Charge of the 2nd Carabiniers against the Square of the 23rd (Royal Welsh Fusiliers) at the Battle of Waterloo by Brian Palmer  Sergeant Luke OConner Winning the Victoria Cross at the Battle of Alma by L.W. Desanges  Although shot in the breast, bravely carries forward one of the colours at the Battle of Alma, 20th September 1854. Officer, 23rd Foot 1790 by P H Smitherman  Contemporary pictures and existing items of clothing have provided the basis for this image, which shows further development of the fusiliers uniform.  fusilier caps were to be like the grenadier caps only smaller.  The plate with the royal arms in front of the cap has gone, and has been replaced by a badge, and there is an arrangement of gold cords at the back, invisible in the picture, ending in two large tassels.  The collar of the coat has now been turned up again and has begun to assume the form which it has since retained.  The elaboration of the gold lace on the cuffs and lapels is in sharp contrast with the simplicity noted in the previous image.  Being a fusilier, and armed on service with a fusil, he wears a shoulder belt with a pouch as well as a sword belt.  Black gaiters have replaced white spatterdashes, except in the Foot guards.  The white ones were first replaced by brown - a more suitable colour, obviously, for service - but they were not considered very smart, and so were blacked and finally replaced with black gaiters.  As the 23rd were allowed to wear a badge, the Prince of Wales feathers, it appears on the gorget instead of the royal arms.  The plate on the shoulder-belt, carrying a regimental device, was an innovation at about this time, and was worn by all ranks.  Thus the soldier now carried an easily recognisable sign of his regiment, similar to the cap badge today.  Previously, in most cases, unless a man belonged to one of the few regiments permitted to display a badge, he could be identified only by such details as his buttons, or the pattern of his lace.  The 23rd, or Royal Welsh Fusiliers, were raised in 1689.  The notable feature of their dress today is the bunch of black ribbons worn on the collar at the back, a survival of the ribbons worn before 1805 to protect the collar from the grease of the pigtail.  Corporal J. Davies And Eight Men Routing With The Bayonet A Party Of Germans Who Had Previously Surrounded Them.      Prior to an attack on the enemy in a wood Corporal Joseph Davies, of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, became separated with eight men from his company.  When the enemy delivered their second counter attack his party was completely surrounded, but he got them into a shell hole, and, by throwing bombs and opening rapid fire, succeeded in routing them.  Not content with this, he followed them up in their retreat and bayoneted several of them.  For this act of most conspicuous gallantry he was awarded the V.C. Private Lavin Grappling With A Turkish Bomber In A British Sap At Suvla Bay, Gallipoli. While on patrol duty in front of the British lines at Suvla Bay, Gallipoli on the night of November 9th 1915.  Private James Lavin of the 15th Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers saw a Turkish bomber creep into a British sap.  Lavin at once crawled from the tree behind which he was taking cover to the sap.  As he entered he heard the Turk loading his rifle, and while advancing, Lavin accidentally kicked over an empty tin.  The Turk instantly turned and fired point blank at him, but fortunately missed the mark. Throwing down his rifle, Lavin grappled with his enemy, and having wrenched the rifle out of his hands, he drove the Turks at the point of the bayonet towards the British lines.  His cool and courageous conduct was rewarded with the D.C.M. Regimental Records of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, Vol I by Cary and McCance. This is the first of a 4-volume history of the regiment from its formation in 1689 to the end of the Great War. The RWF is one of only four out of fifty-one English and Welsh regiments of infantry of the line that have remained unaffected by disbandments, amalgamations and redesignations since Cardwells reforms at the end of the nineteenth century. This volume covers the period 1689 - 1815, the recording of which has been considerably handicapped by the almost entire absence of letters, diaries or journals of officers who served with the regiment. Nevertheless the compilers, with the help of contributors named in the introduction, have, by accuracy of treatment and attention to detail, contrived