William of Orange's expeditionary force - last chapter

In the previous articles on the infantry and cavalry components of the invasion army of the Prince of Orange the most important part of this army is covered. Of a total size of the invasion army of 21,000 men, these Dutch regiments (including the English and Scots) amounted to a little over 15,000. This leaves approximately 6,000 men unaccounted for in one of the regiments detailed previously.

These men can be clarified as follows:
- The invasion force contained a train of artillery (twenty-one 24 pounders), a detachment of engineers with pontoon bridges, and a mobile forge. Furthermore, there would have been men assigned to commissariat tasks.
- Approximately one-fifth of the invasion force consisted of Huguenot refugees. Part of them were on the strength of regiments mentioned earlier, but the remainders served as supernumeraries or volunteers.
- In most literature the presence of foreign detachments is mentioned: contingents from Sweden, Brandenburg, Switzerland. Some literature makes mention of "Finnish soldiers clad in bearskins", which according to the author is an urban legend: one of the Danish regiments that entered English service in 1689 was recruited from the island of Funen, called the Fynske Regiment. This may easily be confused for being a Finnish unit. (This apart from the fact that Finland did not exist as an independent state in the 17th century ...)
- According to John Childs in his monograph on the British Army under James II there were also several embryonic English regiments part of the invasion force. These were regiments commanded by: Sir John Guise, Sir Rowland Gwynn, Sir Richard Buckley, Sir Robert Peyton, Lord Richard Coote (possibly the later 1st Earl of Bellamont), Lord Charles Mordaunt (3rd Earl of Peterborough), and (1st) Earl of Macclesfield. Only the regiments of Guise, Peyton (future Lancashire Fusiliers), and Mordaunt seem to have survived after the invasion, and information on the remainder is not found at present.

The total size of the expeditionary force was some 40,000 men. Of these 21,000 are found in the invasion army itself, as detailed previously. Some 9,100 men were serving on the war ships, and the remaining 10,000 were manning the approximately 500 transport ships.

William of Orange's invasion - reaction by James II

Following the landing of William of Orange on November 5/15, 1688, James II issued a declaration expressing his anxiety and disapproval of these events. Besides this, a list of regiments in the Prince's army is printed as well. Please compare this list to the list of horse and dragoons and the list of foot compiled from modern sources. [declaration from EEBO]

Mystery regiments of 1662

In Dalton's English Army Lists and Commission Register one will find several regiments raised in 1662 that have no clear context that justifies their formation. Also the dates of disbandment or disembodiment is unclear. This unlike the regiments raised for the Second and Third Anglo - Dutch Wars in 1667 and 1672/73, respectively.

The regiments were formed on 1 September 1662, and there seemed to be three regiments of horse, and two of foot. In the Calendar of State Papers Domestic a little is found, most notably the commissions to the five colonels in September 1662. The foot seem to disappear, but for the horse some bits are found during 1666.

Earl of Cleveland's Regiment of Horse
Cleveland got colonelcy of an old Parliamentary regiment of foot in 1660 during the restoration.

Earl of Lindsey's Regiment of Horse

Earl of Northampton's Regiment of Horse
Like Cleveland, Northampton gained the colonelcy of a Parliamentary regiment of foot in 1660.

Earl of Craven's Regiment of Foot
Commanded at the same time an English regiment in Dutch service. In 1670 Craven would assume command of the Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards.

Sir William Killigrew's Regiment of Foot
Commanded at the same time an English regiment in Dutch service. In 1664 Killigrew would be colonel of the first marine regiment in the British Army.

To the author some questions come to mind:

1. To what reason were these regiment levied? The Restoration period is not characterized by deliberate raising of regiments, unless there was a war.
2. May the raising of these regiment relate to suspected uprisings, like the Venner riots in early 1661?
3. Are things being overlooked, and are these regiments simply regiments of militia?

The authors looks forward any discussion related to these regiments.

William of Orange's expeditionary force - horse and dragoons

Besides the fifteen infantry regiments a large contingent of cavalry formed part of the invasion force. The cavalry consisted of two regiments of dragoons, the Gardes du Corps and Regiment Gardes te Paard (Life Guards and Horse Guards, respectively), and 14 regiments of horse.
It should be noted that this latter number does not become apparent from literature directly. Het Staatsche Leger, Volume VI, pp. 126-128 gives a neat order of battle of the invasion force, and shows us 40 troops (called companies) of horse. In Het Staatsche Leger, Volume VII, pp. 426-428 another list is presented showing (Dutch) regiments that would stay in English pay and the regiments to return to Holland. Here 14 regiments of horse are shown: 9 in English pay with 27 troops between them, and 5 returning with the remaining 13 troops. Data presented here is based on this source. For more information, please see the Dutch Regiments website.

