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Prince of
Wales' Own Regiment of
Yorkshire shown in military art prints and military uniform prints of the
West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales' Own) and the East Yorkshire
Regiment ( Duke of York's). |
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The East Yorkshire Regiment
The East Yorkshire Regiment- Regimental
District No.15- consists of the old fifteenth Foot.
The 15th dates from 1685, in which year they were raised
in Nottinghamshire by Colonel Tufton, who was one of the officers that
remained loyal to King James, and was accordingly superseded at the
Revolution. After serving for
some time in Scotland the 15th went to Holland, and in 1695
fought with credit at Kenoque and Dixmunde. They were engaged at Kaiserwerth and Nimeguen, at Venloo and
Ruremonde, at Liege and Schellenberg.
In 1704 they fought at Blenheim, being in Rowe’s famous brigade,
and commanded by Lieutenant-colonel Britton.
It was an occasion to try to the uttermost the morale of the
British troops. The position
was critical, and rumours that a tremendous battle was inevitable had
spread through the allied host. Sir
Edward Creasy has, pithily put the absolute necessity for the battle of
Blenheim to be fought, when and how it was.
“Although the French army of Italy had been unable to penetrate
in Austria, and although the masterly strategy of Marlborough had hitherto
warded off the destruction, with which the allies seemed menaced at the
beginning of the campaign; the peril was still most serious.
It was absolutely necessary for Marlborough to attack the enemy
before Villeroy should be roused into action.
There was nothing to prevent that General and his army from
marching into Franconia, whence the allies drew their principal supplies;
and besides thus distressing them, he might by marching on and join his
army to those of Tallard and the Elector, from a mass, which would over
whelm the force under Marlborough and Eugene.
On the other hand, the chances of a battle seemed perilous, and the
fatal consequences of a defeat were certain.
The consequence of a defeat of the confederated army must have
broken up the Grand Alliance, and realised the proudest hopes of the
French King. Marlborough’s
words, at the council of war when the battle was resolved on, to the
officers who remonstrated with him on the seeming temerity of attacking
the enemy in their position, were remarkable.
‘I know the danger, yet a battle is absolutely necessary; and I
rely on the bravery and discipline of our troops, which will make amends
for our disadvantages.’”
A writer quotes a curious incident relating
to the regiment from an old book called “Advice to Officers.”
The 15th-then known as Howe’s Regiment-were attacking
the village of Blenheim, when the major-who on account of too great
strictness was unpopular-addressed his men, confessing, “that he had
been to blame, and begged to fall by the hands of the French-not
theirs.” “March on,
sir!” replied a grenadier. “The
enemy is before us, and we have something else to do than think of you
just know!” When the French
gave way the officer waved his hat in his enthusiasm, exclaiming
“Hurrah” gentlemen, the day is our own!”
As he was saying the words he fell dead, shot through the brain.
It would appear from the manner of recounting the incident, coupled
with the significant title of the work in which it appears, that it was
doubtful whether that fatal shot came from the front or the rear. The regiment suffered heavily that day, as they did at
Ramillies and Oudenarde. They
fought at Tornay in 1709, perhaps one of the most desperate sieges, from
the point of view of individual suffering, of the many undertaken during
this long war. Some estimate
of the difficulties our troops had to contend with may be gathered from
the following: - “The citadel of Tournay was situated on some high
ground, with a gentle ascent from the town, and the siege proved a service
of the most difficult character, arising from the multiplicity of the
subterranean works which were more numerous than those above the ground.
Sinking pits several fathoms deep, and working from carried on the
approaches thence underground, until the troops arrived at the casemates
and mines. The soldiers engaged in these services frequently encountered
parties of the enemy, and numerous combats occurred in these gloomy
labyrinths. On some occasions
the men at work under ground were inundated with water; at other times
suffocated with smoke, or buried by the explosion of mines.”
At the conclusive combat at Malplaquet the 15th
were in the reserve, losing only one officer.
In the various battles and skirmishes which followed they were well
to the fore, returning home in 1714.
In 1719 they fought at Glenshiel, following General Wightman in his
skilful movement into the then almost inaccessible mountains, and showing
their firm courage in combating and repulsing the brave McKenzie and
McGregor’s. They were
attacked in rear and flank, but gallantly held their own, though they lost
Captain Downes and two subalterns.