to give a reliable record of the deeds of the regiment. The book is compiled in the form of a running narrative arranged on a year-by-year basis, and begins with a ten-page chronological summary in which all significant dates (including every move of the regiment) are listed for each year, beginning with 16 March 1689 when Henry, Lord Herbert of Cherbury was authorised to raise the Twenty-third [of Foot], and appointed colonel of the regiment. During the first 126 years of its existence the regiment saw a great deal of action and a vigorous account has been given of the campaigns in which it took part. Where it has been possible to illustrate by incident the story has been graphically told. Battle honours (twenty during the period) also tell the story: Namur, Marlboroughs wars, Dettingen, Minden, Egypt, Corunna, the capture of the island of Martinique, the Peninsular War, and finally Waterloo. The regiment also fought in the American War of Independence. Officer casualties are named with numbers of rank and file casualties, and from time to time strength details are given. On 23rd April 1713 the regiment was, for the first time. officially styled The Royal Regiment of Welch Fusiliers and a second battalion was formed in August 1756 which, less than two years later, became a regiment in its own right (68th Foot, later the DLI). Appendices give the succession of Colonels of the Regiment with record of service and extracts from the Regimental Mess records which include the amounts to be paid in by officers on promotion (£20 for a Lieut-Colonel getting command of the Regiment), and the amount to be paid by officers coming from other regiments. Finally there is a comprehensive index. Regimental Records of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, Vol II by Cary and McCance. This volume covers the hundred years between the victory of Waterloo and the outbreak of the Great War, 1816-1914. The book is set out in the same way as the first volume, beginning with a chronological summary, which includes the dates of every move of the regiment, and with the narrative providing a running account on a year-by-year basis. On 3rd March 1858, as a consequence of the Indian Mutiny a second battalion was again formed but this one was a permanent feature, so when the Cardwell Reforms were implemented in 1881 the RWF was unaffected, being a two-battalion regiment. From this point on the narrative covers each battalion separately each year. This time the compilers are better served with personal memoirs and diaries, especially the Burmese War of 1885-87; the Boxer Rebellion, 1900; the Black Mountain Expedition, 1891 and the S African War. The regiment saw action in the Crimea (Alma, Inkerman and Sevastopol), the Indian Mutiny, Ashanti in 1874, Burma, S Africa and Pekin. Four VCs were won in the Crimea and two in the Indian Mutiny. This volume has a number of informative appendices: they include the succession of colonels with the service record of each officer; a very comprehensive one on regimental Dress and Equipment, one on firearms used by the regiment from time to time and on medals, on regimental music, on sport, on the Colours and finally on the history of the unique Flash, the five-tailed flash of black silk ribbon attached to the back of the collar of the tunic, first worn by officers, WOs and SSgts in 1834, but approved for all ranks from June 1900. The regimental Goat, the famous mascot, gets its first mention in 1775. Again there is a comprehensive index. Regimental Records of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, Vol III by Cary and McCance. The last two volumes of this history cover the Great War, during which the original seven battalions (two Regular, one Special Reserve and four Territorial) expanded to forty of which twenty-two served overseas. Total casualties (dead) amounted to 9,800; 77 Battle Honours were awarded and eight VCs were won, one by an officer serving on the staff at the time (Lieut-Col Doughty-Wylie at Gallipoli). A further VC was awarded to the MO of the 1/6th Battalion in Palestine. Vol III is concerned only with the Western Front where fifteen battalions served and four of these also served in other theatres. This volume is arranged in seven parts, each part covering a specific period. The narrative is continuous beginning with a brief background on the immediate pre-war situation, the reorganisation of the War Office and the Army, leading on to mobilization, the creation of new battalions, a list of all the battalions that existed during