Gardes:
Gardes du Corps, the Life Guards which would stay in English pay until 1699.
Regiment Gardes te Paard, the Horse Guards commanded by Bentinck, the Earl of Portland which would be in English pay until 1699 as well.

Regiments of horse:
Regiment Waldeck, returned in 1689
Regiment Nassau - Saarbrücken (Usingen), returned in 1689
Regiment Ginkel would stay in English pay until 1697
Regiment Montpouillan, same as Ginkels
Regiment Obdam, returned in 1689
Regiment 's Gravenmoer which would stay in English pay until 1697
Regiment Flodrof, returned in 1689
Regiment Lippe stayed in English pay until 1697
Regiment Nassau - Zuylestein, also in English pay until 1697
Regiment Oyen, idem
Regiment Soppenbroek, idem
Regiment Heyden, returned in 1689 to Holland
Regiment Riedesel, in English pay until 1697
Regiment Schack, also in English pay until 1697

In Knoop: Krijgs en geschiedkundige beschouwingen over Willem den III reference is made to Regiment Kingma, whereas Oyen's is missing. However, Regiment Kingma was disbanded in June 1688. Probably Regiment Oyen took its place, but the author is not sure about that.

The regiments of dragoons:
Regiment Gardes Dragonders, stayed in English pay until 1698
Regiment Marwitz which would return to Holland in 1689.

William of Orange's expeditionary force - infantry

In total 15 regiments of infantry formed part of the invasion force. This included the Gardes te Voet consisting of 25 companies, the six regiments of the Anglo-Dutch Brigade, and eight other regiments of foot. According to Het Staatsche Leger (volume VI page 128) this added up to 11,212 men; the overview below is based on the list of regiments given in the previously mentioned reference. Future articles will discuss other aspects of the expeditionary force.

Regiments with no additional information returned early 1689 to Holland.

The regiments were:
Gardes te Voet consisting of three battalion with about 25 companies between them (this number varies in literature). This regiment would remain in English pay until 1699 and ranked as 3rd Foot Guards.
Regiment Wijnbergen
Regiment Birkenfeld
Regiment Holstein - Norburg
Regiment Fagel
Regiment Brandenburg, in English pay until 1697.
Regiment Nassau - Saarbrücken (Ottweiler), in English pay until 1697.
Regiment Hagedoorn
Regiment Bornig, in English pay until 1697.
Regiment Tollemache, English regiment in Dutch service. In English pay after 1688.
Regiment Babington, English regiment in Dutch service. In English pay after 1688. In Het Staatsche Leger called Regiment Bellasis. This is not entirely correct for late 1688 since on 7 April 1688 Philip Babington succeeded Sir Henry Bellasis as colonel.
Regiment Sidney but better known by under the name of its Colonel Commandant John Cutts. English regiment in Dutch service and in English pay after 1688. Again, Het Staatsche Leger does not show the correct colonel: on 17 April 1688 Henry Sidney, the future earl of Romney, succeeded Thomas, 8th Earl of Pembroke as colonel.
Regiment Mackay, one of the famous Scots regimnts in Dutch service. In English pay after 1688.
Regiment Balfour, another of the three Scots regiments, which also transferred into English pay after the revolution.
Regiment Ramsay, the third Scots regiment. In Het Staatsche Leger referred to as Wauchope's. However, that is not correct since Wauchope was one of the officers that returned to England following the recall of the English and Scots regiments in Dutch service by James II in March 1688. In England he commanded a Scots regiment in pay of Louis XIV which was composed chiefly of Roman Catholics and officered by officers previously in service of the Dutch States - General. Ramsay would later command the Scots Regiment of Foot Guards.

Thus 15 regiments, and 17 battalions in total. Of this number, 12 would remain in English pay until the end of the Nine Years' War.

Dutch regiments in English service: Horse

In this article on Dutch regiments on the English Establishment the regiments of horse will be discussed. Whereas there were few regiments of foot, there were far more regiments of horse in English service and pay. (The designation "in English service" is a bit superfluous perhaps.) The reason for this large number of horse, compared to foot, is not known to the author, and he would be interested to hear.

The regiments were in service from the Glorious Revolution until the end of the Nine Years' War. According to papers from the treasury (Calendar of Treasury Book, Volume 21: Warrant Books July 707 26 - 31) the regiments were in pay from 21 December 1688 until 31 December 1697. Below the regiments are listed with some details on the date of raising and its colonels.

Regiment Montpouillan
Raised 8 February 1672 and maintained by the province of Holland. Colonels were Armand de Caumont de la Force, Marquis de Montpouillon (marquess de Rada of the later 6th Foot was probably his son) since the regiment's raising, and from 21 November 1697 Armand de Caumont, Marquis de Maduran was colonel.