After this they enjoyed a period of inaction
for some twenty years or more, their next important service being at
Carthagena in 1741. The same
old book before referred to (“Advice to Officers”) relates that the
troops were very much annoyed during the night by continued reports from
the outpost officer that a large body of Spaniards was approaching.
No attack or demonstration was, however, made, and at last an
aide-de-camp was sent to the front to ascertain the cause of the reports.
There, sure enough, he saw what appeared to be a body of soldiers
in the white uniform of the Spaniards, which now and again appeared and
disappeared in the most perplexing fashion.
A nearer investigation explained the mystery.
Some white barked trees (the manchineel trees) had been cut down by
the enemy to the height of five feet, and their tops burned, thus giving
them black hats to their white clothes.
Added to this the sky was full of flying clouds which darkened the
moon. In 1746 the 15th
fought at Quiberon and l’Orient, and eleven years later took part in the
expeditions against the French coast.
In 1758 they were with General Amherst in the attack on Louisburg,
and shared in that successful and not costly victory, though the loss to
the 15th was somewhat severe.
In 1759 we find them at Quebec, in the brigade of General Monckton. Very familiar amongst the household words of our military
annals is the name Quebec. There
is probably not an Englishmen who does not regard it as one of the
brightest flowers in the country’s Honour Wreath: there is, probably,
not one in a hundred who realizes to any degree the difficulty and
importance of the action. “The
position was an extremely strong one,” says a competent writer; “the
main force was encamped on the high ground below Quebec, with their right
resting on the St. Charles River, and the left on the Montmorency, a
distance of between seven and eight miles.
The front was covered by steep ground, which rose nearly from the
edge of the river, and the guns of the citadel of Quebec covered the
right.
A boom of logs chained together was laid
across the mouth of the St. Charles, which was further guarded by two
hulks, mounted with cannon. A bridge of boats, crossing the river a mile higher up,
connected the city with the camp. All
the gates of Quebec accept that of St. Charles, which faced the bridge
were closed and barricaded. A
hundred and six cannon were mounted on the walls, while a floating-battery
of twelve heavy pieces, a number of gunboats, and eight fire ships, formed
the river defences. The
frigates, which had convoyed the merchant fleet, were taken higher up the
river, and a thousand of their seamen came down from Quebec to man the
batteries and gunboats. Against
the force of sixteen thousand men, posted behind defensive works, on a
position almost impregnable by nature, General Wolfe was brining less than
nine thousand troops. The
steep and lofty heights that lined the river rendered the cannon of the
ships useless to him, and the exigencies of the fleet in such narrow and
difficult navigation prevented the sailors being landed to assist the
troops.” The 15th
captured Point Levi, and were amongst the first troops that gained the
memorable heights of Abraham, greatly distinguishing them in the famous
battle that followed. The
regiment remained in Quebec, defending it against the subsequent attacks,
and in 1762 went to Martinique, where and at the Havana they maintained
their high reputation.
Returning to England in 1768, a few years later they were ordered
to America, and took part in the most of the battles during the War of
Independence, including Charlestown, Long Island, Brooklyn, and
Brandywine. In 1782, the year that they received their title, they
experienced some sharp fighting at St. Christoval, in St. Lucia, and
twelve years later took part in the still more important operations in the
same neighbourhood. Under Sir
Charles Grey they fought at Martinique, and led by Major Lyon and Captain
Paumier, greatly distinguished themselves at the storming of Mount
Mathurine. At Guadeloupe,
where they were again hotly engaged, they had two officers and several
privates killed. After a
short stay at home they were ordered to Barbados in 1805, and for some
time served as marines. In
1809 they took part in the successful operations under General Beckwith in
Martinique, and the following year three hundred of the regiment served
under Colonel Riall, who was commanding our forces at Guadeloupe, again
taking part five years later in the summary action rendered necessary by
the adherence of Linois and Boyer to the cause of Napoleon.
After a few years spent at Bermuda and Canada the regiment returned
home in 1821, and during the following years were occupied in quelling the
Irish disturbances of 1826 and the more formidable movements in Canada in
1832 and at the commencement of Her Majesty’s reign.