the war, with postings and, very useful, the nominal roll of all the officers serving on 1st August 1914, extracted from the Army List - Regular, Reserve and Territorial. The next part takes the story to the end of First Ypres, involving the 1st and 2nd Battalions, followed by 1915, 1916-1917 (May), 1917, 1918 and the German offensive, and finally 1918 the Pursuit of the Enemy. In each part any battle in which a battalion of the Regiment took part is fully described with officer casualties named and other rank casualties given by total. The author makes good use of personal accounts, diaries and memoirs and so provides an extremely interesting record. There is a comprehensive index. Regimental Records of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, Vol IV by Cary and McCance. This volume is concerned with operations on Gallipoli, in Mesopotamia, Palestine, Macedonia (Salonika) and Italy, although the author prefers THE WAR WITH TURKEY, THE WAR WITH BULGARIA and THE WAR WITH AUSTRIA as titles to the three parts into which the book is divided. The first part (Turkey) begins with a brief background on the Turkish army, its strength and dispositions and then, after an account of the landings on 25th April 1915, goes on to describe the regiments part in the Gallipoli campaign. Four battalions were involved at Gallipoli: 5th, 6th. 7th (Territorial battalions) and the 8th (Service) Battalion. The 8th Battalion was in 13th (Western) division, the only RWF battalion in that division, and landed at Anzac on 4th August 1915, followed shortly after by the three Territorial battalions with 158th Brigade in the 53rd(Welsh) Division. For the next four months they were in the fighting, notably at Suvla, Sari Bair and Scimitar Hill until both divisions were evacuated to Egypt in December. The 13th Division went on to Mesopotamia in April 1916, where the 8th Battalion was the only RWF battalion to fight in that theatre, and it was there to the end. The 53rd Division, after returning from Gallipoli remained in Egypt through 1916 and in February 1917 advanced into Palestine, and in August 1918 the 5th and 6th Battalions amalgamated to form the 5th/6th. In February 1917 the 74th (Yeomanry) Division was formed in Palestine and two Welsh Yeomanry regiments were posted to it and redesignated 24th and 25th Battalions RWF. Both battalions fought in Palestine and in France. The 11th (Service) Battalion went to France in September 1915 with 22nd Division; a month later the division was transferred to Salonika and with it went the 11th RWF, which was the only battalion of the regiment to fight in the Macedonian campaign. Finally, the 1st Battalion, which had served on the Western Front with the 7th Division from October 1914, went with the division to Italy in November 1917 where it remained to the armistice. The activities of all these battalions are well described in this history which concludes with a chapter on the Armistice and Demobilisation. There are a number of appendices which include: the Roll of Honour for the whole Regiment, taken from Soldiers Died and Officers Died; a short piece on the campaign in the Cameroons (Dobell, the British commander, was an RWF officer; brief notes on the Regimental Goats and the Flash; the COs of all the battalions, with dates; an account of the unveiling and dedication of the War Memorial at Wrexham, the depot of the regiment; and a table showing details of the battalions war establishment in 1914. Again, there is a comprehensive index. All in all these four volumes make up a very fine regimental history.

Few regiments have a longer or more glorious history than the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, formed as it was in 1689, and sharing in most of our campaigns with such gallantry and distinction as to have the following battle-roll: "Blenheim", "Ramillies", "Oudenarde", "Malplaquet", " Dettingen", "Minden", "Corunna", "Martinique", " Albuhera", "Badajoz", "Salamanca", "Vittoria", "Pyrenees", "Nivelle", " Orthes", "Toulouse", "Peninsula", "Waterloo", "Alma", "Inkerman", "Sevastopol", "Lucknow", and "Ashantee". This was one of the twelve regiments raised for the campaign in Ireland against James II, and as "Herbert's Regiment" first got under at the Boyne and Aughrim, where its colonel was taken prisoner and foully murdered.  It did not return to England until 1691, and three years later it sailed for Flanders, under the command of Colonel Ingoldsby.  