, and the Chiefs men rushes into a village and takes it; we three Martinis firing into the brown of the enemy".

Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"

Time for another update..  apologies for the intermission dear reader - too busy elsewhere, and not enough to blog on...

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Look at those battle honours.. including all the big
four in the War of the Spanish Succession..

Another in the occasional "regiments of renown" series featuring the histories of various regiments painted in haste at the beginning of a project but which were not documented here for posterity.. so we come to British infantry regiment "1st Foot Guards" - the creme de la creme of the British infantry..

They were first raised in 1656 in Bruges as a bodyguard for Charles II whilst in exile. Initially under the command of the Earl of Rochester, on his death (1658) the command then passed to the regiments original founder, who was Thomas, Lord Wentworth 

Initially known as the 'Royal Regiment of Guards' it comprised 400 of the King's most loyal supporters - they were all officers in the earlier Royalist army of Charles I and who had gone into exile at the end of the war.

Following the Restoration (and in the interim, service at the Battle of the Dunes - where they were badly handled), they returned to England in 1660. In 1665 they were amalgamated with 'John Russell's Regiment of Guards' to form the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards - they remain the most senior regiment of the British Army to this day.

There is no point in repeating the excellent Kronoskaf regimental history of their service in the War of the Spanish Succession (see link below), but my reader will know that I am endlessly fascinated by the characters and personalities, so by way of providing some rabbit holes to disappear down, the Colonel-commanders during the War of the Spanish Succession were:

• from 16 March 1689: Henry Sidney, Earl of Romney - described by Jonathan Swift (he of Gulliver's Travels fame) as 'an idle, drunken, ignorant rake, without sense or honour' - but given Sidney's politics, and that Swift was notably anti-Whig, other views may definitely differ! 😁 He died of smallpox at his house in London on 8 April 1704..
  
  

  

  Painting attributed to John Baptist Medina

  
  
• from 24 April 1704: John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough - arguably (not arguably in my eyes) Britain's greatest general...  he lost the Colonelcy after his fall from grace with (Queen) Anne - "I am sorry for your own sake the reasons have become so public which makes it necessary for me to let you know you have rendered it impracticable for you to continue yet longer in my service".
  
  

  

  Painting attributed to Michael Dahl

  
  
• from 1 January 1712: James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormond - boo hiss 😏- a noted Tory, and the tool the British government tasked with getting the British army out of the war - the British government gave him secret orders to take no active part in supporting their allies under Prince Eugene. Happily - he was also a Jacobite as well as a Tory, and when George I (who was neither Jacobite or Tory!) came to power a mere two years later, he was stripped of  his posts as Captain-General, and as colonel of the regiment - both of which positions were given back to Marlborough.. yay!😁
  
  

  

  "A fine soldier, as a statesman ‘he often followed the advice of those who had a smaller share of sense than himself (and)... was as irresolute and timorous in affairs as he was brave in person’" Painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller (Lübeck 1646 - London 1723)

Important men one and all, but the regiments battle field commander would have been the Lieutenant Colonel, and from what I can tell - this would have been these men throughout the period of interest:

• Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Withers - he was Lieutenant-Colonel when the regiment was first sent to Flanders in 1701  - just the one battalion, of the four (!) the regiment comprised at that time. Withers was made Brigadier-General in March 1702, and Major General in 1704 shortly after Marlborough was made Colonel of the regiment. He eventually died at a good old age.. his grave stone says..
  
  "Henry Withers Lieutenant General descended from a military stock and bred in arms in Britain, Dunkirk and Tangier; thro' the whole course of the two last wars of England with France. He served in Ireland, in the Low Countries and in Germany, was present at every battle and at every siege and distinguished in all by an activity, a valour and zeal which nature gave and honour improved. A love of glory and his country animated and raised him above that spirit which the trade of war inspires; a desire of acquiring riches and honouse by the miseries of manking. His temper was humane, his benevolence universal, and among all those ancient virtues, which he preserved in practice, and in credit, none was more remarkable than his hospitality. He dyed at the age of LXXVIII years, on the XI of November MDCCXXIX. To whom his monument is erected by his companion in the wars, and his friend thro. life, Henry Desney".
  
  Not a bad epitaph at all.. 😊
• At the Schellenberg, Kronoskaf shows them under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Primrose (perhaps Captain? Maybe promoted as a result of his efforts?), who was wounded in the assault while leading the grenadier company, which had been detached to make up a composite force of grenadiers from multiple regiments. He recovered from his wounds, made Colonel, and was later given command of the 24th Foot - he ended up a Major General
• Lieutenant-Colonel Philip Dorner assumed temporary command but was subsequently killed at Blenheim where the regiment was part of Fergusson's Brigade (that attacked the village of Blenheim).
• Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Gorsuch then assumed command - he died in December 1708 at the Siege of Ghent after commanding them for five campaigns. When reinforcements for the Guards in the form of an extra Battalion was sent, Marlborough specifically asked that they not be sent with any officer senior to Gorsuch, so that Gorsuch would remain in overall command, he was that well regarded.
• Lieutenant Colonel Cholmondeley is mentioned as being in command in 1711, but in the interim the most active battlefield command seems to have been by Withers (above)..

These are Minifig's and painted and based by me some time pre-2006 from the batch of unpainted figures that DG passed me when he decided not to proceed with the project. Probably one of the first regiments I painted..  flag is from the old Warflag site

Further reading:

• The First Regiment of Foot Guards
• 1st Foot Guards - Project WSS (Kronoskaf)
• The Origin and History of the 1st Foot Guards (four volumes!)

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Time to get my Dora the Explorer hat on - I was reading some stuff [clicky] on the Interweb the other day and mention of this one caught my eye..

Bastion No.1 from an 1890 WD Plan

Bastion No. 1 is in Gosport (just the other side of the harbour from Portsmouth), and over the years I must have crossed that moat via the modern footbridge any number of times without seeing the greater significance..  I sense a little winter project coming on - the Gosport Lines! 😏

Other reading sources:

Trinity Bastion - Gosports History

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 Laters, as the young people are want to say...