Regiment Nassau - Zuylestein
Raised 17 October 1588 and maintained by Holland. This regiment was throughout command by Willem Frederik van Nassau - Zuylestein, the later Earl of Rochford. See also this post on Dutch officers that received an English peerage.

Regiment Soppenbroek
Raised 8 February 1672 and maintained by Holland. Willem Roeleman, vrijheer Quadt - Soppenbroek was colonel from 1675 until 25 December 1688. From that time on the colonelcy was bestowed on Paul Didier de Boncourt.

Regiment Riedesel
Raised 8 February 1672 and maintained by Holland. Colonels:
George, Baron van Riedesel since 6 October 1688
Erik Gustaaf, graaf Steinbeck since 1690
Gerard Pijper since 1697
Frederik Ulrich, Count of Oost-Friesland since 23 April 1698

Regiment 's Gravenmoer
Raised 21 August 1577 and maintained by Holland. Since 23 March 1669 Adam Baron van der Duyn van 's Gravenmoer was colonel. He was succeeded on 1 January 1694 by Zeno Diederik van Tengnagel (also found under the name Gansneb).

Regiment Schack
Raised 8 February 1672 and maintained by the province of Holland. The only colonel during the whole period was Bogislaf Sigismund Schack, who was colonel of the regiment since 24 December 1681.

Regiment Oyen
Raised 28 April 1621, maintained by Holland. Colonels were Mattheus Hoeufft van Oyen since 3 October 1683, and Johan Zeger Baron van Rechteren since 14 May 1691.

Regiment Ginkel
Raised 14 January 1625 and maintained by Utrecht. Godart van Reede, heer van Ginkel, the future Earl of Athlone and Baron Aughrim, was the only colonel in this period. He held the colonelcy already since 4 May 1665.

Regiment Lippe
This regiment was raised 8 February 1672 and was maintained by the province of Overijssel. Otto, graaf van der Lippe was colonel since 1683. Succeeded on 18 February 1690 by Robert, baron van Ittersum tot Nyenhuis. He in turn was succeeded by Otto Frederik van Vittinghof, called Scheel or Schell, heer van Nederhemert, on 14 September 1692.

The list given here is that as found in for example the Army Estimates for 1690, 1691 etc as found in the Journal of the House of Commons, or the Calendar of Treasury Books given above. The Dutch official history on the army of the republic (Het Staatsche Leger), however, does not indicate that Ginkel's regiment was in English pay, and instead lists another (Berlo) (see Staatsche Leger VI pp. 260 and 264). However, in that same volume on pp. 426 - 428 an overview is given of Dutch regiments that remained in English pay. That list is in agreement with the lists from the Army Estimates as is presented here.

Dutch names -- part II

In the first article on this subject the scope and limitations of this topic have been detailed. In this second (and last?) part some more Dutch name to be found in the English army are detailed.

Godard van Reede, heer van Ginckel
b.1644, d.1703. During the invasion of England in 1688, Ginckel was colonel of a Dutch regiment of horse. However, he is probably better known for his role as commander of the Williamite forces in Ireland from late 1690 until the surrender of Jacobites and the Treaty of Limerick. (which included the battles of Athlone and Aughrim). Later he would serve with distinction in Flanders, and in 1702 he became commandant of the Dutch forces serving under the Duke of Marlborough. For his services in Ireland he was created Earl of Athlone and Baron of Aughrim in 1692.

Arnold Joost van Keppel
b.1670, d.1718. Much younger than William of Orange, he nevertheless became a close and intimate friend. This, probably, caused some separation and cooling of the relationship between Bentinck and William of Orange. Keppel, as said being in the inner circle of William of Orange, was created Viscount Bury and Baron Ashford in 1696, and in 1697 he was also made Earl of Albemarle; the title still exists.
As for his military career, Albemarle became colonel of the 1st Troop of Horse Guards in 1699, a post he would held until 1710 when the 2nd Earl of Portland, the son of the aforementioned Bentinck, became colonel. As for other regiments, Albemarle assumed in 1701 command of a newly raised Swiss regiment in Dutch service. It may be of interest to note that this regiment went over to England during the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745 and took part in the battle of Culloden.

Arnold's son Willem (b.1702, d.1754) would serve in the British Army as well, and would be the (future) 29th Regiment of Foot (1731 - 33), the Coldstream Guards (1744 - 54), and the 3rd Troop of Horse Guards (1733 - 44).