It saw hard fighting at Fort Knocque and Namur, where it lost heavily, and returned to Ireland in 1697, to return to the Netherlands in the army led by Marlborough four years later.  It was present at Venloo, Liege, and Schellenberg, where 16 officers and 228 men were killed and wounded; at Blenheim, where it shared in the final attack on the village (when twenty four battalions  and twelve squadrons of the enemy surrendered), Helixem, Neer Hespen, Ramillies, Ostend, Aeth, and Oudenarde; at the siege of Lille, where the loss between the 14th August and 22nd October, 1708, amounted to 15 officers and 363 men killed and wounded; at Tournay, Malplaquet, and the sieges of Mons, Douay, and Bouchain, besides being present, more or less, as a covering force at numerous other affairs, returning to England after the Treaty of Utrecht, when it received the title of the "Prince of Wales' Own Royal Regiment of Welsh Fusiliers". The 23rd returned to England to put down both of the Jacobite risings in 1715 and 1745; in the former case arriving at Preston, where Derwentwater surrendered, and in the latter remaining on the South Coast till after the defeat of the Young Pretender at Culloden.  Meanwhile, from 1742 to 1745, it had served in Flanders , sharing in the battle of Dettingen, where its then colonel was mortally wounded, and at Fontenoy, where the loss in killed, wounded and missing was 22 officers and 300 men; while, after a short visit to England in 1745, it re-appeared at the seat of war in 1747, and was engaged at the battle of Val. About this time the men were dressed like the rest of the army, with red coats and royal-blue facings, heavy buff cross-belts and white gaiters.  One of the colours bore in the centre the Prince of Wales' plume, and the other the badge of the Black Prince (the rising sun), the red dragon, and the three feathers in the coronet.  The grenadier caps also bore the plume, crowned with "Ich Dien", and below it the white horse of Hanover, with "Nec aspera terrent". In 1756 the regiment assisted at the stubborn defence of Minorea, when Admiral Byng's effort to force the French fleet to raise the siege failed, and the garrison had to surrender; but the Duc de Richelieu, in consideration of the bravery shown, granted to the garrison "all the honours of war, to wit with firelocks on their shoulders, drums beating, with colours flying, twenty cartridges for each man, also lighted matches."  After some minor operations on the French coast in 1758 it shared in the victory of Minden, which was mainly due to the bravery of the foot regiments, and took part in the battles of Warburg, Campen, Kirch-Denkern, and Groebenstein. The regiment witnessed the first outbreak of hostilities in America in 1775, at Concord, and in the retreat on Boston shared in the Battle of Bunker's or Breed's Hill, where the Fusiliers first experienced the deadliness of the fire of the colonial sharp-shooters, and after which they had scarcely enough men left to "saddle the goat".  Since the war began the regiment had been weakened by more than half its strength, and the grenadier company, going into action with forty-nine strong, left forty-four on the field.  The affairs of White Plains, Fort Washington, Ridgfield, Brandywine, Germanstown, and Monmouth Court House followed in succession; and during the hostilities the Royal Welsh did duty on board the fleet as marines, and were complimented by Admiral Lord Howe. Finally, after sharing in all the minor operations, as well as at Charlestown, Canada, Cowpens, Guildford Court House (where, as in most of the actions in the war, the bayonet was found more efficacious than the bullet), the regiment surrendered at York Town with the garrison; but the colours were saved by Captain Peters and another officer, who wrapped them round their bodies.  Whether this was strictly right may be questioned.  In 1794 it assisted at the taking of Port an Prince, but suffered severely from the climate.  In 1799 it was in Holland, at the battles of Zype Dyke and Egmont-op-Zee; in 1800 at Ferrol and Vigo, and the next year landed at Aboukir Bay to take part in the fight there, and at Alexandria.  For this the Fusiliers earned the badge of "Egypt" with the Sphinx, and each officer received a gold medal from the Sultan.   Increased to two battalions in 1804, the 1st served at Copenhagen, and then went to Canada, to be employed at Martinique later on, after which the grenadier company, out of their prize money, reared a monument at Halifax to their comrades who had fallen.  