They were next ordered to Ceylon, where the ever-recurring Candyan
difficulties gave them some work to do, and the next important operation
in which they were concerned was the Afghan War of 1879-80, where the
second battalion represented them.
“The second battalion of the 15th
regiment,” says Shadbolt, “formed part of the Reserve Division,
southern Afghaninstan Field Force, which during the early part of March,
1880, was concentrated at Karachi, Suid.
After the receipt of the news of the disaster at Maiwand, the
headquarters, eight companies left Karachi on the 4th August
for Sibi, and marching through the Bolan Pass in detachments, with
inadequate transport, with insufficient water, and in burning heat,
arrived at Quetta on the 29th of the month.
Notwithstanding the great hardship they endured, his men worked
with admirable spirit. The
trying nature of the march is attested by the fact that some one hundred
of them, chiefly young soldiers who had been recently sent out, were
placed hors de combat by sunstroke, heat apoplexy before reaching the
Afghan frontier.” The 15th
advanced with Phayre’s Division through the Khojak Pass, but arrived too
late to participate in the battle of Kandahar, and returned to India the
following December. Since
that date they have been quartered in North America, Bermuda, and
Gibraltar, but have not been engaged in any warlike service. Her
Majesty’s Army By Walter Richards |
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Sergeant W. H. Barclays Perilous Journey To His
Trench With A Severely Wounded Man On His Back.
On the morning of October 19th 1914, Sergeant W. H.
Barclay, of the East Yorkshire Regiment, crawled out from his trench,
near Armentieres, to tap a German listening wire.
He took with him Privates Thrussell, Donkin and Donnelly, and
when the enemy opened fire on them, Thrussel was severely wounded.
But Sergeant Barclay had him placed on his back, and then crawled
with him to his trench, being shelled all the way.
For his conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty on this
occasion and also between September 25th and October 15th,
Sergeant Barchy was awarded the D.C.M.
Corporal Meekosha, assisted by
Privates Johnson, Sayers and Wilkinson, digging out men who had been
buried in their trench by shellfire.
On November 19th 1915, Corporal Samuel Meekosha,
of the 1/6th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment (Territorial
force) was with a platoon of about twenty non commissioned officers and
men, who were holding an isolated trench near the Yser.
During a very heavy bombardment by the been either killed or
wounded, Corporal Meekosha at once took command and sent a runner for
assistance. No less than ten more big shells fell within twenty yards of
him, but with the assistance of Privates Johnson, Sayers and Wilkinson,
of the battalion, who most stoutly assisted him throughout, he continued
to dig out the buried men in full view of the enemy.
At last four men were saved and for his most conspicuous bravery
Corporal Meekosha was awarded the V.C. while Privateers Johnson, Sayers
and Wilkinson received the D.C.M.
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The
Princess Of Wales Own Yorkshire Regiment
The Princess of Wales Own Yorkshire
Regiment-Regimental district No.19-consists of the old 19th
Foot. Though so few names
appear on the colours the 19th is a regiment possessing a
notable and long record of varied services well performed.
Rose in 1688 from the hands of pike men assembled in Devonshire to
assist the cause of William of Orange, they were sent four years later to
Flanders, and fought at Steenkirk, though without loss.
The following year they were at Landen, and were subsequently
engaged in covering the siege of Namur.
In 1702 they took part in the operations against Cadiz, leaving
Europe shortly after for the West Indies.
In 1710 we find them again in Flanders, where they fought at Douay
and Bethune, and at Malplaquet, “the bloodiest action in the whole
war.” From 1714 they
enjoyed a period of home duty for thirty years, repairing again to
Flanders in 1745, when they took part in the battle of Fontenoy, and
suffered severe loss there. Seldom,
indeed, has an army in which the British were so strongly represented,
sustained such a defeat. “Still,
however, Cumberland, with his brave British and Hanoverian troops,
preserved in his attack on the left, leaving the cavalry in the rear, and
dragging some pieces of artillery with their own muscular arms; the foot
crossed a ravine, and advanced full in front of the wood, the batteries
and the abattis, and of the best part of the enemy’s army, for Saxe had
been allowed time and opportunity to gather strength from his right wing.