Dutch names in English service

Following the Glorious Revolution of 1688, several Dutch officers that came with William of Orange were naturalized and/or were elevated to a peerage in England or Ireland. Several of these individuals held a colonelcy of a regiment during the war of Spanish Succession. With these several titles it is easy to confuse officers, and difficult to find someone (like the author experienced on more than a number of occasions!). Though all lineage and genealogy of men under consideration can be retrieved from online sources, the author thought it handy to have it all in on one page ('achterkant van een bierviltje'). As such, it is not the intention to provide extensive biographical details here. For this the author refers the reader to, e.g., the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. However, it is hoped that this little post will be of use to other people as well. Also, the scope of this article is limited to the period from the Glorious Revolution until the end of the War of Spanish Succession.

The author welcomes any remarks and comments on this article's contents and, more important, omissions.

Hans Willem, Baron Bentinck
b.1649, d.1709. Known foremost as a close and intimate friend of William III of Orange. Was colonel of the Regiment Gardes te Paard. In April 1689 he was created Baron Cirencester, Viscount Woodstock, and Earl of Portland being the title for which Bentinck is known best.

His second and eldest surviving son Hendrik (b.1682, d.1726) inherited the title 2nd Earl of Portland in 1709, and was in 1715 elevated as Duke of Portland and Marquess of Titchfield. In 1710 he assumed the colonelcy of the 1st Troop of Horse Guards.

Willem - Frederik van Nassau - Zuylestein
b.1649, d.1708. Another Dutch soldier closely related to William of Orange: Willem - Frederik's father was the illegitimate son of Frederik Hendrik van Nassau, the grandfather of William III of Orange. He commanded a regiment of horse during the Glorious Revolution and was naturalized afterwards. In 1695 he was created Baron Enfield, Viscount Tunbridge, and Earl of Rochford.

His eldest son William van Nassau van Zuylestein (b.1681?, d.1710) became the 2nd Earl of Rochford in 1708. Upon his father elevation to the peerage as earl, William was styled as Lord Tunbridge. Under that title we find an regiment of foot raised in 1706 and placed in the Irish Establishment. In 1707 he took command of a regiment of dragoons in Spain, and was killed at the battle of Almenara on 27 July 1710.

Another son, Maurits (b.1685, d.1720), or Maurice in English, took command of a regiment of foot in 1711, that has been raised in 1704 in Ireland.

Hendrik, graaf van Nassau - Ouwerkerk
b.1640, d.1708. Also closely related to William III (Hendrik's father was an illegitimate son of Maurits van Nassau, Prins van Oranje, being a great - uncle of William III), and was colonel of the Gardes du Corps (Life Guards) between 1672 and 1708. Following the invasion of England in 1688, he was naturalized. He was, however, not elevated to a peerage. In English his name is usually spelled as Overkirk. In Dalton (see the blog's bibliography) he is listed under the French version de Nassau d'Auverquerque however.

His second son Hendrik (b.1673, d.1754) was created Earl of Grantham, Viscount Boston and Baron Alford in 1698.

His youngest son Frans (b.1682, d.1710) (in Dalton listed as François de Nassau d'Auverquerque) raised a regiment of foot in 1706, and in 1707 assumed command of a regiment of dragoons in Spain raised by the 3rd Earl of Peterborough. He would be killed in the battle of Almenara on 27 July 1710 as well.


The Earl of Athlone and and the Earl of Albemarle are subject of a second article.

Precedence - the 1694 rules set by William III

In 1694 a new set of rules was laid down, by Royal Warrant of 10 June 1694, for determining the precedence of regiments serving in the Low Countries. Regiments from the English, Scots and Irish Establishments serving together, in combination with Huguenot regiments and regiments that had been in service of the Dutch Republic, should give rise to debates on each others relative ranking. Hence, several rules were made to overcome this problem. These rules would be used well into the 20th century to settle and seniority of regiments.

The new rules discarded the old which states that a regiment would rank from the day of its raising, and stipulated:

1. An English regiment shall take precedence before all others;
2. An Irish regiment shall have rank from the day is comes upon the English Establishment, and it would not lose it when being returned to Ireland or placed on the Irish Establishment;
3. A Scots regiment entering the English Establishment shall have rank from that time;
4. Any other regiment, regardless of nationality, being raised in England shall have rank from time of raising;
5. This settled the rank for the three English regiment previously part of the Anglo-Dutch Brigade: the three regiments shall rank immediately after the Queen's Regiment of Foot, the future King's Own Royal Regiment.

So, this explains why the future Royal Northumberland Fusiliers and the Royal Warwickshire Regiment ranked as 5th and 6th, respectively.

Also, though the Royal Scots Fusiliers date from 1678, they did not enter the English Establishment until late 1688 and were thus ranked after the regiments raised much later. Likewise, the Royal Scots Greys were ranked as 4th(!) until the close of the War of Spanish Succession for the same reason. Reference has been made to the influence of colonels on the board determining precedence in an earlier article, and this is how the Royal Scots Greys became ranked as 2nd, and kept that rank.