The 2nd (which was disbanded in 1814) was at Corunna, where it was the last battalion to quit the shore; and in 1810 the 1st battalion went to the Peninsula, to gain honourable mention for continuous service until 1814, and adding Albuhera, Badajoz, Salamanca, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Orthes, Toulouse, and Peninsula to its already long list of honours. It is impossible to do other than name the actions in which it gloriously shared.  The 23rd was at Waterloo in reserve, and at Cambray; and in 1842 it was formed into two battalions, named the "1st" and "Reserve" respectively.  It equally distinguished itself in the Crimea, at the Alma - where Anstruther planted the colours on the great redoubt, and died holding them - at Inkerman, and at Sevastopol.  It shared in the hard fighting at Lucknow and Cawnpore, on the Goomtee, in Oude, and in the Trans-Gogra operations in 1857-59. Lastly, the 2nd battalion formed part of the Ashantee expedition, taking part in the actions at Amoaful, Ordahsu, and Coomassie; and the 1st added the last title to the roll - "Burma, 1885 -87" - for its share in that campaign. One event in its history may be recorded here to emphasise the value attached to the colours of a regiment.  When H.R.H. Prince Albert presented them in 1849, he said, "Receive these colours; one emphatically called the Queen's - let it be a pledge of your loyalty to your sovereign, and of obedience to the laws of your country.  The other, more especially the regimental one, let that be a pledge of your determination to maintain the honour of your regiment.  In looking at the one you will think of your sovereign; in looking at the other you will think of those who have fought, bled, and conquered before you".  The authorised regimental pet of the "Royal Welsh" is a goat.  How it became at first a custom, and later, " a privileged honour", for the regiment to march past with a goat "having gilded horns, and adorned with ringlets of flowers", is somewhat obscure, but it dates back to the early days of the regimental history.  On St David's Day, when the health of the Prince of Wales is first drunk after dinner, the goat is marched thrice round the mess-table with the drums, led by the drum-major, to the tune of "The Noble Race of Shenkin", while the national emblem, the leek, is being distributed.  Usually the animal behaves with sufficient decorum; but on one occasion, in 1776, at Boston, he literally "bucked" his rider, a small drummer-boy, into the middle of the mess-table, and escaped to barracks.  One account has it that the boy was killed, and that from that date the mounting the goat was abandoned.  The same goat accompanied the regiment into action at Bunker's Hill. Until quite recently the goat has, since 1844, been presented by Her Majesty when a vacancy occured, from a flock given her by the Shah of Persia.  In these cases "Billy" wore a silver shield surmounted by the Prince of Wales' plume and motto, on which is "The gift of H.M. Queen Victoria to the Royal Welsh Fusiliers.  A.D. . . . . Duw. A. Cadwo. Y. Frenhines."  In the regiment's recent march through Wales in 1892 the tired goat was taken on a wagon, but unfortunately lost its balance, and was killed.  The only peculiarity in the uniform of the regiment is that of both officers and non-commissioned officers wearing the "flash", a bow of black silk ribbon, with long ends, fastened to the back of the collar of the tunic.  It is a relic of the days of pigtails and powder, and in 1786 it is stated that "the officers of this regiment wear the hair turned up behind", when the locks were turned into a queue with ribbon, a form of dressing the hair which was supposed to be the "Grenadier fashion" of so arranging it.  It is also a regimental custom to wear the leek on St David's Day.  The Prince of Wales' plume, with the regimental title, is worn both on the button and waist-plate, the grenade on the tunic collar, fusilier cap, and forage-cap, the latter with a red dragon. The Militia battalions are the Royal Denbigh and Merioneth, which wore a red dragon on the Glengarry; and the Royal Carnarvon, which had a bugle on the colllar and Glengarry.  The other badges are the "Rising Sun", the white horse with "Nec aspera terrent", and the Sphinx with "Egypt", and with the Prince of Wales' plume the motto "Ich Dien",  The Volunteer battalions are the late 1st Denbigh (Wrexham) and the 1st Flintshire and Carnarvonshire (Rhyl); both wear the national scarlet with royal blue facings.  The nicknames are the "Nanny Goats" and the "Royal Goats", both referring to the regimental pet.  The depot is at Wrexham.