The combat soon became close, and was terrific; our men were killed
in heaps by the enemy’s artillery, but still they went closer, sweeping
away the French foot and the sturdy Swiss guards, and giving back death
for death. From the necessity
of the ground they now occupied, which was hollow and narrow, the British
and Hanoverian foot were huddled together in compact masses.
Saxe, by the advice of the Duke of Richelieu, brought four pieces
of heavy artillery to play upon them in this condition; and while the
cannon roared and inflicted death in the front, they were attacked in
flank by fresh troops, both foot and horse.
The Duke of Cumberland was the last in the retreat; he called upon
his men to remember Blenheim and Ramillies.
If the English soldiers had had their will and no enemy in their
rear, it might have been difficult to prevent, that evening, a new kind of
combat, for their fury against the Dutch amounted almost to madness.”
A highland officer (Culloden Papers) wrote: “The action will, I
believe, be found to be the bloodiest as to officers that has happened to
the British in the memory of man. The
Hanoverians behaved most gallantly and bravely, and had the Dutch taken
example from them, we had supped that night in Tournay.”
They fought at Val and Roncoux; in 1761-as the Duke of St. Albans,
or Beauclerc’s Foot-they formed part of the force of ten thousand men
under General Studholm Hodgson, destined for the capture of Belle Isle, in
Brittany. “The citadel of Palais, the capital of the isle, is a
strong fortification fronting the sea, composed principally of a horn
work, and is provided with two dry ditches, the one next the counterscarp,
and the other so contrived as to secure the inner fortifications. This citadel is divided from the largest part of the town by
an inlet of the sea, over which thee is a bridge of communication.
From the other part of the town, that which is most inhabited, it
is only divided by its own fortifications and a glacis, which projects
into a place called the Esplanade, where the reservoir is kept.
Though there is a fine convenience for having wet ditches, yet
round the town there is only a dry one, and some fortifications which
cannot in many places be esteemed of the strongest kind; indeed, the low
country which lies to the southward can easily be laid under water.”
Taking advantage of the fact that the steep and formidable nature
of the approaches on one side rendered the enemy careless at these points,
the Grenadier Company of the 19th, under captain Paterson,
clambered up them, “and were in full possession of the rocks before the
French were aware of the circumstances.”
Here they held their ground in a fierce contest with superior
numbers, in which Captain Paterson lost and arm, and subsequent
reinforcements enabled them to drive the French back.
“In this affair a private, named Samuel Johnson, displayed
remarkable bravery. On
perceiving a subaltern of his regiment, to whom he felt grateful for some
act of past kindness, overpowered by numbers, and about to be bayoneted by
a French Grenadier, he rushed to his assistance and rescued him, killing
no fewer than six of his assailants.”
The regiment spent several years at home and at Gibraltar, and in
1794 shared in the skirmishes and sufferings endured by our army in
Holland. In May 1794,
Pichegru, who had continued to outwit the Austrians, swooped down with
about fifty thousand men upon the British camp at Tournay.
The Duke of York’s army numbered, perhaps, thirty thousand, of
whom, fortunately, only a small proportion was Dutch.
“But though flushed with success, the French were repulsed in
every attack they made, and compelled to retreat from a field which they
left covered with their dead. The
celerity of their movements and the superiority of their numbers were of
no avail against the steadiness and determination of the duke’s troops.
The latter were occasionally brought to fight when they ought not
to have fought at all, but whether attacking or attacked, the British
troops invariably proved their pluck and stamina.”
“There was staunchness, there was heroism of the highest order in
this fighting on the part of the troops who had previously experienced
every possible disaster; and after this there was a glorious fortitude in
the manner in which they withstood cold and hunger, and the fierce war of
the elements, and in the midst of an unceasing hurricane of wind, snow,
and sleet. Many of the sick
and wounded carried in open wagons were frozen to death, or perished of
want, but not a living man in the army spoke of a halt or of a
surrender.”
In 1796 they were ordered to Ceylon, and in
1799 five companies took part in the important battle of Seringapatam.
For many years after that their duties were in Ceylon, where the
frequent risings of the Candyans afforded them plenty of active and
dangerous service. In 1803
many of the officers and men were massacred in a rebellion of formidable
proportions, and peace was not restored without some sharp fighting, of
which the 19th bore the brunt.
The Mauritius, the Ionian Islands, Corfu, North America, with a
brief sojourn in England, occupied the attention of the regiment till the
Crimean War, when the opportunity offered for them to add three famous
names to their colours. They
were in the Light division under Sir George Brown; and at the alma shared,
with the Welsh Fusiliers and Connaught Rangers, the glory of that
magnificent charge up-hill, during which, from rock and boulder, from
thicket and vine-trellis, poured a devastating hail of Russian bullets.
“The 19th, with the Grenadiers and the Fusiliers, the
95th, the 30th, and the 47th Regiments,
pressed eagerly forward with the regularity and firmness of troops and
parade. Just beyond the
battery the heads of a strong body of Russians were visible, and these at
last formed and charged down the hill in a compact mass upon the British
troops toiling up the steep in face of the dreadful fire that was doing
such execution into the ranks. Some
guns that had been brought up by the English artillery, with much
difficulty, now opened upon this Russian column, and, so true was the aim,
that at every discharge a clear passage was made through the serried mass.
The well-executed manoeuvre decided the day, the Russians turned,
broke, and fled over the hill.”
In this trying and painful ascent the
indomitable valour of our men-many of them in action for the first time in
their lives-was fully displayed. Exposed
to a continual roar of artillery, without being able for some time to
return the fire, they kept on their course undaunted.
The men never quailed nor paused in their toilsome and perilous
march. After the retreat of
this formidable battalion of the enemy the battle was speedily won.
They fought like heroes at Inkerman, where confusion seemed to
multiply the terrors of the strife. As
the 19th with the rest of the Light Division pressed onward the
scene was intensely bewildering. One
thing was only terrible distinct in its doings: the grim death, which was
so busy that drear November day. From
the valley where seethed the battle in fullest fury rose a defending
din-boom of cannon, rattle of muskets, the clang of steel, the hoarse word
of command, the hoarser cries of fighting men, shout of triumph, and
groans of pain. Men fell
fast, yet oftentimes no foe was visible-only the lurid flash gleaming from
the dense thicket, and the white smoke drifting hither and thither on the
blood-laden breeze.
At the Quarries and the
Redan they vied with the bravest. “One
of the most heroic episodes at the last assault was connected with a mere
youth, named Massey, a lieutenant in the 19th Regiment, who
kept out in the open in the hope of inducing the soldiers to follow; and
there, amidst the most dreadful fire, he stood with a reckless courage
that excited the astonishment even of the enemy.
He was dreadfully wounded, but won the sobriquet of ‘Redan
Massey.’” On the termination of the war he returned to the University
of Dublin, exchanging “feats of broil and battle” for the “still air
of delightful studies,” though even to the retirement of the academic
walls his fame had preceded him; his fellow-students feted and be lauded
him, as well they might; and men who passed him in the street stopped to
point, with enthusiastic admiration, at the young hero of the Redan.
Amongst other individual instances of bravery the men of the 19th
may be mentioned that of Private john Lyons, who on one occasion took up a
live shell that had fallen amongst our men, carried it to the edge of the
parapet and hurled it over the trenches.
Again, there was Private Samuel Evans, who, seeing, on the 13th
of April, a Sapper engaged singly in repairing an embrasure under a heavy
fire, went with Private Callaghan to his assistance, and completed the
work. The 19th
arrived in India at the end of the mutiny, and for years were engaged in
the numerous tribal disturbances, which threatened the peace of the
empire. After a short sojourn
at Bermuda and in Canada they took part in the last phase of the war in
the Sudan, “being employed of the line of communications during the Nile
campaign of 1884-5 and in the subsequent operations on the Sudan frontier
including the battle of Giniss.” |
The
East Yorkshire Regiment in the Great War 1914 - 1918. by Everard
Wyrall. (1928)
A record of seventeen battalions of the E Yorks in the
Great War, with Roll of Honour and list of Honours and Awards.
Post: UK- £4.00 (max post for multiple books £6.00).
For Europe £6.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per
total shipment)
Rest of World £8.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee
per total shipment)
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Paperback Book serial number NMP2115.
486 pages.
Price £28. |
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